Thats there lowest cost headphone amp they have if i am not mistaken and on top of that they included a dac!.all budget components inside.... Ofcourse they are not made to drive a difficult to drive headphone like a he500....Get one of their master series...yes they are a bit more expensive...but for the money they still offer excellent value for money...
The amp section of the 11.32 is still pumping about 2.5 W of power into HE500's 38 Ohm, there is plenty of power. It's a bit cold-sounding though, which is alright with me but might tick some off.
Why no love for Audio GD. Their Amp/DAC combo seem to have very good specs and very attractive price point compared to the mid-fi players. I have not used their products, merely asking opinions... I do like to know how they sound with the HE-500
I'm extremely happy with how the Audio-gd NFB 6 sounds with my HE-500 running balanced from the Audiolab 8200 CD player. 5.92 watts of very detailed, very neutral sound makes it unforgiving with less than perfect recordings but that's what I prefer since I don't listen to the kinds of music which get poorly recorded.
Thats there lowest cost headphone amp they have if i am not mistaken and on top of that they included a dac!.all budget components inside.... Ofcourse they are not made to drive a difficult to drive headphone like a he500....Get one of their master series...yes they are a bit more expensive...but for the money they still offer excellent value for money...
The amp actually had plenty of power, and it used the ESS9018. Like Jerg said though, its a little too cold and bright, not even neutral really. The HE-500 will only get better once my new Jergpads come in from modulator.
Speaker amp / DAC or bust for the HE-500. It opens up a whole new level of performance that a 1000mw amp just can't give.
The amp actually had plenty of power, and it used the ESS9018. Like Jerg said though, its a little too cold and bright, not even neutral really. The HE-500 will only get better once my new Jergpads come in from modulator.
Speaker amp / DAC or bust for the HE-500. It opens up a whole new level of performance that a 1000mw amp just can't give.
I meant the soundsignature of that amp... But as u can see audio GD amps do sound good on a he500..i told ya!
About ur statement about speaker amp or bust..well..i think a few decware, woo audio, bakoon, burson, darkvoice, lafigaro, blue circle audio and lots more owners of other premium brands of headphone amps can tell ya: speaker route is not the only way.
First: Its the least easy way (caution with connection to speaker units!) and
Secondly: u have to strip cable (or buy dedicated cables) to connect..
only possible advantage over those premium (most of them expensive) headphone amps is that they are cheaper by a huge margin in what they deliver in watts...
Am not saying they are worse, but for 2000usd u get a whole lot of headphone amping.
A 2000usd worth of speakeramp wont be better with a he500 (with the he6 situation could be different) maybe only stronger (more bass??)
The he500 doesnt need huge amount of watts. what he does need is control and quality of sound and in so components to deliver that and that costs money, sometimes lots of money.
but as one smart person on headfi said: at a certain price point its not about quality of sound anymore..its about design and reputation.. (Sometimes over quality of sound!!!!!!!)
At that point i say: stop..no further..but hey..if i was rich i would say..give me 2 of them (a black and silver)..wrap them up and put them on the passengers seat in my bugatti veyron up front
I meant the soundsignature of that amp... But as u can see audio GD amps do sound good on a he500..i told ya!
About ur statement about speaker amp or bust..well..i think a few decware, woo audio, bakoon, burson, darkvoice, lafigaro, blue circle audio and lots more owners of other premium brands of headphone amps can tell ya: speaker route is not the only way.
First: Its the least easy way (caution with connection to speaker units!) and
Secondly: u have to strip cable (or buy dedicated cables) to connect..
only possible advantage over those premium (most of them expensive) headphone amps is that they are cheaper by a huge margin in what they deliver in watts...
Am not saying they are worse, but for 2000usd u get a whole lot of headphone amping.
A 2000usd worth of speakeramp wont be better with a he500 (with the he6 situation could be different) maybe only stronger (more bass??)
The he500 doesnt need huge amount of watts. what he does need is control and quality of sound and in so components to deliver that and that costs money, sometimes lots of money.
but as one smart person on headfi said: at a certain price point its not about quality of sound anymore..its about design and reputation..
At that point i say: stop..no further..but hey..if i was rich i would say..give me 2 of them (a black and silver)..wrap them up and put them on the passengers seat in my bugatti veyron up front
I'm running my HE-500 off a $20 Lepai 2020a+, and it is leaps and bounds better than any headphone amp I've tried under $1,000. $20 is extremely cheap.
It is actually better than the $129 200W Lepai amp I have. I can't get that to work with the HE-500 yet, despite the stronger than Emotiva Mini-X power.
Nicholars, have you seen this one ? (Retail £400 converts to $635.)
NAD D3020 (right side). 30 watts from taps into 8 ohms, Bluetooth AptX, DAC - USB/optical in, sub output.
Still trying to dig up the front-side headphone output wattage and the DAC brand they use, as it was not in the spec. sheet. It would be a Swiss army knife if the watts at the front were powerful enough for planars. Could hook up desktop speakers for a desktop computing 2.1 set-up as well if the taps were free and its a headphone stand to-boot !
I'm running my HE-500 off a $20 Lepai 2020a+, and it is leaps and bounds better than any headphone amp I've tried under $1,000. $20 is extremely cheap.
It is actually better than the $129 200W Lepai amp I have. I can't get that to work with the HE-500 yet, despite the stronger than Emotiva Mini-X power.
What's your setup look like with the Lepai? How are you connecting the HE-500 to it? Also, does the 200W amp just not work with the headphones or just sound bad?
What's your setup look like with the Lepai? How are you connecting the HE-500 to it? Also, does the 200W amp just not work with the headphones or just sound bad?
200W just isn't working with it ATM. The 2020 uses bare wire, and the 200W uses banana plug type twists. My ends are soldered, so I can't really throw them into banana plugs. They don't seem to be catching good, and I barely get any sound out of it.
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