[elwappo99]

 
I can't imagine the HE-500 having a better bass response than what I hear with my Conductor, but I've not heard them out of anything else so I really don't know. I am tempted to get hold of an Emotiva just to see what all the fuss is about. Sounds like it's terrific value for the money and if it drives the orthos as well as lots of people say then you can't really go wrong at that price. I suppose one of the main strengths of the Soloist/Conductor is the versatility. I change headphones quite often and wouldn't want to be tied down to an amp that excels with one headphone but is poor with others. The next amp for me will probably be the GSX.

 
The nice thing about the Emo is that the price puts it in a place where you can have two amplifiers. I was originally planning on having the Emotiva for orthodynamic and the Soloist for my other headphones (dynamic drivers mostly), but I ultimately found the Matrix M-stage to be better for the low impedance high sensitivity headphones I had so I kept it. I figured at some point when the price of the Soloist SL comes down I'll have it and a pair of Beyerdynamics.

 

[nk77]

   
So the high output impedance amplifier does well with the high impedance headphones, and the low impedance high power amplifier sounds well with the low impedance orthodynamic driver? Makes sense. 

 

 
Just to add to this comment for anyone else reading that output impedance does not affect planar magnetic driver frequency response if folks are trying to decide on amps for their orthos. Therefore low or high output impedance amps should do well with either low or high impedance planar magnetic drivers. 
 
And for anyone interested I did a quick search and found this old thread for a read: http://www.head-fi.org/t/617902/effects-of-damping-factor-on-planar-magnetics-orthodynamics . 

 

[elwappo99]

This is true due to the fact planar magnetic drivers' phase doesn't change with different impedance. The phase then plays into the damping factor of the driver. Although nk77 is correct, it's important to keep in mind that amplifiers that have a high output impedance will not push as much power into lower output impedance.

 

[Sonido]

So I have concluded mixed results with the Quickie and the Koss E90/ESP950. While it does help some with the body of the bass, I found it made the mids and vocals a bit too dark for my tastes. I already found the ESP950 with just E90 to be a bit veiled and dark in the mids, but the Quickie exacerbated this. I really like the treble on the ESP950. I think the speed really helps bring out the fine details of the treble and its decay. Along with treble, sibilance is another area I found the ESP950 to even best the Quickemo HE-500. While the HE-500 is not considered a sibilant headphone by any means, when playing a sibilant track you'll hear it. With the ESP950, even tracks known for sibilance, you wont hear it. Overall I found the biggest weakness to the ESP950 is the lack of transparency and thus details, but when comparing with the Quickemo HE-500, it's a tall order to fill. Though, I've read the limitations of the amp provided, and I'm betting the slight veiling is due to the amp. Guess the Quickie+Emotiva+HE-500 is just a sublime combo!

 

[hifimanrookie]

When I had the Soloist (not the SL, but the big one) I didn't think it did a whole lot of things wrong, but didn't think it really stood out as doing anything really really well. With orthodynamics my Emotiva A-100 was faster, smoother, and had better bass response. With the HE-500 and HE-6, I didn't think the Soloist was a big step up from the Matrix M-stage I had. 



So the high output impedance amplifier does well with the high impedance headphones, and the low impedance high power amplifier sounds well with the low impedance orthodynamic driver? Makes sense.   

Only probelm with this thought is that the 337/339 with high gain tubes (7236,6080wb graphite plates and the 5998) does very very well with the he500... On a meet many heard my amp compared to a lyr (with amperex) and all preferred how my amp sounded (and i didnt have the tung sol or bendix in them back then)..

yes..ofcourse it wasnt at home listening for hours..but all had same time with the lyr and with my 337.. And ( first ) impression was positive towards the 337 i had...

But hey... Its always personal..maybe people THOUGHT it would be better..and so listened to it biassed..mind is s strong thing...but funny is that a dealer who was there with some higher end stuff and selling hifiman told his potential customers to listen to their he500 on my amp..so they picked up his new demo he500 and walked to my table... He wouldnt do that if he thought my 337 wouldnt cut the mustard..he could have told them to go to the lyr (also a friend of mine) instead..

Generally u cant say a full tube amp is bad for othros..there are a bunch out there who do wonderfull..but yess..in general.they are (very ) EXPENSIVE..for sure always more expensive then their solid state/hybrid counterparts.
As i said many times... The lyr is a good amp..but it can only be improved by one pair of tubes (as fairless also stated )...a full tube amp can be transformed completely in sound...
And what fearless says about changing tubes and then the standard tube sound stays on n the. 337....thats not true...2 week ago i tried it out:

the chinese standard chinese tubes, svetlana vintage 70ties tubes, and the 5998's as powertubes
with my tung sols meshplates and standard chinese and rca 5693 as driver tubes....

