HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) Proving to be an enjoyable experience in listening.

[hifimanrookie]

But I'm a tube guy.   Love my HE-500's,  very intrigued by the HE-6's but a good tube amp that can power them seems impossible.  I have a Lyr stashed away and like it but its not the same as a full tube amp being a hybrid. 

Try to find a vintage speaker tube amp...am sure good ones can be found.but for a price!
Or let somebody make u a custommade headphone tube amp... Blue circle audio can make every dream come true as long it conforms to their super high quality demands in built and sound quality! I even read on their forum that they made an amp for a customer which u could switch between solid state and tube operation!! Thats ubercool!!! They also make amps that drive on solar enery...so u green (prius) guys..happy now?

 

[bhazard]

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Or go vintage - those tone control circuit are quite decent despite their old age
 

 
Still every type of tone control also brings about other changes in the sound. Best tone control = no tone control, but that's just me 

 
I agree, but sometimes you gotta compromise for overall happiness. Hearing rumbling bass on the HE-500 through the tone knob is very satisfying compared to without it on most of my music, but no tone control is the best way.

 

[modulor]

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But I'm a tube guy.   Love my HE-500's,  very intrigued by the HE-6's but a good tube amp that can power them seems impossible.  I have a Lyr stashed away and like it but its not the same as a full tube amp being a hybrid. 

Not impossible by any means, as long as it can push out decent wattage (i.e. originally designed for speakers).  I'd think something that can drive a small pair of near-field monitors would be sufficient.  Then again, I've heard some pretty good results with the HE-500 off a few tube speaker amps (with and without headphone stages) so I suspect the HE-6 would be a bit better.  If there is an HE-6 at the meet-up this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Stalker81598]

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But I'm a tube guy.   Love my HE-500's,  very intrigued by the HE-6's but a good tube amp that can power them seems impossible.  I have a Lyr stashed away and like it but its not the same as a full tube amp being a hybrid. 

 
Lyr isn't any less of a tube amp just because it's a "hybrid." The tubes are on the input stage and the SS stage is transparent enough that the sound of the tubes comes through quite clearly. This is apparent in how responsive it is to tube-rolling. The Lyr is more "tubey" sounding than a lot of other "true" transformer coupled tube amps.
 
That said, it's probably not a good choice for the HE-6. That thing needs a lot of juice.

 

[khaine1711]

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Lyr isn't any less of a tube amp just because it's a "hybrid." The tubes are on the input stage and the SS stage is transparent enough that the sound of the tubes comes through quite clearly. This is apparent in how responsive it is to tube-rolling. The Lyr is more "tubey" sounding than a lot of other "true" transformer coupled tube amps.
 
That said, it's probably not a good choice for the HE-6. That thing needs a lot of juice.

There's a reason people call those kinds of amp "hybrid". The valve isn't directly driving the headphone. It's the valve driving the mosfet driving the headphone. This is drastically different from traditional design like old school SET/OTL/PP amplifier.
 
The "full tube" comment actually just refers to the mode of amplification that uses valve instead of mosfet. I'm sure he didn't mean anything derogatory to the Lyr, hybrid and all.

 

[ninjapirate9901]

Could you potentially use a tube amp as a pre-amp to something like the Emotiva Mini-X and still get a fairly tubey sound? 

 

[khaine1711]

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Could you potentially use a tube amp as a pre-amp to something like the Emotiva Mini-X and still get a fairly tubey sound? 

Most of the time you'll get a crappy sub-optimal tubey sound that way though 

. Extra gain stage and extra volume pots usually do more harm than good.
 
Aside from actually getting a tube amp, the thing you're looking for (imparting valve sound w/o compromising much sound quality) is a buffer. Build one without gain or any volume pot if you're going to use it with an integrated amp. 
 

 

[brunk]

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Could you potentially use a tube amp as a pre-amp to something like the Emotiva Mini-X and still get a fairly tubey sound? 

 
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Most of the time you'll get a crappy sub-optimal tubey sound that way though 

. Extra gain stage and extra volume pots usually do more harm than good.
 
Aside from actually getting a tube amp, the thing you're looking for (imparting valve sound w/o compromising much sound quality) is a buffer. Build one without gain or any volume pot if you're going to use it with an integrated amp. 
 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

 

 Here's a Yaqin tube buffer with a great price. Plenty of space for some DIY upgrades too 

 

[Stalker81598]

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There's a reason people call those kinds of amp "hybrid". The valve isn't directly driving the headphone. It's the valve driving the mosfet driving the headphone. This is drastically different from traditional design like old school SET/OTL/PP amplifier.
 
The "full tube" comment actually just refers to the mode of amplification that uses valve instead of mosfet. I'm sure he didn't mean anything derogatory to the Lyr, hybrid and all.

 
I'm not offended by derogatory comments about the Lyr. I simply wanted to ensure that someone who likes tubes doesn't disregard the Lyr just because it's a hybrid design.

 

[davidsh]

I have found that the HE-500 is more comfortable when i push the headband forward on my head, and the cups backward, especially when I use glasses. Highly recommended, though the soundstage becomes different.

 

[h4mm3r 0f th0r]

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I have found that the HE-500 is more comfortable when i push the headband forward on my head, and the cups backward, especially when I use glasses. Highly recommended, though the soundstage becomes different.

that would create a lot of open space at the back of the cups where your ears/neck is not touching the cups... that should effect the quality of the soundstage

 

[davidsh]

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that would create a lot of open space at the back of the cups where your ears/neck is not touching the cups... that should effect the quality of the soundstage

Yes.. And it does actually affect the headstage in a way that can be favorable if I do my homework, as the stage is pushed more to the back and inside my head. Not as intrusive, when you try to concentrate. Recommend it for people using glasses, who might have a problem with the 500's, improves the comfort a lot for me.

 

[spurxiii]

After playing with the eq for a while I think I finally found 
 
a setting which sounds good to me. Any further advice from anyone?

 

[GREQ]

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After playing with the eq for a while I think I finally found 
 
a setting which sounds good to me. Any further advice from anyone?

EQ'ing down is better than EQ'ing up, as EQ'ing up can increase distortion and possibly clipping. 
EQ'ing down has none of these effects and the signal bandwidth doesn't suffer.

 

[spurxiii]

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EQ'ing down is better than EQ'ing up, as EQ'ing up can increase distortion and possibly clipping. 
EQ'ing down has none of these effects and the signal bandwidth doesn't suffer.

Thanks GREQ, should I just bring everything down 2-3dB?