HD555 (modded) upgrade

Born_2_Kill_83

Born_2_Kill_83

Born_2_Kill_83

Soldato
Joined
10 Nov 2006
Posts
8,578
Location
Lincolnshire
My HD555's have been epic but they are looking a bit sorry and stinky for themselves, instead of washing the material this time I think I'm going to upgrade as they've also cracked in the normal places.

I'm using a SB Z to power them and use them for 80% gaming 20% music.

What's the natural upgrade for them bearing in mind I've also done the popular mod to them, don't mind going up to £250/300 but at that end the gains have to be good. No need for a mic but surround positioning has to be good in game.

Many thanks
 
Last edited:
My hd595 are in a similar position. I've decided to buy new ear pads and tape over the cracks neatly :D

If they do finally die, I'll just buy the same again (or equivalent). So comfortable, can wear them all day
 
The HD650 would be the proper upgrade. The 650 also doesn't really have an upgrade path apart from the rest of the chain. You will notice more detail, better vocal section, more complete sound with a better soundstage.

the MA900 are worth a look if you don't mind importing.
 
hd 650's love a powerful amp and apparently scale really well with gear, whilst yes I expect the Z will power them I also expect they will highlight the flaws in the SB Z
 
erm technically yes as there should be an unamped out put that you could use. not 100% sure on that

rids and ryan would be the best to answer as they both love the 650's
 
TwsT said:
hd 650's love a powerful amp and apparently scale really well with gear, whilst yes I expect the Z will power them I also expect they will highlight the flaws in the SB Z
Click to expand...

Just going back to this, what flaws will be high lighted, the SB Z powers up to 600ohms which I believe the HD650 require 300?
Would I be better suite to HD598's but I've read there's not much upgrade to mine.
 
yes if I'm honest there is a likely hood that the 598's would be more your thing id you're doing so much gaming and not so much music listening (depends on the game though) . That said you can have a pair of 650's for £220 on the rainforest at the moment which is a crazy price.

Personally i'd get the 650's give them a try send them back or sell them on if they aren't your thing.
 
K702 are just as insensitive the K712. Great gaming headphones but both need a good amp. The problem with the SB Z's amp, is that despite being rated as being able to drive 600 Ohm headphones by Creative, it doesn't seem to be that good at driving insensitive headphones well enough.

Ohm rating is really just a number, without taking others things into consideration. K702 and 712 are 62 Ohm, but require more power than Beyerdynamic DT770 250 Ohm. The SB Z would have an easier time powering the DT770, despite appearing as though they would require 4x as much power, if you go by Ohm rating alone.

Creative claiming that the SB Z can drive 600 Ohm headphones without giving any specifications, doesn't mean a great deal.
 
"can drive up to 600 ohm headphones" is just the latest buzz phrase that manufacturers like to throw into the advertising blurb. Out of all of the sound cards, both internal (including motherboards) and external, the only ones that are really capable of driving difficult loads are the Asus STX, Creative ZxR and X7 and the PowerColor HDX. I don't know whether the new Asus Strix range are up to the task, I haven't tried any of them and reviews seem thin on the ground.

The K702 are probably the best current headphones for gaming but they really do demand a powerful amp to drive them. If you want Dolby Headphone or Creative's SBX then you'll need one of the above sound cards, if stereo is all you need then you just need a decent external amp which you can feed from the Sound Blaster Z line out.
 
Great thanks for the helpful info, so I guess if I want to go higher end with the headphones be it 650s 712/702s I'll need to change my soundcard then. Which is best recommended out of the 3 above?
Looks like this may be an expensive upgrade afterall.
 
probably the devil hdx for price for performance, but if you can find an older Asus STX on fleabay you'd be sorted.

If you don't want dolby/sbx then Fiio E10K is always worth a look to replace sound cards. Rids will be able to confirm if it's upto the job of providing for the 702/712 or 650's


If you're considering spending £160 on a sound card it might be worth looking at keeping your SBZ and buying a Schitt Amp which you can later add the DAC to. Or as previously stated if you don't want the SBX/Dolby stuff then stretching to the schiit stack or an equivalent straight off the bat. Really the choice is yours priority should be headphones and powering them rather than worrying about the source.
 
If you do go for the AKG K702 then you may want to look into doing the port mod, which opens up the bass tuning port. It adds around 5db below 100Hz for a nice extra bit of thump and growl and just involves removing a small sticky pad from inside each ear cup. It's even reversible if you keep the pads intact - I have mine stored inside the box, stuck to some kitchen foil.

If you decide to get an external amp then the little FiiO E10K can indeed drive them quite well. If you would prefer something a little more substantial then the Schiit Magni 2 (solid state) will power them easily for £90. If you would like to go with a tube amp, Schiit have just released the Vali 2, which is actually a tube hybrid amp and is selling for £146 from Electromod. I have the original Vali, which also drives them very easily but the all new Vali 2 would be the better buy as it allows tube rolling should that float your boat plus a gain switch and pre-amp outputs.
 
When they announced the Vali 2 I did backflips. The Vali was one of my fav amps. I'm 100% certain of it didn't have some noise floor issues and ringing it would be priced double or even more. The Vali 2 is going to be amazing. I'm ordering one probably.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom