[SirMarc]

I'm an old man with old school habits. I always listen to a album all the way thru. But digital has spoiled me, I don't even have to get up to flip a record. LOL. In fact I'll usually put 3-5 albums in a play list each night and only get up to pee. Which is more and more often now as the years pass by and I find myself having to use the pause button on the remote more and more often.
See, there's a lot of advantages to computer audio.  

I feel ya man. I'm 44, so not a spring chicken myself anymore lol. I have a decent tube buffered dac that I use on the lazy days. Its expensive too, I have to double buy everything. Hi res download and vinyl, but its cool, I enjoy it and can afford it...

 

[SirMarc]

And so its not too far off topic, the majority of my analog and digital listening is with my 650's lol

 

[olor1n]

 

  Got a friend who is at $500k level, glad he's my friend.
 

I agree with you, but if money is no problem then whatever goes.

I

  Not a question of "nuts" or sanity.

   I am all for spending $ on things that give pleasure (as long as it's legal 

).
 
But I'll betcha he can get 80% of the performance for much less. Law of Diminishing Returns.

It's not even about any of that and the figure in this case would be 100%.  My point was  a headphone amp is a VERY simple circuit and using the best designs possible with the best components available would make for a product that could be sold to the public for a small fraction of $2K. Now if you have the cash and want to show off your financial position to your friends, that's cool. But lets just be honest with each other, that $2k amp won't sound one iota better than any number of amps available for well under $500. AND does it look like a piece of Tiffany jewelry worth big bucks, or just another cheap piece of Chinese plastic and aluminum?
McIntosh MHA100: The Cadillac of headphone amplifiers $4,500 
 
Now there's a High End headphone amp. Worth it? For the way it looks sitting in the equipment rack, yep, every penny and then some IF you can afford it.
The New Senn Orpheus at $55K has a super expensive piece of granite for a base, the tubes and controls go up and down at power up, and many other tweaks with lots of bling. Worth it? You bet if you have the cash.
 
But lets quit spreading the illusions that lots of extra money always buys better sound. Some components are great value, some offer a grand display of the owners wealth, etc, all fine.  BUT a lot are just a pile of snake oil marketing giving the yearning audiophile the illusion that spending 20 times the cost of a products manufacturing cost is a investment of good audio value. It neither sounds nor looks like something SPECIAL.
 
Any idea of using common sense on High End purchasing has flown out the window. SAD

You must have extensive experience with "high-end" headphone amps to be imposing your personal value judgments on others. Care to share which of the top-tier Eddie Current, Cavalli Audio, Donald North etc amps you've lived with to have come to such a definitive conclusion? And could you please tell us, the less enlightened, which magical component embodies the pinnacle according to your golden ears? It wouldn't be one of the components you so proudly display at the bottom of every post? The headamp section of a dac/amp combo? Really?

 

[Sal1950]

 
You must have extensive experience with "high-end" headphone amps to be imposing your personal value judgments on others. Care to share which of the top-tier Eddie Current, Cavalli Audio, Donald North etc amps you've lived with to have come to such a definitive conclusion? And could you please tell us, the less enlightened, which magical component embodies the pinnacle according to your golden ears? It wouldn't be one of the components you so proudly display at the bottom of every post? The headamp section of a dac/amp combo? Really?

If you believe in all that reinvention of the wheel BS for a simple few db gain stage I have a 1964 copy of RCA's Vacuum Tube Receiving Manual and a 1989 Second Edition of David Manley's Vacuum Tube Logic book. Either will have schematics for the building of various amp stages, then you could build yourself something really awesome sounding.
 
BTW, I post my hardware list with pride to show that I walk my talk and don't buy into the snakeoil being sold to some today as HiFi.  I been at this for a while, built my first Knight Kit amp back around 1963. Sold off my old high end system at retirement 5 years ago, it had a retail value around $30K. But in the near 50 years of this stuff I finally learned whats important and how to build a great system on a limited budget.
Anything else sonny?

 

[ubs28]

Does anyone find the HD 650 having a very harsh treble despite being rolled off?

It's not the fault of my amplifier because the HD 800 S has a smooth treble which doesn't sound harsh despite being neutral with no roll off.

