[StanD]

I had a question, regarding amps, I currently have a Hifiman EF-5, purchased it to run my HE-5le, which now that I have the 560, I am parting with. Seems like the EF-5 runs the 560 pretty well, but I don't know a thing about amp matching headphones outside of , "if it's a bright headphone, give it some tubes" Can someone tell me how well the EF-5 pairs with the 560, and if I could do better on a simular budget of the EF-5 , what would that be.

James

Be prepared for all sorts of advice.

  Hold onto your wallet.

 

[Jbmorrey]

Be prepared for all sorts of advice.

  Hold onto your wallet.

Oh great, not posting this to "muddy" up the thread. I guess what I would really like is someone who can understand specs of amps and how they "match-up" with the he-560 to tell me if the EF-5 would be a good match. If so great!! If I can do better at the same cost ( i.e.: sell my ef-5 and not spend much more on a different amp) then which amp would that be. I am sure that a $600+ amp would be better than the EF-5 , I just want to know if a lateral amp cost wise would be better.

Thanks for the warning though.

James

 

[Fearless1]

PM sent to avoid the amp police.

 

[Arttt]

violectric v200 and liquid carbon is a good match with he560 without spending big baks....
Some say bakoon amp sounds cool with he560...

 

[Koolpep]

violectric v200 and liquid carbon is a good match with he560 without spending big baks....
Some say bakoon amp sounds cool with he560...

+1 I like and liked my HE-560 the most from the Gustard H10 and the Liquid Carbon.

Cheers.

 

[Arttt]

Hifiman confirmed that there is no difference in sound character between old version with screw on connectors and the new one with 2.5 mini plugs ...

Old and new version should sound the same.

 

[raybone0566]

I had a question, regarding amps, I currently have a Hifiman EF-5, purchased it to run my HE-5le, which now that I have the 560, I am parting with. Seems like the EF-5 runs the 560 pretty well, but I don't know a thing about amp matching headphones outside of , "if it's a bright headphone, give it some tubes" Can someone tell me how well the EF-5 pairs with the 560, and if I could do better on a simular budget of the EF-5 , what would that be.

James

Audio Gd nfb-1 is a great match for the 560. Output is 8w into 50ohm so there's plenty of power. Very smooth amp, similar to the moon 430 imo. Run you around 600.00

 

[Promenadeplatz]

  Can't really help you too much here since the only portable stuff I have is Fiio X3ii, X3, X1, which for my needs is quite sufficient since my portable headphones are V-Moda XS, Momentum on-ear/over-ear, and MDR-7506.  I tried my HE-560 on both X3ii and X3, slightly better bass with X3 but mids and highs better on X3ii, here's a pic of them:

This is a borderline combination since both DAPs are on high gain and volume is at 90/100 for X3ii and 100/120 for X3 for getting to my listening level of 65-70dB which is not very loud.  FWIW I like the X3 sound better, the X3ii is a little harsh on top.

 
Not sure if it helps but a DX80 DAP (with its 2.9Vrms) is no option with an HE-560, it sounds totally bloodless, with no body, just awful. 
 

 

[Promenadeplatz]

The 560 has higher impedance then the 500 and actually is a bit harder to drive. He has the amp, he was asking about the headphones. Both sound great off the Mojo.

I understand you will need at least 10Vrms (better 14Vrms) off the amp when driving planars, the 560 is certainly hard to drive. The Mojo delivers "only" 4.13Vrms (when fully charged, well documented here) so I think it might be not enough. I also often heard about the iDSD and its 10V at Turbo Mode being also not really strong enough. Have you already tried the Mojo with your Hifiman?
 
I heard the P5 Falcon (delivers around 6Vrms@32 Ohm) from iBasso pairs well with LCD2 but has anyone tried with Hifiman's? .... or Matrix HPA-3B with also around 6Vrms an option?

