[Mediaogre]

I'm glad you asked! The Headstage Arrow 12HE drives the HD650 extremely well.
 
At little contextual history - it ties in nicely. I too like portable amps. They are, simply, a more realistic option for my listening habits right now. Maybe someday (when the kids are in college?) I'll have time to sit in my arm chair with a pipe, my feet up, and watch my tubes glow. Anyway, I was looking at full-sized cans and spent half a day at 32 Ohm Audio in Portland, OR auditioning headphones. I went in with my amp, Sansa Clip+, and a ton of FLACs - everything from classical to progressive metal. I wanted to like the uber retro mahogany Grado RS-1s, or the ultra modern Beyer Dynamic T1s, but that wasn't in the cards. The HD650s sounded the best through the Arrow. Everything sounded good (except maybe the T1s 

) but I kept going back to the Sennheisers, and smiling - LOTS. I could drive the crap out of them without blowing the top of my skull off.
 
Just today I fell in love with the pairing again. I'm normally a metal guy, but today was Mozart - all day. Most of the office was empty, so I put away my in-ear Shures, set the Arrow's gain on III (zero hiss and it drives the big 300ohm cans with room to spare) and really cranked it. It was the first time I've gotten a chance to blast classical with the Arrow+HD650 combo and it didn't disappoint. In fact, I was smiling for hours. I could hear bow taps, muffled pants and chair scuffs, but no distortion. Tons of clean power and excellent channel/balance accuracy.
 
I believe the Arrow's around $250 USD - a bargain in my opinion. I bought it to drive my Shure SE530s. I didn't expect it to do what it can. It's an extremely efficient and versatile amp. Check out dfkt's review (admin over at Anythingbutipod).
 
Quote:

I just love portable amps for some reason. I've already got a Predator which I think drives the 650 pretty well. Do you guys have experience with any other portables that drive the 650 better. I'm kinda hoping to trade or sell the Pred and get something else as I don't really need the DAC functionality like I thought I did. Suggestions? Pico Slim, Protector (SE mode more than likely), SR71a, Pico are some I'm really eying.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Thanks for your advice sir. I think I would go with the Nuforce as it has an optical input therefore making a connection with my laptop easier. Do you feel that a laptop can be a decent source? I have it set to output 24/96 stereo and it actually sounds quite good plugged into my old Yamaha A/V receiver. Especially when playing 24/96 FLAC files through VLC or WinAmp. Or hell, even playing CDs and Apple Lossless files through iTunes with Rock EQ. Of course, I have nothing else to compare to except my iPhone based portable rig...
 

What bit rate is your music? 320kps sounds really good (and 256kps ain't too far behind). Nice thing with the HDP is that you can plug in a CD player as well via coax or optical.

 

[CoryGillmore]

Quote:

What bit rate is your music? 320kps sounds really good (and 256kps ain't too far behind). Nice thing with the HDP is that you can plug in a CD player as well via coax or optical.

I'm not gonna lie, a large percentage of my music is 128kbs. But, the stuff I actually listen to now is at least 320kbs, but mostly ripped from CDs into Apple Lossless. I'm also amassing a decent collection of FLAC tunes as well.
 
  If I could bring myself to part with my car audio setup, I could have around $6000 to play around with and get a ridiculous setup. I just don't know if I'm ready to part with my "boom car" (as the republican politicians would call it).
 
@Mediaogre: I was considering the Arrow when looking for portables a couple weeks ago before settling on the Predator. I would hope that the Predator would be a better amp than the Arrow seeing the huge price difference, but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

 

[Mediaogre]

I actually AGONIZED over the Predator vs Arrow decision. I spent a lot of time drooling on Ray Samuel's website. I finally pulled the trigger because the Arrow had so many darn options, seemed like a really smart engineering effort, and sported that really cool variable voltage feature. And lets face it, if you use your amp for everything (like I do) the auto power feature just plain kicks ass. It's like having a sleep timer but you don't have to think about setting it. Plus there was the guarantee. Did I mention it's tiny!
 
Anyway, good luck. I hope you find what you're listening for.
 
Quote:

I'm not gonna lie, a large percentage of my music is 128kbs. But, the stuff I actually listen to now is at least 320kbs, but mostly ripped from CDs into Apple Lossless. I'm also amassing a decent collection of FLAC tunes as well.
 
  If I could bring myself to part with my car audio setup, I could have around $6000 to play around with and get a ridiculous setup. I just don't know if I'm ready to part with my "boom car" (as the republican politicians would call it).
 
@Mediaogre: I was considering the Arrow when looking for portables a couple weeks ago before settling on the Predator. I would hope that the Predator would be a better amp than the Arrow seeing the huge price difference, but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

 

[CoryGillmore]

Quote:

I just think the Beyers are too picky with their music selection. I nearly find them unlistenable with hiphop, r&b pop. Acoustic music like Death Cab for Cutie is well suited to the Beyers though. So car I've found the 650's to so at least decent with every track I've thrown at them. Classical on the Beyers is really something to experience though. Even on my mediocre Yahama receiver!

I think I did the Beyers a disservice by saying this. As I've grown my FLAC music collection over the last few days, I've found that they're not picky about music selection at all. They're picky about the quality of the music you throw at them. They sound like hell coming out of my iPhone & Predator combo. There's no way around that. But playing FLAC files from my laptop to my Yamaha A/V they honestly give the 650 a solid run for their money. Hearing high quality hard rock files (Korn) through them was like hearing a totally different headphone than I heard coming from my portable or even my iTunes library. I'm really diggin WinAmp too! Much better than iTunes. I had an ad in the FS forum for my Beyers, but these babies aren't going anywhere. There is room for both of these great cans in my listening sessions. Just thought I'd share.
 
