[VocaloidDude]

Wondering if anyone thinks it's a good idea to run this thing out of the magni 2 and modi from schiit.

 

[bearFNF]

Wondering if anyone thinks it's a good idea to run this thing out of the magni 2 and modi from schiit.

I'd do vali2 before magni2. Magni has always been too bright for me with several headphones HD800 included. YMMV and all that.

 

[VocaloidDude]

I'd do vali2 before magni2. Magni has always been too bright for me with several headphones HD800 included. YMMV and all that.

I have the old Vali.

 

[bearFNF]

I have the old Vali.

so do I, it works well with the HD800, if you can get past the ringing tubes every time you breath on it...

 

[VocaloidDude]

so do I, it works well with the HD800, if you can get past the ringing tubes every time you breath on it...

I'm sure it will hold me over until I get the Magni 3 or Asgard 2 I am not sure whether to get the Asgard 2 or the Magni 3. The Magni 3 actually has more power than the Asgard 2, the Asgard 2 just has a pre-amp. I have no idea what a pre-amp is for.

I only payed 750 on the HD800s on an Amazon Warehouse deal, I don't want to push the cost of this purchase that much higher. I don't think there's much reason to when you're just paying for a neutral amplifier with enough power to make it loud enough.

 

[Thenewguy007]

I'm sure it will hold me over until I get the Magni 3 or Asgard 2 I am not sure whether to get the Asgard 2 or the Magni 3. The Magni 3 actually has more power than the Asgard 2, the Asgard 2 just has a pre-amp. I have no idea what a pre-amp is for.

I only payed 750 on the HD800s on an Amazon Warehouse deal, I don't want to push the cost of this purchase that much higher. I don't think there's much reason to when you're just paying for a neutral amplifier with enough power to make it loud enough.

Get neither.

Go with a tube amp for the HD800. Schiit's budget line of tube amps is hard to beat.

The halfway decent solid state amps that start to only sound o.k with the HD800 all go for over a grand.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Get neither.

Go with a tube amp for the HD800. Schiit's budget line of tube amps is hard to beat.

The halfway decent solid state amps that start to only sound o.k with the HD800 all go for over a grand.

Cavalli Liquid Carbon is excellent with the HD800 like @buke9 said. It can be had for like $450 used. (If someone buys one make sure they get the original model. There were too many issues with the volume pot on the second gen)

For $250 you can get an Elemental Watson tube hybrid and I don’t see much of anything beating that price for its performance. Not to mention to is NOT a bright amp as a lot of the uber popular entry level amp brands are.

My 2 cents

 

[VocaloidDude]

Why would I buy tubes? I want neutral sound. Innerfidelity said the Magni 3 is as good as a 1000 dollar solid state amp anyways. Plus I do not want to have to keep buying more tubes when they wear out.

 

[Eggtuary]

Why would I buy tubes? I want neutral sound. Innerfidelity said the Magni 3 is as good as a 1000 dollar solid state amp anyways. Plus I do not want to have to keep buying more tubes when they wear out.

Because a lot of folks will say that the HD800 headphones are not neutral. A tube amp can give you more bass, and balance out the high end. The folks who do this are trying to minimize processing, so rather than use EQ, they tell you to go with an amp that will naturally warm the sound.

 

[VocaloidDude]

Anyways! Forgetting the gusts of wind which were just interrupting the thread... I am very happy to have found the Sennheiser HD800 for 750 in Amazon Warehouse Deals. I'm also very happy to hear from Innerfidelity and Schiit themselves tell me that the Magni 3 will power basically any headphone, and power it well. Schiit specifically told me that the Magni 2 will power the HD800 okay at moderate listening levels, but for higher volume it doesn't have as much wattage as the Magni 3 which would be a better amp for it.

I remember watching a video called audio mythbusters or something, which was saying that tubes will give you a "warmer sound" but they are always going to be coloring the sound, and if you want the most neutral response possible you should go with solid state amps. They also said that you just need to have an amp which has enough power, and the Magni 3 has that much power.

Also, Innerfidelity said that the HD800 is one of the best monitoring headphones in the world (back in 2012) in his video review. So the idea that a headphone which is detailed enough to bring out all the details in a headphone, and was said by Innerfidelity to give you the most accurate representation you can for audio mixing is "not neutral" seems silly. I have no idea what you guys are talking about with this "it's not neutral" stuff, and then going and suggesting that I need to color a supposedly colored headphone with a colored amplifier.

