[hoo7h]

Hey there,
I am new here, an audiophile from Saudi Arabia.
And I am amazed by the forum, looks very informative with a very knowledgeable members.
I mostly use my headphone on my PC with a perfectly ripped lossless CD's, or using the CD it self directly.
 
I have been using the HD650 and the Little Dot MK II for a year now, and I am looking to upgrade my set up with a DAC and a new headphone, 1-would that be a good upgrade ?
 
2-Just to be clear about upgrading the amp, MK II is giving the full HD650 amusement no ?, need someone to kick out the idea that I bought a great headphone and less amp
 
3-OK About the DAC, I thought about the ODAC but I am not really sure about it, as I feel that its not enough known and it has no famous brand, what would you suggest ?
 
4-The headphone I choose is the PRO 900, because I will be trying a completely new field, as its like the opposite brother of the HD650, ?
 
 
Finally the planned budget is $550, I can pay more if it will be a noticeable difference.(PS. I found the PRO 900 for $350)

 

[hoo7h]

No ideas ?

 

[MattTCG]

The hd650 is great, and one of my all times favorites. Do you plan to keep it? If yes, then consider a complementary hp to go with it. The maddog by Mr. Speakers is fantastic. I would get the MD and add the odac to your amp and you'd be in fine shape. The odac sounds like dacs that cost twice as much IMO. 
 
gL!!

 

[Monir]

I can attest to the HD650 scaling very well with higher equipment, they are almost transformed into a different pair of headphones with an expensive amp. Solid state or tube.
 
If you want a new amplifier and want to retain a tubey sound I suggest LaFigaro 336C, but Matrix M-Stage, and most Schiit products are also great contenders even though they are SS and/or hybrid amps.
 
About the DAC the ODAC is a great performer, but I didn't like it cause I really need S/PDIF. But if USB is just fine for you then it's a great start. Audio-gd makes good DACs as well, and they're also bigger if you're into that
 
The PRO900 is indeed completely different from HD650, they have superb mid-bass yet very bright, they are also far more revealing than the HD650, but lack the midrange detail. I actually have both HD650 and PRO900 and use them both for different genres; where the PRO900 is unbearable the HD650 is smooth and welcoming, and where the HD650 falls short the PRO900 excels. But if you plan on getting the PRO900, or any other low impendance cans then you should know that a solid state amp (or a transformer coupled tube amp) is a must, otherwise you will lose on the bass quantity and its detail - and for that you need good damping, so the amplifier needs to have a low output impedance, and the LDMKII is a OTL tube amp which falls short in this area.

 

[MattTCG]

^^ Yes, that's the only shortcoming regarding the odac for me...the lack of s/pdif. I prefer optical also. 

 

[wje]

Quote:

I can attest to the HD650 scaling very well with higher equipment, they are almost transformed into a different pair of headphones with an expensive amp. Solid state or tube.
 

 
I actually don't think one has to get too expensive to really transform the sound on the Sennheiser HD-600 / HD-650 headphones.  On the newer Yamaha 2-channel gear, their headphone stage is quite good.  It also has a variable loudness control to allow you to dial in a frequency preference.  The sound is quite stellar, in my opinion.  I have a few of these setups in my home and they never fail to impress me.  

 

[Monir]

I didn't necessarily mean too expensive. There are probably a couple amplifiers out there which are reasonably priced but will do great justice to the HD650.
 
My point was simply that the HD650 scales well with higher end equipment, which makes them really worthwhile to keep even when the budget expands.

 

[negura]

Quote:

I didn't necessarily mean too expensive. There are probably a couple amplifiers out there which are reasonably priced but will do great justice to the HD650.
 
My point was simply that the HD650 scales well with higher end equipment, which makes them really worthwhile to keep even when the budget expands.

 
 
I can fully vouch for this. When I got started, I couldn't/didn't accept that an amplifier (considerably) more expensive than the HD650s themselves is the right way to go for these headphones. As such I was using them with a lower-end, yet decent quality AMP. After purchasing another pair of more expensive headphones I finally decided to upgrade the amplifier to a mid-budget one (Vioelectric V200).
 
The HD650s scale impressively well with better equipment and the results are very satisfying. I consider this money well spent. If you DO like the HD650 sound signature, I'd say try them on better equipment and see how you like that. On the other hand if you prefer a different signature, the rest of the equipment won't/shouldn't do that for you.
 
 
P.S.: Oh yeah, the other headphones are also doing great with better amping, but I am using them much less now lol.

 

[hoo7h]

OK So I decided to get the ODAC and the Pro 900, what amp should I get for the Pro 900 ?
Will the MK II be good or I have to get an SS amp ?

 

[Monir]

Quote:

OK So I decided to get the ODAC and the Pro 900, what amp should I get for the Pro 900 ?
Will the MK II be good or I have to get an SS amp ?

I advice you get SS amp with relatively low output impedance to enjoy the PRO900 to the fullest. MKII won't be a good amp for the PRO900 imo since it's OTL tube based and is meant for high impedance heaphones. PRO900 requires a bit of current and good damping.
 
Also, since the PRO900 are in nature very bright you should look into some coloured amplifier. My recommendation is Matrix M-Stage for those on a budget. It has 5ohm output impedance which is a perfect match for PRO900s 40ohm. You can even make it sound warmer and more pleasent by chaging the stock op-amp to a Class A op-amp modification of either LM4562 or OPA627.

 

[nofacemonster]

Quote:


I actually don't think one has to get too expensive to really transform the sound on the Sennheiser HD-600 / HD-650 headphones. On the newer Yamaha 2-channel gear, their headphone stage is quite good. It also has a variable loudness control to allow you to dial in a frequency preference. The sound is quite stellar, in my opinion. I have a few of these setups in my home and they never fail to impress me.

Are using a Yamaha receiver? Does it work for hd650 well?

 

[nofacemonster]

I came back to post what I have discovered with my HD-6XX during a year and a couple of months time. So far it has been an amazing audio journey and I am sure i wouldn't be needing any other audio equipment anytime sooner.

I am currently powering it with "FX Audio DAC-X6 + Little Dot MKII (Mullards and Russian power tubes. It sounds amazing with Little Dot MKII and it got even better with "Mullards" tube upgrade. I highly recommend upgrading those stock tubes to "Mullards" if you prefer the smoother warm bassy sound.
Before the LD MKII I had the FX Audio DAC-X6, it is a great budget solid-state amp for HD650. I still prefer the tube sound over the Solid-State so that's why I bought the LD MK2.

 

[geardoc]

HD650 + Little Dot II++ tube amp is heavenly. Best deal in the whole world of sound.