[robert_cyrus]

hi. after browsing through here a lot, there seem 2 b a few contenders for amp to partner with the senn 580's.
i'm in the uk and i believe can only audition the x-can's and the creek. ones i can't are the mg head and the headroom little. (these i'll have 2 import from the US - i think - and cross my fingers). bought the senn's a couple of weeks back, and have been listening to these more than my speakers (source + amps + speakers comes to over £5000, so this is kind of surprising me! - but i am being more neighbour-considerate!)

system - source is cyrus dad3q24 cd player, via chord chorus i/c into cyrus av5 processor, then from tape out, via either a/q ruby or qed qnect 4s i/c (both currently going spare, but may swap 4 vdh db102 from 2nd system) into ??headphone amp?? and finally into 580's

considerations - not into jazz, classical rarely, which seems to rule out the x-cans. the creek, from what people have posted here, is better for rock and pop, with a deeper bass than the MF can muster. mg-head - is this a switch on and go? or do the tubes take a while to warm up? (i believe the latter). i'm more an 'on/off' kind of listener in the evenings (flicking between music and then a bit of tv, or whatever), rather than a long session - but then if the amp/580's are doing something really special, this may change. tend to do long sessions during the day on weekends, so it's speakers then - phones will be for late evening.

leading contender so far - would seem to be the creek, possibly the SE, as it would seem to be an improvement on its sibling. and, of course, my local hifi dealer is a creek dealer (and MF too), so i can listen b 4 i buy.

any recommendations / advice ?
thanks

 

[roll-man]

should've waited a couple weeks and bought the porta-corda + HD580 "sales action" package from Jan Meier that has been all over this board lately. You can read all about it here .

Jan put together an aggressive deal that provides for a very good price for the 580's. He started shipping the first orders (27, I believe) last week and they're starting to arrive. It looks like a winning combo. Of course the porta-corda is a battery powered solid-state portable rig. Is portability a benefit?

 

[robert_cyrus]

thanks 4 the reply. i read about the porta-corda + 580s offer, but had already bought the 580s new for £68 (97 US $). portability isn't really important - just looking 4 a "home" amp.

 

[kwkarth]

FYI:
Differences between 11 and the 11SE;

1. The SE is more open, better octave to octave balance.
2. The SE has better signal to noise ratio and lower distortion than the 11, although not obvious.
3. The SE is a discrete Class-A design, while the 11 is an OP-Amp based Class-AB design
4. The SE does not exhibit the very slight bass and treble accentuation that the 11 has.
5. The SE has less grain, more "black" between instruments.
6. The SE holds up better with massed instruments. The instruments all maintain their respective places rather than the tendency to collapse together in a montage of sound.
7. The SE with its dual impedance outputs interfaces better with a wider variety of cans. The HD-580/600 in particular sound better in the SE than in the 11.
8. The SE comes standard with the OBH-2 power supply, which is much better than what comes with the standard 11. I believe it is a $100 option with he standard 11.

That's about all that comes to mind.
Cheers!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

>>i read about the porta-corda + 580s offer, but had already bought the 580s new for £68 (97 US $).

How the heck did you get a HD580 for that price??

 

[bootman]

The creek is a very nice amp but if you are going to stick with the 580s then the x-cans will give you that hi-fi magic.

Now mind you, this only happens with the 580/600s, with any other cans (sony cd1700 is the exception so far but not as magical as the 580s) the x-cans might not be the ideal choice.

 

[robert_cyrus]

most hifi shops in the uk now sell the 580's for £99 (141 US $). i found a web-based mail order site (empiredirect.co.uk) doing them for £60 + £8 postage. one week later (and this price is still current) they increased the price by £10 to £70 (that's a total of 111 US $ including postage to the UK)

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Now can somebody tell me how Sennheiser can afford to sell their near top-line phones for so cheap when headphones and microphones are about all they sell while Sony can sell their CD3000 at 4x the price when they sell everything from phones to discmans to cars'*??

*em, cars' radios?

 

[bootman]

They only go that low in Europe.

Here in the states they still go for 2x that much!
Go figure.

 

[kwkarth]

I guess PT Barnum had the answer to that question! I bought a pair of CD-3000s so I can talk!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Can I order from there and have it shipped to Hong Kong?

 

[raymondlin]

www.richersounds.co.uk has the HD600 for £99/$130, I don't think anywhere else in the world can sell them cheaper! If they could, they'll beat it by £10! the only problem is that they hardly ever get them in stock, may be because people buy them up 5 at a time!

 

[dngl]

DarkAngel said the Corda HA-1 beats the obh-11se.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Heh, perhaps I can save some money and just buy the Porta Corda and think about getting the HD580/600 later

But I am in Hong Kong

 

[fjhuerta]

There is one thing my X-Cans are good for: powering my HD-580s.

The combo is *incredible*. The HD.580s tame the powerful high-end of the X-Cans. The X-Cans bring the entire presentation forward, eliminating the "laid-backness" HD-580s are associated with. It's a marriage made in heaven.