[SlyPersuader]

I'm new to this stuff, so I've got a basic question. When people talk about powering the Senn HD 600, they make it sound like you need a headphone amp. Is it not enough to run it through your Sony receiver?

 

[Digital-Monk]

Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet.

Sound quality isn't generally as good as a dedicated amp. But depending on your receiver it may not be too bad. What receiver do you have? You might not be able to tell the difference right away, depending on how trained your ears are, but an amp would definately be in the upgrade path.

 

[Canman]

The Sony headphone jack is designed as an afterthought to power low impedance headphones (like most sony's) through cheap op-amps. There may be plenty of current to drive the Sennheisers with your Sony, but you will hear an incredible difference in sound quality--notably in openness, tightness, and detail with a good headphone amp.

The HD-600 cans are pretty accurate so they will give a good representation of whatever you feed them. For this reason, you can tell a good deal of difference when you upgrade your equipment and listen through the HD-600's.

I use a Gilmore V2 amp or a Headroom Total Airhead with good result, but remember the source is just as important as the amp. Best of luck.

 

[dsu]

SlyPursuader,

I have been listening to the HD 600's for almost five years now. Until last January, I did not have a dedicated headphone amp. I used my 600's with a couple of different integrated amplifiers. One of them is a high quality Dennon.

For the most part, I thought I was getting pretty good sound. Indeed, the 600's were far better than my previous headphones. After reading these forums for almost a year (although I only registered a couple of months ago), I finally purchased a Maxed Out Home Reference headphone amp.

I am always skeptical when I read claims about Hi-Fi equipment. In the case of mating the 600's with a quality amp, I am now a true believer. I wish now that I had bought the amp years ago. I went from good sound to great. The sound depth and detail that I now enjoy, for me, totally justifies the expense.

As others point out all the time, reading these forums can be expensive. Good luck.

dsu

 

[Geek]

When people talk about "powering" a headphone, they are referring to what kind of amplification is being used for it.

HD-600s are power-hungry. This means they need a very high-quality amplifier which delivers not necessarily raw watts of power but rather high quality signal at any volume level.

The differences you will notice between a very minimalistic setup with the HD-600s and a high-end setup are significant. While the HD-600 sounds fine with a receiver or a low-end amp, the following happen with an amp:

(Note that I am primarily comparing the airhead / cheap source combo to headroom's blockhead / meridian combo for maximum contrast).

1. Bass will go much much lower because higher-end amps match the high impedence of HD-600s. It will be extremely tight and literally shake your head like you have never experienced before. All this with absolutely no equalization.

2. The second noticeable difference will be the highs. They sound "etched," "grainy," and slightly "tizzy" with a cheap amp. The words to describe treble on the 600s with a good amp are "smooth," "blended," and "airy." I find this to be a quite obvious switch.

3. Musicality will be the third difference. The midrange shall become unbelievably detailed and unfatiguing. Guitar sounds richer and more intimate. The bottom end of midrange is just perfect with the right amp and a HD-600. Compared to the cheaper airhead setup, it's almost as if the upper mids aren't there sometimes; "veiled" as some members say. It's unveiled with a good setup.

4. Transients. With low-imp low-cost setups the HD600s produce a sloppy transient decay. In other words, when a guitar is plucked, the initial attack is blurred and sounds confused and disappears quickly with little or no decay. On the blockhead amp, it's eerily like a real guitarist is carefully plucking the strings: transients are "fast" and "tight." As the note decays, you can hear the last bit of it.

5. Dynamics. The airhead produces good dynamics but it just gets better with a top echelon amp.

6. Detail. I left this one for last because I feel the HD-600s have the potential to be incredibly detailed, but many people find this detail covered up by its warmness. A low-cost setup simply lacks detail versus a really good one. The 600s open way up and calmly lay out what is happening in a coherent fashion in front of the listener. The breathing of the musicians; the sound of a violinist's instrument stressing under staccato, all of it is more apparent.

7. Soundstage and/or room size. It's almost scary being able to tell the relative dimensions of the room in which the recording was made. That's what happens on a top notch amp. A cheaper amp or no amp at all produces very little of this.

So, to sum it up, you can get a fairly decent, respectable sound with no amp but a good receiver. However, with the best amplification available, the HD600s are WAY better.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[13DoW]

I drive my HD-600s straight from the balanced output of a Wadia CD player. I have the output level set to 2Vrms max. and with the volume turned up as high as I would ever want to listen there is still plenty of control range left. I could reduce the setting to 1Vrms max. I think the output impedance is 30Ohms.

This may not be helpful for you and I don't have experience of using HD-600s with different headphone amps. But, it does go to show that a headphone amp doesn't really have to work very hard (1 - 2V). Another perspective is to consider buying a good source with volume control rather than add a headphone amp amplifier, eg. the balanced headroom amp. costs more than my Wadia player!

Regards
13DoW