[guambeats]

Anyone have any experience with this setup? I'm planning on buying some HD650's for mixing. Should I get a separate headphone-pre, or is the Apogee Duet 2 headphone-pre sufficient?
 
Thanks

 

[schmargle]

I use the Duet 2 with HD580s, which should be pretty similar to the 650s. And I think it all sounds great for mixing. I can't imagine needing or wanting an external headphone amp...unless, I guess, if you wanted something particularly tubey. The Duet just sounds very clean to me. Everything I mix with this setup is translating well on other speakers. I really recommend it.

 

[fabio-fi]

Have only tried it with the HD600's. It was a fine match. 
Cant comment with the 650's...as they need some extra oomph. 

 

[guambeats]

Yeah I really like how Apogee just made this bad.A interface 

 It's so clean, yet pristine? I can't wait to hear what my HD650's sound like out of it. Hopefully it'll be enough "umph" like fabio mentioned...

 

[L4very]

Hi Beats,
 
I use the Duet 2 with my HD600's recabled with a 650 cable. The diff between the Headphone out on the Duet 2 nad my Gilmore lite amp (fed from the balanced out) is so close when A/B'd. The Gilmore just has slightly more warmth and overall bounce to the music but for an all in one portable unit the Duet has really wowed me. Love all the features, brilliant for mixing on the go!
 
 

 

[guambeats]

As long as it's pretty close to a good grade pre-amp, I'm totally fine with that 

 

[ac3320]

Sorry to resurrect a thread from a few months ago, but I was wondering if anyone can confirm that the 650's will sound as good as they can through the Duet 2's headphone out? I know the 650's are 300 Ohms of impedance, and I know the Duet 2 only has 30 Ohms of output impedance. Would one of the cheapish FiiO headphone amps suffice? 
 
As an aside, how would the NuForce Icon HDP fair agains the Duet 2? Surely it seems that the HDP has a more proper high impedance headphone powering option...

 

[HamilcarBarca]

Quote:

I know the 650's are 300 Ohms of impedance, and I know the Duet 2 only has 30 Ohms of output impedance. Would one of the cheapish FiiO headphone amps suffice? 

 
Is the Duet2 a good amplifier? I don't know.
 
Is its output impedance good for the HD 650? Yes.
 
The output impedance of the amp should be no more than 1/8 of the headphone's input impedance. The Duet2's impedance is 1/10 of the HD 650's.

 

[ac3320]

You know I have heard that 1/8 rule thing before, but it is never substantiated by anything legitimate. I asked Apogee and Sennheiser directly and they both said that the output impedance of the amplifier should match as closely as possible the input impedance of the headphones. So I'm not really sure what to believe. I was reading some reviews on here and stumbled on a thread where, buried in the midst of random stuff, a poster said something to the effect, "If you were hoping like I was that the Apogee Duet 2 was the right headphone amp for the HD650, you were wrong! It does not provide enough juice to drive the 650's properly, and their sound is not as tight as it is with a proper headphone amp." That was the primary reason for my posting. I've asked Apogee to expand on their comment regarding amp/headphone impedance matching, but it literally took them 6 months to answer my first question. Pretty horrible :/

 

[ac3320]

I have asked Apogee and am awaiting their reply! Will keep you all informed as to whether they actually abide by this "1/8" rule or not. Not to refute the previous poster here (as the 'rule' is well documented on the internet), but I just want to put it out there for visibility's sake.

 

[devgru]

I have listened to the 650s through the Duet2 (have two of them). The Duet drives the 650s very well. I like to think I have good ears and I didn't notice much of a difference between the HP-out of the Duet2 (and 650s) and the RME Babyface -> Lehmann BCL -> 650s. Yes, the BCL had more power but the reproduction was very similar.

 

[soundslikebliss]

Quote:

I have asked Apogee and am awaiting their reply! Will keep you all informed as to whether they actually abide by this "1/8" rule or not. Not to refute the previous poster here (as the 'rule' is well documented on the internet), but I just want to put it out there for visibility's sake.

 
did you ever find a conclusion to this?

 

[wrightanswer@ear]

Yes, I'd like to hear the answer too. Any update?

 

[ubs28]

It's safe to say that the HD650 works with Apogee mobile sound cards?

 

[danlee0502]

Well, I don't have a the HD650 but I have a DT770/250 DT880/250 And would like to know this answer too, I'm pretty sure if it can drive HD650 just fine it can drive the DT's fine too.