A few questions about driving my Sennheiser HD600s

[Dritzen]

A few questions:

1) I keep hearing about after-market cords and how nice they are. What ones would you suggest for the sennheiser HD600s? These are my first real headphone "investment" and I'm already starting to understand the "Sorry about your wallet" quote.

2) Are the after market cords hard to install?

3) I'm looking for an amp that I can hook up to the base of my ipod and my computers/DVD player at home (they are all in the same area). Any suggestions for a ~100 (US) amp that will drive these well? There was an amp guide on here a while ago but I can't seem to find it anymore.

4) How about a portable mini amp for powering my ipod/mini disc player/cd player while I'm on the road?

Thanks for your advice. I just got these Sennheiser's on Friday and the sound is fantastic.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dritzen A few questions: 1) I keep hearing about after-market cords and how nice they are. What ones would you suggest for the sennheiser HD600s? These are my first real headphone "investment" and I'm already starting to understand the "Sorry about your wallet" quote. 2) Are the after market cords hard to install? 3) I'm looking for an amp that I can hook up to the base of my ipod and my computers/DVD player at home (they are all in the same area). Any suggestions for a ~100 (US) amp that will drive these well? There was an amp guide on here a while ago but I can't seem to find it anymore. 4) How about a portable mini amp for powering my ipod/mini disc player/cd player while I'm on the road? Thanks for your advice. I just got these Sennheiser's on Friday and the sound is fantastic.

1) I suggest you to try them first in a meet or so and decided which you like first, now we have a lot of those cables around, and what is good for me, maybe is not for you..

2) No at all, just plug and play, the HD600 has two little plugs at the end of each cable, just pull them and insert the new ones....

I will leave 3 and 4 for others that have tried more choices of what I have done, but again it is all about preference....PPA will be a good starting point, portable or standalone....but is out of your budget, I strongly suggest you to keep on saving and get a more generous budget, for 100.00 there is not too many options, one of the Headsave maybe ????

 

[enzoferrari650]

I was just about to make a thread about amp suggestions for the HD-600 as well. I just ordered my HD-600's and should arrive in a few days. I have heard many suggestions and was about to order a Headsave Classic from Norm with AD8620 and elpac but decided I'd make a thread myself to see what other suggestions people have. I have heard that the rega ear drives the Senns very well but would it really be worth the 50-70 dollar extra over the Classics? I also got a suggestion on the MG head OTL tube amp. I am not familiar with tube amps but it looks really nice. My budget for amps is around 200 dollars and a review and/or comparison of these amps would definitely be nice. Also some other suggestions for amps around 200 dollars that would go well with the HD-600's would be nice. I am a noob to the hi-fi world so, help is needed. I cant wait till I complete my home rig so I can listen to music the way it was meant to be heard

.

 

[Sovkiller]

Well I noticed that both of you are new here, welcome aboard, and sorry about your wallets, that is not a joke, this is for sure, welcome to the world or the aftermarket cables........a suggestion why not trying the search button? Believe me, sometimes this help to answer a lot of questions we have, this thread I think that was brought here some time ago, and there is a lot of info on cables, even an sticky thread with a comaprison made by Jude of some of the old cables, we have now more, just find out, this will be a good starting point, here

 

[Geek]

The cardas is my personal favorite, given my extremely limited experience with headphone cables. Basically, experiement with them; all of the cables offer some form of improvement, with the Equinox, Cardas, Zu, and Silver Dragon creating the greatest improvement. The Meier cable is a lot cheaper and is supposed to sound great for the price. That might be an option, too.

If you have a mini amp and low-end CDP, it's best to save up for a while and then make a purchase for a great CDP / amp combo for the HD600s at the same time. Especially the source, the HD600s love eating away bad sources

The HD600 is a great phone, enjoy.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[enzoferrari650]

If I am using the Marantz Cd-63se as my source and a headsave classic as my amp. Would this make the HD-600's sound pretty good? Or what suggestions of amp do you have for me that would go well with my Marantz and HD-600's since I've already bought those and need to buy an amp. I need an amp around 200 dollars since my wallet is already......meh its too hard to go on. I think i've started to think that my pants are getting lighter and lighter by the minute.

 

[Ticky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dritzen A few questions: 1) I keep hearing about after-market cords and how nice they are. What ones would you suggest for the sennheiser HD600s? These are my first real headphone "investment" and I'm already starting to understand the "Sorry about your wallet" quote. 2) Are the after market cords hard to install?

Some member feels that aftermarket cables yields significant sonic improvements, others less so. I'm in the latter camp. That said, I do have the Cardas cable for my HD 600. Whether aftermarket cables are worth the extra bucks probably depends on your ears' sensitivity and your audio system (i.e., source, amp, interconnect, recordings).

My gut feeling is that if you are relatively new to the audio world, or - like me - simply don't have those fabled "golden audiophile ears," aftermarket cables are probably not the best investment. The same might also be true if your accompanying equipments are not exactly avant garde stuff.

That said, I do have cardas cables for my HD600. But, I must admit that - to my ears - the difference between stock and the cardas is minute and subtle. I was satisfied with the upgrade because it helped take away the HD600's slight treble glare - in my opinion, one of the HD600's biggest flaw. Thus, although the improvement was slight, I was content with the upgrade.


How difficult aftermarket cables are to install might vary from brand to brand. The cardas are easy to install. The plugs seems to fit very nicely. However, at a recent Maryland meet, I tried to fit the ZU into the HD600 and the plug didn't fit very well. It was hard to push the ZU plugs into the 600. However, the ZU seems to fit the HD650 very easily. Might be that it was just that particular cable, but I've read some thread which other members share similar sentiment of the ZU.

