[mobbaddict]

600 sounds good with BH Crack, but it's probably not accurate of an amp feed (notice I don't mean accurate in terms of how it sounds) in terms of THD, yada yada. A accurate solid-sate actually may sound worse.

There's something about OTL that does to the sound to make it seem less prickly, a little bit softer feel when the dynamics are hitting. The vocals seeming fuller. Perhaps this is the added harmonics, since it's tubes right?

Something I never understood is how the Sennheiser 300 ohm bass is interacted with OTL output. Is Crack capacitor coupled? I know Zana Deux Super is capacitor coupled output, and it sounds like a super BH Crack with similar characteristics with Sennheisers. The difference is, ZDS is 10 ohms on high gain, and 3 ohms on low gain. BH Crack is usually 120 ohms? But, I experienced significant amount of bass out of OTL (not matter if it's 10 ohms or 120 ohms), and I wouldn't call it loose or wooly bass either.

Tubes will help with perception of sound stage, and I suspect it has to do with harmonics to the sounds to create a certain decay characteristics to create a perception of an environment in the sound.

Would you say that tubes help making the HD600 sound more liquid, and maybe closer overall to the sound of a good planar for instance? (I think that's the greatest quality of planars)
I have a Fiio k5 pro on its way but your comments give me second thoughts.

 

[SilverEars]

Would you say that tubes help making the HD600 sound more liquid, and maybe closer overall to the sound of a good planar for instance? (I think that's the greatest quality of planars)
I have a Fiio k5 pro on its way but your comments give me second thoughts.

If you are looking for a planar sound, just go with a planar. Don't expect an amp to change a dynamic driver sound to a planar. Will never happen. It's possible an amp can better drive a Sennheiser 300 ohm, but it still won't sound like a planar driven from the same amp. It doesn't mean a planar is necessary better than a dynamic driver of course.

I just think 300 ohm Sennheisers respond well to tube amps like BHC. That is all.

 

[mobbaddict]

If you are looking for a planar sound, just go with a planar. Don't expect an amp to change a dynamic driver sound to a planar. Will never happen. It's possible an amp can better drive a Sennheiser 300 ohm, but it still won't sound like a planar driven from the same amp.

I just think 300 ohm Sennheisers respond well to tube amps like BHC. That is all.

That makes sense. I have a planar but i really like the timbre qualities of the HD600 and look forward to bringing it a bit of that effortlessness that I love about planars and electrostats (which also have their own shortcomings IMO, otherwise I wouldn't bother with the HD600). I don't know if tubes improve that or if it's basically any suited amp. Maybe I should just go and audition a few amps.

 

[ToTo Man]

Bottlehead Crack + Speedball is often recommended for HD600. I used to use my HD600 with Schiit Valhalla OTL (first gen) and loved it, it gave the HD600 a rich, full, enveloping sound. I sold Valhalla to fund upgrade to Mjolnir 2 so I could make use of my DAC's balanced outputs and also drive the HD600 and my other headphones balanced. HD600 + Mjolnir 2 is also a very good pairing but I don't think it has the 'magic' of the Valhalla. Maybe it does, the mind can play tricks when relying on memory so difficult to say for sure...

I regret selling my Valhalla and thought about buying a Valhalla v2, but apparently the v2 has 14 ohms output impedance compared to the 20 ohms output impedance of the v1 so I don't know if it will sound the same with the HD600?

Bottlehead Crack + Speedball is another option I'm considering. It would be good to hear from HD600 owners who've compared the Bottlehead against Schiit's tube amps to get an idea of the differences in tonality, dynamics, resolution and soundstage?

 

[iFi audio]

It doesn't mean a planar is necessary better than a dynamic driver of course.

It's different. Both can make love to our ears. But it's so cool that we actually have all these options today.

 

[bagwell359]

600 sounds good with BH Crack, but it's probably not accurate of an amp feed (notice I don't mean accurate in terms of how it sounds) in terms of THD, yada yada. A accurate solid-sate actually may sound worse.

There's something about OTL that does to the sound to make it seem less prickly, a little bit softer feel when the dynamics are hitting. The vocals seeming fuller. Perhaps this is the added harmonics, since it's tubes right?

Something I never understood is how the Sennheiser 300 ohm bass is interacted with OTL output. Is Crack capacitor coupled? I know Zana Deux Super is capacitor coupled output, and it sounds like a super BH Crack with similar characteristics with Sennheisers. The difference is, ZDS is 10 ohms on high gain, and 3 ohms on low gain. BH Crack is usually 120 ohms? But, I experienced significant amount of bass out of OTL (not matter if it's 10 ohms or 120 ohms), and I wouldn't call it loose or wooly bass either.

Tubes will help with perception of sound stage, and I suspect it has to do with harmonics to the sounds to create a certain decay characteristics to create a perception of an environment in the sound.

Yes, tubes tend not to have a lot of odd order harmonics, but more even order, plus the THD creating an illusion of warmth and fluidity. My Rag 1 has lots of juice at 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 ohms, but it sure doesn't give that 30-50Hz area a workout like the BH Crack.

If recordings of music were perfect than tube artifacts would always seem like distortion, cloudy, slow.

These days the people I meet under 50, even moreso under 30, really are conditioned by solid state and recordings of music, mostly of the artificial type. It's a different world from mine re: audio.

 

[bagwell359]

Bottlehead Crack + Speedball is often recommended for HD600. I used to use my HD600 with Schiit Valhalla OTL (first gen) and loved it, it gave the HD600 a rich, full, enveloping sound. I sold Valhalla to fund upgrade to Mjolnir 2 so I could make use of my DAC's balanced outputs and also drive the HD600 and my other headphones balanced. HD600 + Mjolnir 2 is also a very good pairing but I don't think it has the 'magic' of the Valhalla. Maybe it does, the mind can play tricks when relying on memory so difficult to say for sure...

