"Let our rigorous testing and reviews be your guidelines to A/V equipment – not marketing slogans"
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar

Sennheiser HD-650

  • Thread starter Thread starter seaside1
  • Start date Start date
S

seaside1

Audioholic Intern
Jun 13, 2011
38
0
8
Well, was very fortunate to receive a pair of HD-650's for Christmas!!! Now in the market for a reasonaly priced head phone amp. So any tips or recommendations would be great. Also wanted to know that like new speakers is there an initial break in peroid for higher end headphones?
Thanks
SS1
 
seaside1 said:
Well, was very fortunate to receive a pair of HD-650's for Christmas!!! Now in the market for a reasonaly priced head phone amp. So any tips or recommendations would be great. Also wanted to know that like new speakers is there an initial break in peroid for higher end headphones?
Thanks
SS1
Click to expand...

I have the HD600 and the HD800.

What is your budget ?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: seaside1
Yes. About 40 hours is the norm on break in. I have my Senn's hooked up to a
Bellari HA540 Tube amp. Good sound and a lot of gain for a really great price.
 
  • Like
Reactions: seaside1
Really didn't have a budget in mind, was hoping I could get something nice for around the $200-$300 range since I have a modest home entertainment system. Did some research on the best amps for for the HD-650 and the Graham Slee Solo was recommended but I can't swing $999. Two others that were mentioned were the Creek OBH11 for $225 and the Headroom Micro Amp for $349. Thanks for the suggestions the Bellari HA540 and the Obective 2 both look nice and are reasonable. Was also looking at replacing the existing headphone cable with a Stefan Audio Art Equinox Headphone Cable?
 
I've been using an audio gd dac/headphone amp for a while and like it a lot. Audio gd publishes info about its amp's output power and impedance which is very useful when trying to find an amp for a headphone. In my experience, a lot of manufacturer's fail to give you this information. I bought my audio gd amp/dac on a blow out from a USA distributor a few years ago. It has plenty of juice to drive my Beyers (which are 250 ohm headphones). If you want an audio gd amp/dac now, you'd have to deal directly with the company in China. There are a number of pretty decent headphone amp manufacturers in China that sell direct.

NWAV guy has some very useful technical information about headphone amps and I would do some reading on his website. This is a useful blog on the relationship between headphone and amp impedance: NwAvGuy: Headphone & Amp Impedance

I found this useful as well: NwAvGuy: More Power?

It is hard finding objective info on picking out an amp for a pair of headphones. It is really easy to find a lot of subjective opinions on this.

If I were looking for a new headphone, I'd take a good look at Schiit products (no !@#$, that's the name): Schiit Audio — Headphone amps and DACs, made in USA.. The guys who run the company have an interesting attitude about their products and the prices are pretty reasonable (starting at $100) for an amp made mainly in the US of A (yeah).

Edit: if I had your budget to spend, I'd probably get the Schiit asgard: http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=1. You can e-mail the company for more info; they're really good about answering e-mails. The magni for $100 might be a good choice as well, http://schiit.com/schiit-faq/about-magni/
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jp_over and seaside1
So my next question is how do I hook up a headphone amp to my Denon AVR-1912?
 
I went to the Denon site and viewed the back panel picture of your avr. I don't see any pre outs (besides sub) or record out. So I don't think you can connect it to the Denon. Check you manual to make sure; I think you may have to run analog from your source(s) to your headphone amplifier.
 
I've found that my last 3 receivers would power my HD-600s just fine.
 
Sound and Vision had an interesting article on headphone amp impedance and it's effect on frequency response. Of the few headphones that they measured the Senn 598's had the largest difference between headphone amp impedances. That said the authors point out that while the lower output impedance amp may be more 'accurate', it may not produce the sound that the user prefers.

Output Impedance: A Show and Tell | Sound and Vision Magazine
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top
Back