EDIT: Oh and it's also worth noting that the Beyers can be had for half of what you'd pay for a 650!

 

[alwayshungry]

I just got my balanced Beta 22 up and running again and fell in love all over again with my HD650s. Next up is a recable.

 

[maruzen]

maybe you ought to post that in the beyer thread? 

 
i also have them both and i like the beyer dt880 sound very much coming out of my gear, although for vocal presentation the hd650 is really the king among the headphones that i have. unlike you however, i received the hd650 at a lower price than the beyer, that's why i feel the sennheiser is just so amazing for the price. and it's not going anywhere soon too, like yours 

 
Quote:

I think I did the Beyers a disservice by saying this. As I've grown my FLAC music collection over the last few days, I've found that they're not picky about music selection at all. They're picky about the quality of the music you throw at them. They sound like hell coming out of my iPhone & Predator combo. There's no way around that. But playing FLAC files from my laptop to my Yamaha A/V they honestly give the 650 a solid run for their money. Hearing high quality hard rock files (Korn) through them was like hearing a totally different headphone than I heard coming from my portable or even my iTunes library. I'm really diggin WinAmp too! Much better than iTunes. I had an ad in the FS forum for my Beyers, but these babies aren't going anywhere. There is room for both of these great cans in my listening sessions. Just thought I'd share.
 
EDIT: Oh and it's also worth noting that the Beyers can be had for half of what you'd pay for a 650!

 

[CoryGillmore]

maybe you ought to post that in the beyer thread? 

 
i also have them both and i like the beyer dt880 sound very much coming out of my gear, although for vocal presentation the hd650 is really the king among the headphones that i have. unlike you however, i received the hd650 at a lower price than the beyer, that's why i feel the sennheiser is just so amazing for the price. and it's not going anywhere soon too, like yours 

 

The beyer thread is like a ghost town I don't think it's seen a post on a little less than a year. I paid $270 for my 650's. They were in absolute mint condition. They didn't come with the factory box though. I paid $180 for my DT880. The first rung I did with them was plug them into my portable. I honestly thought they were blown. Distortion on anything with bass. It was horrible. I don't know what it is about my portable setup but the Beyers don't like it. Thankfully the 650's are completely different story. They are very well driven from my Predator. The Beyers weren't too much better when outputting my laptop to my receiver. Then I realized that my laptop was outputting in Dolby Digital 5.1. I switched to output at 24/96 and it's been smooth listening ever since. Same for the 650.

 

[maruzen]

those are really good prices CoryGillmore! you are one lucky dude 

 

[zlobby]

I just received my HD650s yesterday.  Although I havent had a chance to run them through their paces, i am very excited to do so.  I am currently using an audio interface (presonus firebox) as my DAC, and will soon be building a millet starving student tube hybrid.  Does anyone here have experience with the Starving Student and 650s?

 

[CoryGillmore]

Quote:

those are really good prices CoryGillmore! you are one lucky dude 

There are great deals to be had here in the FS forums! I've only been a member since July and I've spent well over $1000 in the forums here! Will probably spend another $1000 before too long.
 
I really did luck out on the 650 though. They are in perfect condition. Not a single scratch or blemish on them. They just didn't come with the factory box. The Beyers can be had for around $180 all day in the FS forums though.

 

[beeman458]

Does anyone here have experience with the Starving Student and 650s?
 
No on the Starving Student, except for a stint I did back in 75 and yes on the 650's.  Don't forget to let the 650's burn in for a couple hundred hours to loosen things up a bit.  Makes to me, a "big" listening difference.  Oh, and be sure to let your gear warm up for ten or fifteen minutes as again, to me, it makes a "big" listening difference.
 
 
 

 

[CoryGillmore]

Quote:

Does anyone here have experience with the Starving Student and 650s?
 
No on the Starving Student, except for a stint I did back in 75 and yes on the 650's.  Don't forget to let the 650's burn in for a couple hundred hours to loosen things up a bit.  Makes to me, a "big" listening difference.  Oh, and be sure to let your gear warm up for ten or fifteen minutes as again, to me, it makes a "big" listening difference.
 
 
Let me ask you something sir. Say I was to buy a new amp right now. Portable or whatever. To burn it in, do I actually need to be outputting music to headphones with it? Or, does it not matter as long as a source is pumping music into it? Same for warming up, do you just mean to turn it on and let it sit for a little while? Thanks.

 

[PANGES]

^ From what I've read on this forum, my understanding is that you need to have headphones hooked up with music/pink noise/whatever going through them during burn in.
 
On the manual for my Litte Dot MKIII tube amp, it says that if you're going to leave the amp playing for over 8 hours, it's best to turn it off and let it rest for 30 min to 1 hour in between.
 
I let me amp warm up for a little bit before listening to it, as it does seem to change a little bit in sound. It seems to get a bit fuller and a bit more detailed as it warms up. I usually plug my headphones in after about 1 min of letting the amp sit, but I notice the sound changes a little bit after the 20 min mark or so. At least that's how it is with my LD MKIII and HD650.

 

[CoryGillmore]

Thanks. Are you happy with the MKIII and 650 combo? It is extremely affordable. The MKIII is a tube amp, right?