[YoungClayB]

The longer I am on this forum, the more I want to "invest" in a pair of nice full sized cans.

Will my tomahawk be able to effectively drive a pair of HD650's?

-Clay

 

[wgr73]

Lol...I was just about to post this. I'm sure people will tell you yes, it will drive them, just not to their full potential.

 

[Suzuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wgr73 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Lol...I was just about to post this. I'm sure people will tell you yes, it will drive them, just not to their full potential.

It will drive them beautifully as for full potential thing, do you mean spending 1000+ on an amp. Than sure.....

 

[facelvega]

Yes, it is amp enough for them. Bigger, vastly more expensive amps might make them sound better, but no more than they'd make anything else sound better.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suzuka /img/forum/go_quote.gif It will drive them beautifully as for full potential thing, do you mean spending 1000+ on an amp. Than sure.....

The tomahawk was made for IEM's.. They won't do a great job driving the 650's, but will do much better then the amp in a ipod..

 

[wgr73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suzuka /img/forum/go_quote.gif do you mean spending 1000+ on an amp.

Not necessarily. I'm talking about driving the earphones to their full potential.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by facelvega /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, it is amp enough for them. Bigger, vastly more expensive amps might make them sound better, but no more than they'd make anything else sound better.

Not true.. The 650's are known to scale very well, more so then a lot of other phones..

& there is no might about it.. Every upgrade enhanced my 650's performance..Yes, my other phones sounded better too, but not to the same degree as my 650's..

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wgr73 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not necessarily. I'm talking about driving the earphones to their full potential.

last yr I made a thread asking how much it was cost to get the full potential out of the 650's..& the typical response was 15-20 grand

 

[wgr73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif last yr I made a thread asking how much it was cost to get the full potential out of the 650's..& the typical response was 15-20 grand

Good, lord!

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wgr73 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good, lord!

Yeah.. Guess I'll settle for less then half of their potential..

 

[mrarroyo]

Two important variables are:

1. How loud do you listen to music.
2. How "hot" is the source. The iModde iPod puts out 1 v/rms, the X-Dac V3 2.2 V/rms. It makes a heck of a difference in how loud the Tomahawk would play.

 

[nickknutson]

When I used a TH with a pair of 650's, I found it clearly wasn't pushing them to their full potential...I probably thought that because I was using a PRII that same day with the 650's

 

[Dash]

Try the new Corda Move.

 

[facelvega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not true.. The 650's are known to scale very well, more so then a lot of other phones.. & there is no might about it.. Every upgrade enhanced my 650's performance..Yes, my other phones sounded better too, but not to the same degree as my 650's..

I meant it more in a "might very well" sense, as in sure they would, but it's not like it'll sound bad out of a Tomahawk. I think there are two issues here, between sufficient amping (a dap by itself would be insufficient, a tomahawk sufficient) and whether the headphone is good enough to make very high-end amping worthwhile.

And in that regard, I don't doubt that the HD650 can make good use of more expensive amps. Nevertheless, $15k is ridiculous to support a $300 headphone. It's the same as people using $300 daps with stock ibuds. And I don't think it's reason enough to dampen the OP's interest in upgrading his headphones when his tomahawk will get him in the door with the HD650. He can move up from there.

 

[vo328]

You know what? I thought my HD650/HR MicroAmp combo sounded amazing until I tried a "higher" amp. I did own a Singlepower Extreme amp for a while... and the SP/Senn combination was simply mindblowing. Even my non-audiophile wife agreed that this combination sounded simply amazing. My kids could even tell the difference, and they are 7 & 6. The beauty of the HD650 is that it responds well to upgrades down-chain... i.e. improvements to the source, cabling and amping. I have to say that I know I have a long, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go to really realize the potential of the HD650s, but I wan to enjoy the ride along the way, hence, incremental upgrades. YMMV. Not sure how Tomahawk synergizes with HD650 as I've never tried it... but the Hornet sounded quite sweet with those cans.