[ProtegeManiac]

would this make vocals etc stand out more?

Not necessarily. All it guarantees is it will make everything louder without mucking it up.

Whether the vocals stand out more depends on other things, like driver response as worn (like how speakers can sound different depending on toe-in angles, reflections, etc) and whether the amplifier has any distortion that curbs that, enhances it, or just doesn't get in its way.

 

[castleofargh]

so how much more power does balanced cable give the headphones?

On most devices, you get twice the voltage(same voltage swing from one wire like single ended does+the same inverted swing from the other side to give double amplitude when those are summed). From P=U²/R you get Pbalanced=(2U)²/R=4*U²/R so 4 times the 'unbalanced' power. Which looks like a lot but really isn't. It's still only double voltage so +6dB when it's often said that a feeling of twice as loud comes at about +10dB.

Balanced outputs solve fear of power problems in the mind of people who don't know how much they need, but only in very rares cases does it solve actual power and loudness issues. If your listening needs go from wrong to good with +6dB, I think the very obvious choice is to get an amp with a good deal more gain than that. But again, based on specs, the K7 has enough power for your headphone to go dangerously loud. There clearly is a problem somewhere and if you think you're tried what you could outside of the K7, get another K7 or another amp. Don't try to fix something clearly wrong with a cable(unless you suspect the cable to be damaged/wrongly wired?).

 

[guerillaw]

Sorry you’re having a bad experience. Where are you located? It might be worth seeing if there’s a local head-fier in your area who can let you audition balanced cables and maybe another amp.

I have spare HD 600 cables— I bet most experience head-fiers do lol.

You may be expecting too much on the 600 or there may be something physically wrong with your cable or the k7 may just be that much better from its balanced output. The science quote on here is correct and I don’t quarrel with it but that doesn’t mean that the design choicea don’t lead to better results from the balanced out. Wave Theory on YouTube has explained this wonderfully many times where he knows-given his science background and expertise with dozens of amps by now-that balanced doesn’t actually make a scientific difference so it shouldn’t matter, but in his testing it often does in real life simply because it’s designed that way.

Whenever I have a balanced device, I always use that output because I know that it has been designed to be used that way, even though the reality is designing a single, and then output is more scientifically sound. (JDS Labs and Benchmark both feel very strongly about this and their white papers are convincing).

In the end, people end up, having repeated experience where the balance down put on the equipment sounds better, and therefore draw the incorrect, logical conclusion that the scientifically balanced must be better by design.

If you can order more powerful model, and cables from somewhere with a good return policy, I would also consider that as a way to audition equipment. At the end of the day you gotta try different things to get a baseline knowledge and experience. Otherwise, we are all just guessing in the dark, although you will find many helpful people on here.

Good luck in your journey and keep experimenting. We are all addicted to the tummy because once you find the right synergies within your budget is worth the time.

 

[BrokeAudiophileMan]

I have HD600's on the K7 right in front of me. Max out the volume in Windows and max out the volume in your audio player. If you're using tidal you can run the amp in exclusive mode. All your volume should be maxed on your PC and you control the volume on the amp. I like High gain for the HD600. I also got a lot more punch out of the headphones by going to a balanced cable (4.4mm). Just search for HD600 4.4mm cable on amazon there are many options. If you want something really good ask for recommendations I'm not really a cables person. You definitely want that 4.4mm cable though if maximum punch is what you're after. Also make sure the cable is plugged into the headphones on the L/R sides snugly.
If you have all your volumes set properly you should get plenty of gain out of that setup. Even on an unbalanced cable on high gain I can't put the volume past 9 oclock on the K7 without exploding my brain. It's LOUD. And I have hearing loss so I think you have some setting wrong on your machine.

Also there's a *slight chance that switching to another USB port on your PC will make a difference but try all the other stuff first. Process of elimination. Speaking of hooking the K7 to your PC I like the way it sounds running optical SPDIF more than USB. That's just my opinion though. I can't run DSD or 32 bit off optical mind you so I lose a bit here gain a bit there. I only use Tidal anyways.

 

[Tripokaridos]

people kept telling me get k7 by fiilo was good at driving the hd600's. but I have to have the amp maxed out to have any sort of volume.

Thats Normal i have all HD 6 line and 600 on K7 6.3 is way lower in volume compared to K5pro on WIndows volume 100 and High gain.
K7 is louder than k5pro ONLY when i use 4.4 cable that came with my 660s on HD 600 .
So single ended K7 has less power than k5pro i am sure about that. And in my opinion its not enough for HD 600 not even HD660s , the only way with K7 to run HD6 line is Balanced 4.4 .