And with the svetlana's with 5693 it almost sounded like a solid state amp...and with the 5998 with the meshplates it sounded completely different! i also tried the standard chinese stuff..drivers and powertubes... Not bad..but very warm..very tubey..dont like that at all!!

And i am not even talking about tube amps with rectifiers..they are even more changable in sound...like a wooaudio! If u invest enough u can get that sound out of it as u want..yes..it costst money..but it delivers...

As i said..i am going away from the tube camp..so i dont win anything saying a 337 is a good amp.. But try one...maybe frearless would love to let people try his out in the states..
For me..and i tried a couple of amps under the 1000usd and a few are considered by me to be good enough for their money... The m-stage (loved that little gem!!) the lyr..but my favorite is still the 337 (I HAD).. I dont know how a standard 337 (or se)sounds..so if fearless says the lyr sounds better then his unmodified 337se i have to believe him on the he 500..as i cant prove otherwise..as my 337 was all but standard.. But i agree..best amp i EVER heard with the hd650 must be the 337/339.. That we both agree in..

 

[Fearless1]

Only probelm with this thought is that the 337/339 with high gain tubes (7236,6080wb graphite plates and the 5998) does very very well with the he500... On a meet many heard my amp compared to a lyr (with amperex) and all preferred how my amp sounded (and i didnt have the tung sol or bendix in them back then)..

yes..ofcourse it wasnt at home listening for hours..but all had same time with the lyr and with my 337.. And ( first ) impression was positive towards the 337 i had...

But hey... Its always personal..maybe people THOUGHT it would be better..and so listened to it biassed..mind is s strong thing...but funny is that a dealer who was there with some higher end stuff and selling hifiman told his potential customers to listen to their he500 on my amp..so they picked up his new demo he500 and walked to my table... He wouldnt do that if he thought my 337 wouldnt cut the mustard..he could have told them to go to the lyr (also a friend of mine) instead..

Generally u cant say a full tube amp is bad for othros..there are a bunch out there who do wonderfull..but yess..in general.they are (very ) EXPENSIVE..for sure always more expensive then their solid state/hybrid counterparts.
As i said many times... The lyr is a good amp..but it can only be improved by one pair of tubes (as fairless also stated )...a full tube amp can be transformed completely in sound...
And what fearless says about changing tubes and then the standard tube sound stays on n the. 337....thats not true...2 week ago i tried it out:

the chinese standard chinese tubes, svetlana vintage 70ties tubes, and the 5998's as powertubes
with my tung sols meshplates and standard chinese and rca 5693 as driver tubes....

And with the svetlana's with 5693 it almost sounded like a solid state amp...and with the 5998 with the meshplates it sounded completely different! i also tried the standard chinese stuff..drivers and powertubes... Not bad..but very warm..very tubey..dont like that at all!!

And i am not even talking about tube amps with rectifiers..they are even more changable in sound...like a wooaudio! If u invest enough u can get that sound out of it as u want..yes..it costst money..but it delivers...

As i said..i am going away from the tube camp..so i dont win anything saying a 337 is a good amp.. But try one...maybe frearless would love to let people try his out in the states..
For me..and i tried a couple of amps under the 1000usd and a few are considered by me to be good enough for their money... The m-stage (loved that little gem!!) the lyr..but my favorite is still the 337 (I HAD).. I dont know how a standard 337 (or se)sounds..so if fearless says the lyr sounds better then his unmodified 337se i have to believe him on the he 500..as i cant prove otherwise..as my 337 was all but standard.. But i agree..best amp i EVER heard with the hd650 must be the 337/339.. That we both agree in..

I did not say changing the tubes did not make the amp better/different, I just meant it is not a drastic change  like in the Lyr. And speaking of the M-stage the new design is really sharp.

 

[hifimanrookie]

I did not say changing the tubes did not make the amp better/different, I just meant it is not a drastic change  like in the Lyr. And speaking of the M-stage the new design is really sharp.

Thats what i said also..but strange thing is that MY 337 reacted extremely on the change of the powertubes.(and i say it was a night and day difference) .less so on the drivertubes (that changed the sound only on details )..so i am curious why the lyr reacts so good on changing the driver tubes..as its output is solid state..normally a tube amp reacts more on the change of powertubes then on driver tubes...

Oh well.. Soon i am off to the other side.. My order is changed again...it wont be totally black now..the cover will now be classy stainless steel with extra vents instead of standard black cover at no extra costst ..a Santa present from the builder..he said it would look more stunning like that..

