Best Schiit Amp for HD 650?
Mar 28, 2015 at 7:35 PM Post #31 of 67
On a simpler note, look at the Valhalla 2's specs.  It makes most of its power into 300 ohms.  It was basically designed for 300 ohm headphones like the HD650.
 
Mar 31, 2015 at 5:17 PM Post #32 of 67
The general consensus seems to be that Valhalla2 is the best choice for the HD650.

What about its little brothers, Magni2 and Magni2uber? Do they have adequate power to drive the HD650 (or HD600) to greatness?
 
Mar 31, 2015 at 5:20 PM Post #33 of 67
If not Valhalla2, Vali. Sennheisers open up with tubes. I personally also enjoy solid state, but they sound significantly thinner in the mids and the bass, but very very clean.
 
Mar 31, 2015 at 6:05 PM Post #34 of 67
I run my HD650's with the Schitt Valhalla2 and it sounds wonderful. I just upgraded from the Modi2 Uber to the Bifrost Multibit to handle DAC tasks. To my ear, it sounds excellent.
For what it's worth, I run the HD650's balanced on my Pono player, it is amazing the extra depth to the music. I would assume (but have not been able to test) that coming off a balanced amp would sound similar.
 
Mar 31, 2015 at 11:09 PM Post #35 of 67
tafens said:
What about its little brothers, Magni2 and Magni2uber? Do they have adequate power to drive the HD650 (or HD600) to greatness?
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The Magni 2 and the Magni 2 Uber will have plenty of power to drive the HD 650s (and most other headphones, for that matter). I have the original Magni and it's amazingly powerful, especially given the small size. I also second Lui's suggestion above to also check out the Vali. It's a great little amp!
 
Apr 1, 2015 at 5:15 PM Post #36 of 67
odin412 said:
The Magni 2 and the Magni 2 Uber will have plenty of power to drive the HD 650s (and most other headphones, for that matter). I have the original Magni and it's amazingly powerful, especially given the small size. I also second Lui's suggestion above to also check out the Vali. It's a great little amp!
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Thanks. I just wanted to make sure as I've read about the HD650's and the "veil" it supposedly has and that it would require a big deal amp to lift it and make them sound their greatest.
 
Apr 2, 2015 at 8:57 AM Post #37 of 67
I have a Vali and a Lyr and I honestly can't tell a huge amount of difference in the sound of my HD650's through either of them. Not true of some other headphones but the HD650 in particular, work well with both.
 
Apr 3, 2015 at 4:08 AM Post #38 of 67
I've used the hd 650 ( also the hd 600) with the Asgard 2 and both the Valhalla 1 and Valhalla 2 and always thought the Valhalla was a bit better than the Asgard 2 but the asgard 2 does come close compaired to valhalla 1/2 with stock tubes. I've tried so many headphones in the past 2 years and keep coming back to the hd 600/650 that I just decided to build my setup around those 2 headphones and if I was starting from scratch the Valhalla 2 would be my first choice of amps from schiit but there is always the sennheiser hdva 600 ($1500) that I hear sounds great for hd 600/650/700/800 but man is it expensive. I've also owned the magni 1 magni 2 uber and the vali and never really liked any of those amps with the hd650 the sound was just OK the Asgard 2 alone blows all 3 of them away imho.
 
Apr 3, 2015 at 5:04 AM Post #39 of 67
I think the answer is clearly in favor of Val2 if you want to stick to Schiit's sub $1000 lineup. The specs just suit it perfectly.
 
Apr 3, 2015 at 12:59 PM Post #40 of 67
Haven't heard the Val 2, but if we're talking sub $1000, the Mjolnir clearly kicks the schiit out of the first Valhalla.
 
Apr 3, 2015 at 1:09 PM Post #41 of 67
eee pee said:
Haven't heard the Val 2, but if we're talking sub $1000, the Mjolnir clearly kicks the schiit out of the first Valhalla.
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The Valhalla 2 and the Mjolnir have very similiar outputs into the HD 650. But, the Mojo has balanced outputs exclusively and the topology to provide them.  So the OP needs to keep in mind that the Mojo will only work with balanced cans.
 
Apr 3, 2015 at 1:39 PM Post #42 of 67
Balanced cable you mean.  
biggrin.gif

 
Which can be made for $5.
 
May 14, 2015 at 7:59 AM Post #43 of 67
hpiper said:
  I have a Vali and a Lyr and I honestly can't tell a huge amount of difference in the sound of my HD650's through either of them. Not true of some other headphones but the HD650 in particular, work well with both.
Click to expand...


I moved from a Vali to Lyr 2 when I bought a pair of AKG K702s. I noticed the same thing. On the AKGs, not a big difference between the amps with these headphones. The bigger jump was when I went from a Modi DAC to a Bifrost Uber USB.
 
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