Headphone Amp for Sennheiser HD800

[jabbr]

Swapped 8 and 1 ohm resistors ... excellent attenuation so:

 

(+) -> 8 ohm (R2) --+---> (+)

(-) -> 1 ohm (R3) ---^

|---------------------------------(-)

 

amp sees 9 ohm resistance, and headphones only 1/9 voltage and with this all traces of hum vanished.

 

.... and yes the M2 and Aurix have essentially the same design, the M2 is dramatically better (IMHO) ... the M2s are a great deal at the moment

[Montage]

Arriving rather late to the party, I bought a HD800 three days ago and it's been running continuously from a Chord Hugo, fed a continuous diet of BBC radio 3 via the optical output of a satellite box. It already sounds very, very good compared to my HiFiMan HE560 , although the 560's are not ideally suited to the Hugo.

 

I was starting to wonder how much improvement there could be with a dedicated headamp and came across this thread. Jabbr's experiments with his First Watt M2 caused me to reconsider my J2. I bought it to drive my Avantgarde Duo Omega horn speakers and later upgraded to a SIT-2. I kept the J2 as a back-up and did try it directly driving the HE560's. It worked, but I was never happy with the sound or the comfort of those headphones.

 

Today I emailed Nelson Pass and he replied very quickly saying that both the J2 and SIT-2 would be fine driving the HD800, although an attenuator may be beneficial if the noise levels were too high. I immediately tried the J2 using short lengths of speaker cable with bananas one end and an in-line headphone socket the other which I'd made up previously for the HE560. The J2 was driven in single ended mode from the RCA outputs of the Hugo. Noise levels were virtually zero and my first impressions of the HD800 directly driven by the J2 were of a slightly smoother treble and better, more defined bass. I have no other headamp for comparison except the Hugo, and perhaps it's not unreasonable to expect the J2 to better its amplifier stage, except perhaps in portability!

 

jt

[jabbr]

I would love to hear the SIT-2. How does it compare with J2? From what I've read its a step above the J2 and the J2 above M2 though specifically for the HD800, the M2 may have certain characteristics which work well -- speculation on my part though I'm very happy and certainly at the price.

[christian u]

What is the difference between the HDVA600 and the dedicated to HD800 the HDVD800?

For the record: I'm still very happy with my HDVA600.

 

Plus the looks (brushed silver with blue LED) really works with my Exposure gear. Yes I do care about this stuff.

[Boris75]

What is the difference between the HDVA600 and the dedicated to HD800 the HDVD800?

 

The HDVD800 includes a DAC, which the HDVA600 does not. The HDVA has slightly more recent design, which in principe improves the sound for balanced or asymmetric connections (I can't remember which).

[Musicophile]

The HDVD800 includes a DAC, which the HDVA600 does not. The HDVA has slightly more recent design, which in principe improves the sound for balanced or asymmetric connections (I can't remember which).

 

The 600 has slightly better unbalanced inputs.

[Montage]

My apologies for not replying earlier. The First Watt SIT-2 was more dynamic and exhibited better imaging than the J2, although I had previously been very happy with the J2 and had preferred that to a 45 SET amp, except perhaps a small loss of warmth. Now I have my ideal combination of a Lampi Big7 with 45 tubes driving the SIT-2; the best of both worlds as the SIT-2 transmits the character of the tubes.

 

Back to the topic of driving the HD800's: I found the sound of my HD800's to be a bit thin when driven directly by the J2. The HDVD800 (and 600, I assume) has a 43 ohm output impedance 'as that tilts the sound balance slightly as to give the HD800 a bit more bass oomph' (from the HDVD800 review on Head-Fi). I also saw this article on InnerFidelity:

 

Musings on Headphone Amplifier Output Impedance | InnerFidelity

 

Towards the end of the article is a frequency response curve for the HD800 showing how the frequency response around 100Hz is boosted with increasing amplifier output impedance. Consequently I tried a 120 ohm resistor in series with the amplifier output on each channel (2.5W carbons I had from another project). The sound was noticeably warmer, possibly too warm, so I will next try series resistors closer to the 43 ohms used by Sennheiser. It would then be great to compare the result with a HDVA600, if I can arrange to get one on trial.

 

jt

 

 

I would love to hear the SIT-2. How does it compare with J2? From what I've read its a step above the J2 and the J2 above M2 though specifically for the HD800, the M2 may have certain characteristics which work well -- speculation on my part though I'm very happy and certainly at the price.

