[moodyrn]

I've been very interested in the HE-5s ever since the first impressions started rolling in.
So I decided to wait until the right opportunity presented itself and get a used pair already burned in since the warranty is transferable.

On my main rig I have a pair of lambda signatures mated with a srm1 mkII(C version).
I absolutely love that setup. Although there are better alternatives that the srm1, I didn't want to spend $$$$ chasing that last bit of transparency and resolution.

In my studio I had a setup consisting of a pair of hd580s and a ming da mc84 c07.
I loved this setup before I got my stax setup and it was a nice secondary system, but the problem is my main rig is also integrated with my home theater setup.
So when my wife wanted to watch tv or a movie, there was no stax for me. So I wanted something that wouldn't make me miss my stax too much when I had to retreat to my studio.

I later replaced my hd580s for a pair of dt990/600 ohms.
It was a nice improvement, but still couldn't compete with my stax setup. I knew the amp wasn't my problem.
I compared this amp to quite a few amps in a much higher price range and prefered the ming da.

So I decided to start over with an entirely different setup. Enter the HE-5s.
I'm a believer in getting the headphones you want and then finding an amp to match your headphones as compared to getting the amp first.

So reluctantly I sold everything including (sigh) my precious and beloved ming da.
I knew I would be taking a chance because even though my previous setup couldn't compete with my stax setup, it still was a very good setup.
So I needed something that could properly drive my HE-5s. I really wanted a phoenix or roc, but I have a baby that's due any day now, so my wife put a limit on my budget.

After reading so many impressions on how hard they were to drive and that they really excelled with balanced amps, I knew that I needed something that was balanced and had a ton of power.
So that left me with two choices. The Einar Sound VC-01i and the Little Dot MKVII+.
Based on all the impressions/reviews, I felt that the Einar Sound would be the better sounding amp but the modest power ratings troubled me.
I guess that's one of the negatives about these headphones. They are real picky about the amp you match with them. So I decided on the little dot.

Looking at the specs, on paper it seems that this would be a pretty good match, but again that's on paper. So I emailed David, gave him the specs of the He-5s.
He guaranteed that the MKVII+ would be a great match(yeah of course he would say that). Well given his reputation, I decided to take a chance.
He did tell me if it wasn't a great match he would give me a refund.

Let's be for real. This is a 400.00 amp. How good could this thing really be?
Given that it's also balanced that should make the single ended output on par with a 200.00 amp(so I thought). It also looked like a very simple design.
So how good could this thing be? Well very good. I guess in this case less is more.
Well on the pluse side, it does have dual transformers and dual power supplies which some of the more expensive balanced amps do not have.

Ater receiving it, it tried the single ended output first.The single ended outputs were pretty good, but there was a lack of power.
The sound stage was a little small, bass wasn't as tight as I would have wanted, and there was a good amount of sibilance.
The highs weren't harsh, but there was sibilance. After trying the balanced outputs, all of these issues were non existent. Clean unadulterated power. The bass was nice and tight.
It also extended deeper. The sound stage was nice and wide, highs were airy with no hint of sibilance. There was plenty of air and space around both the voices and instruments.
The sound was completely musical without sounding colored. Going balanced do take them to another level. I was really skeptical about this amp at first, so this reall was a surprise.

I never was a big fan of Little dot amps(with the exception of their very good portable MKI). I thought their tube amps were good for the money, but nothing special.
Well the single ended output isn't anything special either. It's good, but not great. This thing is all about the balanced output. Is balanced really that much better than single ended?
Or is it that the HE-5s really excel being driven balanced. The last ss amp I owned was an Audio-GD C2C. I thought it was a good SS amp. It was really good with my srh840s and er4ps.
It just didn't have the juice for my 600ohm beyers. So since I no longer have it, I can't make a direct comparison between it and the single ended output of the MKVII+.
Also the only phones I have now that I had when I owned the C2C are the shures and etys. But from memory, the single ended output of the MKVII+ isn't outclassed by the C2C.

The C2C had a little wider soundstage and a little more control of the low end. But the MKVII+ is more detailed and transparent.
There's also a little hiss with my shures and etys with the volume turned up. The C2C had a completely black background with everything I plugged into it.
So it was better in some ways and I think the MKVII+ is a little better in a couple of ways. Keep in mind this is from memory. But balanced, the MKVII+ is in another area code.
This thing isn't even burned in yet. I guess it really comes down to synergy.

I've read impressions of the HE-5s sounding better with the EF-5 than they did with expensive tube amps at more that twice the price of th EF-5.
So all in all my gamble really paid off. I still like my staxs a little better but I don't miss them when ever I listen to me HE-5 Little Dot combo.
I do plan to upgrade my amp in the future, but for right now I'm completely satisfied with my HE-5 Little Dot combo.

 

[Head Injury]

Is your Enter key broken?

I don't know how you even managed to type that without getting lost.

 

[nycdoi]

nice to see it is fixed after i managed to read it..

please excuse my laziness, if i recall correctly, the mk vii+ runs on 4pin xlr isnt it?
it seems this is indeed a competitive for EF5. especially for its ability to drive the ef5 and run on balance.

 

[AcousticMatter]

Hi Moodyrn. Nice writeup of your experience. I recently got my hands on a HE-5 myself thinking that my LD MK VI+ would be a good match. I am running this amplifier with the high gain setting for my AKG K1000's. The HE-5 didn't really do well here, so I started using it with my LD MK V. This is actually a really great match - I simply haven't had such a good time with this amp until now.
I really love the full sound of these cans, they are extremely versatile and able to reproduce different genres.