 

[raybone0566]

The only portable that drive my he500's decent was the portaphile micro. But at that time I didn't have a good desktop set-up. So I had no reference point. I've got the leckerton uha6 mk.ii & vorzuge amp duo here now & they sound like utter garbage compared to my desktop rig. That's with the 560 now. Had the original matrix, lifeless

 

[Fearless1]

I understand you will need at least 10Vrms (better 14Vrms) off the amp when driving planars, the 560 is certainly hard to drive. The Mojo delivers "only" 4.13Vrms (when fully charged, well documented here) so I think it might be not enough. I also often heard about the iDSD and its 10V at Turbo Mode being also not really strong enough. Have you already tried the Mojo with your Hifiman?

 
I heard the P5 Falcon (delivers around 6Vrms@32 Ohm) from iBasso pairs well with LCD2 but has anyone tried with Hifiman's? .... or Matrix HPA-3B with also around 6Vrms an option?

I actually use a speaker amp with mine (Nelson Pass), but I did hear it off of the Mojo(had one on loan) and it did sound decent, no where near what I am used to, but decent. I did not like them off of the iCan SE one bit .

 

[ZekeAdebayo]

 
Hate to beat up on an already old topic but this is basically what happened to my HE-560s earpads. This isn't my photo but it accurately displays the issues I'm having with them and why I'm wary of buying another just to have the same result all over again. I have replacement Focus pads on me atm, the Focus A pads will be arriving in the coming days. Are there higher quality pads available that perform like these? I'm curious because $39 seems a bit much for pads that were glued not even stitched on. Granted, I think they are quite comfy though.
 
Also, does anyone know how the mids/highs of the Focal Elear compare to something like the 560s? My 560s are fully stock with what I believe to be the Focus Pads (not to be confused with the Focus A Pads). 

 

[DavidA]

I think you might have gotten a bad set of pads or the QC is indeed that bad.  I have 4 sets, one on HE-560 @ about 2 years old, one on HE-400i @ about 2.5 years old, and one on my HE-400 @ about 2 years old plus one spare.  These are what the HE-560/400i pads currently look like:

 

These are the originals that came with the headphones and my son has my first HE-560 and they also still have the original pads and are about 2.5 years old and they look the same as mine.  He also uses his HE-560 a lot more since he only has 3 headphones with him (HE-560, T1 and HD-650) and they are shared with his GF and two other roommates.
 
Did you ask Hifiman if you could get new pads since they fail in such a way as to indicate a defective pair IMO.

 

[ZekeAdebayo]

First off, I have to say that I really dig the metallic finish on the 400i's. 
 
I would have asked Hifiman for replacements but became a bit wary after seeing their quoted price for changing the connectors from smc to rca. I'll give these another shot and hope the replacement pair doesn't give me the issues I had from the first. 
 
Just checked out my replacement focus pads and they also appear to be glued on at the back (side that gets slotted inside the headphone). 

 

[DavidA]

  First off, I have to say that I really dig the metallic finish on the 400i's. 
 
I would have asked Hifiman for replacements but became a bit wary after seeing their quoted price for changing the connectors from smc to rca. I'll give these another shot and hope the replacement pair doesn't give me the issues I had from the first.

rca connectors?  did you mean 2.5mm TRS/TR?  I changed the SMC connectors on my HE-400 to 2.5mm TR plugs but went back to the SMC since the 2.5mm TR plug was microphonic with the 2 different plugs I tried, every time I bumped the cable it would be transmitted to the cups, very irritating. 
 
Did you try PETEREK for a quote to change the connectors?  He does some great work and is really helpful if you are trying to do mods, it might take a while since he has so many projects for customers.  FWIW if it was more than $40 to change the connectors it would be way to much IMO since the connectors are only $15 and you only need to unsolder/solder 4 cables which took all of 2 minutes.  Total time to remove existing SMC and install 2.5mm was less than 15 minutes once I had the parts.  Took even less time to go back to the SMC (used a new jack for this since I liked the design of the newer SMC female jack that I got better than the original.