Can anyone give me a good tube amp recommendation. I am really leaning towards the Woo Audio WA3 or WA6 but have looked at the Schiit Valhalla. What about a Darkvoice? Or maybe a little dot? anyone out there with some advice would be great. My budget is around $800 for just the amp, I don't need a dac.
The HD-700 is easier to amp than the HD-600/650, almost anything that works well with the 6XX will work with the HD-700. I use all three of my amps with the HD-700, BH Crack, Ember, Lyr2, all within your budget with tubes. If this amp will be for other headphones then I would go with either Ember or Lyr2.
Tubes used:
BH Crack: TS-5998 and either 12AU7 Telefunken, RCA clear top, Bugle Boy
Ember: re-issue Mullard, Gold Lion, Telefunken (all are 12XXX)
Lyr2: 75 Reflector, Vokshod, Telefunken CCa's
I need something between my HD650 and LCD X and I was contemplating between HE400i vs HD600 vs HD700.
I always love the Sennheiser HD650 house sound it has this moment of nostalgic sound that brings me back to my days spending hours at Tower Records
.
I found this crazy guy on YT called "Z Reviews" and he compared several different phones ie. HD 600, 650, 700, 598, Alpha Primes, X2, HE 400i, 400s and more. He did it in such a way so you can actually listen to them it might not be super accurate but hey...kudos to those hard work and it made me believe that HD 700 was the right choice after I listened to the "cyber demo". It seemed to have the quality that I'm looking for..hopefully.
Long story short, despite what others have said I made up my mind and got HD700 from Amazon and now I'm so anxious for it to arrive hopefully very soon.
Btw, I did tried the Sonarworks headphone calibrations plugins with my 12 year old beloved M50 and another beloved HD650.
I found it has a good algorithm meaning it doesn't sound weird or off when you change the settings even to the extreme. However, I wasn't really crazy about what it does to HD 650..I know it suppose to "fix" the FR respond so that it lays flat as a ruler but as a result it sounds anemic and "not fun" anymore it takes away the goodness of being HD650. But what I like is to keep the dry-wet knob (above the calibration button) set to 50% only. This way you did not loose all that juice and make them too dry.
The EQ on this plugins is pretty good it sounds natural and pretty transparent but also flat and has no character. I love "character" because it shows "who you are" lol. So furthermore I add my own EQ made by the famous Focusrite. This is a Pro studio mastering EQ derived from the original vintage hardware...yes not only does it have character but it also add more air and space especially on high freq. The result is just Flat Ass Beautiful open sound with better bass lots of air and sparkles.
and if I want a tube character I simply add a touch of this:Klanghelm tube Compressor
@skyfall I have the LCD-X and the HD700, I think the HD700 is a great complement to the X. I'm actually a Z-Reviews subscriber too, and believe it or not he has had my LCD-X for the last month and will probably be posting the video review of it within the next week. I've been lost without my X!
Just want to say that the measurements for Tak's mods are out and they really do get rid of the treble peaks. Earpad mod is what reduces the peaks and the other mods such as the filter paper and damping may not be necessary. I can vouch for the earpad mod though.
I don't know what people worry about regarding the treble - I don't hear any uncomfortable spikes or un-natural sounding instruments, sibilance or piercing (in general I seem to prefer my music a bit brighter though) ... well, most 50y old ears don't hear past 14000hz so maybe that's where people detect spikes?
To be honest, if you don't really compare the HD700 to other headphones, it doesn't sound unnatural. But whenever I compare the HD700 to something like my Hifiman HE-400i, I just think that the 400i has a more natural tonality. But again, this is probably also due to differences in what we think sounds natural.
The HD-700 is easier to amp than the HD-600/650, almost anything that works well with the 6XX will work with the HD-700. I use all three of my amps with the HD-700, BH Crack, Ember, Lyr2, all within your budget with tubes. If this amp will be for other headphones then I would go with either Ember or Lyr2.
Tubes used:
BH Crack: TS-5998 and either 12AU7 Telefunken, RCA clear top, Bugle Boy
Ember: re-issue Mullard, Gold Lion, Telefunken (all are 12XXX)
Lyr2: 75 Reflector, Vokshod, Telefunken CCa's
Can anyone give me a good tube amp recommendation. I am really leaning towards the Woo Audio WA3 or WA6 but have looked at the Schiit Valhalla. What about a Darkvoice? Or maybe a little dot? anyone out there with some advice would be great. My budget is around $800 for just the amp, I don't need a dac.
I have no complaints with my Valhalla 2, in fact LOVE it! It's a little over a month old now and am feeding it with a Bifrost which I got at the same time directly from Schiit. I'm just using the stock tubes and am waiting for a set of socket savers to lower the temperature a bit but I think it's an impressive box.
Can anyone give me a good tube amp recommendation. I am really leaning towards the Woo Audio WA3 or WA6 but have looked at the Schiit Valhalla. What about a Darkvoice? Or maybe a little dot? anyone out there with some advice would be great. My budget is around $800 for just the amp, I don't need a dac.
I know I'm probably not going to make many friends here by saying what I'm about to say. I own both the Valhalla 2 and the Feliks Elise. The Elise absolutely runs circles around the V2. The Elise with stock tubes is a little over $700 delivered from Poland to the US. Order time is about 6 to 7 weeks. If you order it without tubes it should be less. With some smart tube rolling choices you should be close to your budget.
I have nothing again Schiit. I own their Bimby and love it.
@skyfall I have the LCD-X and the HD700, I think the HD700 is a great complement to the X. I'm actually a Z-Reviews subscriber too, and believe it or not he has had my LCD-X for the last month and will probably be posting the video review of it within the next week. I've been lost without my X!
@skyfall I have the LCD-X and the HD700, I think the HD700 is a great complement to the X. I'm actually a Z-Reviews subscriber too, and believe it or not he has had my LCD-X for the last month and will probably be posting the video review of it within the next week. I've been lost without my X!
I like having them both in my collection, the HD700 can be better for some EDM or if you want to hear a wider soundstage, the LCD-X is a great reference and is more intimate than the HD700. I will say that the HD700 has much better texture to its sound than the X, you can almost feel the music. Oh, and if your neck is killing you from listening to the LCD-X the day before, you can listen to the super lightweight HD700. Haha
Waiting for one of the European Amazons to follow suit and run a deal. I'll hopefully be auditioning these tomorrow. If the treble bothers me, I wonder if this would work..
Waiting for one of the European Amazons to follow suit and run a deal. I'll hopefully be auditioning these tomorrow. If the treble bothers me, I wonder if this would work..
This is what l paid for mine back on 12th November 2014. l paid 396,75€ (taxes to Switzerland and shipping included). Weeks later, l got around 22€ back from taxes. So in total l paid around 375€ (remember, November 2014!). lf l were you l'd open a tab on amazon.de with the 700s and l'd keep on tracking daily until the offers shows up. You save money while you develop patience
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