 

[olor1n]

 

 
You must have extensive experience with "high-end" headphone amps to be imposing your personal value judgments on others. Care to share which of the top-tier Eddie Current, Cavalli Audio, Donald North etc amps you've lived with to have come to such a definitive conclusion? And could you please tell us, the less enlightened, which magical component embodies the pinnacle according to your golden ears? It wouldn't be one of the components you so proudly display at the bottom of every post? The headamp section of a dac/amp combo? Really?

If you believe in all that reinvention of the wheel BS for a simple few db gain stage I have a 1964 copy of RCA's Vacuum Tube Receiving Manual and a 1989 Second Edition of David Manley's Vacuum Tube Logic book. Either will have schematics for the building of various amp stages, then you could build yourself something really awesome sounding.
 
BTW, I post my hardware list with pride to show that I walk my talk and don't buy into the snakeoil being sold to some today as HiFi.  I been at this for a while, built my first Knight Kit amp back around 1963. Sold off my old high end system at retirement 5 years ago, it had a retail value around $30K. But in the near 50 years of this stuff I finally learned whats important and how to build a great system on a limited budget.
Anything else sonny?

So which of the "snake-oil" offerings from Eddie Current, Cavalli Audio, Donald North etc have you actually heard?

 

[donlin]

Does anyone find the HD 650 having a very harsh treble despite being rolled off?

It's not the fault of my amplifier because the HD 800 S has a smooth treble which doesn't sound harsh despite being neutral with no roll off.

Nobody does. Oops, I guess somebody does.

 

[kman1211]

Does anyone find the HD 650 having a very harsh treble despite being rolled off?

It's not the fault of my amplifier because the HD 800 S has a smooth treble which doesn't sound harsh despite being neutral with no roll off.

I've always found the HD 650 a bit harsh up top on most systems, becomes especially noticeable if you have a headphone with better treble, more refinement, and if you owned it for a long time. The HD 650 is more likely to sound smooth and non-harsh on tube amps than SS amps.

 

[Sal1950]

 
So which of the "snake-oil" offerings from Eddie Current, Cavalli Audio, Donald North etc have you actually heard?

Not a one, not worth the time. I already have a class A system that I'm very pleased with. Have you heard mine?
 
What type of speaker system, amps, 5.2 coding, subwoofers,  etc are you running. I don't see anything in your profile

 

[olor1n]

 


So which of the "snake-oil" offerings from Eddie Current, Cavalli Audio, Donald North etc have you actually heard?

Not a one, not worth the time. I already have a class A system that I'm very pleased with. Have you heard mine?

What type of speaker system, amps, 5.2 coding, subwoofers,  etc are you running. I don't see anything in your profile

I'm not the one making definitive statements and imposing value judgments on others. I was simply curious as to what you felt gave you license to prance around on a high horse - discounting components that you now admit you've never even heard. Thanks for confirming that you're just as full of it as the snake-oil peddlers you claim to be crusading against.

 

[Sal1950]

I'm not the one making definitive statements and imposing value judgments on others. I was simply curious as to what you felt gave you license to prance around on a high horse - discounting components that you now admit you've never even heard. Thanks for confirming that you're just as full of it as the snake-oil peddlers you claim to be crusading against.

Nice duck sonny. Too bad you don't have enough background to understand when your getting hosed.
Thank you sir, may I have another?  LOL

 

[ubs28]

  I've always found the HD 650 a bit harsh up top on most systems, becomes especially noticeable if you have a headphone with better treble, more refinement, and if you owned it for a long time. The HD 650 is more likely to sound smooth and non-harsh on tube amps than SS amps.

I'm kinda suprised because I originally bought the HD 650 as the forgiving headphone. Seems it has lost his function currently.

 

[Solrighal]

Greetings from the dark (read sunny) side.
 
The HD 650 is the most outstanding VFM headphone purchase anyone will ever make, IMO.

 

[Youth]

Does anyone find the HD 650 having a very harsh treble despite being rolled off?

It's not the fault of my amplifier because the HD 800 S has a smooth treble which doesn't sound harsh despite being neutral with no roll off.

 
This is interesting. Can you explain a bit more? 

 

[iancraig10]

A harsh sound normally comes from some kind of peak in the treble rather than being extended. If a headphone isn't rolled off, it doesn't mean that it would sound harsh, just like extended, deep bass doesn't actually make a headphone bassy.

It sounds almost like you could be getting a slight distortion on the Senn.