[BirdManOfCT]

  I'm curious to see what the common wisdom says about the HD 800 in retrospect when it's no longer the top of Sennheiser's lineup.

 
Good point, should be interesting. Yes, shortcomings all over the place. Heard a brass ensemble live this morning, which reminds me that we have so much further to go.

 

[aive]

In short, the LCD3/3F bass reaches a bit lower (barely noticeable, but noticeable), the little crossover at 1 kHz is apparent in the HE-6 having a bit stronger midrange presence relative to the bass volume, and the treble is noticeably rolled off in the LCD compared to the HE-6's more even and crystal-clear treble. Both are great headphones; which one you prefer will depend on whether you like a "warm" rolled-off or "crisp" upper end, and less significantly, whether you like a pronounced midrange. I didn't think I cared about midrange until I heard the HE-6

Thanks Marco, very informative. Looks like yggy and he6 next year

 

[cspirou]

I was just reading the specs of the various amps on the Schiit website and it looks like the Magni 2 has better distortion figures than the Ragnarok. This seems odd to me considering the amount of engineering that went into the Ragnarok.  I assume the figure is a worst case scenario for an 8 ohm speaker load while the Magni 2 is for a headphone load.
 
Would anyone know how the distortion compares under similar loads?

 

[madwolfa]

  I was just reading the specs of the various amps on the Schiit website and it looks like the Magni 2 has better distortion figures than the Ragnarok. This seems odd to me considering the amount of engineering that went into the Ragnarok.  I assume the figure is a worst case scenario for an 8 ohm speaker load while the Magni 2 is for a headphone load.
 
Would anyone know how the distortion compares under similar loads?

 
I'm guessing it's much easier to control distortion in a 10x less powerful amp. Also both amps THD is way below detectable levels, so I wouldn't bother at all (we're talking about 0.00x here).

 

[cspirou]

   
I'm guessing it's much easier to control distortion in a 10x less powerful amp. Also both amps THD is way below detectable levels, so I wouldn't bother at all (we're talking about 0.00x here).

We're talking about Schiit's ultimate headphone amp here. Granted THD isn't everything but doesn't the Ragnarok sound better than their cheapest amp when using the same pair of headphones? If I discount the THD then what exactly am I hearing in the Magni 2 that would not be present in the Ragnarok?

 

[madwolfa]

 
We're talking about Schiit's ultimate headphone amp here. Granted THD isn't everything but doesn't the Ragnarok sound better than their cheapest amp when using the same pair of headphones? If I discount the THD then what exactly am I hearing in the Magni 2 that would not be present in the Ragnarok?

 
Nothing. Both amps are transparent. Ragnarok is balanced and has gobs of power for widest range of applications, including speakers.

 

[atubbs]

Good point, should be interesting. Yes, shortcomings all over the place. Heard a brass ensemble live this morning, which reminds me that we have so much further to go.

Feel strongly the HD800 is like the HD600 in a way, but no HD850 ever showed up to the HD650. The HD800 helped define a market and price point and still can't be beat for comfort. But, I can't imagine recommending them to anyone.

 

[madwolfa]

Feel strongly the HD800 is like the HD600 in a way, but now HD850 every showed up to the HD650. The HD800 helped define a market and price point and still can't be beat for comfort. But, I can't imagine recommending them to anyone.

 
HD800 felt like overpriced version of HD600 with stronger bass and elevated highs to me (sibilance was killing my ears). It was a relief to put my LCD-2F back on.
 
Modded version was almost OK, but I'm not paying 1.5K for a headphone to start ghetto'ing it.

 

[Cobaltius]

I'm wondering if the Ragnarok would be to overkill for the HD 600 balanced? Any thoughts?

 

[madwolfa]

  I'm wondering if the Ragnarok would be to overkill for the HD 600 balanced? Any thoughts?

 
Yes, but if you have money and space - go for it. 

 

[atubbs]

  I'm wondering if the Ragnarok would be to overkill for the HD 600 balanced? Any thoughts?

 
I don't know how you define overkill. There's no such thing as too much excess! The Ragnarok will drive the HD600 balanced very well. I can't think of any particular downside, other than that you're getting a lot of additional capability (to drive other loads, including loudspeakers) beyond just the ability to drive the HD600s. Up to you whether that's worth it or not or whether you have other things in mind in the future.
 
If you're considering upgrading/changing headphones at some point, it might be worth considering spending the money now on headphones and spending less on a headphone amplifier.

 

[Barry S]

  I'm wondering if the Ragnarok would be to overkill for the HD 600 balanced? Any thoughts?

If I were looking to upgrade, I'd move up to a better pair of headphones before I bought a Ragnarok.  The HD650 sounds very good on the Rag, but I don't think it scales nearly as well as my LCD-X. The HD800 has been dipping down to below $1K lately, and it seems like the natural move from the HD600. That would still leave you with enough cash to get a respectable amp.

 

[StefanJK]

  I'm wondering if the Ragnarok would be to overkill for the HD 600 balanced? Any thoughts?

You're most likely not going to stay with the HD600 if you get the Rag.  There will be follow on costs.  

 

[preproman]

 
I wouldn't say the HE-6 is difficult to match. Give it truly enough power and it's happy. That's it.
 

 
Giving this logic the Emotiva mini-X would be all you need for the HE-6 - correct?  
 
All amps do not sound the same.  The mini-X has more than enough power.  However, the amp is a bright sounding amp and will make the HE-6 well, bright.  The other Emo amps seem to share this same trait.  
 
Point being - just throwing power at the HE-6 is NOT all it takes.  

 

[marcoarment]

   
Giving this logic the Emotiva mini-X would be all you need for the HE-6 - correct?  
 
All amps do not sound the same.  The mini-X has more than enough power.  However, the amp is a bright sounding amp and will make the HE-6 well, bright.  The other Emo amps seem to share this same trait.  
 
Point being - just throwing power at the HE-6 is NOT all it takes.  

Of course a colored-sounding amp will come out sounding like that color. This is a needless provocation. Let's get back on topic.