[Anarion]

While I haven't heard a SB AE-5 the O2 is one amp that I really didn't care for since it was the cause of sibilance along with a fairly dry thin sound with most of the headphones that I had at the time I had the O2/ODAC. I'd suggest getting a hybrid amp (tube in the driver stage and SS for the power stage) if you are sensitive to sibilance since most tube amps usually reduce sibilance to some degree and can be fine tuned with different tubes. One suggestion is the LittleDot 1+, fairly cheap but also flexible in tubes and op amps of if you have a little more to spend an Ember is a very good amp for the price and can use a wide range of tubes. I don't know how hard it would be to get an Ember in Finland but if you are able to get one I think it will do wonders with almost any headphone that you have or are considering.

To be honest, I don't really use my O2 amp. Mainly because the AE-5 is superior headphone amp than the O2 I have here at least. AE-5 headphone amp has >10 dBA advantage in dynamic range, >7 dBA in noise level and >11 dB in stereo cross talk. In reality the difference is likely even larger because the AE-5 hits the ADC (SoundCore3D) limits (102dB) in dynamic range and noise level. Those differences are so large that one can instantly hear the difference. Not surprised at all why you think that O2 sounds thing - I think so too and it's probably thanks to that dynamic range. Soundstage in neutered by stereo crosstalk.

It's very neutral and pleasant sounding amp (I'd say smooth but detailed) with excellent dynamic range and channel separation (thanks to individually amped channels). Mostly probably thanks to the Sabre DAC.

 

[d3vi0uz]

For female contralto vocals (Norah Jones, Adele, Cher, Karen Carpenter), which would be the better headphone:

600
650
660
58x Jubilee

I'm using a Meridian Explorer 2 DAC and Magni 3 amp, streaming Tidal HiFi/Masters.

Thanks!

 

[DavidA]

@Anarion, thanks for the reply about the AE-5, did a little reading about it and it looks like a decent sound card that will play nice with a HD58X since it seems to be able to deal with 600ohm headphones.

@d3vi0uz, since I've yet to hear the 58X of the other 3 I'd take the HD650 for female vocals but only if you have a decent amp (OTL amp - BH Crack or similar) for it, if not the HD660S would be my recommendation since its much easier to drive properly and it does sound slightly better on the Magni3 than the HD650 did from the few times I've tried both the HD650 and HD660S on it.

 

[d3vi0uz]

@Anarion, thanks for the reply about the AE-5, did a little reading about it and it looks like a decent sound card that will play nice with a HD58X since it seems to be able to deal with 600ohm headphones.

@d3vi0uz, since I've yet to hear the 58X of the other 3 I'd take the HD650 for female vocals but only if you have a decent amp (OTL amp - BH Crack or similar) for it, if not the HD660S would be my recommendation since its much easier to drive properly and it does sound slightly better on the Magni3 than the HD650 did from the few times I've tried both the HD650 and HD660S on it.

Thanks DavidA.

From what I've read, it seems the 58x Jubilee is closer to a 660s than the 650. And I'm not willing to pay the premium for marginal benefit from a 660s. Also, I don't foresee getting a higher end amp within the next 6 months; I might in 9-12 months.

This leaves the 58x as the logical choice.

Is that a fair assessment?

 

[DavidA]

Thanks DavidA.

From what I've read, it seems the 58x Jubilee is closer to a 660s than the 650. And I'm not willing to pay the premium for marginal benefit from a 660s. Also, I don't foresee getting a higher end amp within the next 6 months; I might in 9-12 months.

This leaves the 58x as the logical choice.

Is that a fair assessment?

I'm not sure it would be a logical choice since I haven't heard the HD58X and if you read above they might be doing some tuning since some though the pre-production ones were a little too lite on the bass and if they are a little lite on the bass then I'd go with the HD6XX for $200 and while they will sound good with the Magni3 you can always get a better amp (OTL) later to pair with the HD6XX which I feel sounds better with better gear.

With the HD660S I agree with you that its not worth the price premium over the HD58X or even the HD650/600 at this time, but you should also consider the HD6XX at $200 which would leave you $300 (assuming $500 for HD660S) for a tube amp like a used Ember or a new Solstice or Sunrise from Garage 1217.

