Sennheiser HD650 headphone Question

Fat_bloater_dave · Post by **Fat_bloater_dave** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 2:05 pm

Hi, i don't know if anyone here are big audiophiles but i like to come here to ask questions as people are generally helpful and knowledgeable on a large range of things.

Now im planing on getting a pair of Sennheiser HD650's and using them with my PC (my primary HIFI) at the same time i am planning on getting the new Creative X-Fi Titanium sound card which will be plugged into my Logitech Z5500 decoder via an optical connection which will drive the headphones.

My question is a simple one, does this sound like a crazy idea and do you think this would benefit from a headphone amp.

Thanks for any help.

Dave

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:15 pm

Hi Dave,

If the Sennheisers are high impedance, or (relatively) inefficient, then you will want a better/more powerful amp for them.

You could also try these:

They are quite efficient, with full bass and excellent overall sound -- and they are not very expensive at all. I also have some AKG K501's but they are much better with an external amp, and they play just loud enough when drive by the sound card. (I used to listen to Yamaha YH-1's)

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:41 pm

Try these:

This is the original in this class
http://www.zaccardis.com/earmax-vacuum- ... ifier.html

Here's one with an article
http://decware.com/audio-blogs/2006/06/ ... ign-notes/

There's also
http://www.vacuumtube.com/aslpreamps.htm

http://www.headwize.com/projects/showfi ... er_prj.htm

I kinda like this one, but the knob doesn't match the chassis and the transformers should be chromed for that kind of money:
http://earthshakingmusic.com/KOALA.html

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:54 pm

hmm...its difficult to say that a headphone amp is really useless? i mean, sure if you want to blast it...but if its on your head, you don't want to go deaf, just use noise cancelling at that point, or earbuds under -22db's...

you don't really need to turn headphones up very much to get the quality from them, so i'd say go without the headphone amp unless you need it. i used to run my headphones straight out of my delta24/96, and it was plenty loud...now since i run through my mixer i have the option of just using that, but the mixer may move, and i might go back to the original setup for a while.

use a minimal setup and see how you like it...

sjoukew · Post by **sjoukew** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:11 am

I use a sennheiser hd 570 with an soundblaster x-fi. I can easily blow my ears to peaces without headphone amplifier, and the quality is great if you ask me, but I have never tried an headphone amplifier, to maybe that sounds even a lot better.

Fat_bloater_dave · Post by **Fat_bloater_dave** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:32 pm

Thanks everyone for giving your advice, It seems the best thing to try would be to go without it for a while and then try and find one to test.

But it seems i can use it fine without at least.

Thanks

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:54 pm

I have HD-600 and I tried it straight out of AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1 soundcard (which has built in amplifier) and out of some Yamaha 5 speaker system similar to Z5500 with headphone out and with two dedicated amplifiers.

1. Straight out of soundcard without using amplifier the sound was good, albeit a little quiet for my taste. With using built in amplifier it sounded fine, although the sound quality was just a little bit worse (almost unnoticeable really).
2. Out of Yamaha speakers headphone out, well, I wish I didn't do it. The sound quality was absolutely horrible. The speaker headphone out completely crippled the sound quality, instead of clean sound I got all sorts of interferences, background noises, etc... If Z5500 is anything like that, and I highly suspect it is, you will be highly disappointed.
3. I tried it with two headphone amplifiers as well. Pimeta wasn't that much better than Yamaha headphone out. PPA with diamond buffers is actually nice as long as you don't turn the volume knob over 2AM. It's what I'm using right now.

Anyway. I would highly advise against using Z5500 to power headphones. You could try powering them straight out of your X-Fi though. I can't guarantee it will work but you can try it. HD600 are not very power hungry actually, and I suppose HD650 aren't either. I think X-Fi has built it amplifier as well so you might be OK using it straight out of the card (you'll just need to use plug adapter).