recommend Headphones!
Nov 22, 2022 at 11:59 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12
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Old Bob

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good morning!
I would like some suggestions for headphones. I am still in the learning phase.

I have an Oppo CD player, with headphone output. I looked up the headphone amp. It makes 17mW into 600 ohms.
63 into 150. 77 into 120 ohm. 120 into 60 Ohm. 187 into 32 Ohms.

system is CD, Schiit Yggdrasil DAC, class A tube amp, Harbeth 30.2 speakers. GREAT sound stage and imaging.

I want comfortable, wired, open back headphones with GREAT sound and imaging. I do NOT listen at deafening levels, want to preserve my hearing. Love to hear the Berlin Philharmonic with great detail and sound image.

dumb questions:

1. can I get really decent headphones under $500 or so? that could be driven by my Oppo.

2. should I get a headphone amp for BETTER sound? Not to blast my ears out with volume. I love my Schiit DAC and would buy a headphone amp from them.

I would love any and all ideas! I want to learn!

best,

Bob and THANKS!
 
Nov 22, 2022 at 12:08 PM Post #2 of 12
Hi Bob, yes, you can find great headphones under $500--an open box Hifiman XS is $430. These are open back planars.
 
Nov 29, 2022 at 8:27 PM Post #3 of 12
Old Bob said:
good morning!
I would like some suggestions for headphones. I am still in the learning phase.

I have an Oppo CD player, with headphone output. I looked up the headphone amp. It makes 17mW into 600 ohms.
63 into 150. 77 into 120 ohm. 120 into 60 Ohm. 187 into 32 Ohms.

system is CD, Schiit Yggdrasil DAC, class A tube amp, Harbeth 30.2 speakers. GREAT sound stage and imaging.

I want comfortable, wired, open back headphones with GREAT sound and imaging. I do NOT listen at deafening levels, want to preserve my hearing. Love to hear the Berlin Philharmonic with great detail and sound image.

dumb questions:

1. can I get really decent headphones under $500 or so? that could be driven by my Oppo.

2. should I get a headphone amp for BETTER sound? Not to blast my ears out with volume. I love my Schiit DAC and would buy a headphone amp from them.

I would love any and all ideas! I want to learn!

best,

Bob and THANKS
Click to expand...

Whoa, what tube amp? You could drive your headphones with them with an adaptor. If you are running speakers you must have the juice. Your CD amp is very puny, can't imagine it's any match for your speaker amp.
 
Nov 30, 2022 at 10:11 AM Post #4 of 12
correct Bagwell! I have a Triode corporation tube integrated amp. 50 watts class A LOTS of power for my Harbeth speakers. no headphone outlet. I did just receive Sennheiser HD 650 headphones. my Opportunity is driving them pretty OK I THINK.

a Schiit Vali headphone amp will arrive tomorrow. So far, being a headphone beginner I would say the HD 650 is a great value for the money.

more later. bob
 
Nov 30, 2022 at 10:35 AM Post #5 of 12
Old Bob said:
correct Bagwell! I have a Triode corporation tube integrated amp. 50 watts class A LOTS of power for my Harbeth speakers. no headphone outlet. I did just receive Sennheiser HD 650 headphones. my Opportunity is driving them pretty OK I THINK.

a Schiit Vali headphone amp will arrive tomorrow. So far, being a headphone beginner I would say the HD 650 is a great value for the money.

more later. bob
Click to expand...
Your HD650 combined with the Vali and the rest of your equipment should be a really good sounding combo. If you really want to take your HD650 to the next level though I highly suggest either a Schiit Valhalla or Bottlehead Crack. The HD650 combined with a Valhalla or Crack combined with your Oppo and Yiggy could very well be end game for many.

I've got to agree with @bagwell359 though in that the headphone output of your Oppo is not going to properly drive the 650. You may get decent volume out of it but it will not have the bass, slam, dynamics, soundstage, etc. that you will get when using a stand alone headphone amp.
 
Nov 30, 2022 at 11:18 AM Post #6 of 12
THANKS Dawgfish! I love my Schiit Yggdrasil DAC, and I trust their products. Valhalla is definitely in my price range. running the Oppo to DAC to Valhalla to phones should be really good. I do not want to spend $6,000 on headphones.

thanks everyone!

bob
 
Nov 30, 2022 at 11:45 AM Post #7 of 12
Old Bob said:
THANKS Dawgfish! I love my Schiit Yggdrasil DAC, and I trust their products. Valhalla is definitely in my price range. running the Oppo to DAC to Valhalla to phones should be really good. I do not want to spend $6,000 on headphones.

thanks everyone!

bob
Click to expand...
No problem at all. I'm a fan of Schiit myself as I own a Valhalla, Lyr 2, Bifrost 2, and Uber 2.

I can tell you from experience that the Valhalla has special synergy with the HD650/6XX. I prefer the Bottlehead Crack both with Speedball and without with the HD600, high impedance Beyers, HD800, and ZMFs but I prefer the Valhalla with the HD650/HD6XX. It's a really great sounding combo and combined with your Oppo and Yiggy may be all that you ever need regarding a headphone setup.
 
Nov 30, 2022 at 1:41 PM Post #8 of 12
Old Bob said:
correct Bagwell! I have a Triode corporation tube integrated amp. 50 watts class A LOTS of power for my Harbeth speakers. no headphone outlet. I did just receive Sennheiser HD 650 headphones. my Opportunity is driving them pretty OK I THINK.

a Schiit Vali headphone amp will arrive tomorrow. So far, being a headphone beginner I would say the HD 650 is a great value for the money.

more later. bob
Click to expand...
It's my opinion that the Senn 600/650/800 were all mostly or somewhat designed using tube amps. I have had my 600 on 3 of the best desktop SS high current headphone amps available (Bryston BHA-1, Violectric v-281, Ragnarok 1) over the past few years, and none of them can bring life (yes somewhat via harmonic distortion and increased bass) from the Bottlehead Crack OTL amp kit amp which puts out less power into 600 ohms than those SS units.

Please see the HiFiMan adaptor and others for using your am.p, I'm quite sure the 650's will sound much better if you try it.
 
Dec 4, 2022 at 4:12 AM Post #10 of 12
Dec 4, 2022 at 4:41 AM Post #12 of 12
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