[Justin_Time]

MATCHING HEADPHONES, CABLES & AMPLIFIERS: HARDER THAN IT SHOULD BE (VERY LONG POST)

 

UPDATE (9/14/2014):  CAVALLI LIQUID FIRE --TUBE-ROLLING

 

The Cavalli Liquid Fire is a high-resolution amp.  Its sound can be finely tuned with different tubes to further optimize the performance of specific headphones.  Most of my above discussion of the Cavalli LF was with new Black Sable JJ Tesla E88CC/6922 (cryogenically treated) tubes. 

 

With the Telefunken Black Diamond tubes, the Cavalli LF sound became more open, with precise imaging, great dynamics and improved soundstage.   I was able to eke out even better performance from the HD800 (clean transients, smooth details, and a huge soundstage).  The Telefunken black diamond also worked very well with the HE-560 delivering open and dynamic sound with excellent transients.   These tubes finally unveiled the LCD3's open midrange by pushing the dark coloration into the  the background.   The Cavalli and Telefunken Black Diamond also worked exceedingly well with the TH-900 and managed to even tame  the usually wild PS1000.  The PS1000 midrange was so smooth that I easily overlooked the still slightly aggressive treble .  The typically polite ATH-W3000ANV of course benefitted greatly from this additional sparkle.  

 

My preferred 6922 tubes with the Cavalli Liquid Fire was the NOS Philips Miniwatt SQ tubes (Holland), with a lush midrange, sweet top end and three-dimensional sound.  These tubes allowed the HD800, Grado PS1000, HE-560 (and even the LCD3 at moderate volume) to perform near their very best with  the Cavalli LF.  Driven by the Cavalli with the Miniwatt SQ tubes, the Fostex TH-900 sounded gloriously musical and was my favorite headphone in this pairing followed very closely by the HD800 which remained the uncontestable king of clarity and soundstage.

 

[Justin_Time]

 

Matching Headphones, Cables and Amplifiers:
Harder Than It Should Be​

(This Forum seems to be the most appropriate one for posting a very long thread in its entirety instead of splitting it into two parts, one for headphones the other for amps as I did previously)​

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SUMMARY 

In this lengthy post—you have been forewarned—I am sharing the results of my search for the right cables and amps for four very different headphones:  the Grado PS1000, the Sennheiser HD800, the Audeze LCD3 and the HiFiMAN HE-6. Having lived with them for a few years now, I have come to appreciate the unique talent that each headphone possesses while the others do not, at least not nearly to the same degree.  It was surprisingly hard for me to find the right cables and amplifiers for these headphones:  one size clearly does not fit all.  This is especially true with picky audiophiles of which I confess to be one. After many false trails which dealt a rather severe blow to my pocket book, I gave up on matching the same cable and amp to all these headphones.

AFFORDABLE AMPS—Focusing on relatively affordable amps first (less than $1,000 each) I settled on the following combinations: 

(1)  PS1000—Black Widow—MAD Ear+ HD

(2)  Sennheiser HD800—Copper Venom—Red Wine Audio Corvina

(3)  Audeze LCD3—Silver Poison or Silver Widow—Vioelectric V200 or Schiit Mjolnir  

(4)  HiFiMAN HE-6—Copper Venom—Vioelectric V181 or Sophia Electric Baby Amplifier.

 

Note: the Denon LA7000 (Lawton modified), Fostex TH-900, LA-900 (Lawton modified), Oppo PM-1 and HiFiMAN HE-560 also produced excellent sound with above amps.  However, I have spent less than a few months listening to these headphones so they were not included in this discussion.

VERSATILE AMPS—I was unable to select just one of the affordable amps above to drive all my favorite headphones optimally.  I was more successful at a much higher price range where I found versatile amps that could perform equally well with all headphones with only minor sonic compromises.  The Woo WA5, EAR HP-4, Bakoon HPA-21 and HeadAmp GS-X Mark 2 belong to a small list of elite amps with the rare versatility.   If the power-ogre HE-6 does not belong on your stable of thoroughbreds, then this list expands to include more amps. I have not exhausted the list of all available cables and amps out there—far from it—but I hope to have included some of your favorites.     

