[danmagicman7]

Hey folks, I've been lurking around the past couple days to try to settle my Sennheiser HD 595/580 buy.

My home theater setup:

Axiom M22's - mains
Axiom VP100 - center
Axiom QS4's - surrounds
HSU STF-2 - subwoofer

Yamaha RX-V557 receiver

Yamaha receiver is connected directly to my computer via SPDI/F connection. All my music is encoded in .ape lossless. My speakers handle music effortlessly. They tend to be a little "forward" which I like.

This is how my amp is going to work: plugging it into my reciever.

The receiver does all the hard work in decoding the digital signal, so why buy an amp to do that already. If anything, in the future I would use the preouts on my reciever for the headphone amp. Also, my reciever has plenty of handy sound field programs for headphones and surround decoding, so I'm using that.

So, here is the deal: from what I have read here on the forums, I've heard the skinny on the 580's. They need to be amped. My biggest question is: does a reciever that has 150 mV/100Ω of phones output enough for the 580's?

If it is not, the answer is easy, I'll get the 595's. But, for the sake of argument, lets say you audio experts say that kind of output would be OK for the 580's.

This means, the 580's and 595's would be on a level playing field for duking out in a fair headphone-a-headphone matchup.

I like rock music. It sways in that genre to some alternative musical stuff, to some rap, and some stuff that I just love listening to the vocals. Never really touched classical in a while. I plan to do that...eventually.

Then here comes the hailstorm of conflicting views. There have been people that say that they embrace the 580's over the 595's because they are more detailed and whatnot, but I have read from many reviews that the 595's are much more forward in their presentation. Hmm.

I have also heard both sides of the coin on bass. I've read that you really have to crank the 580's to get a good dosage of bass, others disagree. Some say that the 595's are really the best for rock BECAUSE of their bass, but others say they are to "polite" on the bass.

Then there are those with both the 580's and the 595's and split the hair with them, some in one little camp, some in another little camp. However, the people who have sold off the 595's have done so because they like the 580/600/650 sound and think they are vastly superior as such. I've also heard that people think that the 595's have an odd sonic signature.

I thought I would find some great comparisons in the "rate your headphones" thread...alas, bah. Some people said that the 580's were only better than the 595's with an upgraded cable, but without were so so, some said that they like them with any kind of cable...so forth and so on.

Ahh!

Hi! My name is Dan. And I'm confused.

Please help me .

 

[kaushama]

Hi I embraced HD580 over HD595 after doing so much reading! I listened to the two too. Though HD595 is forward compared to HD580 it is not as forward as GRADO line reputed to be! It still has bit of Senn house veil, I would say! If you listen to ROCK primarily you should look towards grado kind of cans.
To me HD 595 has flat bass response, without a mid-bass hump HD580 having. HD580 is more capable of bringing out more detail and suitable for more analytical listening. You can remove the veil by modding HD80! All you have to do is remove the foam layer over the drivers.
I am burning out my new HD580 with my AUDIGY2 ZS line out. It can drive HD580 without any problem and yet the SQ is far better than HD497, I used earlier. But I am sure it will show its capabilities more when it is combined with an amp.
You need not to throw K s of money to bring out best out of 650 line. I am pretty sure a sub 100$ amp like XENOS 0HA REP, GO-VIBE 5 or even LITTLE DOT MICRO+ will bring out almost 95% out of HD580. People throw thousands of dollars to achieve rest of the 5% by getting expensive gear. IMHO it is a disease you find very difficult to prevent when you are into this hobby!

 

[danmagicman7]

From what I hear of what others say...you must be missing out on a lot of what the 580 has to offer. It's good to hear it will actually work from a line out of a sound card.

My question is, with my situation should I even be considering the 580? Is the reciever phones jack considered an amp.

 

[J Tran]

Quote:

Originally Posted by danmagicman7 Is the reciever phones jack considered an amp.

I also wonder the same thing...

I'm running my HD-580s out of my reciever. But I'm guessing that it's stronger than an amp... Size alone, if there is no amp in there... thats just wrong.

Oh yeah, I have nothing to compare to the HD-580s, and I'm still pretty newbish, sorry!

 

[danmagicman7]

Bump.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by danmagicman7 From what I hear of what others say...you must be missing out on a lot of what the 580 has to offer. It's good to hear it will actually work from a line out of a sound card. My question is, with my situation should I even be considering the 580? Is the reciever phones jack considered an amp.

I would assume yes, since it's driving the phones...Most recivers do a bad job of amping phones..Headphone jacks are usually just add ons, an after thought..I had a 60.00 headphone amp that blew away my 1,000 recievers jack out put..

 

[maarek99]

HD580 runs very nicely with receiver headphone jacks. I'd say go with it.

 

[LTUCCI1924]

I run my 650 out of my 500 watt stereo receiver headphone jack and the 650 sounds great with all my stuff.

 

[OpTicaL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by danmagicman7 ...They need to be amped. My biggest question is: does a reciever that has 150 mV/100Ω of phones output enough for the 580's?

Regardless of what other's say, I feel the 595s need to be amped to sound it's best. I believe your reciever has more than enough power to pump the 580's.

I own a Pioneer VSX-84TXSi reciever and I can't crank the volume higher than 4 on the knob anything higher and I get disortion. When I adjust the bass 3 bars up (half way) on the EQ my 595's start vibrating and won't stick to my ears.

The manual doesn't say how much juice is being pumped when I connect a headphone, all I can find is this: 140 Watts x 7 (20Hz 20kHz, 8 ohms, .09% THD FTC).

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice I would assume yes, since it's driving the phones...Most recivers do a bad job of amping phones..Headphone jacks are usually just add ons, an after thought..I had a 60.00 headphone amp that blew away my 1,000 recievers jack out put..

As with all complicated matters, it entirely depends on the context.

Please don't buy the gospel TRUTH that dedicated headphone amps are THE BEST THING EVER IN LIFE.

In your specific case, you must've had a really crappy sounding headphone out, or else, receiver itself.

Because my lowly Pioneer A-209R drives my HD650 clearly better than the majority of headphone amps that I've come across. Only my latest acquisitions, & only after some due modifications, have succeeded in beating it.

 

[3lusiv3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea Please don't buy the gospel TRUTH that dedicated headphone amps are THE BEST THING EVER IN LIFE. In your specific case, you must've had a really crappy sounding headphone out, or else, receiver itself. Because my lowly Pioneer A-209R drives my HD650 clearly better than the majority of headphone amps that I've come across. Only my latest acquisitions, & only after some due modifications, have succeeded in beating it.

I agree. Some receivers do a great job at driving headphones.

 

[Wid]

I know my Rotel RC 1070 preamp does a great job running my Grado 325's. I also have a real cheap Sherwood reciever that does a fair job in the headphone department. I wouldn't discount how well a receiver can do until you have tried it.

 

[leng jai]

Aren't Grados relatively easy to drive anyway?

 

[Wid]

Yes they are but I also had a pair of Senn HD 570s that are not so easy to drive and the Rotel did a fine job there too. The 595's are not so difficult to drive either being a 50 ohm set of hp's.

 

[3lusiv3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leng jai Aren't Grados relatively easy to drive anyway?

Yeah, that's what they say.