[Sonido]

Just got the HE-500's I was researching amps and upgrade cables. Without burnin and using my TD-11 dac/pre I'm blown away with the sound. I know that with burnin and only getting only 600mw @ 32omh there's improvement coming. Any tube amp recommendation? I heard good things about the EF-5. I don't want to spend over $500 usd? I've been reading up on the EF-5, lyr and the 337/339 darkvoice. It seems that eventhough the lyr has more power the EF-5 has a fuller presentation. I have no firsthand experience with any of the amps just looking for real user feedback???

I'm going to wait until I get a tube amp flavor going before deciding on any cable upgrades but thought will be appreciated. I'm not looking for uber highs I'm more a midrange bebop guy

Do you currently own any tube amps?

 

[davidsh]

  So, I just bought these (poor wallet). I know that this sort of discussion had been done to death, but I could hardly find consensus, so I will ask it anyway. If I'm going to drive these from any of the following amps (I'll use a FiiO E17 as DAC), which should it be?:
 
- FiiO E17 (directly)
- FiiO E09k
- FiiO E11
- O2
- Schiit Magni

Out of those I'd pick the magni.

 

[bhazard]

  Out of those I'd pick the magni.

Don't.
 
I tried the Magni and I didn't like it at all for the HE-500. Not enough juice and starts to distort fairly quickly. The other amps listed have even less power.
 
The best, most cost effective amps for the HE-500 are speaker amps. The Emotiva Mini-X and Lepai 2020a ($20!) work great. You just need to buy or make a speaker wire cable.

 

[koiloco]

  So, I just bought these (poor wallet). I know that this sort of discussion had been done to death, but I could hardly find consensus, so I will ask it anyway. If I'm going to drive these from any of the following amps (I'll use a FiiO E17 as DAC), which should it be?:
 
- FiiO E17 (directly)
- FiiO E09k
- FiiO E11
- O2
- Schiit Magni

E17 and E9K would be fine if you already have them.  That's what I have at the office.  Magni, I briefly listened to but didn't care so much for.
E17 on high gain will give u decent music quality for portable.  E9K has quite a bit more power and capable of driving HE500 ok.  Stepping things up to speaker amps however will put the HE500 into a totally different realm of enjoyment.
The other amps in your list, I haven't listened to so I can't comment.

 

[koiloco]

  Don't.
 
I tried the Magni and I didn't like it at all for the HE-500. Not enough juice and starts to distort fairly quickly. The other amps listed have even less power.
 
 

 
I have to respectfully disagree.  While magni can't be compared to speaker amps like Mini-X and Lepai in term of power, saying that it distorts quickly is to me and my experience with the magni is not correct.  So unless, you are running HE500 so loud like speakers and push the amp way beyond normal listening level, what you said portrait a very untrue statement regarding a great very affordable little amp.

 

[brunk]

If you new owners are looking for an all-in-one budget unit, the Grant Fidelity TubeDac-11 is an overlooked classic that has enjoyed a recent price drop. This unit was made by Yulong, rebadged to Grant Fidelity. $389 shipped.

 

[Xtri]

Just got the HE-500's I was researching amps and upgrade cables. Without burnin and using my TD-11 dac/pre I'm blown away with the sound. I know that with burnin and only getting only 600mw @ 32omh there's improvement coming. Any tube amp recommendation? I heard good things about the EF-5. I don't want to spend over $500 usd? I've been reading up on the EF-5, lyr and the 337/339 darkvoice. It seems that eventhough the lyr has more power the EF-5 has a fuller presentation. I have no firsthand experience with any of the amps just looking for real user feedback???

I'm going to wait until I get a tube amp flavor going before deciding on any cable upgrades but thought will be appreciated. I'm not looking for uber highs I'm more a midrange bebop guy

 
I have no experience with the Lyr, but if I had 500$ I'd probably consider the Lyr, I've heard great things about the Pan Am, but I don't know if it's strong enough the drive the HE-500. The HE-500 requires a bit of power to "unleash the beast". If I were you I'd probably go for the Lyr and get a BiFrost DAC later on. That's me though..
 
