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Sennheiser HDVD800 Headphone Amplifier
Mar 13, 2015 at 12:35 PM Post #2,521 of 3,016
joeq70 said:
A few thoughts. I love the HDVA600. I read somewhere that buying it for the HD800 is basically like buying the Beyerdynamic A1 for the T1.

No. Just, no. Don't let ill informed comments like those dissuade you from trying this amp.

I like gain setting 2 best for the HD600. I like gain 3 and higher for Audeze headphones and Mr. Speaker headphones.

That said, the HDVA600 is pretty expensive. Has anyone heard any other amp that sounds like the HDVA600 but costs less?
Click to expand...

 
I also like the HDVA 600 for HD650 and K812, not so much for the SRH1540 though. I tried the SRH1540 driven by the Senn amp before, and the bass became utterly loose and bloated.. I honestly think even cheap DAPs will be better for the SRH1540.
 
And although I never get the chance to listen to both side-by-side, from memory the Graham Slee Solo SRGII sounds very close to the SE-out of the HDVA 600. Take this with a grain of salt though as I didn't listen to them side-by-side.
 
Mar 15, 2015 at 10:14 PM Post #2,522 of 3,016
sorry my english is bad....  iam from hitler land ....and in stupid germany noboby  talks about this amazing  headphone  amp  :-/  
only short time  ...and  most people say  oooh its  too expensive   :)
 
 
i have search here in the tread but i found nothing about my question  ... dont not want to read all
 
i have a lcd 3 f    and  buy a  hdvd 800    for  it   ( comes next week)    but read  on  guy on  amazon  he mean  is not so good  ...oppo ha 1 better
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HDVD-800-Headphone-Amplifier/product-reviews/B00BHBWWFW/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_2?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addTwoStar&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
 
 
and here is one review  he said same ....translate in your language   and look under  the pic  with the hd 800  how the cam show  serial  from above
 
 
 http://soundnews.ro/2013/07/18/sennheiser-hdvd800-review/
 
 
 
what you think about  ...test it anyone  ?
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 1:26 AM Post #2,524 of 3,016
That Amazon reviewer was so poor at explaining himself that he came across as slightly insane. He made it sound as if he connected the LCD-3 to the amp bypass outputs on the back, and was disappointed these unamplified outputs weren't capable of driving the headphones. I'm going to assume he didn't mean that, though it wouldn't be the first time I've heard of people doing something like that.
 
It is true though that you will probably not get the absolute best sound from the LCD-3 with the HDVD 800. It'll sound good! I haven't heard the LCD-3 myself, but I've used the LCD-2 and LCD-X with the HDVD 800, and I wouldn't call the sound they produced bad by any means. It just won't sound as good as it could do with a different high end amp with a design better suited for the LCD-3. The ideal companion for the HDVA 600/HDVD 800 is the Sennheiser HD 800.
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 2:43 AM Post #2,525 of 3,016
@ icebear  ...i  tell it pm :)
 
 
 
 
 translate something with  promt   and do best to understand... :-/
 
@ manko
 
i see you have the essence III   ....iam also fan from asus  essence st, stx ..II   and one last time...  
 
i love amps they dont look like selfe made  and the commercial from  III  on tube  is one of the best 
 
on witch amp  you use your lcds .....  hdvd oder essence III  ?
 
 
when you find essence better i think i must switch :)   
 
i love this open sound from hdvd
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 4:15 AM Post #2,526 of 3,016
For the LCD headphones the Essence III amp sounds better. It sounds more linear, while the HDVD 800 creates peaks in the sound which obscure the deep bass. It makes the LCD headphones not sound like I expect them to based on their frequency response, while the Essence III does make them sound as they should.
 
One negative with the Essence III amp is that is sounds slightly less wide than the HDVD 800. This becomes especially noticeable with the HD 800. The sound clearly widens when I switch to the HDVD 800, and this is using the Essence III as a dac with the HDVD 800. For the sake of quick comparison this was while using the standard unbalanced HD 800 cable, so the HDVD 800 wasn't even playing to its full strengths in this comparison. One note though. I have never heard what the balanced amp outputs on the Essence III sound like, because the converter cables it comes with convert its strange mini-XLR outputs to two male 3 PIN XLR, and all my balanced headphone cables terminate into male 4 PIN. I'd have to get extra converters to use my existing cables.
 
