Just how much would a better amp improve my HD 650s? - Page 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by sphinxvc 

@ OP, yes I knew you were joking.  

 

But..it applies to this situation more than you may realize.  =/

 

• I think Zombie X broke it down for you perfectly.  

 

•  Whoever said something about the E9 and comparisons to higher-end amps, that was the thread by Milosz last year (or the year before?) on fast-A/Bing an E9 vs. a Beta22, a M3 and some other amps.  It's worth checking out.

 

• Whoever said something about power and a beta22, what kind of power are you referring to that benefits the HD650?  The beta's "power" comes into play with low-imp phones mostly, I would think.  Something like LCD-2, etc.  For the HD650, an excellent OTL would also give it what it needs in terms of juice (more voltage swing).  It could still be just a few hundred milliwatts - take the Zanadeux for example, just 650mw into an HD650/600 load.

 

 

 

What do you mean different types of balanced amps?  

Just different types of amps. Eddie Current Balancing Act, DNA Stratus, a bunch of other high end headphone amps.

I will agree with one point though, however. There are some budget-mid fi amps and DAC's out their that really do push the HD650 to about 85%-90% of their potential, and that includes some of the stuff from Schiit and Little Dot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austin Morrow 

 

Just different types of amps. Eddie Current Balancing Act, DNA Stratus, a bunch of other high end headphone amps.

 

I will agree with one point though, however. There are some budget-mid fi amps and DAC's out their that really do push the HD650 to about 85%-90% of their potential, and that includes some of the stuff from Schiit and Little Dot.

The Little Dot MK VI+ should be able to get them there.  How does it do on high impedance CANS?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austin Morrow 

 

Just different types of amps. Eddie Current Balancing Act, DNA Stratus, a bunch of other high end headphone amps.

 

I will agree with one point though, however. There are some budget-mid fi amps and DAC's out their that really do push the HD650 to about 85%-90% of their potential, and that includes some of the stuff from Schiit and Little Dot.

There are loads of <300$ amps that will push it to its FULL potential.  Now...some more expensive amps might add some "hi-fi coloring" to the sound, but then we're talking about how the amp sounds, not how the headphones sound. And, who in their right mind would buy headphones that now cost 300-350$, and then buy a 1500$ amp? Why not buy 1000$ headphones and a 800-850$ amp? That will certainly give you better performance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

 

The Little Dot MK VI+ should be able to get them there.  How does it do on high impedance CANS?

MK II can get them there.

The HD650 deserve a very good amp. Every mid budget solid state sounded alright but in the end alway harsh. A good tube good is heaven with HD650, think OTL...
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by telecaster 

The HD650 deserve a very good amp. Every mid budget solid state sounded alright but in the end alway harsh. A good tube good is heaven with HD650, think OTL...
 

You can get OTL's for less than the price of HD650's that will run any headphones on the market without breaking a sweat. For example, my Bellari HA540 runs HD650's to as loud as I can possibly handle without serious pain at only about 25% of volume knob turned. And does that with extreme control, not sounding any worse than something like Lehmann BCL, because at the end of the day, a transparent amp with enough power, that just amplifies the signal it receives cleanly, will do just that no matter how much it costs, 300 or 2000 dollars. Hence a lot of people failing the blind tests between something like O2 and much more expensive amps. Some expensive amps will color the sound to make it more pleasing, but thats a different story.  Times when you needed to spend big bucks to get a great sound are long gone.  Sadly, times when people realize that are far away from us.

Heck, even some entry level speaker amps with integrated headphone outputs sound incredibly good and run the HD650's with great authority and plenty of headroom.  Even my freaking headphone output on a 3 year old Panasonic plasma TV sounds incredibly good with HD650's, no worse than my headphone amps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardilla 

People with expensive amps seldom have only one phone. I'd put it the other way around: If you have a 1500+ amp, you shoukd get a Hd650

Yes, if people have expensive cans and amps already, they should get the HD650's.  But some people here are making it sound like people who DON'T have 1000+ amps are not hearing everything that HD650's have to offer. Well, that is wrong to say, because going from a 300$ amp to a 1000$ one is a waste of money if the only cans you have are HD650's.  You better keep the 300$ amp, sell the HD650's, and then buy 1000$ cans.

1) I think many designers of amplifiers will disagree that the task of amplifing is easy peasy. 

2) Why do you have headphone amps if your TV sounds perfect?

Quote:

Originally Posted by derbigpr 

............because at the end of the day, a transparent amp with enough power, that just amplifies the signal it receives cleanly, will do just that no matter how much it costs..........

 

...........Even my freaking headphone output on a 3 year old Panasonic plasma TV sounds incredibly good with HD650's, no worse than my headphone amps.

How would you know...  

Quote:

Originally Posted by derbigpr 

 

 

Yes, if people have expensive cans and amps already, they should get the HD650's.  But some people here are making it sound like people who DON'T have 1000+ amps are not hearing everything that HD650's have to offer. Well, that is wrong to say, because going from a 300$ amp to a 1000$ one is a waste of money if the only cans you have are HD650's.  You better keep the 300$ amp, sell the HD650's, and then buy 1000$ cans.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardilla 

How would you know...  

 

Common sense, something not often seen on this forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardilla 

1) I think many designers of amplifiers will disagree that the task of amplifing is easy peasy. 

 

2) Why do you have headphone amps if your TV sounds perfect?

1) I think many designers of amplifiers use the stupidity of their costumers to sell them hugely overpriced products. I never said amplifying is easy peasy, its just not nearly as complicated as many would make you think.  For that reason many DIY'ers on this forum were banned when they started showing their cheap products outperforming the more expensive products of certain forum sponsors, but that's another story.

2) Please, give me a quote of me saying that my TV sounds perfect. I just said HD650's sound great out of it, no worse than out of my headphone amps.

3) End of discussion for me. I just feel sorry for those naive people who will rush out and buy amps that cost more than their HD650's, and then will be hugely disappointed because they will see their HD650's still sound like...HD650's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardilla 

I am one of those, then ;D

If you think that going from a 300$ amp to a 1500$ one will make a bigger difference to HD650's than buying 1500$ headphones and using them with a good 300$ amp, then yes. :P