[Nick B]

Hello All:

I have a decent all tube amp that runs my 2 channel system. Because I really like it's sound, I wanted to harness it for headphone use. This particular amp has no headphone jack. After spending some time on this Forum, I have decided to acquire an ASL UHC Signature headphone adapter and give it a whirl.

From what I have read, the headphone output will have the same or similar sonic signature as the amp. This means a traditionally warm tube sound. Are there better/worse brands of headphones to mate with such an amp?

The opinions of various forum members, along with my personal (but quite dated) experience have lead to to closely consider Sennheiser (HD 595, 555 & 580) as well as Beyerdynamic (DT 660 860 and 880).

As far as musical taste, they run the gambit. A lot of Classical, but also plenty of Rock and Jazz.

My question is more focused on a good mating of headphone with tube amp. Any thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[sacd lover]

There are several good headphone/ tube amp combinations. But the headphone I am most familiar with, and my personal favorite, is the senn 650. The best sound I have heard from the 650 is with a singlepower tube amp; and the best sound I hear from any of my tube amps is with the senn 650. IMO, the synergy between the senn 580/600/650 and tube amps is very strong and one of the very best combinations you can buy. I would go for one of the senns.

 

[Nick B]

Thanks for the reply, SACD. I'm still waiting to see if anyone chimes in for Beyerdynamic. In the mean time, going with the Senns, do you see any advantage to using the 595s over the 580s with my set-up?

 

[Bill Ward]

Suggest you might like to consider the Beyer DT880. The cans seem to mate especially well with my EC HD300. The warmth of the amp tempers the slightly bright upper register of the 880s.

BW

 

[sacd lover]

I have owned the dt880's and I actually liked them best with a gilmore v1 solid state amp. Compared to Bill finding his EC HD300 tempered the highs of the dt880's bringing them into better overall balance; my gilmore amp brought the bass level up and the midrange more forward with the same net result. I heard the dt880's recently with a Moth 2a3 prototype amp and a singlepower mpx3 and they sounded quite good. However, listening to the same amps with the senn 650's, I found the 650's to be more natural sounding, linear and just plain more musical.

I have no experience with the other headphones you are considering, but owning the sony cd3000, grado 100/200/225/rs-1/hp-1 and the beyer dt770/dt880 has convinced me, there is something special about the senn 650's that offers me long term satisfaction well beyond the others.

 

[Nick B]

Thank you both for your input. Let me add something to the equation and see how it affects things. Perhaps it will make a choice easier. I would like the option of using these headphones with my mp3 player on occasion, so lower impedence would be a plus, other parameters being equal. In all, I predict 85% of my listening will be within cord length of my amp, and 15% on-the-fly. Again, thank you very much for your opinions.