[koiloco]

@Sonido, stop costing me $.  Dang it!

  You guys are all bad influence.

 

[Sonido]

@Sonido, stop costing me $.  Dang it!   You guys are all bad influence.

I'm saving you money. Who knows the Quickie could be comparable to WA22 as preamp since it is a dedicated preamp by design, and runs on DC power.

 

[ThurstonX]

Anyone in the US with $35 to mess around with might want to consider getting a pair of AKG Q701/K702 pads direct from AKG/Harman/JBL.  It's an easy mod for the HE-500, are comfortable (if you like velour; it's kinda warm in VA atm), and the angled design helps with the soundstage.  I even borrowed the back vent option from the jerpad mod.  I can't believe I'm done modding these things already, but happy to be through with that and just enjoying the tunes.
 
Also, I'll throw this out there.  Today my seven-week-old Lyr died.  Refused to power on.  My fall back amp, which I hadn't even considered for these cans, is the JDS Labs C5.  Since it's that or the headphone jack on my ancient M-Audio Revo 5.1, I opted for the former.  With the HiFimeDIY U2 Sabre DAC in the chain, I can now last the two weeks or so before I'm back to rolling in the Schiit  

 

 

[DaemonSire]

  Some impressions on the Quickie -> Emotiva vs Emotiva without preamp for HE-500:
 
Ok look I'm really scared here to be honest. These results I'm hearing aren't supposed to be possible. I keep listening to various songs back and forth between Emotiva with Quickie and without, but I honestly think I hear it.
 
- Vocals are smoother, less sibilant
- More sub-bass rumble
- Better bass detail and better texture, more control <- This one is very apparent

- More body and definition on instruments that gives more realism
- Substantially better soundstaging and separation! (~15-20%) <- This one I thought I noticed early, but was afraid to believe, but after more listening, it's there. Really opens up the sound!
- Smoother sound throughout all frequencies, especially at louder volumes
- More revealing??? <- especially bass as mentioned, but there was a moment in a song I never realized that background noise was actually a bass guitar riff going on. Before it was just some background noise that was kinda meshed together, but now I hear distinct strums.
 
 
I'm at loss of words. I really hope this is some placebo effect, because I cannot believe there is this much difference. I'll have to compare with using the Crack as a preamp, but I'm pretty sure the difference was not this big. The Quickie is definitely warmer than the Crack. It's on the level of warmth as my Baby Sophia, but the Quickie + Emotiva combo resolves better by far. The Baby Sophia is warm, but less resolving than the Emotiva.
 
For $100 and about 5 hours of building time, well needless to say I think the Quickie is a winner! Honestly though, I want someone else to confirm what I'm hearing, because even now it's hard to believe there is such a big difference.
 
Is this the magic of DC power? Gotta start looking for battery sales. A set cost me $20 at the local convenience store.

 
Sonido, what did you use as the base?  Looking at the website, $100 only gets you the parts + top and you have to supply your own base.  Or pay $40 for a crack base.
 
So if you didn't have access/ability to make your own base for it, the cost would realistically be $140 for the Quickie, right?  Or is there a cheaper alternative to the $40 base?

 

[Sonido]

I'm using my Crack base currently. The Crack has been relegated to a shoebox for now lol.

 

[Angelbelow]

No issues def. Happy with the amp/dac. Just trying to make sure I do my research early so when the time comes I'll have a better understanding of what I'm upgrading

What is wrong with the DAC in the Woo Audio WA7? I would stick around with that for while before looking at upgrading to a new DAC.

The primary reason I would purchase the WA7 is due to the fact that it is an all-in-one unit, else I would have bought the Woo Audio WA6 SE and a standalone DAC.

 

[Sonido]

Just switched DACs to make sure it wasn't DAC dependent, and it's not. Same effects. Overall I find the sound much more smooth and refined, with greater clarity. Imagine a crisp image vs a blurred image. Because of this, there is better instrument separation. In fact, this could be what causes the feeling of a wider soundstage due to more available space from the finer sounding instruments. The more reveal/detail is probably also due to this. Another wow moment I just had was on a vocal song, not only did I notice backing vocals I had not noticed before, but I even could hear the subtle difference in position of where each of the voices were coming from. That's how fine the imaging has become!

 

[Sonido]

Whoa! Not HE-500 related, but I just plugged it into me MartinLogan Motion 4 speakers for the first time, and the feeling of better imaging, soundstage, and details is reflected in the speakers as well. So much easier to hear the details even through speakers which is no minor feat.
 
