[Stoney]

Quote:

Yeah, Valhalla is a great value and works really nice with HD650. I am not sure about it's compatibility with AKG k701 though, but it is another thread 

 
@Stoney: What do you think about Valhalla compared to your other currently owned amplifiers?

 
Currently I don't have any home amplifiers of note.  I have an old Perreaux, but it is not good, and sound is not stable depending on warm up etc.  I had a WA6 (original) and found it too "swimmy" and vague, although (after tube rolling) a lovely experience... just not an exciting or revealing one.  
 
My Arrow is great for the money.  The RSA SR-71B is great solid state, but a touch of glare and not the goosebump realism of the Valhalla. 
 
I'll have more observations in a week or so.  Taking the Valhalla home tomorrow.  
 
Caveat: my listening today was with an iPad 3 line out and CD lossless. The iPad is lovely to listen to but not completely flat or revealing... it just doesn't have any egregious flaws and is musically satisfying.  My comments are mostly relative ones. Later in the week I'll use my Mac-Meridian source.  

 

[bracko]

Quote:

 
Currently I don't have any home amplifiers of note.  I have an old Perreaux, but it is not good, and sound is not stable depending on warm up etc.  I had a WA6 (original) and found it too "swimmy" and vague, although (after tube rolling) a lovely experience... just not an exciting or revealing one.  
 
My Arrow is great for the money.  The RSA SR-71B is great solid state, but a touch of glare and not the goosebump realism of the Valhalla. 
 
I'll have more observations in a week or so.  Taking the Valhalla home tomorrow.  
 
Caveat: my listening today was with an iPad 3 line out and CD lossless. The iPad is lovely to listen to but not completely flat or revealing... it just doesn't have any egregious flaws and is musically satisfying.  My comments are mostly relative ones. Later in the week I'll use my Mac-Meridian source.  

I see. It will be fun to read your impressions when your amp arrives, preferably with another source too.  
 
I heard a WA6 amp a couple of months ago and wasn't really impressed either. I thought that my X-Can v3 was far more revealing and lively with nicer pace and airyness. I listened to both my k701 and HD650 and had similar experience.

 

[3ntropy]

After doing some reading, definitely my next set of cans. Will probably pick up an Aune T1 or Schiit stack to go with them, thoughts?

 

[Kingston12]

I love the sound of my new HD650s straight from my Marantz SR7007 AV Amp. Given that this seems to be driving them well enough, does anyone think that I will get a significant improvement from buying a dedicated amp like the LD Mk3 or Schitt Valhalla?

 

[pp312]

No. The Marantz amps and receivers have great headphone outs and the improvement if any will be minimal. The only possible reason you might want to change is that the Marantz sound tends to be lush and might be too much with the lush sound of the 650--but then, can you really have too much of a good thing? 

 

[Kingston12]

No. The Marantz amps and receivers have great headphone outs and the improvement if any will be minimal. The only possible reason you might want to change is that the Marantz sound tends to be lush and might be too much with the lush sound of the 650--but then, can you really have too much of a good thing? 

 
Thanks, I thought that might be the case. I quite like a warmer sound anyway, and I haven't found this combination too much so far.

 

[joebobbilly]

Quote:

After doing some reading, definitely my next set of cans. Will probably pick up an Aune T1 or Schiit stack to go with them, thoughts?

Go Schiit. Asgard 2 and Uberfrost would be the ones that come to mind. They sound great with the Lyr and good tubes too... and of course... if you're willing to fork out the cash for balanced... the Mjolnir/Gungnir stack is certainly recommended by me.

 

[olegausany]

Also WA7 is an excellent choice

 

[daniel0407]

I have a small question. Why if the HD650 has (much) more detail than my last headphones, is at the same time more forgiving with bad recordings? is it because of the sensitivity and high impedance?

 

[jwusoccer]

Quote:

I have a small question. Why if the HD650 has (much) more detail than my last headphones, is at the same time more forgiving with bad recordings? is it because of the sensitivity and high impedance?

Nope, the impedance and sensitivity have nothing to do with it. Rather, it has a very laid-back presentation, and nothing really stands out throughout the spectrum. The high-end is also somewhat recessed, so when you listen to bad recordings, you don't get as many unnatural spikes as you would with a headphone like the hd800.

 

[mvrk10256]

Woot mine came in today. 

 

[Stoney]

Amps for HE650: 
 
At the meet, I found the Schiit Valhalla killed the Lyr and the WA7 (using my own source), at least in midrange and treble, both of which shifted significantly toward an obvious better reproduction of live sound.  This wasn't different; it was to me strikingly in the "true" direction.  That experience happens rarely unless one is making a huge price leap usually.  Mike Moffat said the Valhalla was designed for a high impedance phone, (Beyer, I think), and the impedance of the HD650 is almost as high.  I have one here and in some days will be able to post longer-term impressions.  But, as much as I like Woo, it was smoothed over and uninformative, even boring, whereas the Valhalla was excitingly live, and alive, with only decreases in artificial texture and anything one might consider a negative.  Caveats: I could not assess bass well in the noisy room, but I heard enough to plunk my money down. Also, quiet recordings required nearly all of the volume knob range to play loudly.  Your source could make the difference here. 
 
To me, this likely will kill any headphone out of any receiver, but I have never heard a McIntosh. 

 

[dleblanc343]

I realized today while showing a customer that Sennheiser updated the HD650's again. Now the cups are slanted and you have a shiny sticker inside the headphone (probably for authenticity). Anyone know when they did this update? I can swear it sounds better than from memory and my pair from past year.

 

[alv4426]

^^^That doesn't look different to me. I think even the old black driver models had "slanted" drivers. Not sure what sticker you mean.

 

[foreign]

After purchasing the hd650 and running it from a soundcard I thought the senns were nice but after purchasing a tube amp and external dac wow these are the best cans I have ever listened to. I'm new to this forum but the beautiful mids and bass from the hd650's have got me listening to old tracks from the past and has got me excited about music all over again. I'm hearing details in music that I haven't had the pleasure of hearing before. +1 to Sennheiser for helping me appreciate music in a whole different light and giving me these new experiences.