[gugman]

@muxamed
 
received today teac ha 501 and what a superb pairing it is with our beloved he400i !!!
 
but even yulong d100 sounds/looks like a toy compared to teac, not to mention O2 
 
once again I realized how much power is needed to make these headphones shine indeed 
 
best !

 

[Jbmorrey]

Hopefully someone can help me on this. I recently purchased a pair of the Alacantra pads and I really like them, however, I wouldl ke to try them on the HE-400i, where can I get a plastic ring to put the Alacantra pad on? I know they must be available, I know when you but the $10 velour pad as I inquired about some time ago, they stated that it is only the pad and no ring. Anyone help me find where to buy this plastic ring.

Thanks,
James

 

[DavidA]

Hopefully someone can help me on this. I recently purchased a pair of the Alacantra pads and I really like them, however, I wouldl ke to try them on the HE-400i, where can I get a plastic ring to put the Alacantra pad on? I know they must be available, I know when you but the $10 velour pad as I inquired about some time ago, they stated that it is only the pad and no ring. Anyone help me find where to buy this plastic ring.

Thanks,
James

The velour pads you can get directly from Head-Direct.COM had the plastic rings in them when I got them last year: http://www.head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=117 unless this has been changed?

 

[Jbmorrey]

The velour pads you can get directly from Head-Direct.COM had the plastic rings in them when I got them last year: http://www.head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=117 unless this has been changed?

Well the lady I talked to today at head direct said that it did not include the plastic ring, do you recall if the velour pad was "glued" on the plastic ring like the focus pads are, I have a spare pair of focus pads, but do not want to remove the glued pad just to get to the plastic ring. The lady I talked to today stated " it just includes the pad" so perhaps when she is saying that she is talking about the pad with the glued on ring, and to her that is " the pad" not sure. I may call back to verify this.

James

 

[DavidA]

I haven't heard of anyone just getting the pad with no ring, might be a lost in translation thing. Also, mine are glued together

 

[Jbmorrey]

I haven't heard of anyone just getting the pad with no ring, might be a lost in translation thing. Also, mine are glued together

Yea, I think you are right, the lady probably just figured I was talking about something else, I will call and confirm tomorrow. Hopefully can salvage the velour pad on something else about I remove it from the plastic ring.

James

 

[Vartan]

del

 

[bracko]

@muxamed


received today teac ha 501 and what a superb pairing it is with our beloved he400i !!!

but even yulong d100 sounds/looks like a toy compared to teac, not to mention O2 

once again I realized how much power is needed to make these headphones shine indeed 

best !

Nice to know. I like how 400i sounds with my x-can too. It is quite powerfull amp and quite a nice match for 400i

 

[gugman]

Nice to know. I like how 400i sounds with my x-can too. It is quite powerfull amp and quite a nice match for 400i

My beast for driving he400i

 

[DavidA]

@guggman, how much of a difference does the damping factor selector in your opinion, I was able to try out the HA-501 at my friends house the other day and with some headphones changing the settings made a noticeable change is sound while with others there was not much change?

 

[gugman]

@DavidA
 
you are correct 
 
for instance with closed headphones I dont notice any effect, but with he40i there is a significant difference
 
in a few days I will be able to test few different headphones and I will let you know
 
cheers   

 

[mandrake50]

  @guggman, how much of a difference does the damping factor selector in your opinion, I was able to try out the HA-501 at my friends house the other day and with some headphones changing the settings made a noticeable change is sound while with others there was not much change?

I wonder whether they make this adjustment by changing the output impedance. I have no more than a basic understanding of electronic circuits, but I think that would be the easiest way to do it.
Using this method, headphones such as planars with  relatively constant impedance curves should be little affected. Dynamics, especially those with significant changes in impedance (such as at their bass resonance frequency), should be affected much more! This is a question rather than any kind of statement about how they are making this damping factor switch work.
 
EDIT: Damping is the ability of a power amplifier to control loudspeaker motion. It's measured in Damping Factor, which is load impedance divided by amplifier output impedance. (working definition of damping factor).
 
So my guess sounds reasonable

 

[DavidA]

I tried 3 headphones, HD-800, HE-560 and RS2e
The damping control of the HA-501 had the most effect on the RS2e, second was the HE-560 and least on the HD-800, the difference in sound is noticeable but not a WOW difference but I only had a short time to test so YMMV.
@gugman, please post your evaluation of the HA-501, I'm curious to see if its a amp I would consider getting for the many different headphones that I have, something like a SS version of the Ember or maybe the Polaris would do the trick....

 

[gugman]

  I tried 3 headphones, HD-800, HE-560 and RS2e
The damping control of the HA-501 had the most effect on the RS2e, second was the HE-560 and least on the HD-800, the difference in sound is noticeable but not a WOW difference but I only had a short time to test so YMMV.
@gugman, please post your evaluation of the HA-501, I'm curious to see if its a amp I would consider getting for the many different headphones that I have, something like a SS version of the Ember or maybe the Polaris would do the trick....

 
that is correct as well, there is no WOW effect at all with damping control, not even a close feeling to that 
 
but the amp itself is a WOW for me at least 
 
and sure I will post as soon as I have a possibility to test few different headphones  

 

[DavidA]

   
that is correct as well, there is no WOW effect at all with damping control, not even a close feeling to that 
 
but the amp itself is a WOW for me at least 
 
and sure I will post as soon as I have a possibility to test few different headphones  

The only amp that gave me a "WOW" moment so far has been the BH Crack with the HD-800, I was using a Ember and Lyr2 when I got the HD-800 and it sounded flat without any dynamics.
 
For the HE-400i almost any decent amp like the Lyr2/Ember/HA-501 will give you great sound.  I was able to try the HE-400i at my friends house with a AudioGD Master 7 and Cavalli Liquid Gold / Chord Hugo TT, there was a very small difference in the soundstage and the bass went a little lower but at price of those 3 components you are really in the area of diminishing returns.  The HE-560 did benefit a lot more than the HE-400i with the upgraded gear but IMO its to far in to the diminishing returns also, I'd rather get a few more different headphones and more music to enjoy.