[mikoss]

I suspect the fair majority of people who think it sounds awesome driving the 650's just haven't had an opportunity to hear the Bottlehead Crack, Valhalla 2, Ember, etc. Seems most of them upgrade from sound cards.

Nothing wrong going this route at all... I just don't hear many people who try the above amps and go back to the O2/ODAC.

 

[DavidA]

I suspect the fair majority of people who think it sounds awesome driving the 650's just haven't had an opportunity to hear the Bottlehead Crack, Valhalla 2, Ember, etc. Seems most of them upgrade from sound cards.

Nothing wrong going this route at all... I just don't hear many people who try the above amps and go back to the O2/ODAC.

Agree with this as I don't know anyone who tried a decent OTL or hybrid amp going back to ODAC/O2 but my data pool is limited to only 5 people that I know who had the ODAC/O2 and tried a BH Crack or Ember equivalent, all except one sold the ODAC/O2 shortly after.

 

[bracko]

   
 
There are a few sure things in life, taxes, death and the question of using ODAC/O2 with HD-6XX.

 
The question might be a sure thing but I doubt the answer to that question is. 

 

 

[mysticstryk]

I suspect the fair majority of people who think it sounds awesome driving the 650's just haven't had an opportunity to hear the Bottlehead Crack, Valhalla 2, Ember, etc. Seems most of them upgrade from sound cards.

Nothing wrong going this route at all... I just don't hear many people who try the above amps and go back to the O2/ODAC.

I think it's silly to think that as long as a system is providing the proper amount of power (mW) into a headphone, then that is all you will ever need.

 

[castleofargh]

in a hobby where we fail to have a clear answers to basic questions such as to what should be the neutral signature of a headphone? trying to decide what is good or better as a source is(sadly) of limited significance IMO. fidelity is hard to get and limited, and the sound like the artist intended a total utopia.
we can look at objective specs for fidelity, make sure we have enough power, that impedance is ok and stuff like that. but then we still have a non neutral headphone and limited fidelity at the end of the road because drivers are what they are(and our ears don't grow younger). all we do is remove a few of the potential reasons why the sound could fail the original master. so it's not a bad idea, but also not a magical recipe.
we can also go for something we like without concerns about fidelity(what most people do around here), and then no system is less valid than any other, because taste will not be forced onto others. that's just a fool's errand.
 
 
listening to that song, any source of any quality will still make me shake my head like a mad man and want to revolt(even if it's too late and I'm not even born in the right country ^_^) the background noise should make me cry, but here, for that song, I strangely don't care:
 
 
celine dion on the best system ever can't hope to do that to me. we fix our own criteria and what really matters is how much fun we have in the end right?

 

[mikoss]

... we fix our own criteria and what really matters is how much fun we have in the end right?

Yes, I fully agree with that statement, but there is also much to gain by experience. The objectivity/subjectivity debate IMO derails intelligent, important discussion which could actually help people out in our hobby.

I have always offered advice locally to anyone interested in the hobby, and my buddy Matt came over with an O2/ODAC just a few weeks ago. We didn't spend hours debating specs, we tried a bunch of amps with DT880's, some Stax, HD650s, and 800's. We used the ODAC, Gumby, Bifrost and my analog rig as sources.

Personally, I would have been blown away from any/all of the sources a long time ago. Now, I'm mostly just blown away by the sound of analog. It's a bigger investment with a lot of tinkering and more bs than digital to worry about, but it has an unparalleled experience for me. Wedge issues like vinyl vs digital, tubes vs solid state, or objectivity vs subjectivity just hurt our hobby.

 

[rgs9200m]

What are those impact audio cables mentioned above? They are new to me. Thanks.

 

[raybone0566]

What are those impact audio cables mentioned above? They are new to me. Thanks.

There's a thread here. Guys name is Lindsay. He's on Etsy. Prices are reasonable and cables are well made. Some good pictures in the thread.

 

[mbusby]

There's a thread here. Guys name is Lindsay. He's on Etsy. Prices are reasonable and cables are well made. Some good pictures in the thread.

 
I purchased one of his cables. Nice workmanship and reasonably priced.

 

[noobandroid]

i'm using forza, lightweight and colorful

 

[BrettMatthews]

If you are looking for some good quality custom made cables check out http://hivemindcables.com , I was very pleased with the cable I got from them. He is on here too.

 

[DivineCurrent]

Even though the HD650 are my favorite headphones, I've noticed a strange resonance in most vocals both male and female. It's really hard to pick up, but once you hear it, you can't unhear it. It sounds like the voice has a gritty quality to it, almost like there is a frequency that is being enunciated. But for the life of me, I can't figure it out. Although, it could be a result of the singer being so close to the microphone that it picks up all the strange details of their voice. The weird thing is, I only hear it in vocals and nothing else, and I do still hear it in some other headphones but not as pronounced. Anyone else notice this?

 

[audiojun]

  Even though the HD650 are my favorite headphones, I've noticed a strange resonance in most vocals both male and female. It's really hard to pick up, but once you hear it, you can't unhear it. It sounds like the voice has a gritty quality to it, almost like there is a frequency that is being enunciated. But for the life of me, I can't figure it out. Although, it could be a result of the singer being so close to the microphone that it picks up all the strange details of their voice. The weird thing is, I only hear it in vocals and nothing else, and I do still hear it in some other headphones but not as pronounced. Anyone else notice this?

 
I was going to write a long reply but I'll keep it simple. It's your odac or the music, but most likely your odac. A lot of delta sigma dac's have this grainy gritty sound in the treble and it gets fatiguing.
 
edit Vocals usually have a lot of sibilance too, the HD650 kind of tames it but it still goes through.

 

[mysticstryk]

One of my favorite qualities of the hd650 is how natural vocals sound. I agree that it could be your music or audio chain.

 

[DavidA]

Here is something to end the weekend on: