[Stewardess2]

Planning to buy the HE560s, and looking for a budget amp to power them. Source is played from iPhone 6.
I've searched the forums, and the opinions seem to vary, some saying it's enough to make your ears ring, some saying not enough headroom and needs more power.
So I decided to make my own thread and listen to your opinions myself.
Would I be satisfied with just the Magni 2 or not? If not then what would be a good choice instead?

 

[Stewardess2]

Anybody?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

It will go loud enough without very obvious problems but some amplifiers with better power supply designs and a fair bit more power at less distortion will be a bit cleaner. Whether you can appreciate the more precise imaging and usually more neutral sound, or can hear it but whether you can perceive it as worth the additional expense, is not anything that anyone replying here can be sure of.

 

[Stewardess2]

It will go loud enough without very obvious problems but some amplifiers with better power supply designs and a fair bit more power at less distortion will be a bit cleaner. Whether you can appreciate the more precise imaging and usually more neutral sound, or can hear it but whether you can perceive it as worth the additional expense, is not anything that anyone replying here can be sure of.

Thanks for the opinion. Magni 2 seems to do the job best in terms of supplying enough power and keeping the budget low, but I get your point that a little more power would make it nice. I'm trying as hard as I can to keep the budget below 150 dollars, because I don't live in the US and if the total price (including shipping) exceeds 200 I would have to pay about 20% tax and the price would go way up... a pity I cant find something better than Magni but under 150

 

[willowbrook]

I don't recommend budget amp with the he560. He560 without the support of warmth from an amp sounds harsh. I had the NFB-11 which was very close to neutral and it sounded lean without body. Upper midrange was piercing my ears and was prone to sibilance. H10 solved that. Need a lot of power and warmth. Without that, it can be fatiguing.

 

[willowbrook]

Why not go for something lower with the headphones and invest more into the amp?

 

[fjrabon]

Thanks for the opinion. Magni 2 seems to do the job best in terms of supplying enough power and keeping the budget low, but I get your point that a little more power would make it nice. I'm trying as hard as I can to keep the budget below 150 dollars, because I don't live in the US and if the total price (including shipping) exceeds 200 I would have to pay about 20% tax and the price would go way up... a pity I cant find something better than Magni but under 150

It is NOT extra power that would make the Magni better, but rather a better, more sophisticated overall design.  Things like a more robust power supply (this has little to do with the power of the amp, confusingly), more channel separation within the amp, more pleasant THD breakdown (more low order harmonics, as opposed to the Magni's relatively even breakdown).  For some reason, on this website, people tend to associate an amp's quality with its peak power.  
 
You can't "hear extra power" unless you use it, ie turn the volume control up.
 
The Magni is a fine amp, and it will drive your headphones well.  You will not lack for power at all.  That isn't to say that you couldn't improve upon the Magni.  However, the improvement wouldn't come via additional power.  

 

[fjrabon]

I don't recommend budget amp with the he560. He560 without the support of warmth from an amp sounds harsh. I had the NFB-11 which was very close to neutral and it sounded lean without body. Upper midrange was piercing my ears and was prone to sibilance. H10 solved that. Need a lot of power and warmth. Without that, it can be fatiguing.

The H10 is a great amp, I've owned one, and am having to fight the urge to buy another one.  But it's not the extra power that makes it so great with the HE560, but rather the Class A design,  brilliant power supply, complete channel isolation up until the very end, and its very low and pleasing THD pattern.  It also has a more sophisticated gain switching implementation, which can allow you to really fine tune volume control.  But as far as power goes, the H10 only has 3dB more headroom than the Magni2 Uber on the HE560.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Thanks for the opinion. Magni 2 seems to do the job best in terms of supplying enough power and keeping the budget low, but I get your point that a little more power would make it nice. I'm trying as hard as I can to keep the budget below 150 dollars, because I don't live in the US and if the total price (including shipping) exceeds 200 I would have to pay about 20% tax and the price would go way up... a pity I cant find something better than Magni but under 150

 

It's not really the extra power, the Magni likely has enough to blow your eardrums. What a nicer amp will do again is stay cleaner while going even louder. If you're only using as much power from the Magni that doesn't get it to a level of distortion that you (if not for that matter anyone) can even really hear, then there's no point in a more powerful amp.

 

That said at that price point there's really nothing else either, at least not for brand new gear. Did you check local audiophile forums? Somebody over there might be unloading an Asgard for example.