I have to agree with Frank I regarding the matching of the H-# series of HiFiMan headphones with vintage receivers. I first bought a EF5 to go with a HE-5 and felt that there was something missing from that combo, eventhough Fang (the designer) intended them to be mated together. I got a much fuller sound when pairing the EF5 with the AD2K and D7000 due to their higher sensitivity. When the Lyr came along and folks noted how much current it took to give more life to the HE-6 and other planars, I got the sense they needed alot of power, whether tube or SS sourced.
After reading Skylab's mention of the Pioneer SX-1250's headphone out, I checked into it further and sprung for one via CraigsList for $480 plus gas and some Ben-Gay afterwards (the thing is a 70 lb beast). Plugged in my HE-5 and....
Whoooooooossshhhhhh...I was transcendentally teleported into another audio dimension.
I swear. Phat notes, vocals so righteously on and bass notes with no bloat or excess....but clearly there musically driving a pair of tapping feet belonging to disembodied me.
Ya gotta give a good vintage receiver a thought or two...there are several vintage receiver threads here on Head-fi for those of you with an open mind and a sense that there is alot of marketing hype going down about how audio designs and technology have rendered the heroic vintage receivers of yore obsolete.
I say check 'em out.