Wired Headphones, DACS, and Amps

Since we don’t get a lot of threads, I figured I’d post this. I know some of you must have wired Headphones, DACS and, Amps. If not maybe this will give you some information to get in on it.

Wired Headphones can go into the $1000’s of Dollars. I have a few that retail for quite a bit, but since I shop for deals, I’ve never paid more than $400 for one.

My best headphone is my Hifiman HE6SE V2. The Headphone retails for $1799 but I got it on a huge clearance sale for $399. The Amp retails for $799 but I got it on a clearance sale for $288 (these were spectacular deals).
Pictured with a Monoprice Liquid Platinum Hybrid Tube Amp

Next up is another Hifiman Headphone HE560 V4 with the HE6se V2 and Hifiman R2R DAC Amp. Again I got great deal on these.

Next up is a Sennheiser/Drop HE6XX. Its basically a rebranded HE650 and a reduced price, but not quality.

Lastly is a Sennheiser/Drop HD58X (a rebranded HE660S), Monorice M1070 and XDUOO MT-602 Hybrid Tube Amp.

Lastly the Balanced version of the above Amp - MT-604 with the Hifiman EF400 R2R DAC Amp.

I hope you found this interesting!

PS All the Headphones are Open Backs. Lastly if you look, good deals can be found.

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Nice collection.

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Thank You! :+1:

I listened to a buddy’s Sennheiser/Drop HE6XX through a decent DAC and sounded pretty incredible. I have a few different pairs of low-end IEM’s when I’m playing music but that is the closest I’ve went down that road. That looks like really nice equipment and I bet it sounds amazing.

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Thank You for the compliment. It does sound great IMHO. I listen to it everyday. :+1:

Wow great post! I’ve been looking to get more in to DACs and Amps but haven’t been as sure where to start. I got myself my first pair of open back headphones very very cheap they are the Philips sph9500 very budget but decent for what you pay for. I’ve been looking to expand into some of the senheiser ones.

Do you find tube vs non tube makes a lot of difference?

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It depends. There are a few different types of Tube Amps. Different ones are better for different Headphones.

  1. OTL Tube Amps are AKA Output Transformerless . They are best for high impedance Headphones like Sennheiser (300 ohms +)
  2. Transformer Coupled Tube Amps - more seen on stereo speakers, but can also be found in Headphone Amps.
  3. Hybrid Tube Amps (what I have)… They use tubes for the input stage and a Solid State Section for the Power Output. They work great with Planars and just about everything.

Tubes tend to be considered more musical/laid back. Some would say more Analog Sounding. However Hybrid are more of an in-between. Slightly warmer, but not quite as much because of the Solid State back end.

If you have any questions about Headphones, feel free to ask or message me. I’d be happy to help…

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I’ll add when looking at Headphones, it’s not just Impedance you need to consider. The higher Impedance, the harder to drive (need more voltage). You also need to look at sensitivity. The lower that number, the harder to drive (need more current).

Planars tend to be lower Impedance, but also lower sensitivity. My favorite HE6SE V2 are only 83.5db Sensitivity - my hardest to drive Headphones.

Dynamic Drivers (think Sennheiser, etc) tend to be higher Impedance but also higher sensitivit (100db +).

In general I think it’s easier to drive Dynamic Driver Headphones (not all are 300 + ohms).

These are just generalizations.