HE-500, LCD2, D5000, DT770, SR80, on a speaker amp (Emotiva mini-X A-100) Project

[LugBug1]

^^^ of course all music is fun.. but you know what I mean

 

[SoundFreaq]

Thank you both for your responses. I'm quite sure I would like the mids and highs of the HE500, but I do enjoy quite a bit of heft in the low end. That's what makes it exciting for me. But this whole experiment with driving them with an integrated amp is intriguing. Makes me think they may be a worthy contender. 

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Thank you both for your responses. I'm quite sure I would like the mids and highs of the HE500, but I do enjoy quite a bit of heft in the low end. That's what makes it exciting for me. But this whole experiment with driving them with an integrated amp is intriguing. Makes me think they may be a worthy contender. 

 
 
Actually the HE-500s just might sound great off the Liquid Fire.   They don't need a integrated or speaker amps to sound good.

 

[SoundFreaq]

I've heard them off my LF, and I was definitely impressed. Gooey, pull-you-in mids, and a nice sparkly treble. Nice tight bass with a touch of heft - though coulda used more for EDM. I liked it better than the HD800... 

 

[rgs9200m]

I'm just curious why using a speaker amp is (as I think is true) rarely discussed for other headphones, as I don't think the HE500s were designed to need any more power than most other dynamic phones or Audezes.

 

[TwinQY]

Hooray, more people with mini-X a-100 setups!  I got these for my HE-400 weeks ago, way before it was the "in" thing to do 

. 
 
Does anyone have issues with the fan kicking on even when it's cool and idle? It's not often, the temperature remains same to the touch, but for some reason, it just kicks in during random intervals. Weird. 
 
I'm not worried too much, as these make the HE-400s sound utterly stupendous. Way better than the Lyr, and for half the price!

 

[Biscuitz]

Quote:

Hooray, more people with mini-X a-100 setups!  I got these for my HE-400 weeks ago, way before it was the "in" thing to do 

. 
 
Does anyone have issues with the fan kicking on even when it's cool and idle? It's not often, the temperature remains same to the touch, but for some reason, it just kicks in during random intervals. Weird. 
 
I'm not worried too much, as these make the HE-400s sound utterly stupendous. Way better than the Lyr, and for half the price!

Any chance the Emotiva "brings forth" the mids of the HE-400? That was my least favorite feature of the HE-400, and maybe my amp was just not doing it justice (NuForce Icon HD at the time, ~280mW with HE-400).

 

[Happy Camper]

I'm just curious why using a speaker amp is (as I think is true) rarely discussed for other headphones, as I don't think the HE500s were designed to need any more power than most other dynamic phones or Audezes.

Because this is a site for shilling gear.

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

Any chance the Emotiva "brings forth" the mids of the HE-400? That was my least favorite feature of the HE-400, and maybe my amp was just not doing it justice (NuForce Icon HD at the time, ~280mW with HE-400).

 
The Emotiva isn't really coloured, just a tad warm (but nowhere near tube warm) and rolls off the treble at the top a bit, which does bring more attention to the mids I guess. The Icon should just be enough with the HE-400 already, but I remember them sounding a bit thin throughout the mids, you're right.
 
They do like power, but obviously the a-100 is a bit overkill. An Asgard or O2 should already have enough to completely drive those. 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
The Emotiva isn't really coloured, just a tad warm (but nowhere near tube warm) and rolls off the treble at the top a bit, which does bring more attention to the mids I guess. The Icon should just be enough with the HE-400 already, but I remember them sounding a bit thin throughout the mids, you're right.
 
They do like power, but obviously the a-100 is a bit overkill. An Asgard or O2 should already have enough to completely drive those. 

 
Well at least now you can turn the HE400s into mini speakers if you don't wanna wear them on your head, haha.

 

[Biscuitz]

Quote:

 
The Emotiva isn't really coloured, just a tad warm (but nowhere near tube warm) and rolls off the treble at the top a bit, which does bring more attention to the mids I guess. The Icon should just be enough with the HE-400 already, but I remember them sounding a bit thin throughout the mids, you're right.
 
They do like power, but obviously the a-100 is a bit overkill. An Asgard or O2 should already have enough to completely drive those. 

Well, I am trying the HE-400 again for a couple reasons. 1) I had the rev3 version and indeed found them to be a bit too sharp in that treble peak. 2) I now have a more powerful amp in the NFB 15.1, which offers ~2.5W to the HE-400 as opposed to the ~280mW of the Icon HD. I don't know whether to expect a difference, but we'll see. 3) I really miss the awesome instrument separation and imaging that the HE-400 offered...it was my favorite aspect of the HE-400 (maybe that's characteristic of planar magnetics - I wouldn't know, as it was the first one I had tried).

And this time around I'll be comparing it to some other similarly priced contendors, namely the HD600 and a Wood Magnum V4 Build. The HD600 over the HD650 because I'm nearly certain I'd like it better from all the things I've read, and Wood Magnum V4 Build because I really like Grados but ideally would like a less aggressive and peaky top-end.

To top it off, I'll also be borrowing the HE-500 for comparisons' sake. This is not in the price-range of the others, but I really want to try it as I think it should offer what I felt was lacking in the HE-400, the mids. I genuinely loved everything about the HE-400 but the mids, and from what I've read the HE-500 should probably satisfy in that case.

If I decide to go with HE-400 or HE-500 over the other headphones, I may grab an Emotiva Amp and use my NFB 15.1's DAC! Sounds like a fun setup.

 

[benzoylmethyl]

I am thinking of this.  For $128 + $15 shipping to APO, it's almost a throw away if it sounds like crap.  And Emotiva doesn't make shipping out here easy for me--no way to do it through the website.
 
Thoughts?

 

[pp312]

Quote:

I'm just curious why using a speaker amp is (as I think is true) rarely discussed for other headphones, as I don't think the HE500s were designed to need any more power than most other dynamic phones or Audezes.

 
I've tried to champion this subject in the past and encountered more than a little flack. Years ago I started a thread on suitable speaker amps for phones which gathered some support and some quite astonishing opposition, with one poster accusing those of us contributing to it of being unemployed losers (and a few other things). You'd be amazed how sensitive this subject is. Yet there's no really good technical reason why a speaker amp can't power most phones as well as a dedicated amp. Due to impedance mismatches you might find the bottom end a little less tight, but that's not always the case and not always a disaster. I regularly advise newbies to try any speaker amps they have on hand before investing in dedicateds; they might be surprised.  

 

[preproman]

Quote:

I am thinking of this.  For $128 + $15 shipping to APO, it's almost a throw away if it sounds like crap.  And Emotiva doesn't make shipping out here easy for me--no way to do it through the website.
 
Thoughts?

 
Give them a call - they may be able to help you.

 

[rgs9200m]

Quote:

 
I've tried to champion this subject in the past and encountered more than a little flack. Years ago I started a thread on suitable speaker amps for phones which gathered some support and some quite astonishing opposition, with one poster accusing those of us contributing to it of being unemployed losers (and a few other things). You'd be amazed how sensitive this subject is. Yet there's no really good technical reason why a speaker amp can't power most phones as well as a dedicated amp. Due to impedance mismatches you might find the bottom end a little less tight, but that's not always the case and not always a disaster. I regularly advise newbies to try any speaker amps they have on hand before investing in dedicateds; they might be surprised.  

Well, I guess the broader question is, how is a headphone amp designed to make it optimal for headphones, especially compared to, say, a low powered SET tube amp meant for speakers.