[Mambosenior]

Hi Mambosenior,

How does one go about using speaker taps and balanced cable.  I actually have an old Hafler amp and would love to try it with my HD 800s.

Thanks!

Balanced cable from HD-800 to pigtail 4-pin XLR connector on speaker taps. Put a 10ohm/10watt resistor in parallel on speaker taps with the pigtail. Use a passive or regular preamp to control gain of your source.

Better yet, go to the speaker amp thread where you can read the discussions of folks who got me to try the gambit of speaker amps for HPs and give good advice. The first part of the thread is the most informative. Member "Happy Camper" has also given excellent advice on various threads regarding speaker amps.

 

[acantor]

Many thanks!!

 

[superachromat]

  ~~Hi Eric, We only have one facebook page for SPL at the moment. As for the new Phonitor 2... yes it is true and we will be showing it at the Namm show for the first time in Jan Marty SPL-USA
 
this is the answer I received after asking for the new spl amplifier. from marty druckman of spl usa. the amplifier will be shown for the first time at the beginning of January at the namm show in California. 
 
the only thing we know about it is that it is gonna be called phonitor 2. that is all. and no it is not going to be sold at mid November. we are mid November.
 
as far as I am concerned, the hifiman ef-6 is a great amplifier for the hd 800. I use mine with black dragon premium cable and the sound is great.very deep bass, yet great clarity.

 
Hi Eric,
 
That looks interesting. Ummm...Phonitor 2. Perhaps with balanced headphone output then. Have to wait and see what will come out.

 

[7ryder]

  Luxman P1u or P1 hands down.  You may have an easier time getting one too since you are in HK.  I have owned both the GS-Xmk2 and p1u at the same time.

Then in your opinion, the Luxman is better than the Headamp with the HD800? Could you provide some details as to why? 

 

[rgs9200m]

I had the Luxman P1U and the Rudistor RP010B with the HD800s for a few weeks at the same time and I kept the Rudistor, as it added a touch of mellowness that took the 
annoying clinical edge off the HD800s and increased the image size. I feel HD800s and the Rudistor make a good synergistic match.
The same thing happened (even more so) with the bass light Sony R10s I had at the same time with these 2 amps, even more so.
The Rudistor was the best amp for the R10s for me just as it was a great solid state amp for the HD800s. (I still prefer tubes for 800s though.)
The Luxman was very nice with Beyer T1s I had then.
The Luxman was really excellent with my Grado GS1000s for some reason, controlling the bass very well.
 
FWIW, my Grado GS1000i phones now sound extremely nice (a balanced sound, just revealing enough, very musical and relaxing where I can listen for hours)
through the headphone output jack  on my Luxman L507U integrated amp. This was unexpected for me with a non-headphone amp.
 
I highly recommend this integrated amp to anyone looking for one. It can double as great headphone amp.

 

[wisemanja]

You owe it to yourself to try and have a listen to the HDV800 or HDA600 Sennheiser headphone amps with your HD800. The amp sections in both of these are the same. They have been tuned to work specifically with the HD800. They do have an output impedance of around 47 ohms so they would not work well with low impedance headphones. However high impedance headphones with impedance curves similar to the HD800 or Beyerdynamic T1s seem to work really well with them. I have heard more than one person state that the HDV800 was the best overall match for their HD800.
 
The HDV800 and HDA600 headphone amps are fully balanced though and although they can be run single ended, and they don't sound quite as good in that mode.
 
Note that I do not have any HD800s. Instead I am using a HDV800 with my Beyerdynamic T1s. The amp seems to nicely tame some treble area issues that both the HD800s and the T1s have. It also seems to be one of the nicest solid state amps with no real graininess, except for graininess in the original recordings that can come through.
 
- Jeff

 

[superachromat]

  I had the Luxman P1U and the Rudistor RP010B with the HD800s for a few weeks at the same time and I kept the Rudistor, as it added a touch of mellowness that took the 
annoying clinical edge off the HD800s and increased the image size. I feel HD800s and the Rudistor make a good synergistic match.
The same thing happened (even more so) with the bass light Sony R10s I had at the same time with these 2 amps, even more so.
The Rudistor was the best amp for the R10s for me just as it was a great solid state amp for the HD800s. (I still prefer tubes for 800s though.)
The Luxman was very nice with Beyer T1s I had then.
The Luxman was really excellent with my Grado GS1000s for some reason, controlling the bass very well.
 
FWIW, my Grado GS1000i phones now sound extremely nice (a balanced sound, just revealing enough, very musical and relaxing where I can listen for hours)
through the headphone output jack  on my Luxman L507U integrated amp. This was unexpected for me with a non-headphone amp.
 
