$1000 Amp+DAC for HD650?

[hadouken]

Hi all,

I've been thinking of buying an Amp and DAC for my HD650's for about a week now, I've done some browsing around these forums and at the moment, a Keces DA-131 (w/ LME chip upgrade) with a Little Dot MK V seems like a good combo and would suit my price range.

Currently using an X-Fi prelude with an OPA627SM+ opamp upgrade to power my week-old HD650's, the sound seperation, stage and detail is OK, the mid-highs are nice but the bass is a little muddy and shapeless. There also seems to be a slight veil over the sound, like its all in the distance. I'm not sure how much of this would clear up after the headphones are burnt in though.

I listen to quite a bit of pop, rock, ambient, dance and house but my main genre is trance and pretty much anything electronic, so the bass and mids should be detailed and well defined with some attack. Of course, I wouldn't want to sacrifice any other freqs though.

Am looking to spend around £400-£500 ($800-$1000) for both the Amp and DAC. Any suggestions (or advice on my chosen combo)?

Thanks.

 

[latershow]

If your budget is $1000 have you considered the Meier Corda OPERA?

 

[plaidplatypus]

hadouken your description of the HD650 is spot on. Ditch the veil monsters and get some nice audio-technicas, Grados, or other easy-to-drive headphones.

 

[riceboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plaidplatypus /img/forum/go_quote.gif hadouken your description of the HD650 is spot on. Ditch the veil monsters and get some nice audio-technicas, Grados, or other easy-to-drive headphones.

I really like the HD650s with the current setup I have right now, but it won't be in that price range. The Audio Technicas like the AD2000s are a great all around can and is easy to drive. It will work with the type of music you mentioned. Then you could put money to a DAC. A used one could be had for around $500 on the FS forums.

 

[hadouken]

ARGH!, 1 hour and 3 posts later and everything I believed to be good and true has been torn up, damn you head-fi.

latershow: I had never heard of the Opera before you mentioned it, I've done a quick search through the forum and found a couple of reviews, seems like a solid performer with crossfeed and balanced outs which is nice. I looked on their site, however and saw that its $1500 for inside the EU, a little out of my price range. I'm not too keen on its aesthetics either, the unit(s) will be sitting next to my monitor so I dont want something that looks like its built from Lego.

plaidplatypus & riceboy: I've only had these for a week and although they might not be perfect for my favourite genre, I do like their all-round performance, is it not worth the money trying to "wake them up"? Is that even possible on my budget?

If the HD650's are total failures then I may consider selling them but I've heard that with a decent AMP/DAC combo they really shine, I'm hoping thats possible for me.

Thanks again.

 

[plaidplatypus]

Before you put up a For Sale ad for the HD650 take them to a Hi-Fi shop and see if there is something with a headphone jack you can try them with. You really should attend a Head-Fi meet if possible, it will be very beneficial to choosing your gear.

 

[riceboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plaidplatypus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Before you put up a For Sale ad for the HD650 take them to a Hi-Fi shop and see if there is something with a headphone jack you can try them with. You really should attend a Head-Fi meet if possible, it will be very beneficial to choosing your gear.

Good suggestion plaidplatypus. Don't put them up for sale yet. A HF meet would be a good experience to meet people and try gear.

Also, how long have you burnt them in? Many find the bass muddy and when I first got them it was for me. Even after burn in it was detailed with a better after market cable, but it still had some muddy bass. I ended up returning them. From that time I got a better amp and source and a really good after market cable and it sounds great now. I'm not suggesting you do what I did to make them shine, but I wanted to let you know my journey a bit. Now, that doesn't mean if you upgrade your gear it will sound better to your ears. I mean I have a friend that gets to try most of my gear and he can't tell the difference when listening to his K701 or DT880s through from his Ipod and my amps? YMMV. That is why a meet would help as you get to try all types of gear and see if that would make the HD650s sound the way you want them to. The downside is that you may need to hide your wallet

 

[hadouken]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I've had them for about a week now, I would say around 30-40 hours of burn-in. They do seem to be getting marginally better. You're totally right though, I dont know what a good set of HD650's sounds like and of course, whether I would even notice the difference. My last set of cans were HD555's though and the difference moving from them was massive, I am hearing sounds and details that didnt exist the music before.

I can hear singers taking breaths before singing, hihats and claps now push through the amorphous blob of sound that the HD555's presented me with. When using them, I thought they were the mutts nuts - how wrong I was. Its not enough though, I want sonic euphoria!

I would love to go to a meet but living in sunny ol' England probably restricts my opportunities somewhat. I know theres plently in the USA but with work, taking the time to fly out isn't possible.