 

[mkmelt]

Your current sources (iPod, Computer, DVD player) are the weak link in your system. There is no point spending serious money on upgrading your HD-600 cables until your source(s) are upgraded.

As far as an amplifier, I would suggest spending no more than $100, much less actually, and pick up a second hand solid state receiver from the 70s. The Marantz 22xx receiver series is my first choice, but you might find a perfectly good Sansui, Toshiba, Pioneer, Technics, or Yamaha or other unit for under $40 and it might be all the amplifier you need for quite a while.

In order of priority, some will disagree but I find that:

1 - Source (45% *)
2 - Headphones (35%)
3 - Amplifier (15%)
4 - Interconnects (5%)

* (My estimate of the weighting in importance to the sound you should give to each of these.)

 

[Saiya-Jin]

I just ordered the 595 myself and im kinda in the same position as Dritzen where I'll be using my computer/T.V to run those headphones.
I was thinking of maybe getting an amp. for the 595 but I'm really new at this stuff and mkmelt what you're saying is it would be more worth it for to get a receiver than an Amp. ? Does the receiver provide some power to the headphones like the amp does or something ? Kinda confused here hehe. What would a receiver do exaxtly ?
And do you have any NEW receiver models to suggest ? getting a second hand might me more trouble than getting a new one hehe. What options should I like in a receiver that would be good ?

 

[mkmelt]

My suggestion had to do with Sennheiser HD-600 headphones (300 ohm) and other high impedance models such as HD-580 and HD-650, not low impedance phones such as Grado (32 ohm) (not sure about the impedance of the 595 phones). Anyway, the older receivers had headphone outputs that were powered directly from the main stereo power amplifier instead of from a separate integrated circuit chip amplifier as is the case with many of today's receivers.

In terms of power, excluding the AKG K1000 phones because these are a special case, all dynamic headphones require much less than 1 watt of power delivered to the phones for maximum output from the headphones.

The HD-580/600/650 phones require about 200 milliwatts (mw) (150 ~ 300 mw)for maximum output. For comparison, consider the power outputs of the headphone jacks of following gear when driving headphones:

Some Rio mini players : 15 mw @ 32 ohms
iPod: 30 mw @ 32 ohms
Denon 1500 CD player (older home player) 70 mw @ 32 ohms
MG Head OTL: 150 mw @ 300 ohms
Marantz 22xx receiver (1970s series receiver): more than 1 watt (~3 watts @ 300 ohms)

As you can see, the older Marantz receiver can deliver 10X the power of the MG Head. This is more than enough power to drive high impedance phones such as the HD-600.

 

[Saiya-Jin]

OK I see, and what kind of power do the newer receivers provide with that separate integrated circuit chip amplifier you're talking about ? is it still worth getting one or I might as well just get an amp ?
I think the HD-595 are 120 ohm.

 

[Dritzen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkmelt Your current sources (iPod, Computer, DVD player) are the weak link in your system. There is no point spending serious money on upgrading your HD-600 cables until your source(s) are upgraded. As far as an amplifier, I would suggest spending no more than $100, much less actually, and pick up a second hand solid state receiver from the 70s. The Marantz 22xx receiver series is my first choice, but you might find a perfectly good Sansui, Toshiba, Pioneer, Technics, or Yamaha or other unit for under $40 and it might be all the amplifier you need for quite a while. In order of priority, some will disagree but I find that: 1 - Source (45% *) 2 - Headphones (35%) 3 - Amplifier (15%) 4 - Interconnects (5%) * (My estimate of the weighting in importance to the sound you should give to each of these.)

I know my sources aren't the greatest, however, if they were hooked up to a receiver or amp, would the sound quality be refined?

 

[Edwood]

Cable intermittency is a common problem with HD580's and HD600's. Less so apparently with the 650's.

But either way it is pretty easy to fix.
Handy Guide Here

Whatever you do, don't plug and unplug the cables from the headphones if you don't need to.

HD600's cables are much easier to remove. The stock cable of the last HD650 I removed the cable from, was an absolute b*tch to remove. I fortunately have lots of fun specialized tools though. Robogrips with rubber boots for the jaws are your best friend.

-Ed

 

[NightWoundsTime]

Somebody around here has a signature that rings very true. Goes something like "For the purpose of building a system around your HD-600, treat it like a $2500 headphone".

If you had a Sony R-10, would you want to drive it with a Mint amp and portable? This isn't to say that the 600 can't sound GOOD with that setup. What we mean is that the 600 will eat up every bit of power/sound quality you feed it.

I bought my 600's back in January and don't regret a single day of my hi-fi journey since. My first post on the forum looked very much like this thread. My "budget" was $400. I bought a PPA and was perfectly happy with it until I started attending meets

Now I'm the happy owner of a Singlepower MPX3, which is WAY more amp than I ever saw myself buying. Also I now have a Sony SACD player and TWO soundcards. Is this getting scary yet? Don't let it be. Just understand that this particular headphone WILL do bad things to your wallet in the long run.

We all need to be appreciative of Sennheiser for making a truly audiophile headphone that's under $500. It just needs to come with a warning label

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dritzen 3) I'm looking for an amp that I can hook up to the base of my ipod and my computers/DVD player at home (they are all in the same area). Any suggestions for a ~100 (US) amp that will drive these well? There was an amp guide on here a while ago but I can't seem to find it anymore. 4) How about a portable mini amp for powering my ipod/mini disc player/cd player while I'm on the road? Thanks for your advice. I just got these Sennheiser's on Friday and the sound is fantastic.

The SR 71 might be just the ticvket, though not cheap at all, it could easily fit the bill for both portable and home use.