[Exophaze]

First of all hello Head-fi, somewhat new as a member despite having known of this site for years. I mostly come here for comparisons and people's reviews and that's worked out so far... until now!
 
Now on to business. I've been fine with an HE-500 for months and have driven them off an Emotiva mini speaker amp. Besides the mini I own a Matrix M-Stage amp which I use with everything else( ATH-M50, HD650, AKG Q701).
 
I just recently got my hands on a few more headphones, namely the Fostex TH900, Beyer T1, and Senn HD800. I've been playing the first two through the Matrix and haven't really felt anything amiss unless someone can prove me wrong. Haven't tried the HD 800 yet since they'll be coming in later next week.
 
Here's the question:
Am I doing a disservice to these headphones by using a budget amp? If so, would using proper interconnects/cables for the T1 and HD800 and use them with the Emotiva be a good idea? Or would I need a new amp to bring out every ounce of performance from them?
 
Thanks for reading!

 

[Armament]

The HD800s are very picky with amps from what I hear. If you want to go cheap, a Woo Audio Firefly should match really well with the HD800s or Sennheisers own HDVD600 amp. The other two headphones shouldn't be as picky and should run fine.

 

[jodgey4]

The Emotiva will probably have too high of a noise floor for the Fostex, maybe the two others as well. The M-Stage seems to be versatile enough... you won't know how much you like the pairings until you try. The HD800's are probably indeed the most picky... I'd check related HD800 threads for ideas on amps to use. There should be plenty of great options for you, you certainly don't need to spend Firefly amounts of money! A Schiit Vali could be a great amp for a long time... the money is best spent on headphones, or a DAC if you don't have one already.

 

[Exophaze]

Quote:

The HD800s are very picky with amps from what I hear. If you want to go cheap, a Woo Audio Firefly should match really well with the HD800s or Sennheisers own HDVD600 amp. The other two headphones shouldn't be as picky and should run fine.

Yeah the HD 800s seem to be the most troublesome or at least from what I've heard about it's amping requirements. I'll see how it goes with my Matrix and Emotiva and then decide whether I really need the Firefly or something of its scale.

  The Emotiva will probably have too high of a noise floor for the Fostex, maybe the two others as well. The M-Stage seems to be versatile enough... you won't know how much you like the pairings until you try. The HD800's are probably indeed the most picky... I'd check related HD800 threads for ideas on amps to use. There should be plenty of great options for you, you certainly don't need to spend Firefly amounts of money! A Schiit Vali could be a great amp for a long time... the money is best spent on headphones, or a DAC if you don't have one already.

I agree about the money being better spent on headphones, hence the fact I never upgraded past the Matrix. The Emotiva was just there for planars and speakers I use anyways. I'll decide further once I've spent some time with each headphone.

 

[Armament]

Sorry for recommending you the expensive amps . It's just that I was pretty much in your same shoes and nobody was recommending anything cheap..

 

[jodgey4]

Sorry for recommending you the expensive amps . It's just that I was pretty much in your same shoes and nobody was recommending anything cheap..

Welcome to Head-fi .

 

[Exophaze]

Welcome to Head-fi

.

I registered knowing what I was getting myself into

 

  Sorry for recommending you the expensive amps . It's just that I was pretty much in your same shoes and nobody was recommending anything cheap..

It's all good, your comment reminded me I liked the warmness of tubes( Maverick D2 Tube Out), especially with the TH900 so investing in a tube amp if not just for the cosmetics but hopefully a better sound would be a great idea.

 

[Armament]

  I registered knowing what I was getting myself into

 
It's all good, your comment reminded me I liked the warmness of tubes( Maverick D2 Tube Out), especially with the TH900 so investing in a tube amp if not just for the cosmetics but hopefully a better sound would be a great idea.

Yeah, basically the tube warmness is supposed to alleviate the HD-800s brightness while keeping most of the detail. It's the amp I plan on getting once I get my HD-800s. Or maybe the WA22 since I hear nothing but excellent reviews from that.

 

[Exophaze]

  Yeah, basically the tube warmness is supposed to alleviate the HD-800s brightness while keeping most of the detail. It's the amp I plan on getting once I get my HD-800s. Or maybe the WA22 since I hear nothing but excellent reviews from that.

I'm actually interested in hearing the HD 800 with my Emotiva. I've heard terrible responses about their synergy but I'm hopeful my D2's tube out along with the Emotiva's power will prove different. If it works out then money will go towards an Audeze. If not... then I'll be shopping for a tube amp as well

 

 

[Armament]

  I'm actually interested in hearing the HD 800 with my Emotiva. I've heard terrible responses about their synergy but I'm hopeful my D2's tube out along with the Emotiva's power will prove different. If it works out then money will go towards an Audeze. If not... then I'll be shopping for a tube amp as well

 

Which Emotiva is it by the way?

 

[Exophaze]

It's the Emotiva Mini-X A-100

 

[Armament]

  It's the Emotiva Mini-X A-100

Ah okay. I have a Schiit Mjolnir amp and a (soon) exD DAC. Haven't heard the DAC yet though, should be here on Monday. My setup has been an LCD-2.2, Beyerdynamic T1, Schiit Mjolnir, and a Schiit Bifrost DAC. Got rid of the Bifrost because it was kind of bright even with the supposedly dark headphones. Bought some LCD-XCs as a small upgrade and should have those in a week or so. I'm pretty excited to hear the new rig. Funny thing is, I only started this hobby like 2 months ago and have spent a pretty good amount of money..

 

[Armament]

The Bifrost had basically zero bass as well. I know this because I used my computers DAC and the LCDs sounded much better  in that department for some reason.

 

[Exophaze]

  The Bifrost had basically zero bass as well. I know this because I used my computers DAC and the LCDs sounded much better  in that department for some reason.

Less money and better sound? Sounds like a dream!

All jokes aside, I've been pretty happy with the Maverick D2 as a DAC. It doesn't have any fancy DSD playback at 32bit or whatever but it gives me the choice of whether I just want to lay back and enjoy the music with some tubes or have an engaging experience with the solid-state out.
 
Btw,I'm quite interested in your future impressions of the LCD-XC since I've been wanting to try an Audeze for a while now though not sure whether to get an open or closed back one.

 

[Armament]

Yup yup, no problem. I expect it to be a pretty significant upgrade, with my LCD-2.2s not being fazored. I'm not going to get my hopes up though! I mostly wanted it for being a closed headphone. I'm a noob so I can't give you extremely detailed impressions but I will try my best. Based on what I've read on pages and pages of reviews.. the LCD-X has the best soundstage and is closer to a reference headphone like the HD-800s. The LCD-3F is supposed to be a more colored  fun sounding headphone with the highest quality bass you can get. I read all of the LCD-XC impressions but there was little comparisons with other headphones.