[mrspeakers]

By tomorrow we'll have shipped through at least April 2.

 

[Law87]

Does anyone know which is harder to drive? The Hd800 or alpha dog?

 

[MattTCG]

Finding the right amp/dac for the hd800 is like trying to get a swimsuit model to go out with you. The AD likes good clean power but as long as it gets that it won't be too tricky. 

 

[Tequilasunriser]

  Finding the right amp/dac for the hd800 is like trying to get a swimsuit model to go out with you.
 

I hear this comment about the HD800s rather often and it sounds more like the sign of a bad headphone rather than it just being picky.

 

[MattTCG]

I wouldn't say that. I've heard the hd800 on lot's of amps. It doesn't work well on the lyr IMO, but does on the Crack kit amp. That's the best bang for the buck amp that I've heard it on for sure. The lyr however, works wonders with the AD and all the Dogs. 

 

[kugino]

I hear this comment about the HD800s rather often and it sounds more like the sign of a bad headphone rather than it just being picky.

Right, b/c it's the seimsuit model's fault for not going out with you.

I own the hd800 and don't have the best amp for it (yet), but trust me, I had high expectations and it's a terrific headphone. I hated almost everything else I listened to after it, all except the d7000.

 

[swspiers]

  Finding the right amp/dac for the hd800 is like trying to get a swimsuit model to go out with you.

That could be a new signature line.  Nicely done, sir

 

[Lorspeaker]

+1 on the discontinued D7000

 

[Tequilasunriser]

Right, b/c it's the seimsuit model's fault for not going out with you.

I own the hd800 and don't have the best amp for it (yet), but trust me, I had high expectations and it's a terrific headphone. I hated almost everything else I listened to after it, all except the d7000.

I think you misunderstood the point of my post. I was merely (sarcastically) pointing out that the calling the HD800s picky is just a tired generalization that got carried away by the community. I think it was Tyll that may have first made the comment and then out of nowhere everyone was saying that the HD800s were picky rather than formulating an opinion of their own.

 

[TheGovernment]

The 800's work on pretty much anything. These guys and their magical amp combos are on glue.
I run my 800's off a creative ZxR, Burson 160, minidot 3, O2, LYR ... blah blah blah. They sound awesome on all of them. If every person on HeadFI could actually hear as good as they think they can, we'd have golden ear challenge winners all over the place..... except no ones ever won it in 20 years......

 

[aamefford]

The 800's work on pretty much anything. These guys and their magical amp combos are on glue.
I run my 800's off a creative ZxR, Burson 160, minidot 3, O2, LYR ... blah blah blah. They sound awesome on all of them. If every person on HeadFI could actually hear as good as they think they can, we'd have golden ear challenge winners all over the place..... except no ones ever won it in 20 years......

I would generalize this to most (all?) headphones including the alphas, impedance and gain mismatches considered of course. Some amps are better than others. A decent amp won't make or break a headphone though. A good amp will likely sound better up to some point.

 

[kugino]

The 800's work on pretty much anything. These guys and their magical amp combos are on glue.
I run my 800's off a creative ZxR, Burson 160, minidot 3, O2, LYR ... blah blah blah. They sound awesome on all of them. If every person on HeadFI could actually hear as good as they think they can, we'd have golden ear challenge winners all over the place..... except no ones ever won it in 20 years......

Haha. Yeah, I agree that most amps work for most headphones. I think the HD800 reveals deficiencies in DACs and source material more than the amp.

 

[DigitalFreak]

  The 800's work on pretty much anything. These guys and their magical amp combos are on glue.
I run my 800's off a creative ZxR, Burson 160, minidot 3, O2, LYR ... blah blah blah. They sound awesome on all of them. If every person on HeadFI could actually hear as good as they think they can, we'd have golden ear challenge winners all over the place..... except no ones ever won it in 20 years......

Easy there fellow bopper, you're starting to sound like the government........
............
.................
.......................
On second thought never mind, you're just being yourself, carry on.

 

[Law87]

talk about going off topic, I asked a question and maybe one answer and the rest have little to do with the questions I asked...thanks guys :/

 

[TeskR]

  talk about going off topic, I asked a question and maybe one answer and the rest have little to do with the questions I asked...thanks guys :/

The Alpha Dogs are inherently harder to drive as they are an inefficient Planar Magnetic driver as opposed to the HD800s which use a Dynamic driver.
Planar magnetic drivers usually have low impedance but are inefficient, I think most people suggest you need at least ~600mW at 50 ohms where as I'm guessing the HD800 could be driven well off much less at 300 ohms.
 
Someone please correct me if any of this is wrong, relatively new too most of this business