[Brahmsian]

I take it that neither my Dragonfly Red or Oppo HS2 SE will drive the HE-560s well enough to really enjoy them properly.

This whole idea of "needing" ungodly amounts of power to Enjoy properly" any headphone is misleading at best. There are amps that will have better synergy with a set of 560s than others, but the determining factor is usually not power output.

You can certainly "enjoy properly" the 560 with any number of amps... including the HA2SE... if you don't allow yourself to get caught in this expectation bias where you will not allow yourself to enjoy it.

I'm driving my he-560 with a DragonFly Red and classical music sounds great. Popular genres don't to me, but I don't think it has much to do with amping since those genres don't sound good to me (and for much the same reasons) on the he-400i either, and that was not a headphone of which people said that it needed a great deal of amping. The danger is that you buy the headphone, don't like how it sounds, and proceed to spend a ton of money on trying to properly drive it when the problem is really that you don't like the sound signature. If you really want it, buy it, listen to it with whatever amp you have. If you don't like it, return it. I would argue that only if you like the sound signature should you consider upgrading the amp.

 

[TimeSnow]

I'm driving my he-560 with a DragonFly Red and classical music sounds great. Popular genres don't to me, but I don't think it has much to do with amping since those genres don't sound good to me (and for much the same reasons) on the he-400i either, and that was not a headphone of which people said that it needed a great deal of amping. The danger is that you buy the headphone, don't like how it sounds, and proceed to spend a ton of money on trying to properly drive it when the problem is really that you don't like the sound signature. If you really want it, buy it, listen to it with whatever amp you have. If you don't like it, return it. I would argue that only if you like the sound signature should you consider upgrading the amp.

Thanks for this

I definitely think the DFR sounds good with somethings... but not very good at all with others... glad to hear it has the power to at least drive them to audible levels!!

There's a lot of people on here and elsewhere that say the planer headphones sound very thin if they're not amped properly... these are my first planers and I know they SHOULD sound good enough to enjoy them

So if they sound thin I'll definitely be suspecting my gear... and then... the rabbit hole... ugh....

If only I was made of money... and even then, you see people burning through different $10K amps and whatnot...

 

[mandrake50]

Thanks for this

I definitely think the DFR sounds good with somethings... but not very good at all with others...

There's a lot of people on here and elsewhere that say the planer headphones sound very thin if they're not amped properly... these are my first planers and I know they SHOULD sound good enough to enjoy them

So if they sound thin I'll definitely be suspecting my gear... and then... the rabbit hole... ugh....

If only I was made of money... and even then, you see people burning through different $10K amps and whatnot...

Many disagree, but I have found that the HE560 does tend to be slightly in the direction of thin and bright. The peak in the region of 4 to 6K gives it this character.
It still has well defined bass that reaches reasonably deep, it is fast, and the sound field quite decent. Technicalities are there, but it does tend in the thin direction.
So, don't jump down the rabbit hole immediately if they sound that way to you. A few hours of listening time will let you ears and brain adjust. Once that happens you can appreciate all of the other things that they do well.

 

[TimeSnow]

Many disagree, but I have found that the HE560 does tend to be slightly in the direction of thin and bright. The peak in the region of 4 to 6K gives it this character.
It still has well defined bass that reaches reasonably deep, it is fast, and the sound field quite decent. Technicalities are there, but it does tend in the thin direction.
So, don't jump down the rabbit hole immediately if they sound that way to you. A few hours of listening time will let you ears and brain adjust. Once that happens you can appreciate all of the other things that they do well.

Thank you!

The pair I am getting are modded... I posted them a page or two back, not sure if you saw them... they are meant to extend a bit deeper and not have as much of that 4-6K spike. I won't really know until I hear them myself.

I really appreciate your post!

 

[mandrake50]

Thank you!

The pair I am getting are modded... I posted them a page or two back, not sure if you saw them... they are meant to extend a bit deeper and not have as much of that 4-6K spike. I won't really know until I hear them myself.

I really appreciate your post!

AH... the "Batman" phones. It will be really interesting to read how you like them. It is sort of "all bets are off" with those. They are so highly modded that I can't even guess what will be different about them. The cups by themselves should make a huge difference. Good luck, and do write after you have had time to listen and let us know what you think.

BTW, What pads are those that are mounted on them? In one picture it appears that on pad is not fully mounted. Probably good to fix that. One of the 560 mods for better bass is sealing the pads to the cup. The seal does make a difference.

 

[TimeSnow]

AH... the "Batman" phones. It will be really interesting to read how you like them. It is sort of "all bets are off" with those. They are so highly modded that I can't even guess what will be different about them. The cups by themselves should make a huge difference. Good luck, and do write after you have had time to listen and let us know what you think.

It's funny, I was going to buy a new pair, but the local place sold out of them and then put the price back up to the pre-sale price, and ordering them online cost a lot for shipping...

I had also been reading a lot of chatter about mods, etc., and was a bit concerned they would have issues (thus all the modding)...

