[BournePerfect]

  Is the Levi still rumoured to be $6.5k+?

 
 

   
Levi.... *drools*
How much did you pay for that?

 
 
Yes-it'll be roughly 6.5kwith tubes when all is said and done. I'd highly recommend emailing Craig about his 2A3x4 if you were interested in the Leviathan. Cheaper, no Tangos, different power supply-but should be similar overall. It's basically his offshoot product from the Levi project.
 
-Daniel

 

[preproman]

May I know what is the respective amplifier in your opinion that works best for Hd800 and LCDs and what better amplifier did you find not scaling those two cans? I do appreciate some real examples to understand your point.

 
Again.  Headphones amps does nothing for the HE-6 IMO..  While, there are a few good headphones amps the HD800 / LCD-3 will sound great on and pretty much reach their limits.  
 
The HD800s on my F1J does not sound great at all (I wish it did) while the same speaker amp makes the HE-6 sound the best I've heard "that I can afford".  That's just one amp.  I've had many speaker amps in house that I've gotten the same results from.  The HE800s will not scale when more quality power is put in front of them.  They don't really need to IMO.  However, the HE-6 does.

 

[Saraugie]

   
 
 
 
Yes-it'll be roughly 6.5kwith tubes when all is said and done. I'd highly recommend emailing Craig about his 2A3x4 if you were interested in the Leviathan. Cheaper, no Tangos, different power supply-but should be similar overall. It's basically his offshoot product from the Levi project.
 
-Daniel

 
Please give the link to the Levi product page.

 

[Solude]

  The HD800s on my F1J does not sound great at all (I wish it did) while the same speaker amp makes the HE-6 sound the best I've heard "that I can afford".

 
To be fair that's more a function of how the F1J works.  The load needs to be much smaller than the output impedance, think dampening in reverse.  The orthos are already borderline given the F1J is 80ohm output built for 8ohm load.  Other current drive amps play it real safe and have output impedance in the megaohm range.

 

[BournePerfect]

   
Please give the link to the Levi product page.

 
PM'd to avoid OT.
 
-Daniel

 

[Saraugie]

   
PM'd to avoid OT.
 
-Daniel

 
Got it thanks.

 

[froger]

   
Again.  Headphones amps does nothing for the HE-6 IMO..  While, there are a few good headphones amps the HD800 / LCD-3 will sound great on and pretty much reach their limits.  
 
The HD800s on my F1J does not sound great at all (I wish it did) while the same speaker amp makes the HE-6 sound the best I've heard "that I can afford".  That's just one amp.  I've had many speaker amps in house that I've gotten the same results from.  The HE800s will not scale when more quality power is put in front of them.  They don't really need to IMO.  However, the HE-6 does.

 
As you have mentioned yourself that HD800 does not need that high qualtity power, then isn't your argument of it not being able to scale higher compared to HE-6 on higher quality speakers amplifier flawed at best? I mean if I want to make a pair of headphones scale higher, I will find one that specifically drive it better. The same argument can be said for HE-6, if I go from a O2 amp to Woo WA2 on the HD800, the HD800 will probably scale much higher compared to HE-6 on the same sets of amplifiers, does that mean I can conclude HE-6 does not scale as high as HD800? Sorry, I just thought that I need to understand and clarify where you are coming from when you said that "HD800 and LCD-3 do not scale as high as HE-6." to put everything in perspective.

 

[preproman]

   
To be fair that's more a function of how the F1J works.  The load needs to be much smaller than the output impedance, think dampening in reverse.  The orthos are already borderline given the F1J is 80ohm output built for 8ohm load.  Other current drive amps play it real safe and have output impedance in the megaohm range.

 
That's just one example.  The HD800s didn't sound half as good on any speaker amps the HE-6 sound good on.

 

[MacedonianHero]

   
That's just one example.  The HD800s didn't sound half as good on any speaker amps the HE-6 sound good on.

 
Apples vs. oranges here. The HE-6s don't sound half as good on proper headphone amps either. 

