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I heard both HE-500 and HD650 with O2 at the meet i mentioned before and HD650 were lacking deep bass I was looking for and they have it with TubeMagic D1 and I prefer my D7000 over HE-500 with O2. I also heard HE-500 with EF-6 but they had overpowering bass
I haven't heard the D1, but I have to agree with all this. Granted some people really do prefer SS with HD650, and I am simply not one of them, though I suspect more "colored" SS amps such as those at the higher end are preferred by those that do. Personally however, HD650...and all Sennheisers and Beyers, really, shine most on tubes. Not everyone agrees, but it's a popular way of thinking.
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Absolutely agree with you about O2 but unfortunately never heard Lyr so can't comment
Agreed. O2 is an excellent analytical amp. It's strength is also its failing. It measures similarly to studio equipment. Dead flat and neutral. Which subjectively rarely actually sounds good. It just makes for a very useful production tool. However I really like the O2 with my D5ks. I think they're a great pairing. HE-400 I prefer, strongly, on my Lyr, however I can also enjoy them on the O2 in a different way. It brings out the techical performance of the ortho drivers over their organic abilities. HD650 I simply can not stand on the O2. Not because it's poor performance, but because it turns HD650 into such an analytical studio monitor I can't stand it. On a technical level it likely enhances their actual measured performance. On a listening level it makes me feel like I should be sitting in a dark padded room getting paid to listen to them. It's a tribute to HD650 that they can become so analytical when amplified analytically, but it's not the way I choose to enjoy them. Tubes, specifically in my case Lyr, can give them all the smooth musicality that HD650 is loved for. Same goes for HE-400. The tubes just give them that organic realism that puts them over the edge of just "good headphones" and into "sounds like real music."
Everyone has different preferences. Folks that prefer K70x, HD800, etc may well prefer HD650 when on SS. Folks that prefer HD650 on tubes would probably find HD800 and K702 close to intolerable on anything. I like my K702s a lot...but they also take a back seat to the others.
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How do tubes provide more instrument separation?
Second order harmonic distortion. However the ear/brain picks it up and understand it, it picks it up as more instrument separation in most cases. I'm no physicist, audiologist, or neurologist, but it is my understanding that the effect is similar to what happens to sound waves traveling over distance through air of varying densities, and after bouncing, redirecting off objects in their path. People always associate neutral analytical as "perfect to what's on the recording", but tend to ignore that what's on the recording is unlikely to be what you'd hear at a live performance after the sound waves get done being heavily distorted by air and environment. So "tube distortion" actually tends to be closer to the real world distortion of sound waves getting to your ears after resonating out of an instrument body or vocal chords.
Of course it depends on the tubes as to what "distance" the effect places you from the source.
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Magic! They are magic tubes made out of the same thing as the internets.
Tubes are made out of Justin Beiber fansites? I did
not know that. Fascinating!
