[pressureworld]

Hello to all. I'm the newest member of the HD600 family and I'm truly blown away by the smoothness of these headphones. This has to be some of the best money I have ever spent. I was really surprised at how good they sounded with my Emotiva XDA-2. I'm thinking about picking up a Stealth DC-1, but I honestly can't imagine a better sound.

 

[StanD]

  Hello to all. I'm the newest member of the HD600 family and I'm truly blown away by the smoothness of these headphones. This has to be some of the best money I have ever spent. I was really surprised at how good they sounded with my Emotiva XDA-2. I'm thinking about picking up a Stealth DC-1, but I honestly can't imagine a better sound.

The XDA-2 is probably a bit short on power, however, DC-1 has more plenty more power. Go check the specs, Emotiva is not shy about giving them out.

 

[pressureworld]

Thanks for the reply Stan. I going to go ahead and pull the trigger on the DC-1. I imagine the sound can only improve.

 

[StanD]

  Thanks for the reply Stan. I going to go ahead and pull the trigger on the DC-1. I imagine the sound can only improve.

I'm not a big fan of excess power that is not used, but in this case I think the XDA-2 is better used with low impedance reasonably senstive cans and IEMs, not high impedance cans.
I just did some quick calculations and I will say that the XDA-2 can hit around 109 dB SPL with the HD600's which isn't all that bad, I prefer a little more headroom. If you listen at lower volumes or highly volume compressed music it might work for you.

 

[hbuus]

Stan (& others too):
 
I'm using a cheap Behringer HA4700 headphone amp with the HD600 - here's the manual for it:
http://www.behringer.com/assets/HA4700_HA8000_P0184_M_EN.pdf
 
Could I get a much improved sound quality by replacing the Behringer with for example a Schiit Audio Vali (for tube sound) or a Magni 2?
 
http://www.electromod.co.uk/schiit-audio/headphone-amplifier/magni-2/
http://www.electromod.co.uk/schiit-audio/headphone-amplifier/vali/
 
Thanks

 

[StanD]

  Stan (& others too):
 
I'm using a cheap Behringer HA4700 headphone amp with the HD600 - here's the manual for it:
http://www.behringer.com/assets/HA4700_HA8000_P0184_M_EN.pdf
 
Could I get a much improved sound quality by replacing the Behringer with for example a Schiit Audio Vali (for tube sound) or a Magni 2?
 
http://www.electromod.co.uk/schiit-audio/headphone-amplifier/magni-2/
http://www.electromod.co.uk/schiit-audio/headphone-amplifier/vali/
 
Thanks

They make things drop more difficult to calculate as they spec it at 24 dBm at 100 Ohms. This should give us about 251 mW at 100 Ohms at 5.01 VRMS. Assuming that this is the Max voltage, I use it to calculate power at 300 Ohms which should be almost 83.7 mW which should take the HD600's to about 116 dBSPL. That's probably OK for most people. What kind of music do you listen to?

 

[hbuus]

  They make things drop more difficult to calculate as they spec it at 24 dBm at 100 Ohms. This should give us about 251 mW at 100 Ohms at 5.01 VRMS. Assuming that this is the Max voltage, I use it to calculate power at 300 Ohms which should be almost 83.7 mW which should take the HD600's to about 116 dBSPL. That's probably OK for most people. What kind of music do you listen to?

Thanks, I appreciate your help. It sounds good if it's ok. I listen to classical music.

 

[StanD]

 
Thanks, I appreciate your help. It sounds good if it's ok. I listen to classical music.

If you listen to classical music, and if you might turn up the volume, then dynamic range/headroom is more of a concern. Volume compression is usually used more on popular electric music. You might consider getting an amp with enough power to drive your headphones to 115 dbSPL or possibly a little more. First listen to your Behringer to loud paggages of dynamic music and check for distrtion or clipping on peaks. You can also try some loud piano music because the attack of piano notes can be challenging. If the Behringer is clean, you're good to go.

 

[Headphone4Life]

Well I got my Z7 today and I have to say I really like them upon first listen. They sound exactly like I thought they would with a warm thick signature and a nice full soundstage. How some people in reviews I've read say the mids are thin I will never understand because they sound full a quite smooth with very nice vocals. Love the bass and it sounds tighter than I thought from what others have said but its still a bit loose, though not bad at all. As for the highs I love them because I'm not a big fan of bright highs like on my DT-990 and the z7's highs have a good amount of detail just not the sparkle like some other highend hp's.

All in all I'm very happy with the purchase even more so since they were quite a bit cheaper than the msrp. I'll post more thoughts on the in a few days but so far so very good.

Oh and build quality is nice with very comfortable ear pads though after an hour or two they can get warm but a quick 5mins with the off I'm good to go.

 

[Midgetguy]

Well I got my Z7 today and I have to say I really like them upon first listen. They sound exactly like I thought they would with a warm thick signature and a nice full soundstage. How some people in reviews I've read say the mids are thin I will never understand because they sound full a quite smooth with very nice vocals. Love the bass and it sounds tighter than I thought from what others have said but its still a bit loose, though not bad at all. As for the highs I love them because I'm not a big fan of bright highs like on my DT-990 and the z7's highs have a good amount of detail just not the sparkle like some other highend hp's.

All in all I'm very happy with the purchase even more so since they were quite a bit cheaper than the msrp. I'll post more thoughts on the in a few days but so far so very good.

Oh and build quality is nice with very comfortable ear pads though after an hour or two they can get warm but a quick 5mins with the off I'm good to go.

How do they compare to the HD600? After all this is the HD600 thread.

 

[DavidA]

Well I got my Z7 today and I have to say I really like them upon first listen. They sound exactly like I thought they would with a warm thick signature and a nice full soundstage. How some people in reviews I've read say the mids are thin I will never understand because they sound full a quite smooth with very nice vocals. Love the bass and it sounds tighter than I thought from what others have said but its still a bit loose, though not bad at all. As for the highs I love them because I'm not a big fan of bright highs like on my DT-990 and the z7's highs have a good amount of detail just not the sparkle like some other highend hp's.

All in all I'm very happy with the purchase even more so since they were quite a bit cheaper than the msrp. I'll post more thoughts on the in a few days but so far so very good.

Oh and build quality is nice with very comfortable ear pads though after an hour or two they can get warm but a quick 5mins with the off I'm good to go.

Curious to know what source/dac/amp you are using with your HD-600, Z7 and DT-990?

 

[Music Path]

  The snapping thing was ment for the HD600 as this is a thread for that. Would prob work with any open headphone but like I said just a guideline thing I had read about. It works for me.

 

 
Directed at the HD600, then yeah, I'd probably agree with you. I'd say it's a good enough measure of whether or not you're listening to music too loudly with the HD600s.

I think its a great trick for open hps. It works for me too. Snapping fingers is around 70db-80db, so if you can hear it, you are probably listening with less spl, which is ok. 

 

[rockyzz]

So... my first higher-end headphones... couldn't have chosen better. 

 

[wink]

The HD600's are special.
 
I still use mine on my computer.

 

[pressureworld]

I totally agree, the HD600's are so nice I'm having a difficult time trying to find another nice headphone to compliment them.