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HE-500, LCD2, D5000, DT770, SR80, on a speaker amp (Emotiva mini-X A-100) Project
Sep 15, 2013 at 8:16 PM Post #1,831 of 3,819
elwappo99 said:
   
I believe I read somewhere the crack was better than the SEX. The SEX is mainly meant as a speaker amplifier with a low output impedance, where the crack is meant for high impedance headphones.
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SEX is said to pair better with low imp. cans while crack does better with high imp.  My friend's HD800 takes only 50% of the volume knob to be at normal listening level while my Q701 goes up to around 70%.  300 Ohms vs. 50 Ohms.
 
Sep 16, 2013 at 2:59 AM Post #1,832 of 3,819
koiloco said:
 
elwappo99 said:
   
I believe I read somewhere the crack was better than the SEX. The SEX is mainly meant as a speaker amplifier with a low output impedance, where the crack is meant for high impedance headphones.
Click to expand...

 
SEX is said to pair better with low imp. cans while crack does better with high imp.  My friend's HD800 takes only 50% of the volume knob to be at normal listening level while my Q701 goes up to around 70%.  300 Ohms vs. 50 Ohms.
Click to expand...

 
 
SEX is a speaker unit, so it's supposed to be matched with really low impedance devices. The Crack is supposed to be for higher impedance headphones ( >120ohms). 
 
I was saying I thought I had read somewhere that subjectively a few people had compared them and preferred the Crack. 
 
I really would expect HD800s to sound better with the SEX. Those headphones do need a good amount of rolloff to not have that piercing treble, which tubes can provide. The emotiva is too clear and accurate in the treble. 
 
Sep 18, 2013 at 9:22 AM Post #1,833 of 3,819
Well my Mini-X and associated cables/connectors were delivered this morning (too bad I'm at work). Hoping to give this thing a proper listen over the week (I'm going to have to balance this with GTA V, first world problems eh?) and come back with some impressions. 
 
Sep 18, 2013 at 10:47 AM Post #1,834 of 3,819
ninjapirate9901 said:
  Well my Mini-X and associated cables/connectors were delivered this morning (too bad I'm at work). Hoping to give this thing a proper listen over the week (I'm going to have to balance this with GTA V, first world problems eh?) and come back with some impressions. 
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beerchug.gif

 
Sep 18, 2013 at 11:44 AM Post #1,835 of 3,819
Hey all,
 
I've been lurking around this thread for a while and it finally inspired me to make up a quick cable for my HE-400 and HE-500s to try out on a little speaker amp I had laying around.  Not the Emotiva, but a Topping TP10 that I acquired at some point in a trade or something.  It's not much of a little amp, only 15WPC, but I've read a couple of decent reviews.  I've not seen anything about it driving headphones.  For comparison, I'm currently have a Schiit Magni.
 
Anyway, after a couple of hours of listening, I can say that the results are pretty good.  On the HE-500s the sound stage was dramatically improved compared to the Magni, considerable larger with much more instrument separation.  The amp drives the cans with authority with a much thicker/fuller sound than the Magni, very warm.  The warmth with probably a little roll-off in the treble had a negative impact on clarity and detail that I didn't really care for.  All in all, I'm going to stick with my Magni for the next little bit, but now I know for sure that I need to get more power into my 500s.
 
The results were MUCH better with the HE-400s.  There was improvement in sound stage, but not quite as dramatic as the 500s.  The warmth of the amp seemed to really jive with the 400s.  I don't know if it brought out the mids or knocked down the bass and treble, but overall I'd say it give the cans a much more balanced sound.  I liked the combination, much fuller sound, nice sound stage without the impact to clarity like the 500s.
 
As far as my setup, all I did to the amp was load the output terminals with 10ohm non-inductive resistors.  Do I need to anything other than that?  I'm not having any problems with noise or hum.  I'll probably end up adding a couple of resistors in series with the headphones for attenuation.  About a 1/4 turn of the volume knob was getting really loud.  Any suggestions on resistance values?
 
Thanks everyone.  Great thread!
 
Sep 18, 2013 at 6:18 PM Post #1,837 of 3,819
ninjapirate9901 said:
  Finally got it hooked up :)
 

 
What the toss is mini about this thing? It's freaking huge!
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Nice photo.  How do you like the sound so far or early to tell?
 
Sep 18, 2013 at 6:41 PM Post #1,839 of 3,819
elwappo99 said:
   
 
Nice pics! 
 
I think "Mini" is in reference to their other gear 
biggrin.gif

 
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Haha, yeah I'm sure it is small in comparison. 
 
koiloco said:
  Nice photo.  How do you like the sound so far or early to tell?
Click to expand...