So I'm stuck trying to improve my HD650's as much as I can, hoping I can rely on the friendly folk here to guide me a little. I still think the Keces DA-131 and Little Dot MK V are a smart option at this point, well priced and high quality. Just need someone with a similar setup to give me their opinions.

Is the Amp/source/cable you bought for your HD650's in your sig riceboy?

 

[22906]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/kec...review-264379/ After reading this mini-review, it seems like the Keces is not a good match for the Senns. He says the sound is laid back, so it probably wouldn't lift the veil. Have you thought about balanced? You could get your Senns reterminated (not recabled) to XLR, and then get something like a Benchmark DAC1 and run them from the balanced output.

 

[riceboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadouken /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the replies guys. Is the Amp/source/cable you bought for your HD650's in your sig riceboy?

Hey hadouken. I'm happy to help you out and it'll be my 1500 post

. It is the amp, source and cable in my sig for the HD650s. It is pretty pricey setup, but I didn't get there overnight. It took about 11 months almost to get to a great place with the HD650s for me.

I would look in the local meet thread and see do a search to see when the last meet in England was and who attended. Maybe they may be starting one up soon.

I don't have any experience with the Keces DA-131 and Little Dot MK V, but I hope someone could give you some help there. One last thing about your search for sonic euphoria. If you look at my profile you'll see the madness in the cans, amps and sources I had and have to find my own sonic euphoria. I've owned all that gear for at least a month to see how I liked it with the gear I had at the time and my favorite type of music. Being in Hawaii there isn't a bunch of people I know that has that type of gear and I haven't heard of a meet per say in a long time here. I'm thinking of one day starting one up, but having a kid takes up a bunch of my time, but in a good way. In regards to sonic euphoria again, I feel I'm there right now with the R10s in my setup. I couldn't be happier and everyone's dream sound is different. I hope you get to experience more gear in the future and you can see what type of sound in regards to sound stage, brand signature from the Beyer, Grado, Senn, AKG, Audio Technica, etc, different models within the brand, and what you prefer more from highs, mids, and lows in cans. I wish you the best of luck in your search and journey. I've still on the journey and having fun every step of the way

 

[blessingx]

You also have the option of 'downgrading' to the HD600/580, potentially cleaning up the bass and using the extra cash elsewhere. I can't comment on the Little Dots, but for nearly a year I used Senns with the Lavry DA10 as a DAC/balanced amp and was very happy. You can pick up stock balanced (DIY) cables from the For Sale forum pretty cheaply (I got mine for $25). There's something to be said for tubes with Senns (I liked the WooAudio 6 with mine), but I thought the balanced outputs of the Lavry compared quite well against the RSA HR2 SE, for instance, and you get a killer DAC as part of the deal.

 

[hadouken]

Ohh more responses, yay

m3_arun: Didnt see that review before, thanks for linky. I'm actually going to get the DA-131 with an opamp upgrade which will bring it inline with the DA-151 - apparently giving it a brighter more livlier sound. I've looked briefly at the DAC1's but I think they might be a bit out of my price range.

riceboy: Hey, nice to hear from you again. Especially about the sonic euphoria. Its becoming apparent that the search is a long and painful one (especially for my bank balance), I'm already beginning to think my HD650's were a poor purchase, at least for my needs anyway. I will research the kit you currently have especially the R10's. Out of curiosity; what genres do you listen to most?

I will hopefully see you in audio paradise soon

(regular paradise would be nice too, Hawaii eh).

'Grats on the 1500 mark too btw.

blessingx: I'm considering a change of cans too actually, although for other genres these HD650's are quite good, just not great for my main genres. I keep hearing about balancing my equipment, maybe I should pop on over to the For Sale forum as you suggest. I will also take a look at the WooAudio 6 which I stumbled across briefly (they seemed quite good).

Thanks guys.

 

[riceboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadouken /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ohh more responses, yay riceboy: Hey, nice to hear from you again. Especially about the sonic euphoria. Its becoming apparent that the search is a long and painful one (especially for my bank balance), I'm already beginning to think my HD650's were a poor purchase, at least for my needs anyway. I will research the kit you currently have especially the R10's. Out of curiosity; what genres do you listen to most? I will hopefully see you in audio paradise soon (regular paradise would be nice too, Hawaii eh). 'Grats on the 1500 mark too btw. Thanks guys.

Thanks hadouken for the grats. I listen to jazz, vocal jazz, alternative, adult alternative, but everyday I listen to many different things. If you ever get a chance to look at the "What are you listening to now" thread I try to post in there everyday to share what I'm listening to. I've found a lot of good music in that thread. Right now I'm listening to Pink Floyd's - Wish you Were Here

Here is what I was listening to the on 5.17.08

My tastes in music is really diverse so I pretty much listen to almost anything.

I hope you find your own audio paradise as well

. I hope your bank balance doesn't take too much of a hit