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Need a headphone amp for HE-500s…
Mar 24, 2012 at 9:36 AM Post #16 of 96
I felt the asgard was pretty boring with the he-500.  It does a good job and I could enjoy the music but I didn't feel as if there was much to it.  I read the same review which made me think it would be a great buy.
 
Vioelectric v100 / v200 is very well regarded with the he-500 so I think that is worth looking into.  I think the v100 with a DAC built in is about $1k, while the v200 is around $1200 w/ 24 bit dac.  I recall a very respectable forum member saying the v200 was the best solid state he had heard with the he-500.
 
Mar 24, 2012 at 11:19 PM Post #18 of 96


Quote:
llloyd said:
I felt the asgard was pretty boring with the he-500.  It does a good job and I could enjoy the music but I didn't feel as if there was much to it.  I read the same review which made me think it would be a great buy.
 
 
Click to expand...


Agreed.
I sent the Asgard back to Audio Advisors, got the Lyr, rolled in some Aperex 7308's and wow... the HE500's are a whole new animal.
They feel massively more alive.
 
 
Mar 26, 2012 at 2:35 AM Post #19 of 96


Quote:
matttcg said:
None that I know of. Why would you want a portable setup with this combo?
Click to expand...


Not really for using on the go, but easy enough to move to the bedroom or living room.  I guess the big question is.. How does the SR71B compare to the Lyr for powering the HE-500's?
 
 
 
Mar 27, 2012 at 10:23 PM Post #20 of 96
The SR71B should be just fine powering HE-500s, also look into the Objective 2 if you want to save some green.

No portable amp will compare to the Lyr.
 
Mar 27, 2012 at 11:34 PM Post #21 of 96

FWIW, the FiiO E11 drives the HE-500 quite well. I use it mostly for my iPod on the go but have tried it with the HE-500. Surprisingly good SQ for such a small portable amp. You don't get tons of gain but sufficiently loud volume to enjoy the headphones.
 
Quote:
timeslip said:
Are there any portable amps that work well with the HE-500 and an iphone?
Click to expand...



 
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 12:15 AM Post #22 of 96
Another question.... I have the Peachtree Nova on my desktop already acting as a DAC with my speakers plugged into it. 
 
How would the Lyr / Bitfrost compare to the peachtree?  The peachtree Nova seems like it's a bit underpowered for the HE-500, and even HE-400.
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 2:14 AM Post #23 of 96
The lyr is about 30-40 times the power of the peachtree nova into 50 ohm, so it's a big boost :p
 
Not having heard the nova, you should easily notice a difference I'd say.  It's a safe assumption that the two are very different.
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 2:34 AM Post #24 of 96
Great, thanks for all of the help everyone!
 
Went ahead and purchased the Lyr + Bitfrost (no usb) that will run out of my imac via optical and the peachtree is running off USB. 
 
The SR71B will continue to be used for portability, and will test the HE-500 off of it.  I was pleasantly surprised how well my old faithful RSA tomahawk was able to power it.  Not perfect, but not bad either for this little amp.  Looks like i'll be putting this one on the market soon to sell.
 
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 6:15 AM Post #25 of 96


Quote:
timeslip said:
Great, thanks for all of the help everyone!
 
Went ahead and purchased the Lyr + Bitfrost (no usb) that will run out of my imac via optical and the peachtree is running off USB. 
 
The SR71B will continue to be used for portability, and will test the HE-500 off of it.  I was pleasantly surprised how well my old faithful RSA tomahawk was able to power it.  Not perfect, but not bad either for this little amp.  Looks like i'll be putting this one on the market soon to sell.
 
Click to expand...


Running the same setup, the Lyr doesn't magically turn it into a difference headphone, but it does sound fuller and it's just a nice setup to look at. The HE-500 bass is a bit flat for me since I used to own an LCD-2 months before, but I prefer this setup since it's not distracting since it doesn't have a lot of mid-bottom end to make it more "engaging"
 

 
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 9:24 AM Post #26 of 96
The hybrid Bada PH-12 which goes around the 350$ is a great sounding amp for the HE-500. This thing have even the power to drive a pair of HE-6.
This is an amp if you want that full tube sound with all the warmth and mid centric sweetness that entails.
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 3:34 PM Post #28 of 96
My Lyr came in today. I can't wait to try it out in about an hour. I will pair it with an HRT Music Streamer II.
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 4:08 PM Post #29 of 96
Thanks for the note.  I am pretty happy with the HE-500 so far, as it already sounds more "relaxed" than the HE-400.  I just want an amp that can power it to the fullest, which I don't feel any of my current amps can.  Worse case, I guess i'll be selling my Bitfrost / Lyr combo if not happy. =) 
Quote:
chris_himself said:
Running the same setup, the Lyr doesn't magically turn it into a difference headphone, but it does sound fuller and it's just a nice setup to look at. The HE-500 bass is a bit flat for me since I used to own an LCD-2 months before, but I prefer this setup since it's not distracting since it doesn't have a lot of mid-bottom end to make it more "engaging"
 

 
Click to expand...



 
 
Mar 28, 2012 at 9:22 PM Post #30 of 96
My short time with the Lyr has been that my bass feels a lot heavier and lot more pronounced. It gives that deserving booming now. The mids and highs are still delightful and not aggressive or harsh whatsoever. A great compliment so far to the HE-500.
 
Running as so:
FLAC > Foobar2000 > HRT Music Streamer II > Lyr > HE-500
 
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