[VortexBlast]

After a considerable amount of listening to my HE-500 with the Lyr. Everything makes sense now why so many people love this tube amp so much. It's warm and might be a bit of a concern for warm and dark headphones but it has extremely good synergy with the Hifiman. With the velour pads, this amp delivers more bass impact than the pleathers with a portable amp (like the HP-P1). Not only it retains the airiness, the speed and detail, imaging is much improved, bass tightness and detail has greatly improved, treble is much more natural and mids are still chunky and wonderful and instrument separation is more coherent. It handles with no sweat complex passages.
I consider the Lyr as an extremely good purchase and worth every single penny.
The only downside, it runs quite warm and there is some noise with high sensitivity headphones.

 

[bareyb]

Quote:

After a considerable amount of listening to my HE-500 with the Lyr. Everything makes sense now why so many people love this tube amp so much. It's warm and might be a bit of a concern for warm and dark headphones but it has extremely good synergy with the Hifiman. With the velour pads, this amp delivers more bass impact than the pleathers with a portable amp (like the HP-P1). Not only it retains the airiness, the speed and detail, imaging is much improved, bass tightness and detail has greatly improved, treble is much more natural and mids are still chunky and wonderful and instrument separation is more coherent. It handles with no sweat complex passages.
I consider the Lyr as an extremely good purchase and worth every single penny.
The only downside, it runs quite warm and there is some noise with high sensitivity headphones.

Man, I see a lot of similar comments on the Lyr. If I decide to upgrade to a bigger Amp I think that's the one I'm going to try first. Seems like a lot of Amp for $450.00 and it appears they let you try one risk free. Hard to pass that up. 
 
ETA: Does anyone know if they automatically shut themselves down if they stop receiving an Audio signal or is it strictly manual on/off? 

 

[Andolink]

Quote:

...and there is some noise with high sensitivity headphones.

I've heard others mention noise with this amp.  Is it a hum coming from the amp and heard externally or something heard in the signal to the headphone?  Either would be deal breakers for me.  

 

[Stalker81598]

It would be a noise heard through the headphone. You would only hear it with high sensitivity headphones. I don't think the Lyr was ever intended to be used with high sensitivity cans.

 

[VortexBlast]

I did heard a hum the first time I plugged it in but I soon discovered that it was my power strip that caused this loud hum so I changed it and it instantly disappeared.
The noise is only heard when you have low sensitivity headphones like the AKG K550 and is only appearing when the volume knob is at 12 o'clock (ear shattering if I put some music in it) when no music is playing.
Virtually non existent with the HE-500 though.

 

[Andolink]

Quote:

It would be a noise heard through the headphone. You would only hear it with high sensitivity headphones. I don't think the Lyr was ever intended to be used with high sensitivity cans.

How high is too high a sensitivity for the Lyr? 

 

[Stalker81598]

Well I wouldn't plug IEMs into it unless you want them to melt. Should be perfectly fine with the HE-500.

 

[VortexBlast]

Quote:

How high is too high a sensitivity for the Lyr? 

 
I would say that it's safe putting any headphones that are more than 32 Ohm and/or have a sensitivity of less than 110 dB SPL.
I would strongly not recommend putting IEMs with it.

 

[ForsakenArcher]

Quote:

I've heard others mention noise with this amp.  Is it a hum coming from the amp and heard externally or something heard in the signal to the headphone?  Either would be deal breakers for me.  

Dont worry much about the hum. I can hear it only when crossing over 12o'clock  using Denon D600, without playing any music of course. At 10 o'clock with Lyr, denons would be too loud for me to listen. That was just for testing purpose. I don't pair denons with Lyr usually. With HE-500 and HD600, only when I turn up the knob to near maximum, I can hear slight hum.
 
 
Quote:

How high is too high a sensitivity for the Lyr?

The best way to find out is to ask Jason directly.

 

[xd00bx]

Ok so i just pulled the trigger on the he-500. TTVJ is having a sale and ive wanted them for a long time...

Here is my dilemma; this is my very first set of high end cans so im starting from scratch. i will be using my ps3 as source while my pc is being fixed so i need a dac with optical and usb input. i have $450 to spend on dac and amp and im not sure what to do.

Here are my options...

*Spend it all on an amp and get dac later.(have to wait at least 2 months).

*Get a dac/amp combo for now and upgrade amp later. (i was told ADG NFB 5.32 or NFB 11.32 have very good dac's for their price but amp is lacking) which one of these are better?

*Buy Audioengine d1($169 and i heard isnt even worth that) and buy amp with remaining $280.

I am leaning toward dac/amp combo for now but id like one with a good dac for future use with better amp. Which is the better option; nfb-5.32 ($430) or nfb-11.32 ($350)? OR is there a better option? Im really new to all this and need some advice... Cheers!

 

[davidsh]

EITHER I would say you should focus on getting some good amp or good DAC. Like get the Lyr as amp and no DAC og get a good Audio GD or similar with a weaker amp. I would say amp is first priority

 

[spark3]

What are HE-500 like when lying down with them? on a pillow for e.g, are they fairly comfortable?

 

[LifeAspect]

Now I can't decide between the he500 and the audeze lcd-2 for a more fun headphone next to my hd800
 
Read lots of good stuff about both...

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Now I can't decide between the he500 and the audeze lcd-2 for a more fun headphone next to my hd800
 
Read lots of good stuff about both...

Then hopefully the bad stuff about both will help you decide better:
 
HE500 cons: a little slow-sounding, bass is a little wooly, and overall like other Hifimans the fit and finish is not as good as Audezes
 
LCD2 cons: treble a little less smooth/grainfree, sound is much less open (many comment on it sounding almost like closed headphones, to which I share the sentiment), lacks dynamics
 
 
All relative to each-other, of course.

 

[khaine1711]

Quote:

Now I can't decide between the he500 and the audeze lcd-2 for a more fun headphone next to my hd800
 
Read lots of good stuff about both...

Buy both and keep the one you like.
 
You know if you post in this thread, you'll probably get lots of recommendation for the he500; same thing if you post in the Lcd2 thread