If I only had the Fostex or D7000 I'd go straight for the Pan Am, but I don't think it's enough to drive the HE-500 to it's potential.

 

[SwanSong]

If you new owners are looking for an all-in-one budget unit, the Grant Fidelity TubeDac-11 is an overlooked classic that has enjoyed a recent price drop. This unit was made by Yulong, rebadged to Grant Fidelity. $389 shipped.

+1 I'm a newbie but it sounds good with my TD-11. Will add dedicated tube amp soon though!

 

[SwanSong]

Do you currently own any tube amps?

No but I'm using a tube dac to feed my active monitors.

 

[SwanSong]

I have no experience with the Lyr, but if I had 500$ I'd probably consider the Lyr, I've heard great things about the Pan Am, but I don't know if it's strong enough the drive the HE-500. The HE-500 requires a bit of power to "unleash the beast". If I were you I'd probably go for the Lyr and get a BiFrost DAC later on. That's me though..

If I only had the Fostex or D7000 I'd go straight for the Pan Am, but I don't think it's enough to drive the HE-500 to it's potential.

I was leaning toward the Lyr then I read several people preferred the EF-5. They felt the warmth and sweet midrange was present more in the EF-5. The Lyr had more power and bass impact but not the smooth mids and highs. Anybody used both??

 

[Xtri]

I was leaning toward the Lyr then I read several people preferred the EF-5. They felt the warmth and sweet midrange was present more in the EF-5. The Lyr had more power and bass impact but not the smooth mids and highs. Anybody used both??

There's probably tons out there who have, I am currently running the WA6-SE and I will run it for a while, it's amazing . Eventually though I will change and I will probably combine the Lyr with the BiFrost, just to test it out, always wanted to see how that combo is... It probably won't be detailed enough, so against it I'll probably go up to something else... Once you go up to the "high-end" standards and have heard the sounds they produce it's hard to go back, atleast I believe that it is for most people.

 

[SwanSong]

  There's probably tons out there who have, I am currently running the WA6-SE and I will run it for a while. Eventually though I will change and I will probably combine the Lyr with the BiFrost, just to test it out. It probably won't be detailed enough, so against I'll probably go up to something else.. Once you go up to those standards it's hard to go back..

It's a beautiful looking combo too!!!

 

[Xtri]

It is indeed, I didn't really like the TH-600 compared to the HE-500 so far, but I will make a review soon. And post some pics
I need a few more hours before I can tell if it's bad or good
One thing I can say for sure is that the TH-600 got a mean punch, but the HE-500 is a lot more refined. But remember this is with a HE-500 that has been used atleast for 150 hours and the TH-600 has only been used for 8 hours. But I think the TH-600 sound signature is more bass oriented than the HE-500s. But I don't think anything can beat the deep orthodynamic sub bass that the HE-500 has.
 
I will always love the HE-500, they have a kind of sound that is hard to explain, I love them, and I will never let them go. Although I am excited to see how the TH-600 will do after a few hours on them. Trust me, as far as I've heard they are very comparable to the D7000, maybe a bit sharper (after what I've heard about the D7000 owners). They were EXTREMELY sharp in the start, I had a hard time just listening to them but after a few hours they loosened up and became better. Still, only a few hours on them so far. Those few hours though gave me a good impression, hard hitting bass and pretty deep, not as deep as the HE-500 though.
 
It's going to be fun to listen to them and see how they perform after a few hours on them. I never burn in headphones with static sound, I like to listen to them from the start to the end with normal music.

 

[potterma]

Have you tried turning your headphones around? Left to right, right to left. Does the channel imbalance follow the headphones or your ears?

OK.  Have you tried switching the input channels to your amp to see if it might be in your upstream components?

 

[Fearless1]

I was leaning toward the Lyr then I read several people preferred the EF-5. They felt the warmth and sweet midrange was present more in the EF-5. The Lyr had more power and bass impact but not the smooth mids and highs. Anybody used both??

 I own both, I prefer  the EF-5 over the Lyr with most cans(there is something just great about the tone of the EF-5) , but the Lyr is better with the HE-500s to my ears. *
 
 
*this statement does not reflect stock tubes, I could not get them out fast enough.