[palmfish]

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[size=large] Tube Amps[/size]

[size=medium] Traditionally tube amplifiers will give you a distorted to warm fat sound. They usually have much more punch than the other types of amplifiers. Tube amplifiers are also more expensive to maintain and can be somewhat problematic. Tubes are getting hard to find these days. Especially USA made tubes. The Ampeg SVT is an example of a powerhouse tube amplifier. Older Fender amps like the Bassman are tube amps.[/size]

[size=large] Solid State Amps[/size]

[size=medium] Solid state, meaning no tubes, amplifiers will give you a bright almost tinny sound and more of an artificial sounding bottom end. The solid state also gives you a very clean sound. These amplifiers are generally more reliable and are less expensive getting them back out of the repair shop. Solid state amps include Peavy and Galleon Kruger.[/size]

[size=large] Hybrid Amps[/size]

[size=medium] The typical hybrid amplifiers will have a tube pre-amp and a solid state power amplifier. This gives you the warm sound of the tube amplifiers and the clean crispiness of the solid state amplifiers. The hybrids can give you the more versatility than the other types of amplifiers.[/size]
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[size=medium] i copied the above from some sites...hope it explains simply those terms. [/size]
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[size=medium] nah cables are great fun...u will get to it sooner or later...its not yokohama...i play with hankook tyres.[/size]
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Any kind of amp can sound like anything. Warm and lush, neutral (wire with gain), or bright and tinny. An amp should, in theory, amplify the volume of the source without changing it in any way. Unfortunately, no amp is perfect, and many of them (even those promoted and loved in these forums) don't even come close.
 
Too many folks here waste hundreds (or thousands) of dollars first buying a pair of headphones and then "tuning" the sound with different amps, tubes, opamps, cables, power conditioners, pyramids, prayer beads, and silly hats.
 
The need to even have an amplifier is highly overstated on the forums. The HD 600 is rated at 97 dB at 1 mW. That means that with one one-thousandth of one watt, the HD 600 puts out 97 decibels of sound pressure. That's about as loud as a chain saw, pneumatic drill, or a jackhammer.

 

[FlySweep]

Too many folks here waste hundreds (or thousands) of dollars first buying a pair of headphones and then "tuning" the sound with different amps, tubes, opamps, cables, power conditioners, pyramids, prayer beads, and silly hats.

We're talking CRYO'D prayer beads, right?  Cause I've got graphs & a gypsy who swears the HD600 sound better with them.

 

[palmfish]

We're talking CRYO'D prayer beads, right?  Cause I've got graphs & a gypsy who swears the HD600 sound better with them.

Cryo'd prayer beads! Oohhh, tell me more!

 

[Lorspeaker]

if u are happy playing it off your ipad or laptop..then power to u.
this is a hobby, what sounds good to u is all there is to it

 

[palmfish]

I'm not saying I'm right or wrong, I'm just providing the opposing viewpoint and suggesting that Daniel not buy an amp right away. He should give them a listen without additional gear first and then decide. Some computers have good quality sound cards, and some don't. Likewise portable devices - the iPod and Sansa Clip both being examples that do have good built-in DAC's and amps.
 
On the other hand, I predict he'll try them out and like them, but then someone will tell him that they "scale well" and an amp will take them "to the next level." Then a DAC and silver cable to present a "blacker background" and add "air" around the instruments.

 
It's a script that replays every day on head-fi...

 

[N0sferatu]

I'm gonna make this simple for the new guy asking about this headphone.  First off, don't ask about the details anymore with sound because you're going to get 50 different responses as everyone's ears and preference are different.
 
Bottom line:  FACT: HD600 is a neutral headphone.  HD600 sound is very dac/amp dependednt.  OPINION: I find it's  awesome for most music (esp female vocals)
FACT: Denon lineup is a tad mid range recessed (Opinion: I don't really find it a big deal nor notice it much).  FACT: It has thunderous bass (opinion: that makes your music alive).
 
