[prestonage]

Hey all
 
I have been reading all of your valued advice furiously over the last week or so. I have mostly been considering the getting the Hifiman HE-500's and most reading has been regarding amps and DAC's that work well with this. I also am considering the Sennheiser HD650's, and the Beyerdynamic DT880's (600 ohm). I think that these are good choices for their respective price ranges. 
 
I listen to a very wide range of music, so I am looking for something that can handle a lot of genre's from classical to bass heavy beats. From what I have read these can do this. I would not mind spending a bit more than $1,000 for the setup, but obviously want to get my money's worth and have these last a long time. This has lead me to the HE-500's, but I am worried that I would have to spend a larger sum on an amp and DAC than I would like. If I do go with these, what is the cheapest amp and DAC I can get that would get the HE-500's to their full potential?
 
I have been looking into the Schiit products, such as the asgard, lyr, and bifrost, but also the objective 2 amp and dac, the emotiva mini x a100, and the xonar one essence combo. 
 
If you own any of these headphones, what did you use to get them to their full potential. 
 
Thanks to everyone in advance.

 

[kimvictor]

Cheapest thing you can get that is capable of powering a HE-500 is probably Schiit Modi and Magni. Any price limits?

 

[formula1]

Lyr+Bifrost with all the upgrades, but that will exceed your budget. 

 

[prestonage]

I don't have any hard-lined price limits, but I'd rather not go over $1,200. 
 
What exactly are the upgrades you refer to in the lyr and bifrost. I know that the stock tubes for the lyr are not supposed to be great. But I have no idea what be good for it. 

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

Hey all
 
I have been reading all of your valued advice furiously over the last week or so. I have mostly been considering the getting the Hifiman HE-500's and most reading has been regarding amps and DAC's that work well with this. I also am considering the Sennheiser HD650's, and the Beyerdynamic DT880's (600 ohm). I think that these are good choices for their respective price ranges. 
 
I listen to a very wide range of music, so I am looking for something that can handle a lot of genre's from classical to bass heavy beats. From what I have read these can do this. I would not mind spending a bit more than $1,000 for the setup, but obviously want to get my money's worth and have these last a long time. This has lead me to the HE-500's, but I am worried that I would have to spend a larger sum on an amp and DAC than I would like. If I do go with these, what is the cheapest amp and DAC I can get that would get the HE-500's to their full potential?
 
I have been looking into the Schiit products, such as the asgard, lyr, and bifrost, but also the objective 2 amp and dac, the emotiva mini x a100, and the xonar one essence combo. 
 
If you own any of these headphones, what did you use to get them to their full potential. 
 
Thanks to everyone in advance.

 
Heya,
 
Hifiman HE500
Audio GD NFB 15.XX
 
Probably the most inexpensive way to get greater than 2 watts into your HE500 with a good DAC onboard.
 
Don't stress the DAC so much. You only need just over 1 watt into 38ohms for the HE500, per it's creator Dr Fang. So even the amp is not such a crucial power plant as the text around here might have you think. You can definitely do ok without buying something that costs as much as the headphone.
 
If you can get a second hand HE500, all the better. They go used for $500 usually. Incredible value.
 
Very best,

 

[mvrk10256]

Quote:

I don't have any hard-lined price limits, but I'd rather not go over $1,200. 
 
What exactly are the upgrades you refer to in the lyr and bifrost. I know that the stock tubes for the lyr are not supposed to be great. But I have no idea what be good for it. 

I imagine he is refering to the uberfrost upgrade, the lyr sounds good out of the box but you can look int he Lyr rolling thread if you wish to tune the sound a bit.