The Magni3 is a really good amp for the price but its not the best choice for higher impedance headphones like the HD600/650/6XX, but for the HD660S its a good pairing and I think it would be for the HD58X also since its also 150ohms.

FWIW for female vocals I normally use a Nhoord Red V2 build or an EL-8 open since these 2 are a little more mid forward and sound really good with female vocals, are easy to drive (phone or headphone jack of computer) and have a nicer frequency balance over the HD650 and HD660S for some genres.

 

[Nutsid]

The relatively low impedance is the exact reason I decided on the 58X Jubilee over the 6XX. I think it is totally within reason that I will likely end up buying the 6XX's later on in the future, dependent entirely upon when the drops stop, but the easier to drive was far more important for me at this point.

If I told my wife I had to buy a 300+ dollar amplifier to power my headphones, I'd probably end up getting divorced (I have way too many hobbies currently. Lol)

 

[DavidA]

@Nutsid, keeping the wife happy is far more important than a headphone or amp , you might get lucky and she'll even give you the "okay" to get more gear and I don't know if you tried to get her to listen to some of your headphones since it will give you something in common to do.

 

[Nutsid]

@Nutsid, keeping the wife happy is far more important than a headphone or amp , you might get lucky and she'll even give you the "okay" to get more gear and I don't know if you tried to get her to listen to some of your headphones since it will give you something in common to do.

My wife enjoys my HD 558s quite a bit, and she is awesome in general. A prime example is the day before Valentine's day, she surprised me with a Miata. (I have a 92, she bought me an 04 with the same color combination).

As much as she likes my HD 558's, though, she doesn't quite understand spending tons of money on amps and stuff like that. The HD 58X Jubilee's were her and I coming to an agreement that those plus a relatively cheap amp should be plenty good enough. I'm just hoping That the better sound quality will be what pushes her over the edge on even better equipment. Haha

 

[swmtnbiker]

Your wife balks at "spending tons of money on amps and stuff like that", but buys you a car for your birthday...

 

[Nutsid]

Your wife balks at "spending tons of money on amps and stuff like that", but buys you a car for your birthday...

Not even a birthday. Haha.

To be fair, I spend a ton of money on instruments, recording gear, and cars in general. Her concern with headphone gear is more of a " why do you need another hobby?" Thing than a money thing.

 

[DavidA]

Not even a birthday. Haha.

To be fair, I spend a ton of money on instruments, recording gear, and cars in general. Her concern with headphone gear is more of a " why do you need another hobby?" Thing than a money thing.

Show her this and say you don't have enough gear:

 

[trellus]

Show her this and say you don't have enough gear:

Spoiler

How many pairs of ears are on your noggin'? JK, great gear!

 

[Nutsid]

Show her this and say you don't have enough gear:

That's an awesome set of gear you've got there. Really awesome.

 

[Anarion]

@Anarion, thanks for the reply about the AE-5, did a little reading about it and it looks like a decent sound card that will play nice with a HD58X since it seems to be able to deal with 600ohm headphones.

It plays very well with low ohm sensitive headphones too. Low gain doesn't apply gain which is nice. In fact, low gain is more than enough for my AKG K712 Pro too. In fact, it's too powerful... You only need less than 10% volume to get K712 Pro to ear bleeding levels. At low gain. (Makes me wonder who would ever need to use normal or high gain...)

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

+1 to the I+, which I think frequently appears on MD itself. To that end there are plenty of great hybrid/tube amps on Massdrop, which certainly makes it easier for international buyer to find something that smooths out the brightness in certain cans.

While I haven't heard a SB AE-5 the O2 is one amp that I really didn't care for since it was the cause of sibilance along with a fairly dry thin sound with most of the headphones that I had at the time I had the O2/ODAC. I'd suggest getting a hybrid amp (tube in the driver stage and SS for the power stage) if you are sensitive to sibilance since most tube amps usually reduce sibilance to some degree and can be fine tuned with different tubes. One suggestion is the LittleDot 1+, fairly cheap but also flexible in tubes and op amps of if you have a little more to spend an Ember is a very good amp for the price and can use a wide range of tubes. I don't know how hard it would be to get an Ember in Finland but if you are able to get one I think it will do wonders with almost any headphone that you have or are considering.