Anyways, I don't mean to disrespect your taste in tube amps, if you want to listen to them that's fine. The reason I am getting an HD800 is because I had a very specific itch that I wanted to scratch. When I had an LCD-2, the presentation and imaging was better than my HD650. I want to experience the best imaging in the world, which is why I decided to go to the HD800. I am also more than happy to be spending less than 1000 dollars on what seems to be, by my logical deductions, a perfectly respectable set of purchases.

 

[AxelCloris]

Please keep posts from getting personal. Thanks everyone.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Anyways! Forgetting the gusts of wind which were just interrupting the thread... I am very happy to have found the Sennheiser HD800 for 750 in Amazon Warehouse Deals. I'm also very happy to hear from Innerfidelity and Schiit themselves tell me that the Magni 3 will power basically any headphone, and power it well. Schiit specifically told me that the Magni 2 will power the HD800 okay at moderate listening levels, but for higher volume it doesn't have as much wattage as the Magni 3 which would be a better amp for it.

I remember watching a video called audio mythbusters or something, which was saying that tubes will give you a "warmer sound" but they are always going to be coloring the sound, and if you want the most neutral response possible you should go with solid state amps. They also said that you just need to have an amp which has enough power, and the Magni 3 has that much power.

Also, Innerfidelity said that the HD800 is one of the best monitoring headphones in the world (back in 2012) in his video review. So the idea that a headphone which is detailed enough to bring out all the details in a headphone, and was said by Innerfidelity to give you the most accurate representation you can for audio mixing is "not neutral" seems silly. I have no idea what you guys are talking about with this "it's not neutral" stuff, and then going and suggesting that I need to color a supposedly colored headphone with a colored amplifier.

Anyways, I don't mean to disrespect your taste in tube amps, if you want to listen to them that's fine. The reason I am getting an HD800 is because I had a very specific itch that I wanted to scratch. When I had an LCD-2, the presentation and imaging was better than my HD650. I want to experience the best imaging in the world, which is why I decided to go to the HD800. I am also more than happy to be spending less than 1000 dollars on what seems to be, by my logical deductions, a perfectly respectable set of purchases.

Do you have a high end Audio store where you would be able to demo this stuff your self? I feel like it could really help you

 

[VocaloidDude]

Do you have a high end Audio store where you would be able to demo this stuff your self? I feel like it could really help you

No, I don't. I have been demoing stuff through online stores for years. It is not ideal, but it is simply what I must endure.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

No, I don't. I have been demoing stuff through online stores for years. It is not ideal, but it is simply what I must endure.

Edit: sorry was too off topic. I don’t want to derail the thread.

 

[Eggtuary]

Also, Innerfidelity said that the HD800 is one of the best monitoring headphones in the world (back in 2012) in his video review. So the idea that a headphone which is detailed enough to bring out all the details in a headphone, and was said by Innerfidelity to give you the most accurate representation you can for audio mixing is "not neutral" seems silly. I have no idea what you guys are talking about with this "it's not neutral" stuff, and then going and suggesting that I need to color a supposedly colored headphone with a colored amplifier.

When you get your HD800 phones, they should come with a zip drive. On the drive will be a mapping of the frequency response curve. It's quite flat ... except for:

* "Spike" around 6 kHz
* Doesn't show anything for the ends of the range of human hearing (down near 20 Hz, for instance.) Which suggests there may be a significant roll off at the low end.

So, it's not perfectly neutral, by Sennheiser's own admission, though it's pretty darn close. And the theory is that Sennheiser deliberately built in the peak around 6 kHz because it emphasizes those things we perceive as "detail."

So, if you truly want neutral, you'll need to bring up the lowest end, and bring down the peak. I'm among those who say an EQ is better for that task. I'd also say I'm getting older, so I have to use a bit of a U-shaped curve in my EQ (except around 6 kHz) in order to compensate for my aging hearing. If you're a younger guy, you may not need that at all.

We're just saying that a warm tube amp is one way that some people have chosen to "EQ" in a fairly minimalist way.