Opinions Welcome: Upgrade from Sennheiser HD598 Open Backed

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They are overkill for the source. A good upgrade would have been the HD660s or the Amiron Home, I doubt you will get the best out of the HD800, the source just does not have the power to drive them.
 
Personally I don't really tend to trust much from ASR as they really tend to follow the mindset of if it doesn't measure well its just not good.

For your budget I'd suggest looking at the Schiit Asgard 3 paired with a dac like the Schiit Modius, I use my A3 with a Bifrost 2 and love the pairing, I have heard that the Modius can pair pretty well with the A3 too. Only thing you need to take into account is customs as you'll need to order from the US site but even including that it'd still be within budget.

I'd also suggest looking into good entry level tube amps as they can pair pretty well with sennheisers (theres a reason people say you need tubes to bring out the full potential of the hd600/650/6xx). For a good starting point these tend to be a bit more expensive so I'd suggest looking into used gear, the Bottlehead Crack, SW51+, ZDT Jr, Feliks Echo and Hagerman Tuba are all really good to look out for.
 
I personally wouldn't have recommended the HD800S. The bass is bloated, wolly, the original HD800 had better bass clarity. Upper mids were already recessed which is the reason the HD800 sounded a bit wider than other Senns but with the added bass boost the upper mids sound even more pushed back and timbre is not good at all. The HD598 has a better instrument timbre, no joke. Out of that list the Arya would've been hands down the better option, it sounds more grand, vast, floaty, sounds sound massive with those big open drivers or for a cheap the current Sundara is pretty damn good but Arya sounds wider than all of those headphones.

LCD-X is terrible or if you're lucky, okay at best with no upper mids and a weird treble texture. HE6SE is okay, a bit aggressive but more solid sounding not as vast and open as the Arya.

You don't need to spend that much at all to get the sound you want. MD sale the HE-5XX which also sounds massive, wider than Arya, good for rock too, why spend so much just for the sake of spending so much, audio is one of those areas price doesn't equal good or what you need it's very deceiving.

The T1.3
 
I'd like to echo what Ryan says, out of those the Arya is the most "hifi". The 800s are a bit marmite some people love them others hate them so a demo is advisable. I've just taken delivery of some hifiman ananda after watching a load of YouTube videos these seem to be the best bang for buck at £650. Plus I like the planar sound Vs dynamic driver's so should be a nice upgrade over my hifiman he4xx.
The Anandas with a shitt stack or topping stack would be unbeatable for the cost.
 
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maximus123 said:
Many thanks for setting out those options there KiiYzOo -- very much appreciated.


I think I'm most probably going to go with one of your Schiit stack recommendations, as follows:
  • Schiit Asgard 3 [using as Amp only -- no DAC module added] + Schiit Modius [DAC] (cheaper)
  • Schiit Asgard 3 [using as Amp only -- no DAC module added] + Schitt Bifrost 3 [DAC] (more expensive)

Alternatively, I might push the boat out a little and go for one of the following combos:
  • Schiit Jotunheim [using as Amp only -- no DAC module added] + Bifrost 3 [DAC] (a little bit more expensive again)
  • Schiit Valhalla [Amp] + Bifrost 3 [DAC] (a little bit cheaper than the Jot/Bifrost combo above)

On Schiit products generally: I feel that Schiit maintain a really good standard of value-for-money (the right level of quality at the right price) across all their range.

I prefer their US site's presentation of their products -- it is much clearer than their UK site (which features overlap of products in multiple categories, which I find confusing).


I had not considered tube/valve amps at all up until today. So, the options you list there are also very interesting. Perhaps I may progress to something like that later on.




Not yet danoliver1. But I aim to make the purchase very soon, after I set a little more funds aside.

As far as the headphones side of things go, at least I have made the decision though on what I want. :D





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Just realised that you added some mentions of what you might go for, out of the options that you mentioned there, either the A3 or Jot 2 with the bf2 would be my preference. The BF2 is a really nice dac and is one of the best under £1k from what I have heard from others who have tried a lot of dacs in that sort of price range. Between the A3 and the Jot 2, from what I have heard the Jot 2 is slightly better than the A3 and apparently has two slightly different sound signatures from the balanced out and the single ended.

