[donunus]

With the 555s, it will be more of a tonality change and a slight difference in tightness but with hd600s, the difference will not be subtle... as long as the amp is a desktop amp with lots of voltage swing, you'll be fine. I tried the FiiO E7 and compared the hd600s out of the headphone jack of the ipod and the only difference I got was a little more volume and thickness. Out of a Burson ha-160D or even the cheap fiio E9, the hd600 gains a lot of snap, punch, slam, and just comes alive when compared to the e7's amp or out of the ipod for example.

 

[Covenant]

 
Quote:

Out of a Burson ha-160D or even the cheap fiio E9, the hd600 gains a lot of snap, punch, slam, and just comes alive when compared to the e7's amp or out of the ipod for example.
 

 
I'll be getting a demo HA-160D soon to review. I'm looking forward to it

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

I still like the hd600s over the he6 and some stax models

 
Just priorities and preferences.  I do find that more technical ability than [what] the HD600 can offer adds to my enjoyment of the music more.  I preferred the HE-5LEs categorically.  
 
 

 

[Joakcbasse]

Hmm, well, we'll see how I feel about the HD600s as I get more and more used to them. 
 
My upgrade path was from Grado SR60 (which was just ok for me) --> Sony MDR-V6 (which i loved)--> HD600.
I won't say that I know for sure that I like analytical sound signatures.... but i think i do. I think I like analytical sounds, and I think I like neutral headphones. But I don't know exactly what I'm looking for yet, you know?
 
I'm just moving away from the Grado sound, which was disappointing to me. I thought the SR60s blended everything together a bit too much: a bit too musical, because I like listening to individual instruments and listening to how they're contributing to the whole.
 
 
Quote:

 
If analytical sound signatures and technical excellence are your things, the HD600 may not be the perfect headphone for you. They achieve good levels of detail retrieval, are reasonably fast and have a relatively expansive soundstage, but they do not excel in any of these areas. Their core qualities are musicality and tone, which enables them to be good all-rounders for any genre of music.
 
Burn-in and proper amplification improve their technical merits, but IMO the soul of the HD600 resides in its natural tone and balanced presentation. If you're looking for the last word in detail retrieval, airyness and seperation, you might want to check out the Sony SA5000 (or better yet, electrostats).
 
 

 

 

[BlackbeardBen]

 
Quote:

Got my HD600s last Friday. About 30 hours pink noise burn in time, and maybe 6 hours music burn in time so far.
 
It sounds good, but I haven't completely gotten to that "WOW" stage/eargasm stage yet. It sounds more refined than my previous Sony MDR-V6s and Grado SR60s overall, everything seems clearer. I really like the bass in these headphones: it's defined and detailed, AND has a great thump to it. It's also a lot more musical than I expected, while still being very analytical. (I prefer analytical sound signatures, but I certainly dig this balance)
 
However, though, the soundstage, instrument separation and the general "airyness" of the instruments aren't what I expected yet.... but hopefully, this will clear up with more burn-in. Oh, and I'm also running it from foobar-->uDac1--->HD600, so I'm probably not doing it complete justice, based on the mediocre source/amp.
 
I'll give it some time... further burn-in should help, right?

Without a doubt you need an amp with more voltage swing.  Don't worry about burn-in other than wear in of the pads; but get a more powerful amp.  The HD 600 aren't Watt-hungry; they're Volt-hungry, and you need something with more voltage swing than the uDAC to control the drivers properly.
 
I started out with a uDAC and HD 600s and it's an okay combination.  You shouldn't hear audible clipping, at least.  But you really need an amp with more voltage swing.  An E9 is a good start, or an E11 or CMoy for portable use.  I've owned the Schiit Asgard, which is good, and now use solely an iBasso PB1, which except for the scratchy pot is as good as the Asgard.  Both provided a big improvement in detail, subjectively speaking.

 

[Joakcbasse]

Yeah, I've actually been looking into the Schitt Asgard as an amp. 
 
Would Foobar-->uDAC (using it as a DAC) --> Schitt Asgard---> HD600 be a good setup, for that extra $280 or so more? .... I probably need to upgrade the uDAC as a source too, huh?

 
Quote:

 

Without a doubt you need an amp with more voltage swing.  Don't worry about burn-in other than wear in of the pads; but get a more powerful amp.  The HD 600 aren't Watt-hungry; they're Volt-hungry, and you need something with more voltage swing than the uDAC to control the drivers properly.
 
I started out with a uDAC and HD 600s and it's an okay combination.  You shouldn't hear audible clipping, at least.  But you really need an amp with more voltage swing.  An E9 is a good start, or an E11 or CMoy for portable use.  I've owned the Schiit Asgard, which is good, and now use solely an iBasso PB1, which except for the scratchy pot is as good as the Asgard.  Both provided a big improvement in detail, subjectively speaking.

