HD800 with creative x7 not sounding so great. Help!

nightrider1470 · 31 Dec 2015 at 03:46

I hooked tidal up via my phone from HD800 to my u7 and its not sounding so great... I have read the x7 is meant to drive these ok and I personally have no experience with any other H amp but it all sounds so lacking in any type of detail.

I have tested against my MA900 and I do notice a drastic difference in larger soundstage, but find the MA900 easier to listen too as the HD800 seem to need much higher volume which seems to effect the sound.

Is this down to the x7 amp or are the HD800 just not that good!

I have set the x7 at max impedance

nightrider1470 · 31 Dec 2015 at 10:55

Ryanr1987 said:
The 800 isn't difficult to drive but it does matter what you drive it with. The X7 is lean and bright which is a no no for the 800. The 800 pairs better with a warm dac and amp unless you want it as resolving as possible then the enjoyment will take a hit.

The 800 has always been a tool to my personally unless you mod it and it becomes more musical. The HD800 driver is probably the best out there when it comes I resolution etc.

Thanks for that.

Is there anything I could put. In the x7 chain ie a Fiio or something, or am I best looking at a seperate unit?

I would like to use the HD800 for mostly gaming, so think I would miss the surround sound effects of the x7.... I have the option to change the opamps as well.

nightrider1470 · 31 Dec 2015 at 11:48

Thanks all

I have a astro mixamp laying round somewhere I will have a test with that.

Will be for PC and console gaming.

I have some amazing Tannoy high end 2.0 stereo speakers that the HD800 cant match for presentation. So my HD800's are to be used for movies and games only.

nightrider1470 · 31 Dec 2015 at 13:17

I notice there is lots of opamps opening the back cover up.... Is the idea to change them all?

nightrider1470 · 31 Dec 2015 at 17:02

I wish I never bought such a complicated set of headphones.

nightrider1470 · 2 Jan 2016 at 11:29

Is there a known amazing amp for my HD800? under £180 happy to buy used from headfi

nightrider1470 · 2 Jan 2016 at 14:20

Rroff said:
This is where I don't think the chain is well matched - the 2114 has some imperfections in the mid-range which most headphones wouldn't reveal but the 800s absolutely would and also tends to have a bit of an overly loud, 1 dimensional treble which probably wouldn't play nice with the upper end on the 800s. Combined with the LMEs which also tend to be a bit cold and bright and you probably end up with very lean lower end and lots of nastiness in the treble on the 800s though I'm guessing at some of it as I've only heard the parts in isolation and not put together in one package.

Hence my recommendation of trying something like swapping all the op amps for OPA2227 (replace 2114s) and OPA227s (replace the LMEs) which would give a thicker more balanced sound.

EDIT: Or just changing the amp and/or DAC though the unamped RCA outputs on the X7 I believe are still connected off the LMEs but any amp downstream would also have a say on the sound signature unless it was truly transparent. The X7 seems to me is setup to make average headphones sound good but probably at the expense of its performance with truly high end headphones.

Thanks..... I all ready own one of these. Is it ideal? and how many opamps do I need to swap out, 4?