I highly recommend this integrated amp to anyone looking for one. It can double as great headphone amp.

 
Hi rgs9200m,
 
Although I target on a SS amp for the HD800, may I also know which tube amp would you prefer for the HD800?
 
I guess we have similar preference on the music presentation. Personally, I prefer the RP030 over P1U as well.
 
Cheers,

 

[superachromat]

  You owe it to yourself to try and have a listen to the HDV800 or HDA600 Sennheiser headphone amps with your HD800. The amp sections in both of these are the same. They have been tuned to work specifically with the HD800. They do have an output impedance of around 47 ohms so they would not work well with low impedance headphones. However high impedance headphones with impedance curves similar to the HD800 or Beyerdynamic T1s seem to work really well with them. I have heard more than one person state that the HDV800 was the best overall match for their HD800.
 
The HDV800 and HDA600 headphone amps are fully balanced though and although they can be run single ended, and they don't sound quite as good in that mode.
 
Note that I do not have any HD800s. Instead I am using a HDV800 with my Beyerdynamic T1s. The amp seems to nicely tame some treble area issues that both the HD800s and the T1s have. It also seems to be one of the nicest solid state amps with no real graininess, except for graininess in the original recordings that can come through.
 
- Jeff

 
Hi Jeff,
 
Sure. I have tried the HDVA800 in the AV Show in Hong Kong. However, the audtion was done in a rush and noisy environment. These two amps from Sennheiser shall be available in Hong Kong in the Nov. All I hear is they are reserved already. I will see if there are any demo in the shops for more serious audition again.
 
Cheers,

 

[rgs9200m]

I use a Pinnacle, which I think really brings the 800s to a much higher level, with a very nice combination of rounded images with lots of fine detail along with 
great image boundaries (well defined but not too sharp). If I was in the market for a new amp, I would be checking out the new Apex Teton,
as I think Pete Millet has a great ear for dynamic headphone amplification based on the Pinnacle which made many phones I found ordinary or even unacceptable
sound great and musical.
The Pinnacle just has 3 tubes, so maintenance is pretty simple I think and well worth that great tube signature (but in the Pinnacle, with no trace of sloppiness,
so the best of both worlds).
The Pinnacle for me is by far the best match for the HD800s, which can sound clinical and uninvolving on many many amps, even high priced ones.

 

[superachromat]

  I use a Pinnacle, which I think really brings the 800s to a much higher level, with a very nice combination of rounded images with lots of fine detail along with 
great image boundaries (well defined but not too sharp). If I was in the market for a new amp, I would be checking out the new Apex Teton,
as I think Pete Millet has a great ear for dynamic headphone amplification based on the Pinnacle which made many phones I found ordinary or even unacceptable
sound great and musical.
The Pinnacle just has 3 tubes, so maintenance is pretty simple I think and well worth that great tube signature (but in the Pinnacle, with no trace of sloppiness,
so the best of both worlds).
The Pinnacle for me is by far the best match for the HD800s, which can sound clinical and uninvolving on many many amps, even high priced ones.

 
Thanks, rgs9200m. The Pinnacle is one of the very high end / expensive headphone amp that I found. I think they dont have any demo in Hong Kong now. Sad on this.

 

[louis9]

Has anyone tried it grace audio m903?

 

[rgs9200m]

Superachromat, thanks for the good words. 
There are really no demos on most high end stuff that are practical to do. I just do research online, ask people sometimes, and make a leap of faith and buy it.
There usually is no other way. I think most people here I would guess do the same thing. 

 

[fhuang]

  I use a Pinnacle, which I think really brings the 800s to a much higher level, with a very nice combination of rounded images with lots of fine detail along with 
great image boundaries (well defined but not too sharp). If I was in the market for a new amp, I would be checking out the new Apex Teton,
as I think Pete Millet has a great ear for dynamic headphone amplification based on the Pinnacle which made many phones I found ordinary or even unacceptable
sound great and musical.
The Pinnacle just has 3 tubes, so maintenance is pretty simple I think and well worth that great tube signature (but in the Pinnacle, with no trace of sloppiness,
so the best of both worlds).
The Pinnacle for me is by far the best match for the HD800s, which can sound clinical and uninvolving on many many amps, even high priced ones.

you like hd800 more with the pinnacle than b52? 

 

[rgs9200m]

  you like hd800 more with the pinnacle than b52? 

Yes. Sweeter.

 

[fhuang]

  Yes. Sweeter.

 
px4 sound sweeter than 12au7 maybe? 
 
what about in general b52 vs pinnacle?