Searching for a good $200 amp for the HIFIMan HE-500
Apr 28, 2012 at 12:07 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 43
ChevymanZL1

ChevymanZL1

New Head-Fier
Joined
Apr 27, 2012
Posts
16
Likes
10
Hello everybody this is my first thread on head-fi and i have been trying to figure out which one of these headphones to get. I already own a pair of ATH AD700 and ATH M50s/LE's. But now i just wanna upgrade to a better higher end pair. And yes i realize that this subject is thrown around a lot. But if anyone could help me with my decision it would be very helpful and appreciated. 
 
May 24, 2012 at 6:29 PM Post #2 of 43
well no one seemed to want to give me advice so i nixed all three and got the HIFIMan HE 500 and that seemed to be the right choice
beyersmile.png

 
May 24, 2012 at 7:32 PM Post #4 of 43
Had at some point all of them and all thats left is the 650 and I need something better.
Thinking about new Sennheiser HD 700 or Audeze!
 
May 27, 2012 at 2:31 PM Post #6 of 43
Now because thats out of the way I'm now looking for an amp for the HE-500. And that being a college student my budget is roughly $300 I have been looking at the schiit asgard but i wanted to see if anybody in the head-fi community could give me some insight on anything else.  
 
Jun 16, 2012 at 10:24 AM Post #8 of 43
Quote:
chevymanzl1 said:
Now because thats out of the way I'm now looking for an amp for the HE-500. And that being a college student my budget is roughly $300 I have been looking at the schiit asgard but i wanted to see if anybody in the head-fi community could give me some insight on anything else.  
Click to expand...

 
After playing around with the smaller (e.g. desktop sized) boutique headphone amps, I now use new Yamaha 2-channel / stereo integrated amplifiers or receivers to drive my HifiMANs.  I have speaker taps installed on the back speaker outputs, which extend around to the front with a 4-pin XLR connector.  That is where my HE-500s plug into.  I'm feeding it a signal from a Squeezebox Touch and the sound is pure heaven.  One of my latest Yamaha purchases, was the RX-797, that I bought off of Craigslist for $110 --- just like brand new with the original box, packaging, etc.  My HifiMAN headphones have never sounded better.
 
I see on your profile you're using an iPod and feeding it through a FiiO amplifier.  With such a combination,  you haven't even begun to get into half the performance that your HE-500s can offer.  I'm not about throwing around big cash into amplifiers and then playing the trading game until I find one that sounds right.  The best move I made was to divert back over to full-sized audio gear so the headphones can get a great sound source and power pushed over to them.
 
I think in many cases, people can just have weak source or the wrong amplification.  Yet, they'll think it's their headphones that are the culprit.  So, they'll set about a mission to find the right headphones by selling and buying ... and, losing money to go on their year-long journey.  They might find what they desired, or they might just go full circle and make it right back to where they started from -- but, with much less money in their pockets due to the changing and swapping of gear.
 
Jun 16, 2012 at 5:51 PM Post #11 of 43
Thanks wje for your input, I am planning on upgrading both my amp and source to get more out of the HE-500. The Fiio drives it ok for right now until i can obtain the money i want to upgrade everything. i have heard the 500's out of my buddies sound system and that was able to throw enough power to them that they were an entirely different headphone. So i was thinking about changing my source to the HM-601 for flac files, and such and my amp to i guess something from schiit or the ef5.  
 
Jun 16, 2012 at 6:29 PM Post #13 of 43
From the InnerFidelity measurements, the O2 should be able to hit over 110dB with the O2 amp. Just go O2 and then use DSP and equalization to tune it to flavor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top