[Dawgfish]

To be honest, I like the fast transients of Beyers out of solid-state and they seem to sound proper our of slid-state. Biggist gripe with Beyers is their tuning. Tonality is terrible. Sennheiser is a different story. The tubes work well. Particularly OTL with 300 ohm drivers. I wanted to point out that, it doesn't mean we should expect any high ohmage driver to work well with tubes.

So if Sennehiser 300 ohms is end-game or they are the headphone one is dedicated to. BHC makes much sense. If one has lots of headphones including planars, go solid-state.

If you get a chance get your ears on some Amiron Homes. They remind me of the HD650 tonally with a little more highs (still very smooth), not quite as elevated mids but still very prevalent, more detail, and much better soundstage. Incidentally they sound great out of a Schiit Valhalla (original version) OTL tube amp. I know the Valhalla doesn't have the typical tube sound stock but they can be made to sound very warm and natural with the right tubes. Anyways I really like the Amirons (which have an impedance of 250 ohms btw) with the Valhalla. The Amirons are not your typical Beyer sound and are quite smooth and natural to the ears even on tube equipment.

I agree with your assessment that if you have a lot of different phones with a lot of different impedances and only want one amp a solid state or tube hybrid (my personal choice over pure solid state) is the way to go. If you have some high impedance phones (I would say 150 ohms and higher) than it may be worth checking out an OTL tube amp. They are magic with higher impedance phones.

 

[SilverEars]

If you get a chance get your ears on some Amiron Homes. They remind me of the HD650 tonally with a little more highs (still very smooth), more detail, and much better soundstage. Incidentally they sound great out of a Schiit Valhalla (original version) OTL tube amp. I know the Valhalla doesn't have the typical tube sound stock but they can be made to sound very warm and natural with the right tubes. Anyways I really like the Amirons (which have an impedance of 250 ohms btw) with the Valhalla. The Amirons are not your typical Beyer sound and are quite smooth and natural to the ears even on tube equipment.

I agree with your assessment that if you have a lot of different phones with a lot of different impedances and only want one amp a solid state or tube hybrid (my personal choice over pure solid state) is the way to go. If you have some high impedance phones (I would say 150 ohms and higher) than it may be worth checking out an OTL tube amp. They are magic with higher impedance phones.

I'm really itching to compare Valhalla against BHC since everybody is talking up the Valhalla so much. Are they comparable in terms of that tubey sound that Crack puts out for the Sennheisers? What I like about the Crack is that it doesn't sound like it's cloudy warmth, and it's hard to describe. Bass is enhanced without making it flabby.

 

[HTSkywalker]

I finally joined the club!

Congrats

 

[Dawgfish]

I'm really itching to compare Valhalla against BHC since everybody is talking up the Valhalla so much. Are they comparable in terms of that tubey sound that Crack puts out for the Sennheisers? What I like about the Crack is that it doesn't sound like it's cloudy warmth, and it's hard to describe. Bass is enhanced without making it flabby.

Same here! I'm itching to try the BHC. It's on my list of things to try. From what I read I believe the BHC should be slightly tubier sounding than the Valhalla, even more so for the BHC without the Speedball mods.

Tubes can make a huge difference in the way they sound however. With the stock tubes the Valhalla (I have the original version) sounds slightly brighter than I like while having great bass and a good bit larger, more 3-d soundstage. I replaced the stock circa mid-1980s tubes with some 1975 Voshkod 6N1P input tubes and some 1962 6N6P power tubes. It made a huge difference. It's no longer too bright bit still has good extension in the highs, the mids are much more liquid, and lows are more pronounced while having great definition. Detail and soundstage are much better as well. The Valhalla with these tubes is an excellent match with the 650/6XX as well as every other high impedance phone I've tried with it.

 

[HTSkywalker]

Same here! I'm itching to try the BHC. It's on my list of things to try. From what I read I believe the BHC should be slightly tubier sounding than the Valhalla, even more so for the BHC without the Speedball mods.

Tubes can make a huge difference in the way they sound however. With the stock tubes the Valhalla (I have the original version) sounds slightly brighter than I like while having great bass and a good bit larger, more 3-d soundstage. I replaced the stock circa mid-1980s tubes with some 1975 Voshkod 6N1P input tubes and some 1962 6N6P power tubes. It made a huge difference. It's no longer too bright bit still has good extension in the highs, the mids are much more liquid, and lows are more pronounced while having great definition. Detail and soundstage are much better as well. The Valhalla with these tubes is an excellent match with the 650/6XX as well as every other high impedance phone I've tried with it.

From my exposure to both amps, the BHC with Speedball is warmer and more tube sounding than the Valhalla. Schiit products in general are corrected in the electronic circuit to produce a cleaner sound aka SS like.

 

[Dawgfish]

From my exposure to both amps, the BHC with Speedball is warmer and more tube sounding than the Valhalla. Schiit products in general are corrected in the electronic circuit to produce a cleaner sound aka SS like.

Awesome! I want to try an OTL tube amp with a little warmer sound. In my two channel speaker setups I'm very much a dyed in the wool tube guy so I prefer a warmer sound. That's not to say I'm not enjoying the Valhalla because I very much do especially after rolling the tubes. I just like having different flavors so I'm very much interested in the BHC for that reason. I'm not wanting to pick one up as a replacement for the Valhalla but as a compliment to it for when I'm in the mode for an OTL tube amp with a little warmer sound.

 

[HTSkywalker]

Awesome! I want to try an OTL tube amp with a little warmer sound. In my two channel speaker setups I'm very much a dyed in the wool tube guy so I prefer a warmer sound. That's not to say I'm not enjoying the Valhalla because I very much do especially after rolling the tubes. I just like having different flavors so I'm very much interested in the BHC for that reason. I'm not wanting to pick one up as a replacement for the Valhalla but as a compliment to it for when I'm in the mode for an OTL tube amp with a little warmer sound.