I regret selling my Valhalla and thought about buying a Valhalla v2, but apparently the v2 has 14 ohms output impedance compared to the 20 ohms output impedance of the v1 so I don't know if it will sound the same with the HD600?

Bottlehead Crack + Speedball is another option I'm considering. It would be good to hear from HD600 owners who've compared the Bottlehead against Schiit's tube amps to get an idea of the differences in tonality, dynamics, resolution and soundstage?

Good question. I can't answer, but the Schiit hybrid stuff seems to me to be primarily SS, w/ tubes to soften/romanticize and add the tube rolling. Like to test out my ideas with a Mjolnir 2.

 

[xeizo]

Yes, tubes tend not to have a lot of odd order harmonics, but more even order, plus the THD creating an illusion of warmth and fluidity. My Rag 1 has lots of juice at 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 ohms, but it sure doesn't give that 30-50Hz area a workout like the BH Crack.

If recordings of music were perfect than tube artifacts would always seem like distortion, cloudy, slow.

These days the people I meet under 50, even moreso under 30, really are conditioned by solid state and recordings of music, mostly of the artificial type. It's a different world from mine re: audio.

When you're at it, there is good sounding music recorded today, and by young artists. But if I listen to the latest "Hits" on Tidal Master it's a sad bunch sound wise, almost everything new and "popular" sounds terrible. No dynamics, lots of digital distorsion, no soundscape, in the best case it's at least some overblown bass to rock to. One has to dig a little to find great sounding tunes, of which there are plenty, but not among what's most popular. It's slightly depressing.

 

[FritzS]

Please look at my question:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sen...r-for-the-hd650.862308/page-356#post-15414001

 

[bagwell359]

If you are looking for a planar sound, just go with a planar. Don't expect an amp to change a dynamic driver sound to a planar. Will never happen. It's possible an amp can better drive a Sennheiser 300 ohm, but it still won't sound like a planar driven from the same amp. It doesn't mean a planar is necessary better than a dynamic driver of course.

I just think 300 ohm Sennheisers respond well to tube amps like BHC. That is all.

I've got a collection of planars, and the 600. At home w/ my Rag 1, my listening % goes:

HE-500 40%
HEX v2 25%
HE6SE 25%
HD-600 10%

But when the BHC is in house, its basically flipped on its ear. I've owned more ribbon, planar, and estat speakers than anyone here almost for sure, but I don't care about the technology near as much as the sound. One can buy a used BH Crack and 600 for what? $550. If you love music and hate fussing with equipment, just buy them and forget about upgraditis. Take it from me, only major bass heads could question the bass in this combo.

The amount of fans and seriousness of conversation on these really needs to be noted.

 

[SilverEars]

I've got a collection of planars, and the 600. At home w/ my Rag 1, my listening % goes:

HE-500 40%
HEX v2 25%
HE6SE 25%
HD-600 10%

But when the BHC is in house, its basically flipped on its ear. I've owned more ribbon, planar, and estat speakers than anyone here almost for sure, but I don't care about the technology near as much as the sound. One can buy a used BH Crack and 600 for what? $550. If you love music and hate fussing with equipment, just buy them and forget about upgraditis. Take it from me, only major bass heads could question the bass in this combo.

The amount of fans and seriousness of conversation on these really needs to be noted.

I heard the HDV820 and didn't care for it. BH Crack should be the Sennheiser amp IMO.

You would expect 120 ohm OI and tubes would sound sluggish and loose bass. Nope, it's went way beyond my expectations. It's one of those amps people have to experience if has a 650 or 600. It will change your perception of tube amps.

 

[boodi]

I might get it to see what all the fuss is about
it's been a time i do not upgrade ( amp i.e. )

 

[ToTo Man]

Is buying a used BHC a safe proposition for an electronics novice given that they are a DIY-build? On one hand you save yourself the hassle of building it yourself but on the other hand you're trusting that the seller followed the build instructions safely/correctly. Can these amps be bought new already assembled or are they only available in kit form?

 

[Midgetguy]

When you're at it, there is good sounding music recorded today, and by young artists. But if I listen to the latest "Hits" on Tidal Master it's a sad bunch sound wise, almost everything new and "popular" sounds terrible. No dynamics, lots of digital distorsion, no soundscape, in the best case it's at least some overblown bass to rock to. One has to dig a little to find great sounding tunes, of which there are plenty, but not among what's most popular. It's slightly depressing.

I don't think I've had an album from an artist that would have a song in the top hits list since 2013. I have Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience and OneRepublic's Native albums from that year. Aside from that, I do have somewhat more recent albums from non-"top 100 hits"-type artists: See Without Eyes by The Glitch Mob in 2018 and FKJ by FKJ in 2017 (though I didn't find the album until just last year).

 

[xeizo]

I don't think I've had an album from an artist that would have a song in the top hits list since 2013. I have Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience and OneRepublic's Native albums from that year. Aside from that, I do have somewhat more recent albums from non-"top 100 hits"-type artists: See Without Eyes by The Glitch Mob in 2018 and FKJ by FKJ in 2017 (though I didn't find the album until just last year).

Same here, I listen mostly to progressive metal, just wanted to check what's popular and went through a couple of Tidal Masters lists. As said, not much of what's called "Pop" sounds good. The country list had surprisingly many entries that sounded great.

If listening for the music, I usually use Spotify or Youtube as they are both great at directing me towards unknown stuff that I will like. Tidal is quite hard to find anythings fruitful, unless I already know the name of the artist / album. Some of the Masters I do know, sounds really great on Tidal and I think it has a small edge on Spotify for SQ.