[Sonido]

  Yeah with such a low input impedance, you could benefit from an active pre. Yeah, so you still get hiss pretty early on then. That's my beef with Emotiva -cheap watts with too high gain = recipe for noise.

So should stick with the HE-Adapter to prevent noise problems? The preamp definitely raised the noise floor, and I'm only 1 hour away from the background noise becoming audible even with the HE-Adapter. Also comparing with amps that gave 1W or less, like WA7, I could definitely tell there's an improvement in impact and body. Nothing sounds harsh or thin. So I'm certain I'm getting more power than 1W.
 
How are you calculating the power I'm getting into the HE-500? I checked back at the specs of the HE-Adapter and along with the 10 ohm parallel resistance, there is a 25 ohm series resistor. I could probably just remove that resistor if need be and solder a wire. The 10 ohm parallel with the HE-500's 38 ohms creates 7.9 ohms, which would mean 50W, with the HE-500 getting 10.42W. Not sure how to calculate it when there's a 25 ohm resistor in series thrown in there. If plugging the HE-500 directly into the MiniX without any resistors, what's the power it gets then? I don't think you can do a simple divide by a factor of the resistance, otherwise they would list 100W at 4 ohms, rather than 80W.

 

[brunk]

  So should stick with the HE-Adapter to prevent noise problems? The preamp definitely raised the noise floor, and I'm only 1 hour away from the background noise becoming audible even with the HE-Adapter. Also comparing with amps that gave 1W or less, like WA7, I could definitely tell there's an improvement in impact and body. Nothing sounds harsh or thin. So I'm certain I'm getting more power than 1W.
 
How are you calculating the power I'm getting into the HE-500? I checked back at the specs of the HE-Adapter and along with the 10 ohm parallel resistance, there is a 25 ohm series resistor. I could probably just remove that resistor if need be and solder a wire. The 10 ohm parallel with the HE-500's 38 ohms creates 7.9 ohms, which would mean 50W, with the HE-500 getting 10.42W. Not sure how to calculate it when there's a 25 ohm resistor in series thrown in there. If plugging the HE-500 directly into the MiniX without any resistors, what's the power it gets then? I don't think you can do a simple divide by a factor of the resistance, otherwise they would list 100W at 4 ohms, rather than 80W.

I would see how you get on with just the 10R resistors. You're not getting those numbers for output, because of the dissipation from the resistors. Us Head-Fi'ers had chimed in on a speaker amp for headphones thread and came up with this nice effort, credit goes to robrobinette for the site.
http://robrobinette.com/HeadphoneResistorNetworkCalculator.htm bookmark it and pass it on, this is bonafide legit.

 

[Sonido]

  I would see how you get on with just the 10R resistors. You're not getting those numbers for output, because of the dissipation from the resistors. Us Head-Fi'ers had chimed in on a speaker amp for headphones thread and came up with this nice effort, credit goes to robrobinette for the site.
http://robrobinette.com/HeadphoneResistorNetworkCalculator.htm bookmark it and pass it on, this is bonafide legit.

Doesn't really tell me the wattage the HE-500 are getting with the setup. The attenuation value is useful though. It says the higher the value, to more you can turn up the knob. Is higher a larger negative value? The value it's giving me is always negative.
 
As for power, without the 25 ohm series resistor, the total resistance of the 10 ohm parallel and 38 ohm HE-500 happens to be very close to 8 ohms so I can figure out the power it would get there because the manufacturer has listed 50W at 8ohms. With the 25 ohm series resistor though, the total resistance becomes 32.9 ohms and the manufacturer obviously didn't list out a wattage for that, so I'm not sure how to calculate it there. Any idea?

 

[nehcrow]

What's an awesome in you guys opinion?
I'm thinking along the lines of Bifrost Uber but always open to options (especially cheaper options)
Probably thinking of getting a Quickie once I get a bit better at soldering + more cash

 

[hifimanrookie]

That's my beef with Emotiva -cheap watts with too high gain = recipe for noise.

Cough 337/339 cough..no noise..cough..cough..deadquiet...powerfull...cough..wonderful sound..double cough

 

[davidsh]

 

  Emotiva ordered. It was $272.43, and if I am taxed, it'll be $370. Better be worth it, as that is twice the price you lucky bastards pay.

David,
what model is this Emotiva ? Not the mini-X right ?
 
Edit: Duh, saw your most recent post. Wow, I got it for $ 169 from the company last month !

Yeah. They were on sale. I paid 169 + 103 shipping. On top of that, there's approx 100$ of tax/vat to import.

 

[kothganesh]

  Yeah. They were on sale. I paid 169 + 103 shipping. On top of that, there's approx 100$ of tax/vat to import.

Shucks you're right. I completely forgot. I have to get it into India - Shipping and customs ! Man, thanks for reminding me . My Emotiva has been sitting in the US for 2 weeks. 

 

[kothganesh]

Cough 337/339 cough..no noise..cough..cough..deadquiet...powerfull...cough..wonderful sound..double cough

You under the weather ?

 

[Textfeud]

  What's an awesome in you guys opinion?
I'm thinking along the lines of Bifrost Uber but always open to options (especially cheaper options)
Probably thinking of getting a Quickie once I get a bit better at soldering + more cash

I really like my Bifrost Uber but only had the Fiio E10 and Aune T1 before so can't really compare to other DACs. I might hate the sound once I try other DACs, lol.

 

[davidsh]

Would have bought the hfmrookie evil 337 if it was a speaker amp 

 

[Zoom25]

Cough 337/339 cough..no noise..cough..cough..deadquiet...powerfull...cough..wonderful sound..double cough

 
My HE-500 was DEAD silent with the Emotiva off of speaker taps with no resistors, regardless of where the knob was. 
 
In the meantime, take this for your cough:
 

 

[hifimanrookie]

You under the weather ?

Yeah.its getting f...beep...ing cold here in the netherlands
Seriously guys...for that amount of money u can get a deadquiet and nice sounding amp for ur he500...a lyr or a 337... Just put tubes in it..powercables into wall..connect headphone ..switch power on..and voila..wonderful music..i still believe (especially reading all this) an emotiva is to much work to get it play music on...but hey..i am a plug and play type of a guy..i love simple things of life..and simple things to have...

 

[hifimanrookie]

Would have bought the hfmrookie evil 337 if it was a speaker amp 

Would have bought the hfmrookie evil 337 if it was a speaker amp 

 

[kothganesh]

Yeah.its getting f...beep...ing cold here in the netherlands
Seriously guys...for that amount of money u can get a deadquiet and nice sounding amp for ur he500...a lyr or a 337... Just put tubes in it..powercables into wall..connect headphone ..switch power on..and voila..wonderful music..i still believe (especially reading all this) an emotiva is to much work to get it play music on...but hey..i am a plug and play type of a guy..i love simple things of life..and simple things to have...

But I do. I have the Lyr with the Amperex tubes....could not resist the intrigue behind a speaker amp though

 

[Textfeud]

But I do. I have the Lyr with the Amperex tubes....could not resist the intrigue behind a speaker amp though

Can't wait to hear your impressions. I am a proud owner of the Lyr-Bifrost combo myself. I also have Amperex tubes