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nycdoi /img/forum/go_quote.gif nice to see it is fixed after i managed to read it.. please excuse my laziness, if i recall correctly, the mk vii+ runs on 4pin xlr isnt it? it seems this is indeed a competitive for EF5. especially for its ability to drive the ef5 and run on balance.

yes it is 4 pin balanced.

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AcousticMatter /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Moodyrn. Nice writeup of your experience. I recently got my hands on a HE-5 myself thinking that my LD MK VI+ would be a good match. I am running this amplifier with the high gain setting for my AKG K1000's. The HE-5 didn't really do well here, so I started using it with my LD MK V. This is actually a really great match - I simply haven't had such a good time with this amp until now. I really love the full sound of these cans, they are extremely versatile and able to reproduce different genres.

I guess your impression is consistent with others who tried the HE-5s with a tube amp. Fang even says that they are a better match with solid state/hybrid amps. This is funny because I've never been a fan of solid state amps. I guess it really does depend on the cans.

 

[JIGF]

I have been interested on balancing my HE5 for quite a while now, this Little Dot looks promising. The EF5 is an amazing amp, but it is single ended, and I am very curious about the improvements a balanced setup can achieve. Got to save up some money now, good thing I did not spend much on making my customs. The Little Dot MKVII sure looks good for the price.
 
Edit: It surprises me that the MKVII+ does better than the MKVI+ since the latter has tubes and seems more powerful in general (must be one of those synergy things right?).

 

[moodyrn]

That surprise me too. I would have thought the MKVI+ would have been a better match as well. But like you stated, synergy is important. The improvements I noticed between balanced and single ended was a wider soundstage, bass was a little tighter and extended a littler deeper, and the mids were a little more focused. Each improvement was subtle but add them altogether, it ended up being a significant improvement overall. I'm selling my MKVII+. I just wanted to try balanced for the first time, and the improvements over single ended convinced me to upgrade to a balanced tube amp(and I really miss the sound of tubes). One thing the little dot provides for the he-5's is lots and lots of current. It's a very powerful amp. So that's why it's a good match. It drives them with authority.

 

[AcousticMatter]

Hmm, not sure that this observation is completely fair to the MK VI+. I was only talking about the synergy between the HE-5 and the MK VI+ running with the hight gain setting for my K1000's. I am quite sure that the amp will do significantly better than the Mk V when running with the low gain setting, although I haven't tested this (it's really a pain to change this setting as you have to take the cabinet a apart). I feel that there's way too much gain with the sound volume maxing at around 12 o'clock - it's the same thing when using my balanced Senns HD650).
I love my MK VI+ to death - it has been my entrypoint to the world of tubed head-fi, and I feel that I have found an affordable way to audio heaven. After some tube rolling I have settled on a quad of Tung Sol 5998 and a pair of Brimar 6SL7GT. This works really, really well with my K1000s. This afternoon I was listening new CD with Patricia Petibon and Venice Baroque Orchestra - amazing sound stage, dynamics and detail. I can almost hear how each microphone has been placed in relation to the orchestra and soloist. I am sure that you can get an even better result from other amps, but I believe that you would have to pay a considerably higher price to do so.
I have returned my HE-5's due to the problem with cracks on the wooden drivers. The HE-5's will be replaced with the new HE-5LE model, which I am looking very much forward to get to know. I will be testing it on the Mk VI+, but will probably end up using them with my AKG K1000 amp, which I never really felt did the K1000's any justice. This amp works really well with my Senns, and I expect it will do the balanced HE-5LE good.

 

[moodyrn]

Thanks for clearing that up. It makes more sense now. I have a balanced bijou on the way. I've read that it's excellent as well. I do see now after owning the mkvii+ that balanced is the way to go with these cans. I was recently at a meet and they sounded better on the balanced amps that were there than they did using their single ended outputs.

 

[JIGF]

But still, the one that appears to have more synergy with the HE5 is the  LDMKVII+, I might comment to David on this.
 
Do you plan on returning the HE5 Moodyrn?
 
Edit: Can you post a pic of the HE5 with the MKVII+?

 

[ford2]

 
 
And here is a pic of a MK-Vll,these amps are true treasures.
 

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

But still, the one that appears to have more synergy with the HE5 is the  LDMKVII+, I might comment to David on this.
 
Do you plan on returning the HE5 Moodyrn?
 
Edit: Can you post a pic of the HE5 with the MKVII+?

No, I'm keeping the HE-5s. They are some magical cans. At the meet I was at saturday, they destroyed the hd800s. I had already thought they sounded better, but it was from memory of how the hd800 sounded. So comparing them side to side confirmed it. So these aren't going anywhere.

 

[JIGF]

Me too, I had until yesterday to exchange them for the HE5LE, but I have totally fallen in love with them.
 
@ ford2: thanks for the pic, here is one of my setup.
 

 

[ford2]

Quote:

Me too, I had until yesterday to exchange them for the HE5LE, but I have totally fallen in love with them.
 
@ ford2: thanks for the pic, here is one of my setup.
 

Very nice,the HE5 is a phone that I would like to try,it sure gets a lot of glowing reports.
 
I bet the AKG's are not getting much use now.