HD600 Upgrades

smogsy

smogsy

smogsy

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So i now have some HD600 & AKG K702s

Question 1.
i bought a new cable for my HD600 as 3m was far too long. i wanted 1M really but got 1.2M the cable i bought under the advice of someone here. it sounds pretty good but the thickness of the cables themselves are only slightly thicker than standard iPod headphones. does this matter in the slightest? will it be harder to get higher volumes?


Question 2. What would you recommended as a DAC upgrade from a epiphany Acoustics ehp-O2
 
Didn't you get the HD650? Did you return them for the 600?

Assuming that's correct: How are you finding the 600 compared to the 650?

Cable will be fine. Headphones don't need wires that thick to perform well, as they don't use much power. Plus the length of the cable is short. You'd only need to worry about having a thicker cable if the cable is really long.

It's possible that a slightly thicker 3M cable might contain the same gauge wires and just as many as a thinner 1M cable. It could be that just the sheathing is thicker to accommodate for the extra movement it will endure. It would seem likely a longer cable will get more rough treatment, so will need to be that bit tougher, hence thicker sheath.

Not really sure what would be a good upgrade from an O2. Maybe one of Schiit's DACs?
 
You'll be needing a DAC and an amp then - as to which, that depends on your budget because the sky really is the limit and HD650s scale extremely well with quality gear.
 
I dont really want to set a budget.
I would you like you to give me a bunch of options at different price points & how much of an upgrade it would be.

But I would say <700

Thoughts? Over 700 seems silly for 200 phones in my eyes
 
I believe the stock cables are quite thick due to having kevlar sheathing and other stuff to protect the cable plus probably a slightly higher gauge due to the length.

You'd have to go fairly thin for it to have a noticeable impact on sound quality - I believe anything reasonably decent 30 AWG or higher is sufficient for the 600/650s.

EDIT: The choice of op amp/circuit (and probably same with tubes) can have a big impact on the 600 series - I've had punchy bass and a "liquid" like sound out of one combination and then a more laid back sound out of another and other setups have struggled with mid-range articulation and what I can only describe as "dark" treble. Other setups have had a nice wide airy sound whereas others have been much closer.

Another option is looking into a balanced setup which the 600 series support - but that really needs a dac and amp that can do balanced properly as well as the right cable for the 600s.
 
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Personally i'm uaing an Arcam I-rdac with graham slee srg11 headphone amp . Which i'm using with my hd700's . I athough I had the same setup with my hd600 as well .... its that good :)
 
My favourite amps for the HD650 are

Project Ember II with Mullard CV4003 £400 max with import fees.

Little Dot MKII with Mullard M8161 tubes £160 this paring is magical for the price it's almost s side grade to the other two.

Bottlehead Crack with speedball and Mullard CV491 tubes £450 max

Dacs

I use my Fiio X3II - Surprisingly good! £159
Dragonfly / Good little dac, clean, balanced £130
ODAC - Similar to Dragonfly maybe a little brighter £100
Chord Mojo - Even, maybe slightly warm £399

the HD650 sounds best on tubes. When I go back to solid state it sounds lean and cold in comparison. The tubes make a difference. Mullards tend to thicken the vocals up and have a warm, relaxing sound. I think they are the go to tube for vocals and liquid goodness.
 
TALON1973 said:
Personally i'm uaing an Arcam I-rdac with graham slee srg11 headphone amp . Which i'm using with my hd700's . I athough I had the same setup with my hd600 as well .... its that good :)
Click to expand...


i already have an arcam irdac & a Cambridge azur 650A, i could use that if my desk was closer?

hmm...
 
The Arcam will be good but I doubt the headphone amp in the Cambridge will be able to make the HD650s shine.
An option would be to get a good quality line level switch and a decent headphone amp and use the Arcam to feed both the Cambridge and the headphone amp via the switch.
 
OK lets define some stuff

If i buy another arcam, what Amp would you suggest? still the schlists?

going back to your original list, is their any all in ones that do not have batteries? i wont be moving it about so pointless paying for stuff i do not use.

also if its a bonus if richer shop sells them as their close by :)

found this in the manual
Allows for the connection of headphones with a ¼" jack plug connector.
Headphones with an impedance of between 32 and 600 ohms are
recommended. When the headphones are connected, the output to the
loudspeakers is switched off (both speakers A and B)
Click to expand...
 
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I have the Schiit Valhalla 2 with my HD600's and they are absolutely amazing, it is difficult to find headphone amps that can deliver as much power (into 300ohm headphones that is) as the Valhalla's unless you prepared to pay over a thousand pound.
 
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All in ones without batteries...

MATRIX Mini-i Pro (£340) [review]

Audeze Deckard (£599) [review] *actually available from Richer Sounds

There are also some good ones from Audio-GD but their website is a mess and you're probably better off buying from one of their official suppliers in Europe - the one in the Netherlands is probably the closest.
 
mjgr33n said:
I have the Schiit Valhalla 2 with my HD600's and they are absolutely amazing, it is difficult to find headphone amps that can deliver as much power (into 300ohm headphones that is) as the Valhalla's unless you prepared to pay over a thousand pound.
Click to expand...

Ridiculous price really - could build something with a couple of LME49600 or similar on the output for like £50-100 that could drive just about anything out there.
 
If you are willing to spend £700 maybe money would be better spent on better headphones with a decent dac amp, will prob give you more sound upgrade for your money. LCD 2 maybe.
 
yes but then he'll want a better amp to drive them, thus doubling the budget. HD650s scale extremely well with better gear, so getting a better DAC and amp should show noticeable gains.
 
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