 

 

[pigmode]

^ I've seen noticeable improvement from upgrading the HD600's upstream component chain. The HD600 was at one time Sennheiser's totl dynamic headphone, and it was not uncommon to see it paired with and amp in the $1000-2500 range. This scalability speaks very well for the HD600, as it operates at many different levels, and this of course also holds true for the HD650 and the HD580.
 
 
 
 
 
Amplification: Corda HA-2 > Yamamoto HA-02 > DNA Sonett > Anedio D1
 
Source: Oppo BDP83 Modwright tube mod > Audio-GD NFB-3 > Anedio D1

 

[Covenant]

See, I just don't buy the argument that the HD600's need top-notch amplification. Sure, they scale well with a good amp, but it's hardly a requirement.
 
I've recently sold my Burson HA-160, so I'm without an amp at home. Last night I did some listening from my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S) playing 320kbps mp3's, out to an iBasso T4 portable amp, and then to the HD600's. And IMO, it sounded excellent.
 
What always amazes me about the HD600 is their ability to maintain their musicality and natural tone out of more or less any equipment. The first time I heard them was in a retail store connected to a NAD integrated receiver and NAD cd player. I doubt that the receiver's headphone jacks were anything more than an afterthought thrown in there by the manufacturer. Yet the HD600 still sounded brilliant, and I bought them on the spot.
 
5 years later, I've heard them out of a vast array of amplifiers and sources, including a Headamp GS-1, a Woo WA6SE, a balanced AMB M3, and of course my Burson. In all cases they do improve, but the intrinsic traits of the headphone stays the same.

 

[donunus]

I agree there. The hd600s sound good out of mostly anything but they will show the sound of all those different amps.
 
As for the receiver, I feel that they actually are a great bang for the buck way of getting into hd600s. Even though the output is probably an afterthought they are after all mostly just being driven by the speaker amp with a resistor so the power on tap there is more than the average headphone amp. I actually feel those receiver headphone jacks sound great with higher impedance cans. 
 
Drive the hd600s with an ipod though or weak portable headphone amps and don't expect too much. Sure they will still sound good but you will definitely say coming from an amp with power... Wheres the slam, the punch?

 

[azncookiecutter]

Picked up my pair of HD600s from home yesterday, and definitely surprised me, especially listening to the HD650s before. Definitely sounds a lot brighter than the slightly congested HD650s I heard back at the Toronto meet in March (admittedly, this is coming from memory). The bass definitely has less punch than I expected, but I only have the portable rig on hand right now, as the full setup is back at school. Will be interesting to see how they step up from a mini^3 to a full-sized M^3. I definitely like, so far. I might add it has the Cardas blue smurf cable, not a really a big believer in aftermarket cables, but they came with them, so definitely no reason to complain.

 

[Jube]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif
As for the receiver, I feel that they actually are a great bang for the buck way of getting into hd600s. Even though the output is probably an afterthought they are after all mostly just being driven by the speaker amp with a resistor so the power on tap there is more than the average headphone amp. I actually feel those receiver headphone jacks sound great with higher impedance cans. 
 
Drive the hd600s with an ipod though or weak portable headphone amps and don't expect too much. Sure they will still sound good but you will definitely say coming from an amp with power... Wheres the slam, the punch?

Couldn't agree with you more. The clarity is still there and they'll still sound good, but their bass will be nonexistent. Adding a proper, powerful desktop amp will make you enjoy them much more. Definitely worth the investment IMO.
 
I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my amp later on but for now I'm pretty happy with the very affordable E7/E9 to my HD600. With this setup I have eargasms quite often.

 

 

[donunus]

Oh yah, I am using the same right now. The e9 is a very powerful amp and in fact has much more gain than the Burson HA-160D I currently have on loan from Burson Audio.

 

[Joakcbasse]

how big of an improvement is the Fiio E9 over me using the amp of my uDAC1?
 
i noticed that they dropped the price of the E9 on Amazon, so that + your comments....gotta say, its tempting now. Is it a significant improvement, or do you guys recommend I pocket the money and save up for something like a Schiit Asgard/Matrix M-Stage?
 
I would be running foobar-->uDAC(as a DAC) --> Fiio E9 ---> HD600

 

[donunus]

I don't know how the synergy will be between the e9 and the udac but the e7/e9 combo is definitely a big improvement over the udac.

 

[JudgeDreadLocks]

Does anyone have any experience with both the old and new 600s? Is there a significant difference in sound quality?