 
One immediate thing I can differentiate between this and my Project Ember is the bass impact is stronger (both on my LCD-2 and HE-500). Haven't compared it to any of my other amps which I'll get around to doing eventually. I'll report back with more impressions over the weekend.
 
Sep 18, 2013 at 7:01 PM Post #1,840 of 3,819
ninjapirate9901 said:
   
Haha, yeah I'm sure it is small in comparison. 
 
 
One immediate thing I can differentiate between this and my Project Ember is the bass impact is stronger (both on my LCD-2 and HE-500). Haven't compared it to any of my other amps which I'll get around to doing eventually. I'll report back with more impressions over the weekend.
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Cool!  Enjoy your mini-X.  If I have only 1 word to describe the mini-X, it would be , "lively"
 
Sep 19, 2013 at 1:00 AM Post #1,842 of 3,819
jww187 said:
  Hey all,
 
I've been lurking around this thread for a while and it finally inspired me to make up a quick cable for my HE-400 and HE-500s to try out on a little speaker amp I had laying around.  Not the Emotiva, but a Topping TP10 that I acquired at some point in a trade or something.  It's not much of a little amp, only 15WPC, but I've read a couple of decent reviews.  I've not seen anything about it driving headphones.  For comparison, I'm currently have a Schiit Magni.
 
Anyway, after a couple of hours of listening, I can say that the results are pretty good.  On the HE-500s the sound stage was dramatically improved compared to the Magni, considerable larger with much more instrument separation.  The amp drives the cans with authority with a much thicker/fuller sound than the Magni, very warm.  The warmth with probably a little roll-off in the treble had a negative impact on clarity and detail that I didn't really care for.  All in all, I'm going to stick with my Magni for the next little bit, but now I know for sure that I need to get more power into my 500s.
 
The results were MUCH better with the HE-400s.  There was improvement in sound stage, but not quite as dramatic as the 500s.  The warmth of the amp seemed to really jive with the 400s.  I don't know if it brought out the mids or knocked down the bass and treble, but overall I'd say it give the cans a much more balanced sound.  I liked the combination, much fuller sound, nice sound stage without the impact to clarity like the 500s.
 
As far as my setup, all I did to the amp was load the output terminals with 10ohm non-inductive resistors.  Do I need to anything other than that?  I'm not having any problems with noise or hum.  I'll probably end up adding a couple of resistors in series with the headphones for attenuation.  About a 1/4 turn of the volume knob was getting really loud.  Any suggestions on resistance values?
 
Thanks everyone.  Great thread!
Click to expand...

 
Hmmm, I guess I have bad ears; I couldn't tell the difference between the Magni and the Mini X on the DT880 600 Ohm or the HE500.
 
Sep 19, 2013 at 9:12 AM Post #1,843 of 3,819
Out of curiosity, has anyone else had the Mini-X go into fault mode (the light around the volume fob starts flashing amber, sound cuts out)?
 
I've had it happen twice last night and I am worried that I may be damaging the amp somehow. I've noticed a few people talk about loading the output's of this amp, is this something I should probably be doing? If so, what and how should I go about doing it (is it just adding high wattage resistors in series?)
 
EDIT: Both the faults occurred when using the HE-500, first time it was being fed by my ODAC. Second time I was using the PS3 AV out to feed the Mini-X (couldn't resist trying it with GTA V).
 
Sep 19, 2013 at 11:17 AM Post #1,844 of 3,819
ninjapirate9901 said:
  Out of curiosity, has anyone else had the Mini-X go into fault mode (the light around the volume fob starts flashing amber, sound cuts out)?
 
I've had it happen twice last night and I am worried that I may be damaging the amp somehow. I've noticed a few people talk about loading the output's of this amp, is this something I should probably be doing? If so, what and how should I go about doing it (is it just adding high wattage resistors in series?)
 
EDIT: Both the faults occurred when using the HE-500, first time it was being fed by my ODAC. Second time I was using the PS3 AV out to feed the Mini-X (couldn't resist trying it with GTA V).
Click to expand...

I have never experienced such problem with the Mini-X even when using its output to feed another component.  You might want to make that your mini-X is alright.  If you only drive HPs, it's not even close to putting a load on the Mini-X.  Whether using a much higher impedance pair of HPs on the Emotiva would strain it more, I don't know.  Gluck.
 
Sep 19, 2013 at 8:18 PM Post #1,845 of 3,819
I've had it go into safety (fault mode, if you will - where the light turns orange) before. I can only recall two instances though. One was when my laptop ran out of batteries and the ODAC powered through USB got forcefully shut off. Luckily I didn't have my headphones attached at the time. The other instance was during a meet, when someone had accidentally turned it on at 4'o clock. Luckily, my headphones were still fine. 
 
I'd check to see if the ODAC is having problems as that's what caused the orange lights last time.
 
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