Ugh I'm starting to feel sick again.

 

[Sonido]

Just tried Quickie with Baby Sophia. Much less background noise, even at near max volume on Sophia. It must have a higher input impedance. However, it's a bit too warm, and it lacks the clarity when paired with Emotiva.

 

[mvrk10256]

So I just got an Asgard2 and been comparing it to my Matrix. The sound is very similar, except its perkier and deeper in every way. I wonder if its the extra power or the op amp makes the difference. But I like it. 

 

[Xinze]

  Really enjoying the HE500s so far. Happy with the WA7 pairing as well. Now looking and thinking about adding a midrange DAC around 1k-1.5k. I see the Yulong DA8 is a very popular choice and I now in the process of researching the DA8s, as well as others.
 
My purchasing of the WA7 was a bit hasty, I didn't really know which headphone I was going to buy next. I just knew that the WA7 was good value and highly regarded. 3~4 weeks after placing the order, I went to the San Diego headfi meet and really fell for the HE6 and HE500s. To my dismay, the WA7 was not an ideal pairing for the HE6s. However, the HE500s would be a fine pairing and I definitely agree. Really look forward to my listening sessions everyday.
 
I guess my point is I want to make sure my next purchase (desktop DAC) is more sound and researched. What do you guys think?

What the heck dude..
 
Mid end DAC would be $250-$400 at most...
 
You're almost at the level of dac/amps where only people who are blind to price/performance ratios step into.

 

[Sonido]

Finally compared Quickie+Emotiva to Crack+Emotiva. Bottom line is there's no competition. A dedicated preamp does the job of a preamp much better than a headphone amp, which is not surprising. For one, the Quickie imparts it's sound signature to the Emotiva much more so than the Crack. While the Crack is warm on it's own, a lot of that warmth is lost through the Emotiva, and this becomes very apparent when comparing to the Quickie. The Crack+Emotiva sounds a lot more like just Emotiva by itself. Overall the sound of the Quickie+Emotiva is just much more smoother and pleasing to the ears. The Emotiva by itself sounded jagged in comparision, and while the Crack helped a bit, it was far from what the Quickie was able to. Also, because of this smoother sound, I felt with the Quickie it was also more transparent as it was easier to focus down on the various sounds when there was no distractions from jagged sounds. Once again this helps with being more revealing and detailed as well.
 
Not only do I highly recommend pairing the Emotiva with the Quickie, I think the extra $100 spent is worth more than the first $170 spent on the Emotiva in many respects. Another analogy I could make is that just the Emotiva alone is like driving a muscle car. While it has plenty of power, the handling and ride can be difficult and bumpy. With the Quickie, it's like driving a luxury sports car where you have both the power and the smooth ride.

 

[Nimzerz]

Finally compared Quickie+Emotiva to Crack+Emotiva. Bottom line is there's no competition. A dedicated preamp does the job of a preamp much better than a headphone amp, which is not surprising. For one, the Quickie imparts it's sound signature to the Emotiva much more so than the Crack. While the Crack is warm on it's own, a lot of that warmth is lost through the Emotiva, and this becomes very apparent when comparing to the Quickie. The Crack+Emotiva sounds a lot more like just Emotiva by itself. Overall the sound of the Quickie+Emotiva is just much more smoother and pleasing to the ears. The Emotiva by itself sounded jagged in comparision, and while the Crack helped a bit, it was far from what the Quickie was able to. Also, because of this smoother sound, I felt with the Quickie it was also more transparent as it was easier to focus down on the various sounds when there was no distractions from jagged sounds. Once again this helps with being more revealing and detailed as well.

Not only do I highly recommend pairing the Emotiva with the Quickie, I think the extra $100 spent is worth more than the first $170 spent on the Emotiva in many respects. Another analogy I could make is that just the Emotiva alone is like driving a muscle car. While it has plenty of power, the handling and ride can be difficult and bumpy. With the Quickie, it's like driving a luxury sports car where you have both the power and the smooth ride.

Stop it. Let me get the funds for the quickie then say your impressions. I was supposed to be where you are!!!

 

[Sonido]

Stop it. Let me get the funds for the quickie then say your impressions. I was supposed to be where you are!!!

Fortune favors the bold! Be the first to try new things people!

 

[Xinze]

Anyone know how well the Lepai 2020A would work with these?
 
They're 20 watt rms but not sure for what ohm... might be 8 i believe.