[rawrster]

I did think that these had some qualities of the HE500 but sounded like a HD800 signature. I really liked both headphones when I owned them. Of course one of my favorite headphones was the HE-6. I didn't get enough time but I do hope these have the smooth liquid sound of the HE-6 but I'm guessing that's where the HE1000 come in...
 
The store had the older cable so not sure what the current cable is like. That cable sucked a lot so hopefully the one it has now is better.
 
Anyway, I just bought a pair of these. I kind of feel bad for the store I auditioned them at but tax will come out to almost $100 extra and makes no sense to buy at that price. I just sold the K7xx and haven't deposited to my bank yet so it will seem like I'm spending less money than I actually am...yes I'll go with that

 

[Sonic Defender]

  I did think that these had some qualities of the HE500 but sounded like a HD800 signature. I really liked both headphones when I owned them. Of course one of my favorite headphones was the HE-6. I didn't get enough time but I do hope these have the smooth liquid sound of the HE-6 but I'm guessing that's where the HE1000 come in...
 
The store had the older cable so not sure what the current cable is like. That cable sucked a lot so hopefully the one it has now is better.
 
Anyway, I just bought a pair of these. I kind of feel bad for the store I auditioned them at but tax will come out to almost $100 extra and makes no sense to buy at that price. I just sold the K7xx and haven't deposited to my bank yet so it will seem like I'm spending less money than I actually am...yes I'll go with that

Sad, but true, the stocking brick and mortar store is at a disadvantage and like the CD, I think their time is fast coming to an end; at least for affordable gear. Uber high-end gear will always require a store as those who swim in these waters don't fret over money spent.

 

[rawrster]

I think most of their sales are from their website. I usually see their store with a few people in it at most unless they are hosting some audio related event. 
 
Anyway I think this will be a good decision. I recently stepped away from Stax and into a more affordable price range. I'm looking forward to a light and comfortable ortho. The HE-4 was probably the best prior to the HE-560 but it wasn't that comfortable. I'll be using these with my V800 DAC and Lyr 2 amp so hopefully that ends up pairing well.

 

[pedalhead]

This thread seems to have a fair few geeks running their HE-560 via speaker taps, so I think this is the appropriate place to ask my question.  I have a Rotel RB-850 power amp gathering dust & thought I may try & see how my HE-560s sound hooked up to it. The amp wasn't anything special in it's day, so I do wonder if it's worth the effort in getting it set up?  Any thoughts?
 
If it is, I just want to make sure I have all the bases covered. I figure I'll need the following:
 

1. A passive volume control in between my USB DAC and the Rotel (I have one already)
2. A new headphone cable to hook the HE-560s up to the Rotel...terminated in four speaker taps I suppose.  Or...is there such a thing as an adapter cable 4pin XLR female --> 4 x banana plugs?  That way I could just stick it on the end of my Draug 2 XLR.
3. From reading various posts, it looks like a box like the HiFiMAN HE-Adapter is not essential, and in fact can compromise sound quality....is this correct?  Obviously the alternative is that I have to be very careful with the volume knob!

 
Thanks for any guidance. It's a bit of an experiment really so I'd rather not throw lots of money at this, particularly as I'm not sure if the Rotel will be any good in this scenario.  Cheers.  Mark.

 

[preproman]

  This thread seems to have a fair few geeks running their HE-560 via speaker taps, so I think this is the appropriate place to ask my question.  I have a Rotel RB-850 power amp gathering dust & thought I may try & see how my HE-560s sound hooked up to it. The amp wasn't anything special in it's day, so I do wonder if it's worth the effort in getting it set up?  Any thoughts?
 
If it is, I just want to make sure I have all the bases covered. I figure I'll need the following:
 

1. A passive volume control in between my USB DAC and the Rotel (I have one already)
2. A new headphone cable to hook the HE-560s up to the Rotel...terminated in four speaker taps I suppose.  Or...is there such a thing as an adapter cable 4pin XLR female --> 4 x banana plugs?  That way I could just stick it on the end of my Draug 2 XLR.
3. From reading various posts, it looks like a box like the HiFiMAN HE-Adapter is not essential, and in fact can compromise sound quality....is this correct?  Obviously the alternative is that I have to be very careful with the volume knob!

 
Thanks for any guidance. It's a bit of an experiment really so I'd rather not throw lots of money at this, particularly as I'm not sure if the Rotel will be any good in this scenario.  Cheers.  Mark.

 

[pedalhead]

Cheers, that's one question answered then 

. Who made that cable?

 

[rawrster]

You can get that cable from just about any cable maker. It's just up to you if you have a preference for a certain company or not.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I had mine made by Trevor at Norne Audio, but as mentioned, I'm sure any decent cable maker can do this. A capital good idea to make a speaker tap cable. I would consider having it made in two sections as I did (and I am sure others have). On my amp I have the speaker tap on speaker B so the cable is always left on there,  I simply disconnect my headphone from that section of the cable when done and switch the amp to speaker A for y normal speaker use.

