[Ali 93]

I can afford to get the E9 I only gave myself a budget because its my first time purchasing a high end set of headphones so didn't want to go crazy on spending.
 
£100 would be max on an amp so if you could recommend the best amp for that price I'll check it out and maybe purchase.
 
The 650's will always be used at home I'll never take them like on or a bus or anything.

 

[sphinxvc]

There's no reason you shouldn't also consider the NFB-12 in this amp/DAC price range.
 
 

 

[LugBug1]

You should be able to get a 2nd hand Creek OBH21 for about £50-100 off Ebay. They are a great budget amp and go well with the 650's. Ideally an offboard USB Dac will improve the sound better than any amp will though. This is because any amp without this will have to be connected from the cheap line-out from your computer. 
 
However if you get a good 3.5 to 2 RCA cable to go from the pc to the amp then this will sound good enough.  

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

You should be able to get a 2nd hand Creek OBH21 for about £50-100 off Ebay. They are a great budget amp and go well with the 650's. Ideally an offboard USB Dac will improve the sound better than any amp will though. This is because any amp without this will have to be connected from the cheap line-out from your computer. 
 
However if you get a good 3.5 to 2 RCA cable to go from the pc to the amp then this will sound good enough.  

I fail to see how this is any different from "cheap line-out" from the computer.  

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

Quote:

I fail to see how this is any different from "cheap line-out" from the computer.  

The sound would be worse without a good cable as it should stop the signal loosing any more information, if the op is wanting to use the onboard soundcard.
 
As I stated, its not ideal but "good enough".

 

[scap]

It was my understanding that the E9 is purely an amplifier and not a DAC. To function as a DAC/AMP it has to be paired with the E7. For that reason I would think it would be wiser to get the E7 unless your not interested in the DAC component. The DAC in the E7 is actually quite good, it uses Wolfson’s high end WM8740 D/A chip (see http://www.headfonia.com/fiio-e9-dekstop-amplifier/ ). 
 
My 2 cents. I actually have a pico amp which I really like but if I had to do it all over again I may go with the E7 instead. 

 

[tdockweiler]

Wow, I can't believe I'm seeing this...so many suggestions for the E7 with the HD-650! Have any of you actually used that combination before suggesting it? There is no way a portable cheap amp could drive it to 100%. It may sound good, but you should really consider a desktop amp. The HD-650 really needs a desktop amp at the bare minimum. The E9 to me is the bare minimum, but they're even deserving of something better.
 
Getting a portable amp is just a huge mistake with the HD-650.

 

[PointyFox]

On-board sound will be fine unless you won't be satisfied with 97% performance. If you want better, I recommend the Asus Xonar Essence STX.  It has a built in headphone amp.  It's slightly more than £115 of your European money.   For about £150, you can make a nice tube amp to give a smoother sound, though the HD650 is pretty smooth already.
 
Oh, and demo the HD600 too.  It sounds almost identical to the HD650 and is much cheaper.

 

[Blasto_Brandino]

OP, do you have a tower type desktop computer?

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Wow, I can't believe I'm seeing this...so many suggestions for the E7 with the HD-650! Have any of you actually used that combination before suggesting it? There is no way a portable cheap amp could drive it to 100%. It may sound good, but you should really consider a desktop amp.

...am I rubbing off on you?
 
Quote:

On-board sound will be fine unless you won't be satisfied with 97% performance.

What?

 

[Blasto_Brandino]

Anyway, Buy a Creative Audigy 2zs Platinum, or platinum pro if possible, they are cheap and power the HD650's pretty decently. 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

...am I rubbing off on you?
 

What?

I never suggest portable amps for any of the more expensive headphones that are harder to drive. I made the mistake of using portable amps far too long. I'm not a fan of the HD-650 on the E9, but it gets the job done. It's a better match for other headphones (such as the K601/K702). It's a lot better for the HD-600 though. The only portable amp that makes the HD-650 sound quite good is the Total Airhead. Maybe some of the $200+ portable amps might do fine. It makes no sense to buy a $300+ headphone and drive it with a portable. On some headphones you can get away with it luckily.
 
I've heard of people that have driven the K701 with just an E3 and love it. I wonder what they'd think if they heard it out of a $500 amp. Their head would probably explode.
 
I still think the HD-650 can even sound decent un-amped, but that's like not even 90% of what it's really capable of. I'd only suggest the E7 if it's only a few weeks until someone can afford a better amp. With portable amps, cheaper headphones are always better in most cases.
 
I'd rather use a line out of my PC and the E9 than just drive the HD-650 with an E7! Not all soundcards are terrible, as long as it's not onboard audio.
 
 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

On-board sound will be fine unless you won't be satisfied with 97% performance. If you want better, I recommend the Asus Xonar Essence STX.  It has a built in headphone amp.  It's slightly more than £115 of your European money.   For about £150, you can make a nice tube amp to give a smoother sound, though the HD650 is pretty smooth already.
 
Oh, and demo the HD600 too.  It sounds almost identical to the HD650 and is much cheaper.

 
I don't agree with this at all. Completely different to me unless you're EQing them. HD-650 is technically better and less grainy than the HD-600, but it's all preferences.
It's hard to spot the differences unless you do A/B comparisons. HD-650 has less of an upper mid peak and more bass. Not even subtle differences when I compared them.
Strangely I felt the HD-600 had the airier sound and a larger soundstage. HD-600 is far, far more neutral.
 
BTW JR sells the HD-650 for $329..(phone)
Amazon sells the HD-600 for $329.
 
I've also heard both side by side a few months ago in my house (not as a demo). Both had the same amps and HD-650 cables.
 
 

 

[olor1n]

Quote:

Wow, I can't believe I'm seeing this...so many suggestions for the E7 with the HD-650! Have any of you actually used that combination before suggesting it? There is no way a portable cheap amp could drive it to 100%. It may sound good, but you should really consider a desktop amp. The HD-650 really needs a desktop amp at the bare minimum. The E9 to me is the bare minimum, but they're even deserving of something better.
 
Getting a portable amp is just a huge mistake with the HD-650.

x2. The E7 is a good entry level dac for the price but it won't even give you a hint of what the HD650 is capable of. The more sensible option would be to get an amp/dac combo like the NFB12 which has a quality dac to begin with. From all accounts its amp section is similar to the Fun's which is a great match for the HD650 and should tide you over for a while. If you decide to upgrade to a better amp later I'd highly recommend the Lyr. A WM8471 dac into the Lyr with the HD650 is a killer bang for buck setup imo.

 

[Proglover]

I'm with tdockweiler.
 
Come on man, E7 for HD650's? They're unworthy of those great headphone potential.
 
Seriously, I'm not for giving new people advice to spend more and more money, but E7 with HD650 is ridiculous. Also HD600 and HD650 are not nearly identical. They're in the same family of headphones, but there are some big differences between them. (HD600 is way more neutral, but I wouldn't say HD650 is technically better, it's just different)
 
I've used E7 and E9 combo for my HD650 for a while, and was pleased at the time, but if I would have to choose again in that budget, if would definitely go for Audio GD's NFB-12 promo.