[Lickumms]

I recently bought a pair of Mr. Speakers Alpha Dog and the sound signature is not quite what I was looking for plus they weight more then I thought they would. I own a pair of HD650s and I prefer the warmness of the HD650 over the in your face precision of the Alpha Dog. Don't get me wrong the Alpha Dog are fantastic headphones just not what I was looking for. Right now I'm running them through a  Magni 2 Uber. Does my Schiit  have enough power to run them properly?
 
Would the sound of the Alpha Dog better fit my preference if I were to run them through a tube amp?
 
Should I just sell/trade them for some other closed cans?
 
I have done some research on what tube amp would probably be best for me and so far I have it down to 2 different ones.
-Bottlehead Crack with Speedball upgrade
-Schiit Lyr 2
 
As far as what headphones I should go with, that would better fit my sound preference, I have that down to 2, as well.
-Final Audio Design Pandora Hope VI
-Denon AH-D5000
 
What do you think I should do? Abandon the Alpha Dog for something new?  Get a tube Amp?
 
Is there a Amp/Headphone I should also be looking at, other than the 2 I listed(preferable something cheaper)?
 
I would love to be able to try out the 2 headphones I listed or any other headphones you guys suggest but living in the middle of nowhere makes it difficult for me test anything before I buy it.

 

[KG Jag]

Exactly and with specifics, what do seek that is different/better than you HD 650?
 
My impression is that you are probably not ready to start buying.

 

[Lickumms]

Yeah, I know I'm not ready to buy. My biggest problem is that I am very bad at describing what it is I like and dislike about my headphones. I have no idea what words to use when explaining the sounds I like and dislike.

 

[cskippy]

Lyr 2 should give you the warmth you are looking for and will have enough power too.  Rolling tubes also allows you to adjust the sound to your preferences.  I would try the Alpha Dogs with an amp first before looking at another headphone.  I like their tonal balance when run off of speaker taps on a power amp.

 

[Asr]

The Bottlehead Crack is far from an ideal amp for the Alpha Dog, you should take that off your list. While the Lyr 2 would work better (and is what MrSpeakers originally used to demo the Alpha Dog at shows with), it's likely that won't fix your complaint with the Alpha Dog.
 
I doubt you'd like the Denon D5000 if you like the HD650, they're pretty different-sounding. Plus the D5000 is out of production now.
 
One headphone you might want to try is the Oppo PM-3. I haven't heard it myself yet, so I can't say how similar it is to the HD650, but I've read some user reports on this site that say it does have a similarity.  There are a lot of user reviews of the PM-3 here that you might want to read (NZheadcase's review in particular compares it to the Alpha Dog): http://www.head-fi.org/products/oppo-pm-3/reviews
 
And Oppo has a great return policy, you can't lose much just buying it and returning it if you end up not liking it.

 

[Lickumms]

Why is the Bootlehead not a good choice?
I will check out that review.

 

[Asr]

^ The Bottlehead Crack is an OTL amp, and OTL amps are generally much better suited for driving high-impedance headphones (specifically, 300 Ohms or higher, like your HD650) than other types of amps. It would not be capable of adequately driving the Alpha Dog, which is a modified Fostex T50rp, a 50 Ohm headphone.

 

[inthere]

Yeah but Alpha Dog's impedance is actually about 98 ohms I think, which is a weird number. I wouldn't say it's really hard to drive but it *is* difficult to get to a level someone would consider "loud", if they like high listening levels.