 

[preproman]

   
As you have mentioned yourself that HD800 does not need that high qualtity power, then isn't your argument of it not being able to scale higher compared to HE-6 on higher quality speakers amplifier flawed at best? I mean if I want to make a pair of headphones scale higher, I will find one that specifically drive it better. The same argument can be said for HE-6, if I go from a O2 amp to Woo WA2 on the HD800, the HD800 will probably scale much higher compared to HE-6 on the same sets of amplifiers, does that mean I can conclude HE-6 does not scale as high as HD800? Sorry, I just thought that I need to understand and clarify where you are coming from when you said that "HD800 and LCD-3 do not scale as high as HE-6." to put everything in perspective.

 
Flawed at best?  No.  Not at all not from my point of view.  
 
Simply put the HD800 can not keep up with the HE-6 as the amplification goes up.  Simple as that.  If you can't understand that.  I suggest you get some hands on experience on this subject, then come back and report your findings.
 
"I mean if I want to make a pair of headphones scale higher, I will find one that specifically drive it better"
As I said.  From what I've owned, borrowed and auditioned.   So go-ahead and find one that does.  Please report back.
 
"The same argument can be said for HE-6, if I go from a O2 amp to Woo WA2 on the HD800, the HD800 will probably scale much higher compared to HE-6 on the same sets of amplifiers,"
No, just no.sorry bad analogy.  You said probably

     The HE-6 will continue to have the higher celling.

 

[kkcc]

I think I also find it hard to understand the scaling concept. It wuld absolutely mean nothing if we are not comparing the absolute performance of these pairings but it may not be possible.

I may be able to agree with "scaling" IF say we can have an absolute performance scale and the HE6 score 100/100 when paired with the best speaker amp for it vs the hd800/lcd3 score only 80/100 when paired with the best headphone amp for them respectively. But in reality this isn't really easy or possible to score them in absolute.

However, I actually prefers headphones that can achieve better absolute performance with "lesser" upstream gears. For example if I can achieve the same 80/100 performance for lcd3 with a 1k amp vs 90/1000 for hd800 with a 5k amp, of course I prefer the lcd3.

At the end of the day these "absolute" performance isn't really quantifiable and it really just come down to preference and priorities. E.g. if I am an amp enthusiast I may actually like a more challenging to pair headphone just for the sake of the pleasure it gave me to try different amps.....

 

[preproman]

   
Apples vs. oranges here. The HE-6s don't sound half as good on proper headphone amps either. 

 
That's my point.  As I said a few times now.  Headphone amps does nothng for the HE-6..

 

[MacedonianHero]

   
That's my point.  As I said a few times now.  Headphone amps does nothng for the HE-6..

 
And speaker amps have done nothing for the HD800s....apples and oranges.

 I liked the HE-6s a lot and put them in my top 6 or 7 of all time...just not top 3. 

 

[froger]

   
Flawed at best?  No.  Not at all not from my point of view.  
 
Simply put the HD800 can not keep up with the HE-6 as the amplification goes up.  Simple as that.  If you can't understand that.  I suggest you get some hands on experience on this subject, then come back and report your findings.
 
"I mean if I want to make a pair of headphones scale higher, I will find one that specifically drive it better"
As I said.  From what I've owned, borrowed and auditioned.   So go-ahead and find one that does.  Please report back.
 
"The same argument can be said for HE-6, if I go from a O2 amp to Woo WA2 on the HD800, the HD800 will probably scale much higher compared to HE-6 on the same sets of amplifiers,"
No, just no.sorry bad analogy.  You said probably

     The HE-6 will continue to have the higher celling.

May I know what are the specific amplifiers that you have owned, borrowed and auditioned with HD800? So that I can do a comparison with those and others if I can and report back.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  May I know what are the specific amplifiers that you have owned, borrowed and auditioned with HD800? So that I can do a comparison with those and others if I can and report back.

 
While I don't agree with Darryl on the HD800 vs. HE-6s, he owns a GS-X MK2, so he's heard the HD800s pretty much at their best. Maybe we can now get back to the wonderful LCD-3s?