[jabbr]

My apologies for not replying earlier. The First Watt SIT-2 was more dynamic and exhibited better imaging than the J2, although I had previously been very happy with the J2 and had preferred that to a 45 SET amp, except perhaps a small loss of warmth. Now I have my ideal combination of a Lampi Big7 with 45 tubes driving the SIT-2; the best of both worlds as the SIT-2 transmits the character of the tubes.

 

Back to the topic of driving the HD800's: I found the sound of my HD800's to be a bit thin when driven directly by the J2. The HDVD800 (and 600, I assume) has a 43 ohm output impedance 'as that tilts the sound balance slightly as to give the HD800 a bit more bass oomph' (from the HDVD800 review on Head-Fi). I also saw this article on InnerFidelity:

 

Musings on Headphone Amplifier Output Impedance | InnerFidelity

 

Towards the end of the article is a frequency response curve for the HD800 showing how the frequency response around 100Hz is boosted with increasing amplifier output impedance. Consequently I tried a 120 ohm resistor in series with the amplifier output on each channel (2.5W carbons I had from another project). The sound was noticeably warmer, possibly too warm, so I will next try series resistors closer to the 43 ohms used by Sennheiser. It would then be great to compare the result with a HDVA600, if I can arrange to get one on trial.

 

jt

 

That is a great article. Interestingly I've unwittingly been altering the output resistance by using different values for the resistors that adjust gain. I've settled on 8/1 as giving a nice volume range when using the M2 and HD800. Thus the headphones see 8+ on the + side and 1+ on the - side. I have some better quality resistors (designed for x-overs) 16 and 2 ohm that I will try.

 

FWIW, with the M2 I find the bass very full and warm yet precise. The M2 might also tone down the upper end of the HD800 that some find on the harsh side. In summary the M2 does not sound "thin" at least compared to the Bottlehead Crack+Speedball+++ and is significantly "fuller" e.g better bass than the Metrum Aurix.

[ALRAINBOW]

Te hdvd600 is avery good start for end game as an amp,for hd800. There are better but a cost . The hdvd800 is an ok dac but needs a very good source to sound it's best but in the end it's still,thin on weight .

Stay away from phonitor it's not stood pair for the hd800. It's dull n fiat and yes some say it's great but hey I have had both the first and second phonitor Amps there a no go .

A trcked out woo wa22 is very good but expensive and you need hi end tubes to get there and it must be bal input driven as se it's not good

[Bazinga]

Te hdvd600 is avery good start for end game as an amp,for hd800. There are better but a cost . The hdvd800 is an ok dac but needs a very good source to sound it's best but in the end it's still,thin on weight .

Stay away from phonitor it's not stood pair for the hd800. It's dull n fiat and yes some say it's great but hey I have had both the first and second phonitor Amps there a no go .

A trcked out woo wa22 is very good but expensive and you need hi end tubes to get there and it must be bal input driven as se it's not good

 

I got a upgraded WA22 with hi end tubes and upgraded caps to jupiters along with a new furutech IEC works awesome very happy , Im using a Sony Hap Z1ES for a source

[davide256]

Give a listen to the Microzotl 2... but be prepared to start lusting for Audeze LCD or Hifiman HE1000 phones to match. I had auditioned/considered the Woo line at audio shows before, but the Microzotl 2 won me over for transparency closer to a Stax headphone experience.

[solfeggio]

I just started running HD 800's on the OPPO HA-1 DAC/Amp today and am very pleased. Also, using Cardas Clear cables with a 4-pin xlr connect means the 800's will run fine on the low gain setting which then gives more sensitivity in adjusting volume.

[austinpop]

Has anyone compared the HDVA-600 or HDVD-800 with the headphone amp (HP-1) contained in the Benchmark DAC1 and DAC2 products?

 

I am currently driving my HD800s from my Benchmark DAC1 HDR, but driven via the analog outputs from a couple of external DACs - the Aries Mini and the Marantz SA8004. I love the HD800s in this setup, but I do wonder if I can do "better" by holding all else constant, and replacing the Benchmark as a headphone amp with the Sennheiser HDVA-600.

 

So to reiterate my question - if you hold the DAC constant - any comparisons of the Sennheisers with the Benchmark as headphone amps?

 

Thanks!