[MattTCG]

Is the Valhalla 2 significantly more cost wise? And would you say its a significant improvement on the first series?

 
I'll call the Val 2 a significant improvement over the original. The cost is the same at $350

 

[lawrecedent]

I'll call the Val 2 a significant improvement over the original. The cost is the same at $350

Just checked some UK sites, can get the original Valhalla for £105, the Valhalla 2 is £265 and the Magni is £90. I'm thinking I might buy the Magni and the Little dot 1+ for the price of the Valhalla 2 or search for a better deal.

 

[Sajakhaki]

  I use a Schiit Magni/modi combo and vocals sound really balanced, I've never felt like they've been overpowered by the mids or bass imo. I also came from HD 598s, but didn't like them due to buzzing issues. I will say that the highs on the 598 are more amplified in comparison to the mids or bass. On the 650 the Bass and mids are slightly more amplified and the highs are natural and less piercing than the 598s (once again, imo). I can say that the 650's are just simply better in every way when compared to the 598s, more detailed, better positional audio, very full sounding and really pulls you into the music. I hope you will be happy with the Schiit vali and modi paired with the 650, I think the bright signature of the schiit modi and amp mixes well with the warmth of the 650's to produce a wonderful sound!
 
*edit* Woah, Amazon's price just jumped up $100 for the 650's. I'm glad I snagged mine

I just got my Vali, and holy sh!t, the sound has really filled out!  Especially the bass, they have a lot of sub bass now... sounds like I have a sub woofer now on bass heavy songs.  I didn't think that was possible with open phones.  I will definitely have to get the modi now.  

 

[icomrade]

From a lot of the reading I've been doing it seems to. Be pointing me towards the Schitt Vali or Magni or the little dot 1+ or mk2. The Valhalla sounds like it might do the job though because my concern is getting the best out of high and low impedence cans.

I have the Valhalla 2 (which i would recommend you get over the original) and I use it with my HD650 and have used it with Shure SE846s and ATH-M50Xs as well. All of them sounded awesome, plenty of room to adjust volume with all headphones, none were too loud. The noise floor and background noise was absolutely nil on all of them. On the stock tubes FYI.
 
Currently using the HD650s on low impedance mode, this thing can get crazy loud when cranked, but has plenty of  room to quiet your music down as well.

 

[pdrm360]

I'm truly amazed how good the HD650 sounds with the HiFi-M8. It's very impressive! 

 

[i luvmusic 2]

 

+1 for LD 1+ specially with the 6SN7 and 6080/6AS7G Tube MOD.

You can't argue with the value of the littledot 1+, I can pick one up new for about £90. I was recommended this amp for the Grado's but wondered if anyone had tried it with the 650's?

 If you want my opinion regarding LD 1+ driving the HD 650 i will not recommend it,Sure it does drive the  HD 650 but not to my liking the HD 650 sound  thin.For GRADO yes i heard it at the shop and i like it.If i were you i will get the CRACK.IMO The Crack can drive the HD 650 and the AKG Q701 very well.

 

[lawrecedent]

I'm truly amazed how good the HD650 sounds with the HiFi-M8. It's very impressive! 

No offense but at that price it ruddy needs to earn it's keep!

 

[JacobLee89]

No offense but at that price it ruddy needs to earn it's keep!

 
You'll be surprised at the amount people would pay just for a difference in how a specific note, in a specific piece played by a specific instrument, sounds.
 
Many claim that there's no sonic benefit from upgrading from the ODAC into the benchmark DAC 1.
 
As for I, ODAC + O2 (+booster board), + my HD650's. Nothing lost, nothing gained. Just the headphones working themselves as they should whilst being as price efficient as possible.

 

[pdrm360]

Ready to go!
 

 

[Noobmachine]

Been thinking of buying back a pair of 650s, I never really truly got to use them to their fullest extent, and now that I've poked my head into Summit-fi headphones, I feel like a little of hit of nostalgia  
 
Anyone know what's a good street price used 650 nowadays?

