Just got some Sennheiser 650's

[Godmachine]

These headphones are completely amazing but I lack a good pre amp for them , any suggestions? (currently using my X-Fi Forte which is listed to drive up to 600 when the 650's are 300).


Thanks.

 

[phide]

I'm going to assume you mean amp, not pre-amp (which is different), and I use Headroom's Micro amp with mine. They seem to play well together.

 

[Lateralus]

The Forte and Xonar STX have built-in headphone amps and are supposed to drive even high impedance headphones quite well. (I have both cards but have long since sold off my good cans).

If they sound amazing, are you sure you need to upgrade? I don't doubt that a $300 headphone amp might drive them with a bit more authority, but you might be spending a lot of money for diminishing returns.

 

[Godmachine]

A friend of mine brought over that headroom micro amp for me to try and to be honest the difference wasn't as striking , xfi seems to push it pretty well and does so with low distortion mind you its not distortion free.

Plus it seems to make the most of it I'll have to replace the headphone cables and that seems to cost around 200 so 533 bucks for the overall upgrade doesn't seem as worthwhile to me right now.

However they sound utterly amazing , I'm hearing things I've never heard even in low end crappy 128k mp3's (however most of my collection is lossless) plus movies are a pleasure to listen to over these.

I've heard the break in time is around 100 hours? Anyone confirm this?

 

[Daishiknyte]

1) You shouldn't need to replace the cables. While there will be a minimal gain in doing so, by no means is it a $200 gain. Not until the rest of your audio equipment is similarly upgraded. In the end it comes down to you. If you think they sound a hundred times better with amp(A) vs amp(B) vs your ipod, go with it. It won't matter what you get if you spend the next year regretting or doubting the decision.

2) The xfi is pushing them well. You just need to find the best balance between the volume settings for your audio program and the sound card. It can make a difference when they are balanced and not maxed on one and low on the other. There are a bunch of debates over the correct settings. Play around with it some.

3) Break in has been, continues to be, and forever will be one of the most debated subjects of audio equipment. Just about everyone agrees there will be changes as you listen. As far as the extent and time to achieve the break-in goes, it is up for debate. 100 hours is the general consensus for most equipment. Go ahead and queue up a playlist, set the volume to the upper ranges of comfortable listening, and let it play for a week while you go about your business if you want to just 'get there' and not worry about it.

 

[Ronco]

The most cost-effective way of getting 'audiophile' sound to a good headphone would be through a separately powered outboard pro soundcard - selection depending on your budget. May not have the headphone geek quotient of a Head-Fi-approved amp, but just as effective in the end.

What you can do with a gaming audio card and an outboard pro audio card is that you can pass the analog output of the gaming card into the pro soundcard, then make the gaming soundcard the default audio device while selecting the pro soundcard as the output in your music player of choice (except WMP and iTunes of course) - giving you audiophile and gaming sound without switching headphones, inputs or outputs - all you might have to do is to turn down the master volume on the gaming card if it exhibits noise. Personally I prefer using separate headphones/sets for listening and gaming, but I find the above works well in a single-headphone situation.

 

[obobski]

These headphones are completely amazing but I lack a good pre amp for them , any suggestions? (currently using my X-Fi Forte which is listed to drive up to 600 when the 650's are 300).


Thanks.

assuming you mean 300 ohms -> a device's ability to "drive" something is not determined by impedance alone, so do keep that in mind

the Forte's current feedback amp is more than capable enough to handle the HD 650's, so what's your issue with it? (is it not loud enough? or are you going to get into the "I can hear a lack of detail in sonics" subjective complaints?)

honestly nothing is "wrong" with what you've got hooked up, its good, honest

as far as replacing the cables, I'll tell you I'm a skeptic, and personally feel it (much like burn-in) is an overly "religious" debate (in other words, theres not any solid objective data in favor of it, but good luck debating that fairly), from experience, I had to replace the cable on my HD 580's, and the only replacement Sennheiser offered was the HD 650 cable, a lot of audiophile types claimed it would "improve sonic accuracy" or some such thing, honestly not a thing changed, except the 650's cable is a bit sturdier feeling (as in, it doesn't give me the feeling that I could rip it apart bare handed with relative ease)

so unless something is broken, leave it be, theres not really any more "dramatic" change you can make (at least not objectively speaking), but like Daishiknyte said, if something sounds better or more proper to you, go with it, because its better than doubting something (perception is reality and that fiddle-faddle)

 

[Ronco]

Some cables do make a difference because they actually have some degree of semiconductor effect. Most of these are really crappy cables, or really crappy cables sold as ultra-high-end ones.

The problem is of course trying to spot which is which. The highest-end cables I've purchased for the HD650 and the Q010 had semiconductor qualities due to poor workmanship, on the latter blamed first on someone who'd already left, someone else who was going to be fired, and then an 'everyone else is happy so **** you'.

 

[phide]

A friend of mine brought over that headroom micro amp for me to try and to be honest the difference wasn't as striking , xfi seems to push it pretty well and does so with low distortion mind you its not distortion free.

Yeah, the large investment isn't going to be worth it for most people. The difference between the Micro and most any sound card isn't going to be that significant.