[PouncePony]

Can anyone comment on this pairing? I have a RSA Tomahawk and am looking for some nice headphones. I have Grado SR80s, but find them too fatiguing.

-Pony

 

[derek8555]

Had them both, from what I remember they didn't match well, Tomahawk simply doesn't have enough juice to drive the 600s. Considering the price of Tomahawk, you can get much better stationary amps in that price range (GL, LD MKIII, DV 336i...). But as an ultra portable amp, Tomahawk is excellent.

 

[thread]

I can second that. I had at one time the Hornet and the Tomahawk with the HD600. The Tomahawk just didn't have the authority and strong low end that the Hornet had with the Senns.

The Tomahawk does pair nicely, though, with my Edition 9's ! They don't need big beef to sound great in all registers, and the TH sounded about the same as the Hornet to me with these phones.

Differen't phones need different things, and the HD600's do demand a bit of beef to sound proper. (They are known for scaling very well with better electronics.)

 

[majkel]

I agree with thread. It's impossible to drive properly 300 ohm headphones from a 3V supplied amp. HD600 need well matched amp to show what they are able to do and they scale very high. If you want headphones playing from anything, choose low impedance models like all Grados or higher Ultrasones.

 

[poo]

I agree with what has been said (though in my case it was with HD650).

I don't think it would be too off topic to ask what would be a good portable amp for the HD600 or HD650?

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by poo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree with what has been said (though in my case it was with HD650). I don't think it would be too off topic to ask what would be a good portable amp for the HD600 or HD650?

I would also like to know this, as it would be handy to have an amp that I can use at home with my HD580's and on the go with my portable cans.

 

[boomana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by poo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree with what has been said (though in my case it was with HD650). I don't think it would be too off topic to ask what would be a good portable amp for the HD600 or HD650?

I'm not a big fan of pairing either with a portable amp unless absolutely necessary, which sometimes it is. Imo, the 600s fare somewhat better than the 650s when driven by a portable. If you must go that way, and are interested in a RSA product, the SR-71, which you can sometimes find used, is the best choice, but is more of a transportable than a portable. The Hornet would be a much better choice than the Tomahawk as it has a high gain setting that the 6X0s need. I've heard the Predator (small as the Tomahawk) with the 600s and it powered them decently and sounded good. Other options that I have heard are the HeadRoom microamp and LaRocco PRII (again, more transportable than portable), the LaRocco Diablo (but some problems need to be worked out here) and the Headamp Pico (can be ordered as a amp alone or amp/dac). The best bang for the buck amp I've heard and own is the mini^3 (Rockhopper or MisterX can build one for you), which also does a decent job.

I'm sure there are more out there, but if you must choose a portable, these are some of the best options I've heard.

 

[derek8555]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would also like to know this, as it would be handy to have an amp that I can use at home with my HD580's and on the go with my portable cans.

IMO, a Xin SuperMacro 3 or 4 can do the job quite well. They are also more natural sounding than the TH IMHO, and don't quite have that "digital" flavor of the TH.

 

[timeslip]

I agree, I got into this whole headphone amp with a iBasso D1, then ended up buying a T2, and then Tomahawk for IEM's. My favorite right now is the SuperFi 5 Pro & Tomahawk, but trying out my old Ety ER4P's again. For my HD650's, I definitely prefer the iBasso D1, but have not tried anything else yet. Like others have said, I felt like the Tomahawk did not generate enough power to really bring out the sound. I kept wanting more, but it just felt like it was peaked.

 

[oicdn]

FWIW, it's been said repeatedly Ray designs his amps around the HD600.

Until I heard the HD600 at the Tampa meet on a really nice rig, I never liked the HD600. I'm thinking that was due to the fact that they weren't driven properly, seeing as how I only heard them on RSA portables and a Go-Vibe...