[perseffect]

Folks. Looking for some pragmatic advice on how best to pair my HD650s at home on a limited budget (£120 ideal, £200 possible, £300-£400 not likely in anything other than long term).

Originally I tried these at the same time as HD600 and HD598s and clearly chose the HD650s as the had a certain punch and excitement that the others didn’t quite have.

When I did this test, I was using a Fiio X5ii and A5 amp. I no longer have this setup.

I now have an Oppo HA2-SE plugged into my MacBook playing ALAC files. No separate Amp. Although it powers the HD650s, it feels (to my recollection) that the energy and excitement is gone from before.

I chose to use the Oppo over the X5ii and A5 as most of my listening is at work where I use the Oppo with my iPhone and RDA MA750s. I fear that although this works really (and I mean really) well for portable listening, I’ve disadvantaged my occasional HD650 listening at home.

After research, my options seem to be (in order of preference and with budget constraints):
- Buy an A5 and pair it with the Oppo DAC to see if the extra ooompphh helps (150mW v 30mW at 300ohms)
- Buy a Little Dot mkii (Might be able to afford the Mkiii at a stretch) and pair with Oppo DAC
- Buy a Schiit Magni/Modi combo (just keep Oppo for portable use)
- Buy a Schiit Valhalla Amp and pair with Oppo DAC (starting to get into the possibly too expensive realm)
- Sell the HD650s and simply listen at home using my MA750s (not preferred but an option)
- Buy a Bottlehead Crack with Speedball and pair with Oppo. I know this is a guaranteed winner as an Amp but the cost is probably just too prohibitive at this time (although I could save up).

I have various musical tastes from Rock to Classical (mostly soundtracks). I’m no audiophile, I just want to enjoy my music.

Any help and guidance would be appreciated. Thanks all.

 

[JamieMcC]

Hi isn't it great to have so many choices.

I would suggest registering on the Bottlehead forum and wait for them to run a promotion on the Crack if that's the direction you wish to go however please do take a look at the Bottlehead Sex amp its the sleeper in the Bottlehead pack and on promotion you can often pick it up for close to the same price as the Crack its performances is at a significantly higher level than the Cracks.

I have built around a dozen Cracks including hot rodded ones with big film caps, power supply chokes, stepped attenuators and premium tubes. A maxed out Crack with premium tubes might easily cost over £600 and does sound amazing. However even at this level its still not going to give you the resolution and amazing soundstage that the Sex is capable of. Getting sucked into tube rolling with the Crack can also get expensive very quickly so be warned!

The Sex is also a very versatile amp and will pretty much drive any normal headphone with ease bar difficult to drive cans like the HE-6 and K1000 its also makes an amazing speaker amp.

I expect you have read the Crack review in the link below but would recommend reading both the Sex and Mainline reviews and their comparison summary after the Mainline review. Loquah reviews I find are spot on from my own experiences with all three amps. I still have my Sex and Mainline ...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bot...-comparison-thread-crack-sex-mainline.683012/

 

[perseffect]

Thanks for the info. The Crack (and other) options are intriguing. Especially the tip to sign up for special deals, I didn’t know they did that. Thank you.

 

[JamieMcC]

Hi normally promotions range between 10-15% and on occasions 20% off these happen every few months we could probably see something in March (March Madness has happened a few years in a row now)) In January there was 20% off the Mainline. I think if I remember correctly on occasion I have seen the Speedball upgrade kit bundled in for the basic Crack price the Speedball kit is more normally $125 extra which is a nice saving.

The Bottlehead forum is a nice helpful community if you get stuck on the build of need any help advice you will be quickly responded to by the Bottlehead team normally that means PB the Cracks designer!

Building your own amp can be a very satisfying especially when they sound so good.

 

[perseffect]

If I did go with a Bottlehead, is there any reason not to feed it through the Oppo DAC first? I can't think of one but just checking. thanks

 

[JamieMcC]

Should be fine, If you have registered on the Bottlehead forum you could ask the question there you should get a definite answer from the BH guys.

 

[Renato Fury]

I think you should start with the Schiit stack, Magni 3 and Mimby, I'm sure that will meet your requirements, then you could get the Crack they claim to have a magic pairing with the HD 650, but since the budget is limited so that's my vote, Schiit stack.

 

[JamieMcC]

fwiw I used a Marantz NA7004 for a couple of years with my HD650's (still have the NA7004 as a bedroom rig) it has a very nice dac section and the hd650's when I had them sounded pretty good out of it. Used ones regularly go for around the £200 mark here in the UK (it was £699 here in the UK when it first came out and the dac section was said to be out of the £2500 Marantz KI Pearl an anniversary reference cd player which was heavily tweaked by Ken Ishiwata) it does a bunch of other stuff as well if you connect it (ethernet cable) to your internet you can stream via airplay from a iPhone/ipad, internet radio, usb in from phone/ipad plus charging on the front etc. Also has a remote which is handy. It had some issues when it first came out which didn't do it any favours with the reviewers but these have long since been resolved by firmware updates.

Easy to find and sell on for little risk its a nice bit of kit. A good stop gap option maybe.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/marantz-na7004-why-isnt-it-popular.670586/

 

[Renato Fury]

@perseffect There are two more amp/dac in your price range that you could consider, NFB 11.28 and R2R 11, both from Audio-GD.