Probably you are using the Valhalla as a preamp in your speakers setup, the BHC does not function as a preamp but the Bottlehead Moreplay does .
Or if you want to tru do something interesting get a tube buffer. Already ordered one which uses 6SN7 pair.

 

[Dawgfish]

Probably you are using the Valhalla as a preamp in your speakers setup, the BHC does not function as a preamp but the Bottlehead Moreplay does .
Or if you want to tru do something interesting get a tube buffer. Already ordered one which uses 6SN7 pair.

I appreciate the advice but except for my vintage system using a Sansui AU-719 integrated which has a headphone jack, my headphone systems and two-channel speaker systems are totally different systems. I use a Joule Electra LA-100 Mk2 tube preamp in my main two-channel speaker system in conjunction with either an Anthem Amp 2 SE (tube/solid state hybrid), Rogue 88 Magnum (all tube), or B&K Reference 200.2 (solid state) as amplifiers. I rotate the amps depending on what speakers I'm using and/or mood.

That being the case I don't use the Valhalla as a preamp so the BHC not having a preamp function is no big deal at all. I do use my Lyr as a preamp sometimes in conjunction with a Primaluna Prologue 4 for driving my planar headphones. Most of the time I just use a Cayin Idac-6 dac/preamp in conjunction with Primaluna to drive my planars to keep it simpler and use one less pair of interconnects.

 

[janbe87]

I finally joined the club!

@SrTexugo Are the Ananda on a Rooms FS? Im just getting mine delivered next week, and wondering if they fit the Rooms FS with cables (!) or if it’s better to get the Rooms FS Pro...at about 50€ more.

 

[SilverEars]

Same here! I'm itching to try the BHC. It's on my list of things to try. From what I read I believe the BHC should be slightly tubier sounding than the Valhalla, even more so for the BHC without the Speedball mods.

Tubes can make a huge difference in the way they sound however. With the stock tubes the Valhalla (I have the original version) sounds slightly brighter than I like while having great bass and a good bit larger, more 3-d soundstage. I replaced the stock circa mid-1980s tubes with some 1975 Voshkod 6N1P input tubes and some 1962 6N6P power tubes. It made a huge difference. It's no longer too bright bit still has good extension in the highs, the mids are much more liquid, and lows are more pronounced while having great definition. Detail and soundstage are much better as well. The Valhalla with these tubes is an excellent match with the 650/6XX as well as every other high impedance phone I've tried with it.

You guys maybe expecting warmer, but a good tube amps do not have such characteristics. Good tube amps shouldn't provide warmth to cause bloomy-ness. It should cause peaks to be less prickly if the headphone is on the prickly side and provide enhanced bass to dynamic drivers with potential for enhanced bass with tubes. At least for dynamic drivers.

Presentation is different that it's not simply a matter of warmer or not. It's hard to describe.

 

[SrTexugo]

@SrTexugo Are the Ananda on a Rooms FS? Im just getting mine delivered next week, and wondering if they fit the Rooms FS with cables (!) or if it’s better to get the Rooms FS Pro...at about 50€ more.

This support is a generic one made in Brazil. And it was too small for Ananda ... I will have to buy another one.

 

[Dawgfish]

You guys maybe expecting warmer, but a good tube amps do not have such characteristics. Good tube amps shouldn't provide warmth to cause bloomy-ness. It should cause peaks to be less prickly if the headphone is on the prickly side and provide enhanced bass to dynamic drivers with potential for enhanced bass with tubes. At least for dynamic drivers.

Presentation is different that it's not simply a matter of warmer or not. It's hard to describe.

I get what you are saying. I have a lot of tube gear (not all headphone related). I'm not talking about bloat or roll off in either extremity in regard to tube sound. I like the smoothness, naturalness, and dimensionality good tube gear has. It can be bright, neutral, or warm sounding depending on individual equipment. I myself just prefer my tonality towards the warmer side. Some like the Mullard tone, others like Telefunken. It's all up to the individual listener's tastes.

 

[bagwell359]

The BHC is designed for 150 Ohms + cans and would shine from 200 +
Planars best approach to Tube sound is through a Hybrid, even the well designed WOO amps won't drive them well on low impedance setting, same for Feliks Audio amps.

100% for sure hybrids make the most sense for planars as an alternative to SS. Some tube amps that are not hybrid and not OTL should work as well, but not many and probably big bucks.

 

[04gto]

Just picked these up this morning. They are pretty amazing. This is not a review but one thing is for sure: If you are listening to these without an amp, straight out of your smart phone or PC, you are missing out. First I "tried" her straight out of my iphone dongle DAC with 3 or 4 of my go to test tracks. Dynamics, headroom, detail were all severely lacking. Which I find is always the case when somebody says something like "these sound just fine out of any device, no amp needed". The Apple dongle DAC (or anything else with +/- 33mw) is for convenience only (or children). Next I listened to the same group of songs from my Fiio Q5S AM3D (with a 4.4 balanced Stellia cable) - soooooo much better in every regard. I was pretty satisfied with the results with this amp. However I wanted to see what she was really capable of. So finally tried her with my JDS Labs Element II. Wow. Super tight and controlled bass, power to spare. While listening to Paquito D'Rivera- Tropicana Nights, I felt the urge to turn and look at instruments in the room with me. Only to feel a little silly and remind myself that I was listening to headphones. I have heard this track hundreds of times and never had that same sensation.

 

[mayurs]

Ananda and Arya use the same cables? Asking as I am not sure what the standard is, 2.5 or 3.5 at the headphone cups.