So then I started poking around the for sale threads and found the batman ones.... lol, that's gonna stick isn't it.

Anyway, I contacted the seller - who said they sounded basically the same, but without the 4-6k spike - and the modder - who said he'd stand behind the work if they broke, minus the driver obv. - so... batman cans here we go.

I figure they won't sound worse than the 400s (I hope) and with all the price shenanigans that was kinda where I was at barring another sale.



I am anxious, but also very excited.

EDIT:


Here's what the seller said:

"...they do sound much more linear to my ears.

Especially the excessive treble of the HE560 has been tamed. For example they have a nasty peak around 4k which is gone with these."



The modder said:

"...it's still HE560 sound signature, but enhanced - larger soundstage, better low end extension, and slightly different timbre, caused by wooden enclosure..."



Both were caveated etc., which is fair enough... but I WILL go to my local place and compare them at some point.

 

[TimeSnow]

Oh and as for pads, I don't know... I may just buy some new pads... but that's another rabbit hole

I saw that "unmounted" pad myself, but figure that's not a big deal... I hope at least.

Some pads seem to make them worse as well... soooo... a bit unable to even grasp where to start... esp as some folks seem to use pad adapters for other brands pads and all sorts of madness.

 

[rawrster]

It's crazy how good a value the HE-560 now. I bought one again after selling my first one around 2 years ago. That was $500+ then and now it's much lower than that in the used market. I don't have my old setup and recently getting back into full sized. I have a Yulong D100 mk2 as the dac/amp for now. My setup will be low cost for now so hopefully this will sound decent.

 

[trybeingarun]

I just posted a thread about this but thought maybe this would get more useful info.

I take it that neither my Dragonfly Red or Oppo HS2 SE will drive the HE-560s well enough to really enjoy them properly.

Does ANYONE have any €500 or less, less is great, suggestions for a DAC + Headphone amp combo that is good enough for these... Until I have proper money to spend next year?

Would love some help.

Thanks!

I use a modded Matrix m-stage hpa-3u+ to power my hd6xx and k7xx. Works beautifully will all of those. The mods were pretty cheap to do and sound quality improvement I got were pretty impressive. I suggest you take a look at them too, but only if you can mod it (it cost me $35 for parts + modding fee).

 

[TimeSnow]

I use a modded Matrix m-stage hpa-3u+ to power my hd6xx, k7xx and he560. Works beautifully will all of those. The mods were pretty cheap to do and sound quality improvement I got were pretty impressive. I suggest you take a look at them too, but only if you can mod it (it cost me $35 for parts + modding fee).

If you mean ME modding it I'd probably be unwilling to try, because I've never done anything like that

I am interested though! I'll have a look. Thanks!!

 

[trybeingarun]

If you mean ME modding it I'd probably be unwilling to try, because I've never done anything like that

I am interested though! I'll have a look. Thanks!!

I din't mod it myself either. The capacitors are of poor quality there, the mod replaces them. Nothing fancy about the mod.

Here is the mod itself.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/int...review-to-follow.770610/page-18#post-13475074

I din't do the full mod as described, just the cap replacement. Here's my impression on my modded unit vs the stock
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/int...review-to-follow.770610/page-19#post-13838884

 

[TimeSnow]

I din't mod it myself either. The capacitors are of poor quality there, the mod replaces them. Nothing fancy about the mod.

Here is the mod itself.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/int...review-to-follow.770610/page-18#post-13475074

I din't do the full mod as described, just the cap replacement. Here's my impression on my modded unit vs the stock
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/int...review-to-follow.770610/page-19#post-13838884

Thanks for all of that! I do know a guy that could potentially do it for me... a couple actually! I'll consider this!

 

[thebkt]

From my experience the Mimby is a great pairing with the HE-560's. Given they have a bright tone, the smooth high end of the Mimby tames things quite well. It sounded great through my Topping A30 and better with the NFB-1 AMP.

Worth noting is that the Mojo can definitely drive the 560's. I used one in store while researching Aeon's and took my 560's along as a baseline. They sounded great through the Mojo. My first impression was that higher male and female vocals were very up front and engaging, even compared to my home set up.

 

[TimeSnow]

From my experience the Mimby is a great pairing with the HE-560's. Given they have a bright tone, the smooth high end of the Mimby tames things quite well. It sounded great through my Topping A30 and better with the NFB-1 AMP.

Worth noting is that the Mojo can definitely drive the 560's. I used one in store while researching Aeon's and took my 560's along as a baseline. They sounded great through the Mojo. My first impression was that higher male and female vocals were very up front and engaging, even compared to my home set up.

Sure useful thanks a lot!

 

[trybeingarun]

Thanks for all of that! I do know a guy that could potentially do it for me... a couple actually! I'll consider this!

I was actually a little happy that the stock matrix din't give such a nice sound quality, for whatever reason. If they had they might have charged substantially more for their combo amp