[Feather225]

Hey everyone!

I have only used tube amps such as Antique sound lab MKIII for my HD650 and it sounds amazing, especially the sound stage.

I wonder what a high end portable amp can do to it~ ^ ^

Thanks.

 

[Audio Addict]

The Mustang has variable gain settings so I believe it should have no problem driving the HD650s.

I just received my Shadow which has a gain of only 3, and I find it can drive my new HiFiMan HE-5s to comfortable listening levels. I could only guess how loud they would be with the Mustang. I also own a Hornet and at the high gain setting, at roughly 10 on the volume dial, it becomes too loud for me.

 

[Feather225]

Thanks for your reply.

Wow, HE5 is soo interested, and I am pretty sure that shadow should drive it just fine since it only has 25ohm... but for a 300ohm HD650, I have not yet came across a portable amp that can drive it to the same listening experience I got from my ATL MKIII tube amp.

However, I only tried it with an Ibasso Boa..and it wasn't impressive. I red from ray's website that mustang can deliver twice the amount of power that a Tomahawk can. But I never tried Tomahawk, so I'm still not sure how much power mustang has

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio Addict /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Mustang has variable gain settings so I believe it should have no problem driving the HD650s. I just received my Shadow which has a gain of only 3, and I find it can drive my new HiFiMan HE-5s to comfortable listening levels. I could only guess how loud they would be with the Mustang. I also own a Hornet and at the high gain setting, at roughly 10 on the volume dial, it becomes too loud for me.

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio Addict /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Mustang has variable gain settings so I believe it should have no problem driving the HD650s.

it really depends how loud you want to drives them whether they can be driven by a portable or not. with only 1 LI cell to run the show, it is quite possibly that you run the amplifier into voltage clipping if you like to play it somewhat loud.

This is a problem of VOLTAGE SWING, which has basically nothing to do with gain. you can have gain of 100 with an amp with a single little LI battery... it dosnt meant it can swing 100v, only that it amplifies the signal 100 times.

The fact that the mustang has a maximum gain of 10 (or is it 11?) is mostly applicable to sources that have very low outputs, or people who think that since they cant spin the volume knob without blowing their ears the amp is more powerful.
Quote:

I just received my Shadow which has a gain of only 3, and I find it can drive my new HiFiMan HE-5s to comfortable listening levels. I could only guess how loud they would be with the Mustang. I also own a Hornet and at the high gain setting, at roughly 10 on the volume dial, it becomes too loud for me.

the headphones you mention here are low impedance, and consequentially need CURRENT output rather than voltage swing. I would bet that with similar batteries used in both, the maximum output would be similar.

 

[darlim]

P-51 can drive the 650 easily. The P-51 have 3 gain level. low for IEM, med for low impedence cans, High for hard to drive cans like 650, K701.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by darlim /img/forum/go_quote.gif P-51 can drive the 650 easily. The P-51 have 3 gain level. low for IEM, med for low impedence cans, High for hard to drive cans like 650, K701.

That's what I love about this amp and the Hornet...very flexible...from full sized high impedance cans to low impedance to IEMs...and all sound great with Ray's amps!

 

[darlim]

Cannot agree more

Have tried several amps and the sound signature of the Mustang is my favourite.

 

[Feather225]

so what exactly is the sound signature you mentioned, and which headphones you used?

Quote:

Originally Posted by darlim /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cannot agree more Have tried several amps and the sound signature of the Mustang is my favourite.

 

[Sherwood]

... It's as if Ari never even posted

 

[Feather225]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... It's as if Ari never even posted

Sorry I was away for sometime, and it will be great if you can provide me a link regarding to my concern.

I did a google search with Mustang HD650 and nothing useful showed up...

 

[nycdoi]

Ray Samuels once talked about p-51 cannot drive the akg 340 which has 400ohm. So it is safe to assume it wont do well with the 300ohm hd 650

Heres the link for his post

 

[barleyguy]

The Mustang does not have enough voltage to properly drive a 600 ohm headphone. 600 ohms needs about 12 volts or higher; the Mustang is 3.7 volts. The Ray Samuels SR-71A will drive a 600 ohm headphone great though.

 

[Feather225]

Yeah thats true, but Ill probably use my tube amp for the 600ohm headphones.. HD650 is 300ohm.

I wonder if someone has them both...

Quote:

Originally Posted by barleyguy /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Mustang does not have enough voltage to properly drive a 600 ohm headphone. 600 ohms needs about 12 volts or higher; the Mustang is 3.7 volts. The Ray Samuels SR-71A will drive a 600 ohm headphone great though.

 

[darlim]

The obvious is the small in size, big sound profile. The wide sound stage and lush mids are what i like best about the p-51. There is an openess of the music which i prefer too as i am more acoustic/instrumental/ jazz type of istener. The sound is clean and quite neutral sounding. Bass is lean and punchy. not its best section, but for certain music, ( for MOI) its sufficient already : )

I am using it previously with Sr80i on the move but have since moved to Um2 iems and imo complements each other well. the wide lush mids coupled with the close intimacy/ warm sig of the Um2 is perfect for me

I seldom use it at home as i m hooked up with a XcanV8 with the HD650 most of the time. but when listening around the house, i do use the Mustang with Ms2i and HD595

 

[barleyguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feather225 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah thats true, but Ill probably use my tube amp for the 600ohm headphones.. HD650 is 300ohm. I wonder if someone has them both...

Oops. I thought the "650/600" meant 600 ohm. In hindsight I guess it means "650 or 600".

Ideal voltage for 300 ohms is 4.2 volts BTW (square root of 18). But 3.7 is close enough that it won't clip unless you listen pretty loud.