[chaza01]

This was my suspicion - great, saves me money!
 
Thank you

 

[heliosphann]

  The HP50 doesn't need an amp. With an amp it will improve the sound a little, but not a lot. It was designed to work when played out of mobile phones...

 
 

  Precisely. Not only is HP50 engineered to be efficient to be played back from mobile devices, several reliable sources (as my memory serves correctly) noted that the sound quality will stay fairly consistent regardless of amp.
 
Naturally however, better quality source of amp (dedicated amp vs onboard notebook amp) will provide less distortion. Therefore, greatest difference will be presented through the source material of the music (lossless files) and DAC.

 
Yep. I decided to take my HP50 on vacation and I had my DX50 paired with a E11, but after doing some tests I decided the sound difference was minimal straight from the DX50 vs the E11. So I ditched the E11.

 

[diamondears]

Some say the HP50's "scaleability" has none because it doesn't improve much on a separate amp. Well, it's so efficient and good it's scaled up already on an iPhone 6, or any portable!

 

[YamaVega]

This is so true.  Tried pairing the HP50's with my crappy old phone, and its sound is still superb.  Too bad it would scale minimally though.

 

[chailee80]

I found using a better source had a bigger impact on quality than the actual amp.

 

[diamondears]

This is so true.  Tried pairing the HP50's with my crappy old phone, and its sound is still superb.  Too bad it would scale minimally though.

I think it's just that it's scaled up to the max already. No need for exotic giga-powered amps.

I found using a better source had a bigger impact on quality than the actual amp.

Agree with you. I think the limitation of portable players and sources is the DAC and lack of good digital filter. I think that takes up space.

 

[Jeff Y]

Compared to headphones like the HD650, the HP50 does not scale up too much. Best I heard is with the AK240 but I'm going to listen to my HP50 out of the Chord Hugo next month (probably will buy the Hugo too). The sonic signature does not change too much but the sound becomes more dynamic and a much bigger 360 degrees soundstage can be heard. It's impressive though that the basic sound signature does not change so much even when you compare the $250 DX50 with the $2500 AK240. Looking forward to pairing with the Hugo!

 

[diamondears]

  Compared to headphones like the HD650, the HP50 does not scale up too much. Best I heard is with the AK240 but I'm going to listen to my HP50 out of the Chord Hugo next month (probably will buy the Hugo too). The sonic signature does not change too much but the sound becomes more dynamic and a much bigger 360 degrees soundstage can be heard. It's impressive though that the basic sound signature does not change so much even when you compare the $250 DX50 with the $2500 AK240. Looking forward to pairing with the Hugo!

Is that a good characteristic? I think it is. That means other HPs (that has scaleability) aren't at their best with portables.

 

[Jeff Y]

  Is that a good characteristic? I think it is. That means other HPs (that has scaleability) aren't at their best with portables.

I suppose for people who need to go mobile it is. The queer thing is that certain headphones/in-ears, personally Final Audio Design's FI-BA-SS especially goes loud as hell with anything but really needs a good source/amplification.

 

[virgopunk]

I'm using the HP50s with my DX90. I was curious about external amping (although the DX90 / HP50 combo on it's own is very neat and powerful). So, I decided to try my Biosciencegeek 18v CMOY with a  very tasty AD8620 op-amp (also 18v). I have to say this combo completely altered the HP50's signature. It pushed the mids front and centre, created an outstanding amount of detail but had the rather disappointing effect of making it quite fatiguing to listen to for any sizeable period. The volume on the CMOY could only be pushed a little. As I said though, they sounded amazing (I was stunned by the definition of Phil Collins' drum sounds on "Back in NYC" from "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". 
 
The addition of this amp was extremely interesting to me in how much it altered the out-the-box signature of the HP50s. I trialled the combo for most of the day listening to a wide spectrum of music. I loved some of what it did but hated some of the other stuff. I have a suspicion that the "room feel" sig gets all messed up with powerful amping but I'm going to have a bit more of a mess about with it because some of what I heard was simply amazing (it may just have been that my ears needed more time to adjust to this altered sig.
 
Anyway, I guess my point is that the HP50s do seem to respond to amping but possibly just not in a necessarily positive way. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone else's amping experiments.
 
These phones are excellent and I'm really happy with the way they pair with the DX90, but like all true head-fiers I'm always trying to see if there's a way to improve the sound!

 

[shabta]

I found that when plugged into a Lehmann BCL (as opposed to the Galaxy Note 4) the HP50s sound fuller. The best change was to the transients and decay. But you have to listen closely, because the basic character of the HP is pretty much the same. I didn't find better extension of the treble, which is my main complaint with this headphone. But the better/faster transients with more natural decay addresses, in par,t this problem. Hard to know if it was the amping or the better DAC, probably both. Anyway, for on the go use, this 'phone is great. For listening at home I would far prefer open backed, for a more airy and natural sound. All closed backs are a little too closed in sounding to me. But the HP50 suffers from this far less than other similarly priced closed back headphones.

 

[virgopunk]

Wow! That Lehmann BCL is serious piece of equipment! Are you saying that it only marginally changes the sound of your HP50s?
 
As I mentioned the CMoy I used really seemed to push the mids and highs.

 

[CountryBoy]

  Hi all, I have NAD hp50s (great headphones) - quick question: I haven't yet bought an amp, do you think an amp makes much of a difference all do these not need them?
 
Many thanks 

 I use my HP-50's with an old iPod touch (2nd Gen i think) and a FiiO E12 portable amp - and I would say in my case the amp is definitely worthwhile. It tightens the low bass(which helps with creating a sense of space), and lends a sense of control to the midrange and treble I can't live without now that I've heard it. Several times I ran the FiiO's battery dead and switched back to running the HP's straight out of the iPod and I was impressed at how good they sounded that way - but to me they just don't right now without that little amp. Editorial note: As with all things audio I cannot guarantee that my perceptions are not the result of the placebo effect or suggestability.

 

[shabta]

I also found the low bass tightens. I think we hear the same thing, I just don't think the difference is very big, and for me not worth dragging an extra box when I am out bopping around. But I do bring my IFI nano on trips and use the two together as a travel desktop solution. But most of the gain is due to the DAC on the nano, rather than the amp. Compared to other headphones I have or have owned the HP50 doesn't change much with amping. But of course on head-fi what one person thinks "isn't very much" another will think "makes an indispensable difference." At least the Fiio isn't an expensive experiment. YMMV 

 

[diamondears]

The NAD improves just a bit with better amps, but it's so transparent you'll notice the changes on the source and amps.

Agree with you shabta, the HP50 is really great with the iFi nano iDSD. If I want more treble, I just use the Standard digital filter. I find myself using the Mininum Phase digital filter though.