 

[MrGoat]

  Been thinking of buying back a pair of 650s, I never really truly got to use them to their fullest extent, and now that I've poked my head into Summit-fi headphones, I feel like a little of hit of nostalgia  
 
Anyone know what's a good street price used 650 nowadays?

$400-450+ (usd) New, around $300 used. I see a lot of people asking $500+ still though, but keep searching. 
 

  I just got my Vali, and holy sh!t, the sound has really filled out!  Especially the bass, they have a lot of sub bass now... sounds like I have a sub woofer now on bass heavy songs.  I didn't think that was possible with open phones.  I will definitely have to get the modi now.  
 

 
Awesome! I'm glad you like it. I really think that the Schiit products really do sound amazing on the HD650. Let me know what you think of the modi when you get it, I'm still loving mine!

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

 

  Been thinking of buying back a pair of 650s, I never really truly got to use them to their fullest extent, and now that I've poked my head into Summit-fi headphones, I feel like a little of hit of nostalgia  
 
Anyone know what's a good street price used 650 nowadays?

$400-450+ (usd) New, around $300 used. I see a lot of people asking $500+ still though, but keep searching. 
 

  I just got my Vali, and holy sh!t, the sound has really filled out!  Especially the bass, they have a lot of sub bass now... sounds like I have a sub woofer now on bass heavy songs.  I didn't think that was possible with open phones.  I will definitely have to get the modi now.  
 

 
Awesome! I'm glad you like it. I really think that the Schiit products really do sound amazing on the HD650. Let me know what you think of the modi when you get it, I'm still loving mine!

Refurbished can be found for $320. Sennheiser Outlet store when they have a sale.

 

[DivineCurrent]

Is it just me or do you not hear any noticeable difference between sources. I could volume match my Xonar DGX soundcard against my Magni or FiiO E12.

Everyone seems to say these need a nice amp to shine but I'm sure in a double blind test no on could tell a Magni from lets say a Burson Soloist. Id like to see a video of someone using a switch and tell amps apart with the HD650.

I don't have the HD 650s, but I have tested the HD 600 as well as a few other headphones on many things, including a Nakamichi CD player, Panasonic DAT player, vintage speaker amps, as well as the Fiio E11 and Objective 2 amp. To me, the real difference is the different DACs inside those devices, that being said, my laptop sound card is quite decent and sounds better than many of these. To me, the Fiio E11 sounds exactly like the Objective 2. I'm wondering too if anyone could even tell a little difference in sound quality between a Magni and something like a Soloist, if anything the Soloist would be more colored. 

 

[TsukiNick]

Think a lot of the amp market is a scam, I think if the output is loud enough and the output impedance is low enough to give it a correct damping factor amps are pretty much going to sound the same unless they color the sound and that should be left to some eq shelving unit. My only complaint on the Magni is slight channel imbalance at low volume. So much of it is just comfirmation bias. Id like to see even test results with headphones being recorded and tested with other amps.

Not to mention people always just use terms that cant be scientifically tested well. "The soundatage opens up" 9nly thing I would think that would maybe factor into that slightly is less crosstalk.

And I think Dacs are probably even more unchanging of the sound unless they have very colored opamps or other filters.

 

[Androb]

Think a lot of the amp market is a scam, I think if the output is loud enough and the output impedance is low enough to give it a correct damping factor amps are pretty much going to sound the same unless they color the sound and that should be left to some eq shelving unit. My only complaint on the Magni is slight channel imbalance at low volume. So much of it is just comfirmation bias. Id like to see even test results with headphones being recorded and tested with other amps.

Not to mention people always just use terms that cant be scientifically tested well. "The soundatage opens up" 9nly thing I would think that would maybe factor into that slightly is less crosstalk.

And I think Dacs are probably even more unchanging of the sound unless they have very colored opamps or other filters.

Well I got 3 amps that I use with my HD650.
One is alot sleaker, no attack and barely any body to the sound. The other one is more detailed, because it's alot more powerful and can drive them properly which the first can't. Different tubes can make sound differ though. Then the last one which I allways use with the HD650 makes them more agressive, more attack and bass got way more body.
My brother which doesn't know anything of this, could say which one that is best without me telling him about them.