Yeah about the new m-stage..yeah..looks cool! They say its much better also..but for me..the best sounding one is the one i had..first version..without the vents on the side..on the latter models they changed the soundsignature for a more colder more powerfull sound... If i could get my hands on one of those again next year..i will buy one..but they say the new version is very good! Maybe a new contender in the budget corner? It looks good!

 

[Fearless1]

Thats what i said also..but strange thing is that MY 337 reacted extremely on the change of the powertubes.(and i say it was a night and day difference) .less so on the drivertubes (that changed the sound only on details )..so i am curious why the lyr reacts so good on changing the driver tubes..as its output is solid state..normally a tube amp reacts more on the change of powertubes then on driver tubes...

Oh well.. Soon i am off to the other side.. My order is changed again...it wont be totally black now..the cover will now be classy stainless steel with extra vents instead of standard black cover at no extra costst ..a Santa present from the builder..he said it would look more stunning like that..

I do not know why, but the Lyr is very responsive to the tubes you use in it, hence the giant Lyr tube rolling thread.
 
All this talk of amplification and the most significant change I have heard in the HE-500s is from changing my DAC from my (much loved) Rega to the Benchmark 2, it really brought out the details more then any tube swapping or amp changing. I was ready to put the Rega up for sale after acquiring the Benchmark, but it warmth is fantastic with the HD800.

 

[hifimanrookie]

I do not know why, but the Lyr is very responsive to the tubes you use in it, hence the giant Lyr tube rolling thread.

All this talk of amplification and the most significant change I have heard in the HE-500s is from changing my DAC from my (much loved) Rega to the Benchmark 2, it really brought out the details more then any tube swapping or amp changing. I was ready to put the Rega up for sale after acquiring the Benchmark, but it warmth is fantastic with the HD800.

The benchmark 2 is really good..very detaily! Very open..i was looking into that one also before i decided to go for BC.. Doesnt DSG also have one?

I used my hm602 as source through its dedicated un-amped line out....its a mp3 player with a vintage philips non-oversampling dac chip in it..it can also be used as a not so bad mid-fi usb dac...that little gem sounded so good paired with my 337! I didnt use an laptop as source..so no AC noise in my rig..it was battery powered.

As u maybe know..i decided to upgrade all of my rig..so amp AND Dac... As i do know how much a really good dac can do to ur sound.. But its always the sum of all ur components..a good dac with an amp who isnt up to it wont work..as is the other way around..or cabling...i found out that my 337 reacted also very good on upgraded powercables and the way they were connected to the net..in my case..directly into the wall....thats sounds best..i even looked into the phase of the cables thingie..as i found a red dot on the two powerconnectors (shuko euro).. And my ears (or my mind) told me when i aligned the plus (live) side of the wallsocket with the plus (live wire) of the connectors i could hear a little more detail..a eeny weenie bit....as i said..i cant say if that last thing is in my head or not...

 

[Chris_Himself]

Have found a 100% tube amp that I've enjoyed. Only the hybrid stuff as of now.

 

[preproman]

  When my initial impressions post on the Quickemo HE-500 mentioned a 15-20% increase in soundstage, after careful listening to tracks that test soundstage, it's more like double the soundstage to be honest.
 

 
Those are some large percentages and differences in the world of audio.  I missed the like to the Quickemo can you provide it?  Thanks.

 

[serdarcalin]

Hi All,
 
You should search about Phasemation EPA-007.
 
King Regards

 

[ethan7000]

Those are some large percentages and differences in the world of audio.  I missed the like to the Quickemo can you provide it?  Thanks.

He means the Bottlehead Quickie fed into the Emotiva miniX

 

[VTV]

I wish we could see a more long term usage and comparisons before an opinion is posted. In my opinion a sound signature from a given combination of gears takes at least a month or more (based on a few hours' listening per day) to sink in to do justice to the equipment in question. I have seen preferences go from North to South in matter of weeks on many subjective topics like sound, taste etc.. Posting online prematurely often hinders accepting corrections to previously posted opinions.

 

[Sonido]

I wish we could see a more long term usage and comparisons before an opinion is posted. In my opinion a sound signature from a given combination of gears takes at least a month or more (based on a few hours' listening per day) to sink in to do justice to the equipment in question. I have seen preferences go from North to South in matter of weeks on many subjective topics like sound, taste etc.. Posting online prematurely often hinders accepting corrections to previously posted opinions.

Agreed. We'll see how the sound changes. The biggest thing likely to happen is just my ears adjusting to the better sound and it wouldn't sound as grand anymore. Still if that were the case, comparing to the sound with just the Emotiva should prove a significant difference if there is really a difference. I even admit being hesitant and skeptical to believe there could be such a difference. I plan on listening more and then comparing after a longer period of listening. Still I'm hoping to get other people's impressions. For $99 more, it's not that big of a commitment.