[Zoom25]

Quote:

 
You sound so credible - a good thing!  
 
I can't wait to hear the good news and the bad.  
 
Thanks,
 
Mike

 
Thanks, unless you were being sarcastic! 

 
It's up.

 

[zilch0md]

Quote:

 
Thanks, unless you were being sarcastic! 

 
It's up.

 
Oh gee, no!  I meant that sincerely.  Your comment was very level-headed (instead of gushy, as so many of us, including me, tend to be with first impressions of new gear).
 
What's up?  The review? 
 
If so, where?
 
Thanks,
 
Mike
 
Edit:  I just backed up a page and found it.  Reading it now...  

 

[zilch0md]

Zoom25, 
 
Your review was very enjoyable reading - I'm really impressed with your ability to describe what your hearing.  
 
Of every trait that you can say is "better" with the Emotiva than with the O2, can you attribute all of those preferred distinctions to the Emotiva simply having more Watts?   Or would you say there are some differences that aren't necessarily tied to the fact that the Emotiva can deliver a lot more power?
 
Thanks!
 
Mike

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

Zoom25, 
 
Your review was very enjoyable reading - I'm really impressed with your ability to describe what your hearing.  
 
Of every trait that you can say is "better" with the Emotiva than with the O2, can you attribute all of those preferred distinctions to the Emotiva simply having more Watts?   Or would you say there are some differences that aren't necessarily tied to the fact that the Emotiva can deliver a lot more power?
 
Thanks!
 
Mike

 
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the read.
 
The difference between the two amps could be due to BOTH power and FR along with other technical measurements. I haven't really seen any specs or FR on the Emotiva whatsoever that would show any differences in FR. So that definitely is a possibility.
 
I think to a degree, the extra power of the Emotiva definitely has something to do with it. Let me provide you with an example, not headphones but still somewhat applies. If you get any cheap monitor speakers with dual woofers/tweeters with crossover frequencies, something like my M-Audio AV30 with ONE amplifier to drive both drivers, you always run into a problem with regards to power and output. For example, if you put lot of power into that speaker then the low frequencies will finally start to get driven moderately but the tweeter will be getting blasted with a lot of power and can distort as well. If you put low power, then the tweeter (high frequencies) will be driven moderately but the woofer and low frequencies will be under driven.
 
In this case it's somewhat similar but not quite as we have two amplifiers but one driver (well technically two drivers, one left and one right). With the more power on Emotiva, that was the first thing I noticed when I plugged in the HE-500 in comparison to the O2 - the added bass quantity along with bass control.
 
Even though the O2 might have slightly more bass control than the Emotiva, the Emotiva has much more quantity and punch with roughly the same control and perhaps even faster attack and faster decay than the O2. So the proportion of Bass quantity:Bass control is definitely higher on the Emotiva overall - which is what you typically notice with more power (with headphones and speakers). With headphones and speakers when you have less power, you usually notice the low frequencies being done very sloppily with just bloom and no punch - also muddy because the drivers aren't oscillating to their best possible transient performance - which is something you can notice between the O2 and Emotiva with regards to the HE-500.
 
I hope this made some sense, as I am writing this at 3 at night 

 

[Zoom25]

Sorry if my response wasn't adequate enough. I try to keep things as non-sciency as possible on this particular forum, people usually don't like it here for some reason. I would personally love to measure these two myself and see if the measurements were to match what I hear. Of course if it was found that the two amplifiers were linear and fulfilled the requirements of superposition and homogeneity, and you could still hear a difference in sound between the two (either with blind, ABX, or even casual testing) then you could say it was due to the difference in power. Although I highly doubt that either amplifiers are linear, especially Emotiva. 

 

[moshen]

Quote:

 
As far as I’m concerned, both the Emotiva and O2 can power the HE-500 quite nicely. The Emotiva, as a speaker amp, didn’t do anything magical as some have professed here on head-fi and the O2 definitely held its own quite nicely. Sure the Emotiva improved on the O2 in some areas and made it sound more enjoyable - but the difference wasn’t as large as some may lead you to think - best to decide by listening to yourself.
 
I will also upload pics shortly.  

 
Good review and conclusion! I'll definitely have to try out the Emotiva and compare it with my O2 sometime. You did a really great job in trying to be as objective as possible which is pretty hard with a new amp. BTW, I found a cool trick in making sure I'm comparing two different amps or headphones with the same level:
 
 
Get the SPLMeter iPhone app by Studio Six Digital - use it with the apple earbuds and put the earbud mic in between your head and driver. Switch the response to Slow on the app. It'll tell you the average volume of a certain section of track. I found it works well no matter how the earbud mic is positioned near your ear. If one headphone is louder than the other, it'll consistently show up in the meter. It sounds like a funky setup but it really works, and I found once I did that sometimes advantages of an amp were mainly because I was listening to it a bit louder. You'd be surprised how hard it is to level-match by ear. Just a trick i'm sharing
 
BTW we have similar musical tastes, Bassnectar is also a local here. I'm loving my HE-500 with EDM and listening to a lot of Berlin techno at the moment..