 

[Sonic Defender]

The Rotel looks nice and assuming it is operating well I would be surprised if it doesn't work well. Here is how I see things. You get a nice custom cable made and hopefully you are the type of user who likes the idea of an aftermarket cable (I won't get into the sound debate where cables are concerned, that is for you to decide). So if you have the speaker plug section made the shortest length that is viable for your needs, even if the worst happens and you don't like the results (I would be surprised if that happened) you still have a new balanced cable that can be adapted to a single ended amp if you like, or used with any balanced amp (or even the Yulong A18 for instance which only had a convenience 4 pin connection). There is always risk, but there is also reward so you just need to decide if spending say $300 - $400 on a cable (roughly) is too much of a risk. If not it seems to me to be a good gamble. I would also suggest you look into the power supply of the Rotel as the stability of the amp is quite important so a robust power supply is important. If you find out that the power supply itself isn't really as good as in a dedicated head amp that you can afford that should give you some reason to pause, but not abandon the idea either.
 
In my case, I knew my amp had very beefy power supplies, and that is why I started thinking it should be driving my 560. Of course the other components in the amp will matter, but based on my research the power supply is an important consideration so certainly start there and see what others feel.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

This thread seems to have a fair few geeks running their HE-560 via speaker taps, so I think this is the appropriate place to ask my question.  I have a Rotel RB-850 power amp gathering dust & thought I may try & see how my HE-560s sound hooked up to it. The amp wasn't anything special in it's day, so I do wonder if it's worth the effort in getting it set up?  Any thoughts?

If it is, I just want to make sure I have all the bases covered. I figure I'll need the following:

• A passive volume control in between my USB DAC and the Rotel (I have one already)
• A new headphone cable to hook the HE-560s up to the Rotel...terminated in four speaker taps I suppose.  Or...is there such a thing as an adapter cable 4pin XLR female --> 4 x banana plugs?  That way I could just stick it on the end of my Draug 2 XLR.
• From reading various posts, it looks like a box like the HiFiMAN HE-Adapter is not essential, and in fact can compromise sound quality....is this correct?  Obviously the alternative is that I have to be very careful with the volume knob!

Thanks for any guidance. It's a bit of an experiment really so I'd rather not throw lots of money at this, particularly as I'm not sure if the Rotel will be any good in this scenario.  Cheers.  Mark.

Hi, one of the Geeks here!

You can use your Geek devices as pre-amps, to the Rotel, I believevthey all have a line out/pre-amp out taps, I think they have them, the desk top one definitely will.

So you can go source>DAC (Geek)>Rotel> cable like the one in Preporman's pic>560.

My set up is source>Über Bifrost>Lyr 2 (as a pre-amp)>Belles One or B&k 125.2 >Norne Draug 2 > 560/Alpha Dogs!

Hope this helps!

Cheers

 

[rawrster]

My HE-560 shipped I'm surprised it was shipped so fast since I made the order last night.
 
I just need to buy a (hopefully) cheap cable for these. The last time I had a Hifiman I had a Toxic cable but I'm not waiting for that. I just need to decide if I want a balanced with adapter or not. I may go balanced in the future but won't be anytime soon.

 

[olegausany]

So just get balanced with adapter and then just disconnect it when you get balanced amp. It's just more convenient than cutting and modifying it later

 

[OnlyBadMusic]

So does anybody listen to VBR V0 MP3 files on their HE-560? Thinking about upgrading in the future to these, but my entire library (1700) is V0 (highest quality) MP3 files, and I'm worried I'd have to redo my entire library with FLAC
 
For reference, because I know some will go "FLAC sounds 10x better" and others will go "FLAC and the highest quality MP3 sound the same", on my CURRENT setup (HE-400 + FiiO e11k amp + FiiO X1 dap) FLAC and V0 MP3 sound the same. Just for reference so you know where MY ears are at.
 
I'm just worried that won't be the case anymore if I get HE-560 and a Schiit stack....

 

[StanD]

  So does anybody listen to VBR V0 MP3 files on their HE-560? Thinking about upgrading in the future to these, but my entire library (1700) is V0 (highest quality) MP3 files, and I'm worried I'd have to redo my entire library with FLAC
 
For reference, because I know some will go "FLAC sounds 10x better" and others will go "FLAC and the highest quality MP3 sound the same", on my CURRENT setup (HE-400 + FiiO e11k amp + FiiO X1 dap) FLAC and V0 MP3 sound the same. Just for reference so you know where MY ears are at.
 
I'm just worried that won't be the case anymore if I get HE-560 and a Schiit stack....

I think you worry too much.

 

[Rudiger]

I agree with StanD. No problem with highest mp3 and HE-560 + a good system.
Your system will be better sounding, that's all !