Here’s a couple reviews from someone I know on another forum for reference:

https://forum.hifiguides.com/t/schiit-bifrost-2/8334/364

https://forum.hifiguides.com/t/schiit-jotunheim-2/19191/28


When you look in the range of the Jot 2, there are a few other really good amps in that price range like the Lake People G111, Rupert Neve RNHP and the Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum.
 
The headband on the HiFiMan Anandas look similar to my AKG 702. They may be the best headphones in the world but if there's a pressure point (more so for people with no hair) then they will start to hurt very quickly.

Here's my 702s

op3A6ah.jpg


I tried a few things, like this

PUqYi3c.jpg


Eventually went with some simple foam padding stuck on with double sided tape and superglue. Double sided tape to headband, superblue just on the foam blocks. So far working well for almost a year

uCQC8d0.jpg
 
May I ask what you opted for in the end? I'm currently upgrading my desktop audio slowly.
I started off with a G6 which has now resulted in only being used as a DAC to feed an Asgard 3. I'm now considering switching this out to getting a Modius but I'm unsure if there will be much difference.
 
maximus123 said:
Interesting point.

I had not thought of that.

I may have to upgrade the source also.

Any suggestions?



PS:

It seems like the EVGA Nu Audio Pro might just be able to do the job for the time being.

Although not to everyone's tastes/sensibilities, Amirm of ASR has stated that the EVGA Nu Audio Pro soundcard has "ample power to drive just about any headphone."

Another ASR member comments that "the amp section should be good as it uses the same amp internal capacitors as the JDS Labs Atom".

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...u-audio-pro-review-internal-sound-card.19728/


Also, a user over on the EVGA forums seems to think that an EVGA Nu Audio [Original/Standard] + Sennheiser HD S800 setup sounds okay: https://forums.evga.com/3619-Review...amps-v0123-driver-v028-firmware-m2930252.aspx

He comments that "the clarity and cleanliness of the sound is genuinely impressive", and adds that "the ability to drive a 300ohm headphone at decent volume is pretty awesome".


Still, I am open to suggestions on a better source.

My top-end budget for a better source would be about £500. So, that rules out the Sennheiser HDVA 600 (available for ~£1250!) and the Sennheiser HDV 820 (available for ~£2100!).





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with the hd800 like other Seinheisser headphones they are hard to drive, the price you spent buying the 800s you'd need to spend again to get the most out of the headphones. Compare that to the other headphones you listed, some of which you can drive great plugged into an iPhone
 
maximus123 said:
Interesting point.

I had not thought of that.

I may have to upgrade the source also.

Any suggestions?



PS:

It seems like the EVGA Nu Audio Pro might just be able to do the job for the time being.

Although not to everyone's tastes/sensibilities, Amirm of ASR has stated that the EVGA Nu Audio Pro soundcard has "ample power to drive just about any headphone."

Another ASR member comments that "the amp section should be good as it uses the same amp internal capacitors as the JDS Labs Atom".

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...u-audio-pro-review-internal-sound-card.19728/


Also, a user over on the EVGA forums seems to think that an EVGA Nu Audio [Original/Standard] + Sennheiser HD S800 setup sounds okay: https://forums.evga.com/3619-Review...amps-v0123-driver-v028-firmware-m2930252.aspx

He comments that "the clarity and cleanliness of the sound is genuinely impressive", and adds that "the ability to drive a 300ohm headphone at decent volume is pretty awesome".


Still, I am open to suggestions on a better source.

My top-end budget for a better source would be about £500. So, that rules out the Sennheiser HDVA 600 (available for ~£1250!) and the Sennheiser HDV 820 (available for ~£2100!).





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You probably want the Monoprice monolith thx aaa 887 as the amp. 14% discount code today only.
 
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