Pick one, take a gamble, try it out.  If you like it...keep it.  If you don't, return them.  It's a simple as that.  Only ultimate opinion that matters is what you're ears perceive.  
 
Lastly, I'll quote this guy as I agree with him 100% (except with HD600 bass...EQ it and I get 75% of my Denon 7000's bass).  
 
 
 

 
Daniel, if you want a green crayon, ask for help finding a green crayon. The HD 600 is orange. No matter how many times, in how many ways you ask, it will not change to green...  

 
Seriously, I owned the HD 600 and sold it because it wasn't as dynamic as I wanted. It is a neutral, smooth, soft on detail headphone that is neither bright on top nor authoritative down below. It's about as middle-of-the-road as you can get. It's lovely and people covet them, but it's not what you're looking for.
 
The Denon D2000 is what you want. No DAC. No amp. Plug it right into your iPod and you'll be in heaven.

EDIT:
Just for the hell of it I just took a recent track I've found to like and played it on the HD600 and swapped to the Denon's and this track just has your head jamming up and down while the HD600 just sit back in the chair and enjoy her voice.  It's "orange and green" so to speak.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qScjGvaix0

 

[daniel521]

Quote:

I'm gonna make this simple for the new guy asking about this headphone.  First off, don't ask about the details anymore with sound because you're going to get 50 different responses as everyone's ears and preference are different.
 
Bottom line:  FACT: HD600 is a neutral headphone.  HD600 sound is very dac/amp dependednt.  OPINION: I find it's  awesome for most music (esp female vocals)
FACT: Denon lineup is a tad mid range recessed (Opinion: I don't really find it a big deal nor notice it much).  FACT: It has thunderous bass (opinion: that makes your music alive).
 
Pick one, take a gamble, try it out.  If you like it...keep it.  If you don't, return them.  It's a simple as that.  Only ultimate opinion that matters is what you're ears perceive.  
 
Lastly, I'll quote this guy as I agree with him 100% (except with HD600 bass...EQ it and I get 75% of my Denon 7000's bass).  
 
 
 
EDIT:
Just for the hell of it I just took a recent track I've found to like and played it on the HD600 and swapped to the Denon's and this track just has your head jamming up and down while the HD600 just sit back in the chair and enjoy her voice.  It's "orange and green" so to speak.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qScjGvaix0

Thanks for the advice, I'll think about for a while

 

[Slaughter]

Jack of all trades, master of none is about as good of a description as you can get. You will have a hard time finding another head phone that can match this...at any price range. I listen to every genre and thinks it's ridiculous to change headphones every time a different genres pops up in my playlists. My HD580 handles some really well and other fairly well so it's the only headphone that has let me just sit down and enjoy my whole music collection.

 

[Lorspeaker]

part of the enjoyment in headfi is the hunt...the search.
its also about self discovery...of your taste...and gear synergy ...to your taste.
 
i find my handfone and my skullcandy a terrific match..for example..
or the T5p and my ipad..  its weird but its got to do with some specs that i totally dun understand n i ignore.
 
i love the denons....always have. 
i love the hd600...always have.
Both for all genres...i just like to hear the music in diff ways. 
i find the ultrasone 's surroundlogic sound another dimension to explore in future. i hav that in my pro900
 
so u are definitely on the right track..now to place your bets. hehe
And try to suppress the "I wish...I wonder" for the next few months thereafter.
Goodluck!!!
 
=============

 

[BenYC]

I just wanna drop a note here to say right after I listened to HD800, I went out and got a spare pair of HD600 just in case.

 

[flopper]

Asus essence stx, and a pair of hd600 and my sister almost didnt want to go home sitting down listening.
She by far just listen without any nuances normally that only really nutty erm sry audiofantast might hear,
 
but for me, 3 years down the road or so, for my use, perfectly awesome.

