Hi
I tried in store in Japan for about 3 hours.
In this case I tried with in-store Senn HD800s, Yamaha 5000se (Serial number less than 100!) and Sony Z1R.
ISSUE
The USB audio sources I tried were FiiO R7 and my Sony Xperia 1 V phone using their default music player apps. A variety of 44.1-192khz flac files.
- Amp firmware 1.01
- Phone using default audio player
No issues from the R7, but my phone took some attempts just to get it to handshake with the HA-L7A, it would just play music through the phones speaker, had to play around, turn the amp off and on, checking if my phone said the volume was for usb or not, once a connection was established it would stay connected, BUT, it would be on and off if selecting a song would actually play or not. The quality of the file didn't affect the reliability.
I had to keep checking the source info on the amp to see if it was detecting a signal while selecting songs. The Amp would show the correct bit rate of the file being played if it worked, or just display ---/--- if it didn't want to. This issue only happened while selecting a song, not while playing. Sometimes I had to tap the same song like 7 times for it to actually start.
The amp has a DAC lock range option set to default 2. (1 is least strict, least precise, 3 may drop out on some devices).
I need to go back and try it set to 1 with my phone to see if this issue stops. Of course if I took it home my PC would be the USB source.
The day after thoughts
I still want to listen to music through this amp, I'm actually wondering if I should drop cash and keep it...
Initial thoughts
I had a lot of fun. I actually like all the options it presents making me want to try many songs with many settings. In the past I just had a simple press play and listen setup, so it revitalizes my collection in that regard, at least at first while your having fun with all the features. I don't know if I would continue to keep changing / enabling & disabling options long term or if its a honeymoon period thing though.
I didn't think any of the three headphones sounded particularly bad through the amp, but my current option (Sim Audio Moon 240i stereo amplifiers headphone jack) is simply not worth pulling the HD800 out for. Its like comparing listening with a string and paper cups vs being there, probably making my impressions way more positive than those with a lot of experience.
You get VERY different sound with the sound field options. These are not subtle
at all.
Usually I like just pure direct, but to my surprise some of these filters actually didn't sound like horror with additional horror. But it was very song specific if they worked or not.
- Outdoor Live
Some 70's and 80's rock studio recordings, like AC/DCs High Voltage album was actually not bad. Especially if you hate hearing guitar coming out 100% from left headphone, which you are immediately subjected to on the first track.
- Music Video
I couldn't say worse or better, it really depends if you want to play with altering the sound of the original recordings or not. I can't really describe it other than trying to push the music away from your head and more coming from in front of you. i/e some aggressive cross feed option.
- Concert Hall
Adds quite a lot of reverb, sometimes didn't kill the music either.
- BGM
I didn't really like at all, just sounded more muted, not relaxed, just broken.
- Straight
This is essentially unaltered, but allows you to still play with normal DAC filters. Which I left mostly on the default Short Latency setting ("An original digital filter by Yamaha"). To be honest I couldn't tell what any of those filters did. I'll have to try listening to specific sources with the filters descriptions and see if I can actually detect anything or not.
- Cinema/Drama.
I didn't listen long enough to really describe. They both did prevent hard left/right sounds from staying hard left/right.
Overall all options other than Straight add crosstalk. Basically trying to stop the feeling you specifically get listening to headphones (exaugurated separation). So no hard left/right sounds.
I stress that these changes are very obvious, I noted in Concert Hall when pausing the music you can hear echo and reverb die off over like 1/4 of a second. So I imagine some people instant hating them, some loving them. Some wishing you can dial the strength of the effect back a bit. Unfortunately its all or nothing.
Yamahas descriptions of Sound Field Mode can be read here:
https://manual.yamaha.com/av/22/hal7a/en-US/10141178891.html
Comparing Headphones
I enjoyed all three headphones through the amp. All headphones showed very different sound signatures and worked well with different kind of music each.
With High Gain on, volume was set to:
-27db HD800 - 1/4 inch unbalanced
-30db 5000 - 4.4mm balanced
-33db Z1R - 4.4mm balanced
I had to lower the volume when trying Sound Fields.
All ports are rated the same 1000 mW + 1000 mW.
I think when listening generally, I will lower those levels by 10db. But of course I'm trying to pay attention to minor detail so kind of over-drove my ears than I usually do for a couple of hours.
This makes me want all three headphones:
Guns n Roses Back in Black - Sony sounded most fun, HD800s worst
Maroon 5 Best For You - HD800s most fun. The Sony worst - bass was like putting a bucket over your head, too overpowering.
Norah Jones - Come Away with Me - Both sounded fine. It took a moment to adjust to the different headphone though. I felt the piano at 49sec sounded like nails on a chalkboard though. Had to drop the volume quickly there.
As for YH-5000SE, For low end, If HD800s is 0% and Z1R is 100%, Yamaha would be like 40%
Kind of apply that logic to all songs if bass is your only distinction. Listening out for sparkly sounds (hi-hats, chimes, like key rattling sounds etc) I was fine with all three. My hearing seems to cut off around the 15khz mark if that matters.
Yahama was just the safest choice for listening to any song (product of Yamaha Amp +Yamaha Headphones?). At first it sounded like female voices and guitar were a bit distant though. That might be down to that 3khz drop vs push that most headphones go for? I also heard less recording hiss in songs like Dire Straits Private Investigations. Which YH-5000SE was most fun for.
Having said that after listening and comparing again the differences other than bass were less pronounced.
Next Step
To go back with my own HD800 headphones, and A/B the Yamaha amp with other amps (at least one tube). Also see if DAC lock level 1 fixes the issue with using my phone as a source.
More background
My only benchmark at this stage is that I used to have a Lehmann audio linear usb purchased back in 2010 along with HD800 headphones (SN in 06000 range). I just chose that amp since that was the amp Senn used to show off their HD800s back then.
I sold it in 2017 moving to Japan. 220-240v country to 100v, plus to help with the moving cost. Still have the headphones though.
Actually I wonder how these headphones hold up compared to when I first bought them. The right ear cable started flaking, I replaced the pads recently with the intention to buy an amp to use them again, but even the plastic started warping, hopefully that isn't a civilization of microscopic beasts growing in the plastic.
Edit: looks purely paint related actually. Plastic shape still holds.
Blame the humidity in Japan?
At the moment I have just the stereo amplifier with built in headphone jack. I can get volume but music with HD800 through it just sounds very lacking, I would even say painful. My litmus test is usually Hotel California (esp the first 52 second intro with interesting sound effects and instruments being hard left and right, and 3:28 -> 5:39). This is a good test for cross talk filters if any etc too, if you hate instruments being hard left/right like one ear is blocked/broken. But basically I hate the sound of the song on many setups and love it on few. Like it seems to be the song that changes the most, from mud to glorious.
To me the 800 with Lehmann, even its onboard dac made this song dance. I wasn't the only one too. The purchaser of the amp (Who also purchased 800s headphones) even asked me why does Hotel California sound so good through the amp compared to everything else he has heard the song through.
For this in store experience, In general comparing all headphones with this Yamaha amp. I enjoyed Hotel California again. With all three headphones. I just wish I could go back in time and do an A/B with my 2010 setup vs today. Not only because the past 7 years could have altered the sound of my HD800s. You glorify your memories too.
