[psychoplast]

Hi everyone,
 
I just caved in and bought a HE-500, and am super stoked for it to arrive in the mail. Upgrading from an ATH-AD900x /FiiO E17 dacamp. I was looking around for possible amping for my new cans to do them justice. So far I have seen many recommendations for the Emotiva a-100 Mini-X but one of the caveats is the background noise it apparently produces, which might be somewhat bothersome. I am also looking at possibly a magni/modi combo. My price range is $200 max as of now. Any input/suggestions? Thanks!

 

[daerron]

Check the HE-500 owners thread if you need assistance. For your price class I'd definitely recommend the Emotiva Mini-X. From all the budget amps I've used so far it is by far the best sounding and has great synergy. If you need a dedicated headphone amplifier I'd have a look at the Matrix M-stage HPA-2 with integrated DAC.

 

[psychoplast]

  Check the HE-500 owners thread if you need assistance. For your price class I'd definitely recommend the Emotiva Mini-X. From all the budget amps I've used so far it is by far the best sounding and has great synergy. If you need a dedicated headphone amplifier I'd have a look at the Matrix M-stage HPA-2 with integrated DAC.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have no experience with speaker amps, and im not sure if im comfortable with putting in resistors to get rid of the background noise...might have to look for a dedicated headphone amp. 

 

[daerron]

I'm not hearing any background noise with my Emotiva and I'm not using resistors so I often suspect the guys having problems with this either have faulty amps or my hearing is not sensitive enough to really pick it up. It seems like Emotiva do have some QC issues at times which could make it a bit of a lottery, but they do offer pretty good support. Channel imbalance can be more of an issue as you have to play with the volume pot around 9-10 o'clock.

 

[psychoplast]

Guess ill pick up an emotiva and see how i like it! I hope i get the cabling figured out though. 

 

[antikryst]

I bought the he500. I can say it works well enough with the magni and modi. And I found it crap for the e17.

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