 

[helljudgement]

Always wanted to own this can and I finally did. Paired with asgard and Maverick D2 dac. Perfect with jazz and vocals. Very smooth sounding phone. Probably my best purchase period. Coming from portable to this the sound stage is unlike what I've heard in iem. Will post some impressions after I spend more time with it. I must say the asgard with hd600 is a match made in heaven.

 

[mikebauer]

I like my 600's very much. I'm barewiring them from two pots, the pots coming off my SACD 777es from Jena interconnects RCA's and those wires barewired to the pots' input. I'm listening to world classical music -- european string quartets and piano/harpsichord -- and orchestra, java court gamalan and classical music of india/pakistan.
 
With standard HD650 chord i'm hearing full orchestra hall atmosphere in Furtwangler's Beethoven symph. 9 recorded in Stockholm in, i think, 1942. This is on an Italian CD, and perhaps was originally an aluminium 78 disc radio transcription? The sonic information is there, it just needs a clear path. Direct wiring to the outputs improves many times over the stock interconnect plug -- especially the 1/4 inch or the mini-plug phone-jack sound, which is unacceptable as stock. perhaps the Cardas or another high-grade plug would change my mind.
 
I'm wanting to get the Jena Lab cable mod for the Sennheisers. It's 450$ and a lot of money for me, but I need to hear as much of what the composer intended as an invention of music as I can. Might another brand of cable also work as well, for a pure bright and complete headphone sound? The Jena interconnects I bought from Echo Audio for 300$ a few years back, and they're just the best of any I've ever lived with. I like their cable.
 
The pots are primitive, yes? they're not even Alps, just 10$ each Canadian pots, but they're short path and sweet enough and with two I can adjust for my hearing.
 
this is all towards getting a good sound out of the 600's -- I have them now and live with them -- in semi-committed intention to getting an HD 800. Again, i'm poor, but I'd do that -- spend that much money on cans and interconnects if i really have to. I'll see how a new cable might work for the 600's first.

 

[palmfish]

Quote:

I like my 600's very much. I'm barewiring them from two pots, the pots coming off my SACD 777es from Jena interconnects RCA's and those wires barewired to the pots' input. I'm listening to world classical music -- european string quartets and piano/harpsichord -- and orchestra, java court gamalan and classical music of india/pakistan.
 
With standard HD650 chord i'm hearing full orchestra hall atmosphere in Furtwangler's Beethoven symph. 9 recorded in Stockholm in, i think, 1942. This is on an Italian CD, and perhaps was originally an aluminium 78 disc radio transcription? The sonic information is there, it just needs a clear path. Direct wiring to the outputs improves many times over the stock interconnect plug -- especially the 1/4 inch or the mini-plug phone-jack sound, which is unacceptable as stock. perhaps the Cardas or another high-grade plug would change my mind.
 
I'm wanting to get the Jena Lab cable mod for the Sennheisers. It's 450$ and a lot of money for me, but I need to hear as much of what the composer intended as an invention of music as I can. Might another brand of cable also work as well, for a pure bright and complete headphone sound? The Jena interconnects I bought from Echo Audio for 300$ a few years back, and they're just the best of any I've ever lived with. I like their cable.
 
The pots are primitive, yes? they're not even Alps, just 10$ each Canadian pots, but they're short path and sweet enough and with two I can adjust for my hearing.
 
this is all towards getting a good sound out of the 600's -- I have them now and live with them -- in semi-committed intention to getting an HD 800. Again, i'm poor, but I'd do that -- spend that much money on cans and interconnects if i really have to. I'll see how a new cable might work for the 600's first.

 


Holy cow, I can't even imagine the miles of cable, the dozens of plugs, the hundreds of capacitors, resistors, transistors, vacuum tubes, and potentiometers that are already standing between you and the composer. And then more recently, the Opamps, DACs, ADCs, and buffers and filters the analog master (probably not the original master) traveled through on the way to your CD.

I think it's great that you want to extract every last bit of fidelity, but I don't think one more plug and 9 feet of wire are going to make any difference.

 

[thecansmancan]

 
 
...'nuff said