Sennheiser HD800 and HDVA 600 Review

[wpascoe]

Originally Posted by Toccata

What kind of improvement could I expect? The Oppo 105 is supposed to have "audiophile" analog circuitry that the Sabre 32 bit DAC feeds directly.

Well, there is the obvious distinction in the fact that the OPPO player -- which I have, and love -- limits one to only listening to digital files. With the HDVD800 in my system, I can listen to vinyl through the 'phones ... as I'm doing now, so as to crank "Breakfast in America" without bothering my neighbors.

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[Toccata]

Dan, that amp is too expensive, and the HDVA 800 at $1995 is way too much for something that I wouldn't use that often! At most, I'm thinking of a Music Hall ph25.2 for $399.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Toccata

Dan, that amp is too expensive, and the HDVA 800 at $1995 is way too much for something that I wouldn't use that often! At most, I'm thinking of a Music Hall ph25.2 for $399.

Toccata.......Understood.

The Sennheiser HDVD 800 has an internal 24/192 DAC and the HDVA 600 does not have the DAC. That is the only difference between the two headphone amplifiers. I prefer my DAC to be external.

[Toccata]

Well, I guess $1400 is better! I'll have to do some sweet-talking to my wife.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Toccata

Well, I guess $1400 is better! I'll have to do some sweet-talking to my wife.

Toccata.......You might have to ring the bell a couple of times, too.

[Toccata]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Toccata.......You might have to ring the bell a couple of times, too.

Is that a metaphor?

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Toccata

Is that a metaphor?

Toccata.......You know it is, and a work out, too.

[Pider]

Just a quick question, since I need a quick answer and don't want to take this thread off topic for too much discussion.

I bought my son a headphone amp to move him along into better gear, knowing full well he didn't have audiophile grade headphones. He's been researching since then and is thinking about HD598's. I see a "gently" used pair of HD650's available locally to me. I know nothing about headphones, so cannot advise him in any meaningful way.

I'm perfectly willing to grab the used pair for him (his bday is coming up), but he has to come to audio nirvana on his own terms. I could help him with someone's sage council from AA. Thanks

[jdandy]

John.......The Sennheiser HD650 would be a wonderful headphone for your son. I owned the HD600 for years. Pete (Vintage Pete) now ownes them and loves them. I had several opportunities to compare them to the HD650. Although I truly liked the sound of the HD650, I did not believe the level of performance was that much better than the HD600 so I never pulled the trigger. None the less, I thought they sounded excellent and have no doubt your son would enjoy them tremendously.

[Toccata]

I got an interesting response from one of Sennheiser's techs when I asked what I would gain (no pun...) by getting a dedicated headphone amp over the headphone output on my Sony or Oppo:

Most amps are there to simply boost signal strength and give you more volume for high end headphones that require more power than normal. If you are getting healthy volumes out of your current setup, then you aren't missing anything. Some of the more expensive tube amps out there can add a little warth to the audio, but most amps are solid state nowadays and simply keep the audio distortion down while boosting output strength (aka more volume).