[longbowbbs]

Quote:

This. No matter how I love the hd 650 and the fact I do run it from a 1k amp. Changing the amp with the hope of improvement while there are other cheaper alternatives is plain crazy. 
But oh well we are at head-fi after all. Like a wise fellow said: I'm not suffering from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it

Truer words were never spoken...

 

[Jimmy24]

Sort of curious, as I'm a newbie to my HD650's. I bought an O2 + ODAC for them but I've heard many people say HD 650's sound at its best with a decent amp. Around how much would a decent amp cost and what kind of amps are we talking about, if you can name a few? Would I also need a decent DAC to go along with it or would the amp take care of itself?
 
Probably won't look into buying anything atm, but would like to have a list of amps in mind for future buys.
 
Thanks!

 

[TMRaven]

There's no reason an O2 shouldn't drive an HD650.  Anybody who says otherwise is fooling you.

 

[imackler]

Quote:

There's no reason an O2 shouldn't drive an HD650.  Anybody who says otherwise is fooling you.

Yeah, it drives it ok. I found the dynamics were lacking compared to the AHA-120. But if I weren't able to do AB comparing, I'd find the O2 acceptable for the HD650. I found the O2 to similar to the E9: adequate and enjoyable, though of very different flavor. The AHA-120 kind of opened my eyes for the first time that there are better (imo) amps out there; currently, I'm waiting on a Bottlehead Crack/Speedball. But had I never heard the AHA-120, I probably would have stayed satisfied with the O2. 

 

[Jmstrmbn]

Quote:

Yeah, it drives it ok. I found the dynamics were lacking compared to the AHA-120. But if I weren't able to do AB comparing, I'd find the O2 acceptable for the HD650. I found the O2 to similar to the E9: adequate and enjoyable, though of very different flavor. The AHA-120 kind of opened my eyes for the first time that there are better (imo) amps out there; currently, I'm waiting on a Bottlehead Crack/Speedball. But had I never heard the AHA-120, I probably would have stayed satisfied with the O2. 

Look forward to hearing impressions on the Crack/Speedball combo.

 

[jtaylor991]

OK so on my headphones for hip hop, I know I could use a better amp but I meant some other headphones that would fit better just in nature. 650s are just built to have less low bass, and so I want something a bit more "fun" but not at a significant loss in quality/overall detail. LCD-2s sound like a good bet for my next upgrade, but I'm looking at this as more of a side-grade. I have an Audio-gd Compass I'm using in super mode (amp only) with my PS Audio DLIII. I want to try an O2 to try the neutral sound (and the ODAC to see if it can best my DLIII as it does measure the same as the DAC1 so I've heard) but not as an amp upgrade. I'd wanna move on to the SPL Auditor or something if I liked the O2.
 
For a sidegrade, HE-400 sounds like a good try, I wanna try a planar anyway. The ony thing that kept me from pre-ordering was I'd have to sell my current cans to afford it, and I wanted a side grade not upgrade.

 

[MomijiTMO]

Look forward to hearing impressions on the Crack/Speedball combo.

Let me help.

It's good.

 

[MickeyVee]

From what I remember, they were pretty close with the edge in impact going to the HE400 and quality of bass going to the HD650.. sold my HD650s about a month ago to fund the HD700.. still following the thread though.
Quote:

 
But now, would you say the HE-400 out of the lyr has quantitively less bass impact and extension than the 650 out of the lyr?

 

[Pianist]

I just compared HD650 to Etymotic ER4S and while HD650 has more bass with a lot of music like it should, with some of my dance tracks, a part of the low end on HD650s seems to disappear mysteriousily and they suddenly sound lacking to my ears. With those same tracks, the ER4S seems to produce more bass.

I wonder if my source is the culprit (HM-601 + Fiio E11).

 

[longbowbbs]

I just compared HD650 to Etymotic ER4S and while HD650 has more bass with a lot of music like it should, with some of my dance tracks, a part of the low end on HD650s seems to disappear mysteriousily and they suddenly sound lacking to my ears. With those same tracks, the ER4S seems to produce more bass. :blink: I wonder if my source is the culprit (HM-601 + Fiio E11).

It could be a IEM seal vs an open headphone issue too.

 

[imackler]

Has anyone tried to run the HD650 off of the Icon iDo? 

 

[muad]

Is it missing the sub bass? I find the hd650 drop off sharply at around 40hz... it's still there its just quieter than my gr07s. Since the etys are almost flat through the sub bass region down to 20hz, it's probably that deficit you're noticing. 

 

[TwoEars]

Well - I can only tell you what my ears are telling me and my own conclusion after having lived with the HD650 for the better part of 6 years is that it benefits highly from top notch DAC and amplification.
 
I believe it to be one of the most scalable headphones on the market, you can plug it directly into a computer soundcard or cd-player and it will sound nice. If the HD650 is your first venture into high-end headphones it will probably sound better than any other pair of headphones you've tried before.
 
Or you can hook it up to a $2000 DAC and $3000 tube amp and it will still do the system justice with the right music - that to me says A LOT about the HD650.
 
An amp like the Violectric V200, Burson HA-160 or Meier Audio Concerto can be had second hand for very resonable money these days and is well worth the investment if you've fallen in love with the HD600/650 but still are looking for a system upgrade.

 

[Jimmy24]

Thanks for clarifying. I always thought that buying an AMP or DAC that cost over the headphones itself would be overkill but I guess its not true for the HD650's. I have been enjoying my HD650's with only an O2 AMP. I'm getting an ODAC that will be shipped to my door tomorrow so I'm very excited to see what differences I will hear with my first DAC. 
 
Its good to know your experience of having the HD650's for over 6 years and that it would benefit from a high-end AMP/DAC. I'll be keeping these for a while and its good to know that I won't have to replace these headphones with another pair. I could just upgrade my AMP/DAC and get better sound. Thanks again.
 
Quote:

Well - I can only tell you what my ears are telling me and my own conclusion after having lived with the HD650 for the better part of 6 years is that it benefits highly from top notch DAC and amplification.
 
I believe it to be one of the most scalable headphones on the market, you can plug it directly into a computer soundcard or cd-player and it will sound nice. If the HD650 is your first venture into high-end headphones it will probably sound better than any other pair of headphones you've tried before.
 
Or you can hook it up to a $2000 DAC and $3000 tube amp and it will still do the system justice with the right music - that to me says A LOT about the HD650.
 
An amp like the Violectric V200, Burson HA-160 or Meier Audio Concerto can be had second hand for very resonable money these days and is well worth the investment if you've fallen in love with the HD600/650 but still are looking for a system upgrade.

 

[xzobinx]

I haven't owned any 2k dac and 3k tube amp but I second the idea of getting the V200 for hd 650.I called mine the German lovers 

 howver IMO the ha 160 is a bit overhyped and the step volume get worse overtime. 
Quote:

Or you can hook it up to a $2000 DAC and $3000 tube amp and it will still do the system justice with the right music - that to me says A LOT about the HD650.
 
An amp like the Violectric V200, Burson HA-160 or Meier Audio Concerto can be had second hand for very resonable money these days and is well worth the investment if you've fallen in love with the HD600/650 but still are looking for a system upgrade.