CAVEAT EMPTOR—The source, amplifier, cable and headphones are all links in the sonic chain.  It is hard to isolate the "sound" of an individual link and harder still to predict how it would perform in a different system.  I am merely reporting here what I heard when I assembled these gears in my systems.  Your results may differ.  For the record, I am strictly an audio hobbyist with no business or commercial link with any of the manufacturers, reps or vendors of the gears discussed here. They were all purchased (new or used) for my personal use. All comments, positive, negative or otherwise are neither an endorsement nor an indictment of the gear, but simply my opinions biased by my sonic preference and musical taste.  I hope that my experience is helpful to your own pursuit of sonic Nirvana.  Finally, if you are interested only in end results, you can skip the rest of this post.  For more details on the search process and equipment performance, please read on.    
 
 

VERSATILE TUBE/HYBRID AMPLIFIERS

Among tube/hybrid the RWA Corvina/Bellina, Cavalli Liquid Fire, Apex Peak/Volcano Eddie Current Super 7 all delivered good performances with sensitive headphones.  With the PS1000, however, some harshness/edginess still marred the otherwise highly musical sound of these amps.  With some of them, I also noticed a vestige of the "dark" sound of the LCDs. 

Apex Peak/Volcano ($1,300/$750)—The Apex Peak/Volcano was an excellent match for orthodynamic cans such as the Audeze and HiFiMAN, producing clean and dynamic sound with power to spare even for the HE-6.  The sound with all headphones, while not always smooth and trouble-free, was consistently musical and enjoyable thanks largely to an open mid-range, clean transients and excellent sound-stage.  With the PS1000, the sound was a touch bright. Mid-range was smooth with clean transients but voices sounded slightly raspy with some thinness in the high frequencies.   The focus, center image and sound-stage were naturally rendered.  The bass was tight, with good impact if a bit light-weight.   The same flaws re-surfaced with the HD800 but to a much lesser degree.   A slight sibilance marred the otherwise excellent mid-range, focus, center image and sound-stage.  The bass was deep but perhaps a little tight and thus a little short on volume and impact.  The overall sound was clean, effortless and very engaging.  The pairing with LCD3 was highly successful.  While the focus was less precise and some of the in-your-face center image was lost, the overall presentation of the music was more natural with added depth and width to the sound-stage.  Most important of all, the dark sound nearly disappeared, pushed back into a distant background. The bass was tight, dynamic but lacking the visceral impact expected from the LCD3.  The sound with the HE-6 was excellent overall with a very clean mid-range and just a touch of glare at very high volume (beyond 1 o'clock).  The center image was slightly recessed (several rows back) but the Apex Peak/Volcano had a firm grip on the focus and threw a decent sound-stage for the oft constricted LCD3.  The bass was solid and dynamic if not exceptionally punchy.  If you are looking for an relatively affordable amp that can drive all your orthodynamic headphones including the power-hungry HE-6, you can do far worse than the Apex Peak/Volcano.

 

 

 

 
UPDATE: Jan 26, 2015
 
Above evaluation of the Peak/Volcano was done with the Sylvania 6SN7 GTB.  The sound was less refined with the stock Tung-Sol 6SN7.  When I switched to the Shuguang CV181-Z Grade A+ Treasure Tube, the sound improvement was a revelation.  The midrange of the Peak/Volcano became smoother and imbued with lush and seductive tones.  The treble was less extended but far smoother as the sibilant and edgy sound I complained about with the HD8000 and Grado PS1000 vanished.  The bass became fuller, weightier as well with noticeably more impact.  The bass slam with the HE-6 was stunning.  This more mellow and lusher sound (slower and richer decay) was exactly what the doctor ordered with the HD800, PS1000 and HE-6, though the warmer tone and bigger bass slam with the LCD3 may be a bit too much for some. All things considered, I can now recommend the Apex Peak/Volcano amp without  reservation with the Shuguang CV181-Z Grade A+ Treasure Tube.  This is one versatile combination that serves most headphones superbly.