[AndrewF]

Anyone use this combination? I may have an opportunity to get a pair of DT880's at a good price. This'll be my first pair of full sized phones. I'd like to make sure that I can adequately power them with the Tomahawk, perhaps using the high gain setting.

Any thoughts?

Andrew

 

[aluren]

i have the DT880 and tomahawk. the amp drives it just fine. you should have no problems with it. (provided that yours is 250ohm)

 

[freakmax]

You will get volume but SQ doesn't improve much.
I got DT990 2005 version.

I just sold my Toma and bought Xenos 1ha epc,
The xenos does better job.

 

[AndrewF]

Aluren: Do you like them together? Good synergy?

Andrew

 

[Filburt]

Is there something that particularly drew you to the Tomahawk over some of the other portables out there?

 

[AndrewF]

Filburt: Yes, I'm mostly using it with my portable setup, a Nano, Alo Vampire, and UM2's (Westone 3's when they finally release them...). The small size is great, and they got great reviews when I was thinking about getting an amp. I've been very happy with the combination of the THawk and UM2's.

AF

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freakmax /img/forum/go_quote.gif You will get volume but SQ doesn't improve much. I got DT990 2005 version. I just sold my Toma and bought Xenos 1ha epc, The xenos does better job.

That's a rather odd statement. (Much lesser portables improve SQ with Beyers, unless something is interfering.)

What exactly do you mean? Are you talking about comparing plugging your phones into a DAP headphone out vs DAP>IC>Tomahawk>phones — and saying the TH only makes the SQ louder but not better?

If that's what you mean, then I can only guess you didn't have the patience to put enough play time on the amp to hear its optimal sound, which you won't hear out of the box. The TH's SQ changes and improves gradually through 400 hours, and noticeably from around 500-600 hours (excessive tho' that seems). I expect Filburt will pounce on that comment, but it's what I heard, and what other owners have experienced.

My Tomahawk improves the SQ significantly with my DT880-250/2005, Westone ES2 IEMS, HD650/Equinox, PXC300, etc. I really don't have the time to expand on all the ways it improves the sound, but that would get boring anyway. It does not really have enough juice to drive K701s properly, tho'.

 

[GAD]

I have the TH and 880s and it drives them no problem.

GAD

 

[Filburt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewF /img/forum/go_quote.gif Filburt: Yes, I'm mostly using it with my portable setup, a Nano, Alo Vampire, and UM2's (Westone 3's when they finally release them...). The small size is great, and they got great reviews when I was thinking about getting an amp. I've been very happy with the combination of the THawk and UM2's. AF

Ah, OK. I read your original post wrong; I didn't realise you already had the amp. 2.8v p-p will probably get OK volume out of it, but you have very little headroom and it's a micropower op-amp so you'll probably get significant distortion. Won't necessarily sound bad, but I'm not sure it's what I'd recommend in particular for driving the headphones. However, since you already have the amp, it's kind of a foregone conclusion.

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filburt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah, OK. I read your original post wrong; I didn't realise you already had the amp. 2.8v p-p will probably get OK volume out of it, but you have very little headroom and it's a micropower op-amp so you'll probably get significant distortion. Won't necessarily sound bad, but I'm not sure it's what I'd recommend in particular for driving the headphones. However, since you already have the amp, it's kind of a foregone conclusion.

Filburt: Have you heard a Tomahawk paired with DT880 and heard significant distortion?

 

[Filburt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Filburt: Have you heard a Tomahawk paired with DT880 and heard significant distortion?

Nope, I'll be happy to let you know when I have used those two items together. However, I don't think that's necessary to make reasoned and useful analysis. What I'm speaking of is simply some of the practical problems you have to deal with when deciding to use such a device in this manner (e.g. micropower op-amp at 3V). It won't necessarily sound bad; I wasn't claiming that. Rather, these sorts of limitations factor into what differences people may find between it and more robust solutions such as a desktop amp. As with many things, you have to decide where your priorities are and decide accordingly. There has been some solid advancement in op-amps in the past few years, but the basic performance considerations and correlates are still in effect on the relative scale (e.g. the higher power chips have advanced too

).

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filburt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nope, I'll be happy to let you know when I have used those two items together. However, I don't think that's necessary to make reasoned and useful analysis. What I'm speaking of is simply some of the practical problems you have to deal with when deciding to use such a device in this manner (e.g. micropower op-amp at 3V). It won't necessarily sound bad; I wasn't claiming that. Rather, these sorts of limitations factor into what differences people may find between it and more robust solutions such as a desktop amp. As with many things, you have to decide where your priorities are and decide accordingly. There has been some solid advancement in op-amps in the past few years, but the basic performance considerations and correlates are still in effect on the relative scale (e.g. the higher power chips have advanced too ).

Not sure if this fits in your description, but speaking strictly of portables, I personally do feel that my Hornet > DT880 (and other hungry phones) gives a somewhat greater sense of ease/headroom/robust presentation than the Tomahawk, and the larger portables from SR-71 to MicroAmp even moreso in terms of ease, "air" and "large presentation".

 

[Filburt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not sure if this fits in your description, but speaking strictly of portables, I personally do feel that my Hornet > DT880 (and other hungry phones) gives a somewhat greater sense of ease/headroom/robust presentation than the Tomahawk, and the larger portables from SR-71 to MicroAmp even moreso in terms of ease, "air" and "large presentation".

This is more or less the sort of thing I was talking about. In some applications, low power consumption is a big deal (such as the integrated amps of portable devices). I think in this type of application, though, I'd favor outright performance over battery life since rechargeable batteries are pretty easy to acquire and use nowadays