I love the sound of the Essence III dac in combination with the HDVD 800 amp and the HD 800. For other lower impedance headphones I use the on-board amp on the Essence III or my O2. I know it's possible to get a better dac and better amp, because neither aren't perfect as other reviews will point out. But I like them both!
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 4:39 AM Post #2,528 of 3,016
jagwap said:
  I suspect the HDVD800's non-negligible output impedance (40-43 ohm) does not work as well with a 30ohm Audeze, and is more in tune with the HD-800's 300-600 ohm impedance.
Click to expand...

 
But Planar headphones have perfectly linear impedance graph, so all the output impedance would do to Audezes is send reduced amount of power. Sound quality-wise, the high output impedance would not highlight/hide certain part of the FR.
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 5:37 AM Post #2,530 of 3,016
I owna pair of lcd3. And the hdvd800. I can try it tonight and clamper ot to my woo wa5 . The last time I dod this I did not feel there was a loss . The seen as amp only is very neutral , more so then then woo of course . Also the output imp would not effect the sound . Lastly I thought the imp you quote is double what it is.
Meaning in SE its 12 ohms and abiut double that in BAL . Big agin this should not mean anything to sound.
Al
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 7:09 AM Post #2,531 of 3,016
62ohm said:
   
But Planar headphones have perfectly linear impedance graph, so all the output impedance would do to Audezes is send reduced amount of power. Sound quality-wise, the high output impedance would not highlight/hide certain part of the FR.
Click to expand...

But there is more to sound quality than frequency response.  A low output impedance ratio gives a high damping factor. With loudspeaker s and amplifiers a damping factor of > 200 is recommended, although that is usually a much more complex load with multiple drivers and crossovers.
 
The damping factor with the HD800 is 7.5 - 15, and with the Audeze is <0.8.
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 5:52 PM Post #2,532 of 3,016
jagwap said:
  But there is more to sound quality than frequency response.  A low output impedance ratio gives a high damping factor. With loudspeaker s and amplifiers a damping factor of > 200 is recommended, although that is usually a much more complex load with multiple drivers and crossovers.
 
The damping factor with the HD800 is 7.5 - 15, and with the Audeze is <0.8.
Click to expand...


I find that by reading and re-reading this excellent article from innerfidelity.com, I gain more understanding of what amps do beside make headphones louder, and why the ratio of headphone input impedance to amp output impedance ("damping factor") makes a difference:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/musings-headphone-amplifier-output-impedance
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 6:05 PM Post #2,533 of 3,016
Not tonight clouds over your sunny day.
But there is also articles about why damping in headphones matters less than speakers.
Also planers have no imp but just resistive and have no damping effecs. Only Coil driven headphones can be ellffected by damping. Listen and read where even the so called experts spout bull.
Also any crioss over used in headphones or iems matters far more than any damping effect. To understand damping you need to understand the coils of headphones are so small that don't effect anything. Although you can measure its effect but does it effect the sound is another story. My lcd3 by damping factor should fair poor. But the arrival does not lend the planar is purely resistive as such does not have any.
Listen with your brain not others comments
Al
 
Mar 16, 2015 at 10:55 PM Post #2,535 of 3,016
alrainbow said:
Not tonight clouds over your sunny day.
But there is also articles about why damping in headphones matters less than speakers.
Also planers have no imp but just resistive and have no damping effecs. Only Coil driven headphones can be ellffected by damping. Listen and read where even the so called experts spout bull.
Also any crioss over used in headphones or iems matters far more than any damping effect. To understand damping you need to understand the coils of headphones are so small that don't effect anything. Although you can measure its effect but does it effect the sound is another story. My lcd3 by damping factor should fair poor. But the arrival does not lend the planar is purely resistive as such does not have any.
Listen with your brain not others comments
Al
Click to expand...

Planars have back EMF same as other drivers.  They are still a electrical current passing through a magnetic field.  Back EMF is one aspect that damping factor affects.
 
(resistance is a subset of impedance)
 
I've been designing amplifiers for a little while now, and I believe in the laws of physics too.  With an open set of ears connected to an open mind, I sometimes find a sonic effect which hopefully leads to some new understanding of the physics and repeatable measurements.  
 
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