[Zoom25]

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Here's my question about the Emotiva and it's gobs of power. Why do you need that much power to drive the HE-500?

 
The best thing about emotiva is that you can listen at low volume levels and still have great satisfying bass response. With other amps like O2, you would need to turn the volume up a bit to get the desired bass response, and even then it wouldn't come close. I found this to be true with HE-500, LCD-2 and LCD-3. Much more enjoying and easy on the ears listening at low/medium volumes and getting decent bass throughout.

 

[M-13]

Quote:

Here's my question about the Emotiva and it's gobs of power. Why do you need that much power to drive the HE-500?

eke.... the answer is so obvious I'm not even sure why you're asking it:
 
If a Nile croc attacks you while you're listening to your HE-500 you can use the headphone to taser the beast into submission.

 

[Zoom25]

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eke.... the answer is so obvious I'm not even sure why you're asking it:
 
If a Nile croc attacks you while you're listening to your HE-500 you can use the headphone to taser the beast into submission.

 
That and the bass to blow it away.

 

[koiloco]

Quote:

 
That and the bass to blow it away.

The HE500 is actually heavy and sturdy enough to use as a self-defense weapon.  I did consider this as a factor when I bought the HE500.

 

[Zoom25]

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The HE500 is actually heavy and sturdy enough to use as a self-defense weapon.  I did consider this as a factor when I bought the HE500.

 
LOL also you can just throw the stock silver cable at it. In no time it will be tangled and unable to move.

 

[eke2k6]

Quote:

 
The best thing about emotiva is that you can listen at low volume levels and still have great satisfying bass response. With other amps like O2, you would need to turn the volume up a bit to get the desired bass response, and even then it wouldn't come close. I found this to be true with HE-500, LCD-2 and LCD-3. Much more enjoying and easy on the ears listening at low/medium volumes and getting decent bass throughout.

 
Ok, then could it be possible that the Emotiva itself is bass heavy, and not that the HE-500 benefits from a power plant?
 
BTW, the O2 is a bad counter-example, since it only outputs about half of the 500's recommended power supply.

 

[Jesterphile]

Quote:

 
Ok, then could it be possible that the Emotiva itself is bass heavy, and not that the HE-500 benefits from a power plant?
 
BTW, the O2 is a bad counter-example, since it only outputs about half of the 500's recommended power supply.

I noticed a considerable difference in bass output when comparing my HE500's through an O2 and NFB10SE (single ended, and then even more improvement in bass control when balanced on the NFB10SE)
 
Same story with my Corda Classic

 

[koiloco]

Quote:

I noticed a considerable difference in bass output when comparing my HE500's through an O2 and NFB10SE (single ended, and then even more improvement in bass control when balanced on the NFB10SE)
 
Same story with my Corda Classic

Just a silly technical question, since the Emotiva has common ground between L/R, is it not correct that the HE500 will not really benefit from a balanced connection at all from the Mini-x vs. an amp with native balanced output?

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

 
Ok, then could it be possible that the Emotiva itself is bass heavy, and not that the HE-500 benefits from a power plant?
 
BTW, the O2 is a bad counter-example, since it only outputs about half of the 500's recommended power supply.

 
It very well could be. I personally don't find anything overly exaggerated with any of my headphones. Same results with speakers.
 
Also, I only mentioned O2 because I own it and have lived with it for quite some time now. Similar results as Emotiva with Marantz speaker amps when I tried it, however I don't live with it at the moment. Asgard was meh as well.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

Just a silly technical question, since the Emotiva has common ground between L/R, is it not correct that the HE500 will not really benefit from a balanced connection at all from the Mini-x vs. an amp with native balanced output?

 
Balanced or unbalanced won't make a difference with Emotiva. However, having a balanced cable will help in the future with both balanced and single ended amps. That's about it.

 

[koiloco]

Quote:

 
Balanced or unbalanced won't make a difference with Emotiva. However, having a balanced cable will help in the future with both balanced and single ended amps. That's about it.

Thx for confirming what I could remember from sleeping in my physic classes back in college days. 

 

[elwappo99]

Quote:

I noticed a considerable difference in bass output when comparing my HE500's through an O2 and NFB10SE (single ended, and then even more improvement in bass control when balanced on the NFB10SE)
 
Same story with my Corda Classic

 
I found very similar results when I had the NFB10SE and compared it with the emotiva. My chain went something like  NFB-10SE (Single ended) < NFB-10SE (balanced) < Emotiva A-100
 
The bass control is much improved in each step.
 
 
Quote:

Just a silly technical question, since the Emotiva has common ground between L/R, is it not correct that the HE500 will not really benefit from a balanced connection at all from the Mini-x vs. an amp with native balanced output?

 
That is a good question to ask. Keep in mind that just because an amplifier is balanced, doesn't mean it is superior to all non balanced amplifiers. A balanced amplifier is basically two single ended ones tied together (I know this is a huge generalization, but stay with me). I found the A-100 to beat out my Little Dot MKVI+, and another member thought it was on par with the Mjolnir. Both of these are balanced amplifiers. 

 

[kenshinhimura]

i just got a package in the mail today for me HE-500 from GREQ. they feel excellent to touch and wear. they also help distribute the weight a lot better.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
unfortunately i already had the headphones to their smallest setting, so it squishes the snap part of the band as you can see.
 

 

 
i will write back when i have more time to use them to review comfort on longer listening sessions, but these are nice and high quality to me out of the box.

 

[Happy Camper]

The best thing about emotiva is that you can listen at low volume levels and still have great satisfying bass response. With other amps like O2, you would need to turn the volume up a bit to get the desired bass response, and even then it wouldn't come close. I found this to be true with HE-500, LCD-2 and LCD-3. Much more enjoying and easy on the ears listening at low/medium volumes and getting decent bass throughout.

So true. Speaker amps in general give you better performance all round but listening at low volumes give you firm control and keeps the soundstage intact. But when you want to really boogy, there's no problem cranking it to 11 .

 

[eke2k6]

Quote:

 
It very well could be. I personally don't find anything overly exaggerated with any of my headphones. Same results with speakers.

 
Quote:

I noticed a considerable difference in bass output when comparing my HE500's through an O2 and NFB10SE (single ended, and then even more improvement in bass control when balanced on the NFB10SE)
 
Same story with my Corda Classic

 
So, it could just very well be that the Emotiva is a bassier amplifier, not that it unlocks some hidden potential in the HE-500.
 
Cool.