Both have the same construction.

 

[perseffect]

fwiw I used a Marantz NA7004 for a couple of years with my HD650's (still have the NA7004 as a bedroom rig) it has a very nice dac section and the hd650's when I had them sounded pretty good out of it. Used ones regularly go for around the £200 mark here in the UK (it was £699 here in the UK when it first came out and the dac section was said to be out of the £2500 Marantz KI Pearl an anniversary reference cd player which was heavily tweaked by Ken Ishiwata) it does a bunch of other stuff as well if you connect it (ethernet cable) to your internet you can stream via airplay from a iPhone/ipad, internet radio, usb in from phone/ipad plus charging on the front etc. Also has a remote which is handy. It had some issues when it first came out which didn't do it any favours with the reviewers but these have long since been resolved by firmware updates.

Easy to find and sell on for little risk its a nice bit of kit. A good stop gap option maybe.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/marantz-na7004-why-isnt-it-popular.670586/

Thanks for the idea. I took a quick look and it reminds me of my separates days. Never could afford Marantz at the time.

There one on eBay at the moment so might give this a go thanks.

 

[JamieMcC]

Once you start digging around its interesting what turns up and while its not suitable for the Crack more for low Z phones I have a Leema Acoustics Elements dac the current new price is £1300 and its a pretty amazing dac (I have tried a number of NOS, R2R and Sabre chip based ones, fwiw I preferred the NA7004 dac to nearly all of them) The Leema has a headphone out which sounds good with low z cans I often use my Oppo pm3 with it the best bit is they regularly go for around £400 or less on ebay which gets you a proper high end dac that s perfectly capable with many of todays low Z headphones.

You could also keep an eye out for the NJC Audio monitor headphone amplifier its made down in Cornwall never heard one myself but I have dealt with Nick (I think it was) who makes them he made me a bunch of interconnects a few years back that were very nice quality he was super to deal with. He uses high quality parts like mill spec Vishay Dale RN series low noise resistors, clarity cap film capacitors in the out put section, Alps volume pots these are all very nice parts which you will rarely find in mass produced amps. What you will see on the forums is a lot of folk who buy Cracks, Dark voices, little dots etc upgrading their amps with these very same items.

I have seen them sell used for £200-£250 and have been very tempted to try it myself.

http://www.njc-audio.co.uk/

 

[perseffect]

Once you start digging around its interesting what turns up and while its not suitable for the Crack more for low Z phones I have a Leema Acoustics Elements dac the current new price is £1300 and its a pretty amazing dac (I have tried a number of NOS, R2R and Sabre chip based ones, fwiw I preferred the NA7004 dac to nearly all of them) The Leema has a headphone out which sounds good with low z cans I often use my Oppo pm3 with it the best bit is they regularly go for around £400 or less on ebay which gets you a proper high end dac that s perfectly capable with many of todays low Z headphones.

You could also keep an eye out for the NJC Audio monitor headphone amplifier its made down in Cornwall never heard one myself but I have dealt with Nick (I think it was) who makes them he made me a bunch of interconnects a few years back that were very nice quality he was super to deal with. He uses high quality parts like mill spec Vishay Dale RN series low noise resistors, clarity cap film capacitors in the out put section, Alps volume pots these are all very nice parts which you will rarely find in mass produced amps. What you will see on the forums is a lot of folk who buy Cracks, Dark voices, little dots etc upgrading their amps with these very same items.

I have seen them sell used for £200-£250 and have been very tempted to try it myself.

http://www.njc-audio.co.uk/

Would be great to buy local UK if possible. I’ll have a look into NJC also. Thanks

 

[perseffect]

fwiw I used a Marantz NA7004 for a couple of years with my HD650's (still have the NA7004 as a bedroom rig) it has a very nice dac section and the hd650's when I had them sounded pretty good out of it. Used ones regularly go for around the £200 mark here in the UK (it was £699 here in the UK when it first came out and the dac section was said to be out of the £2500 Marantz KI Pearl an anniversary reference cd player which was heavily tweaked by Ken Ishiwata) it does a bunch of other stuff as well if you connect it (ethernet cable) to your internet you can stream via airplay from a iPhone/ipad, internet radio, usb in from phone/ipad plus charging on the front etc. Also has a remote which is handy. It had some issues when it first came out which didn't do it any favours with the reviewers but these have long since been resolved by firmware updates.

Easy to find and sell on for little risk its a nice bit of kit. A good stop gap option maybe.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/marantz-na7004-why-isnt-it-popular.670586/

So I looked at NJC gear and that’s definitely what I’d like to get in the future.

For now, is spotted a NA7004 on eBay and bought to today. Really looking forward to trying it next week when it arrives. Hoping it will make my HD650s shine.

Thanks for your help.

 

[JamieMcC]

Congrats the nice thing with buying used kit especially if you get a good deal is you can easily trade it on and try something else recouping most of or if your lucky all of the original outlay.

Let us know how you get on with it.

 

[ostewart]

@perseffect There are two more amp/dac in your price range that you could consider, NFB 11.28 and R2R 11, both from Audio-GD.

Both have the same construction.

As quoted in another thread, have you finally bought one of these, or are you again recommending things you have never heard...