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

 
Good review and conclusion! I'll definitely have to try out the Emotiva and compare it with my O2 sometime. You did a really great job in trying to be as objective as possible which is pretty hard with a new amp. BTW, I found a cool trick in making sure I'm comparing two different amps or headphones with the same level:
 
 
Get the SPLMeter iPhone app by Studio Six Digital - use it with the apple earbuds and put the earbud mic in between your head and driver. Switch the response to Slow on the app. It'll tell you the average volume of a certain section of track. I found it works well no matter how the earbud mic is positioned near your ear. If one headphone is louder than the other, it'll consistently show up in the meter. It sounds like a funky setup but it really works, and I found once I did that sometimes advantages of an amp were mainly because I was listening to it a bit louder. You'd be surprised how hard it is to level-match by ear. Just a trick i'm sharing
 
BTW we have similar musical tastes, Bassnectar is also a local here. I'm loving my HE-500 with EDM and listening to a lot of Berlin techno at the moment..

 
Ahh yes, matching relative dB SPL or absolute sound pressure is quite useful to have especially when you find the amps quite similar. However with this combo, I think you'll find that besides the treble, vocals and comparing relative bass extension; everything else is easy to pick up on. Nonetheless, a great tool to have. I'm sure you'll enjoy the Emotiva. I personally can't fully recommend it yet because of the center image issue I mentioned that I have to get over, although it's gotten much better since the first few hours. Besides that, this amp is very enjoyable.
 
I see you're from the Bay Area, you're so lucky. So many great artists and shows there (plus nice weather)!

 

[moshen]

Quote:

 
Ahh yes, matching relative dB SPL or absolute sound pressure is quite useful to have especially when you find the amps quite similar. However with this combo, I think you'll find that besides the treble, vocals and comparing relative bass extension; everything else is easy to pick up on. Nonetheless, a great tool to have. I'm sure you'll enjoy the Emotiva. I personally can't fully recommend it yet because of the center image issue I mentioned that I have to get over, although it's gotten much better since the first few hours. Besides that, this amp is very enjoyable.
 
I see you're from the Bay Area, you're so lucky. So many great artists and shows there (plus nice weather)!

I think bass extension/punch/quantity is the only thing I might want better with the O2. It looks like as long as I listen to well-mastered EDM the Emotiva isn't really an upgrade there, am I right?

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

I think bass extension/punch/quantity is the only thing I might want better with the O2. It looks like as long as I listen to well-mastered EDM the Emotiva isn't really an upgrade there, am I right?

 
The bass extension is same with both. When I had the O2 I definitely craved more bass punch and quantity - which the Emotiva delivers quite nicely. So yes, the Emotiva fits the bill quite nicely in this regard. If you listen to well mastered stuff, then the bass punch and quantity between the two is roughly the same with perhaps still a small advantage to the Emotiva but the O2 would still suffice and be enjoyable. 
 
With the O2 I was quite happy with it's imaging and layering, but the Emotiva definitely improves upon those sections by a bit, especially with layering and instrument separation. I wasn't looking for this with the Emotiva as I was quite happy with the O2 but I was quite glad to find the Emotiva improve upon those sections by a decent margin - so I found that a bonus.

 

[joeq70]

Hey all! I'm about to join the fray with my HE-5LEs and an Emotiva mini-x a-100. The Emotiva will be here hopefully any minute now. I'll be sure to post some impressions when it arrives.

 

[elwappo99]

Quote:

Hey all! I'm about to join the fray with my HE-5LEs and an Emotiva mini-x a-100. The Emotiva will be here hopefully any minute now. I'll be sure to post some impressions when it arrives.

 
The HE-5LE should definitely benefit from the emotiva. Those things definitely like power, more so than the HE-500

 

[zilch0md]

Thanks for your very sensible replies, Zoom25 - even the one written at 3 AM!
 
Mike

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Hey all! I'm about to join the fray with my HE-5LEs and an Emotiva mini-x a-100. The Emotiva will be here hopefully any minute now. I'll be sure to post some impressions when it arrives.

 
 

 

[Biscuitz]

Preproman, I read your write-up of your a-100 impressions with some of your various headphones (page 17). I was wondering if you could elaborate more as to how the a-100 performs with the HE-6. I'm considering getting the HE-6 / a-100 combo in the future as my first high end setup. Thanks!

 

[joeq70]

Quote:

 
 

Sorry to say my impressions will have to wait until tomorrow. The amp was on the FedEx truck today, but I guess he didn't get around to delivering it. MEH!