Do I want/need a headphone amplifier?

[Dr G]

In a fit of upgraditis I recently replaced an aging pair of Sennheiser cans with HD650s.

Because? Well, because I wanted something to melt my face.

Could waffle on for ages about detail and clarity but I can't help but feeling that I'm missing out on a little bit of slam.

They spend most of their time connected to the upstairs system (Aura Evolution VA100 and my macbook) which at higher volume levels seem to lose it a little bit. Plenty of loud but the finesse isn't there.

A quick google would imply that I need a dedicated headphone amplifier to get the best out of them.

Stupid questions:

Will this give me a noticable improvement?
Will this further anger my bank manager?
Will I be laughed at if I don't spend a billion pounds on interconnects?

[Bullett]

How is the music getting from the Mac to the Amp?
What format are the files?

[Dr G]

MP3/AAC from Itunes/Amazon, mac to amplifier is a normal analogue 3.5 > phono interconnect from CPC (not a cheapo spaghetti cable but neither is it a £100 drain pipe made of moon rock and asteroid dust).

[Bullett]

Switching to Lossless will have more impact than a headphone amp. You can't hear detail that isn't there!
Then upgrade the DAC (does your mac have a digital output)?

[Dr G]

Haven't bought a CD in years but I'm sure I can find/buy something to compare it with. Where's good for very high bitrate downloads?

Laptop doesn't have a digital out (Macbook Air but I think a hideously overpriced adapter is available), I normally use Airplay.

[Bullett]

No Idea on downloads, I only buy CD's and rip them to my preferred format(FLAC). Doesn't itunes do lossless formats now?

[Dr G]

I'll investigate that; everything I've bought lately has been from Amazon as it's usually cheaper than itunes. I'm sure I can find something suitable to test (will listen across the other amp and airplay too, see if there's a difference).

My hifi dealer is an Arcam stockist and keep this little dude in:

http://www.arcam.co.uk/products,rseries,usb-dacs,r...

...although I'd get murdered for spending another £150 on something she doesn't understand.

Forum chatter seems to rate these:

http://www.fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=28&am...

...which seem to sell for not a lot on ebay.

Paired with being fussier about my source material, am I along the right lines? How much grunt would I need to do the 650s justice?

[Toffer]

You are along the right lines. I have a number of headphones, from different manufacturers and none of the Apple products drive my HD650's properly. Just no drama or imaging...at first you may think it is the headphones...well think again, it is Apple products. In my experience, the headphones that work best with Apple products are mid-priced, high efficiency models like: -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001UE6PDG/ref=asc_df_B...

The perceived sound will be better than the HD650's.

This will be a cheaper option than buying a headphone amplifier for the HD650's. I do not have a headphone amplifier, but am generally unimpressed with the sound from Apple products (IMHO the Mac Book is the best and the iPod Nano the worst) through myHiFi system...so will not bother. Good luck!

[Dr G]

I'm absolutely aware my computer isn't ideal on its own but I don't want to buy another pair of headphones (having just put £300 into a 'for life' pair).

If modest additional expenditure will make an appreciable improvement then I'm all for it.

[K12beano]

Dr G said:

Forum chatter seems to rate these:

http://www.fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=28&am...

...which seem to sell for not a lot on ebay.

Paired with being fussier about my source material, am I along the right lines? How much grunt would I need to do the 650s justice?

Without much research I went straight for the Fiio E7 - typically using it with classic iPod and HD-25s but have sometimes driven it direct from the MBP, OK, might not be the same in other configurations.

For me a huge difference - nothing to do with overall volume, but the quality is a leap forward. I think it "goes up to 11" - I listen to everything from Rock to Classical, really notice it on tracks that otherwise suffer without it because of high dynamic range which is just not there in the HD-25s. The little Fiio handily "rubber-bands" directly onto the iPod, but comes with the obvious connectors you need and a little protective back. It's light, has two outlets, seems to take ages to charge up (via USB) but then (supposed 80 hours) holds charge over several sessions. Hard to fault for, what? about £50 IIRC. I am happy to rave about this - my favourite gadget

[rhinochopig]

K12beano said:

Dr G said:

Forum chatter seems to rate these:

http://www.fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=28&am...

...which seem to sell for not a lot on ebay.

Paired with being fussier about my source material, am I along the right lines? How much grunt would I need to do the 650s justice?

Without much research I went straight for the Fiio E7 - typically using it with classic iPod and HD-25s but have sometimes driven it direct from the MBP, OK, might not be the same in other configurations.

For me a huge difference - nothing to do with overall volume, but the quality is a leap forward. I think it "goes up to 11" - I listen to everything from Rock to Classical, really notice it on tracks that otherwise suffer without it because of high dynamic range which is just not there in the HD-25s. The little Fiio handily "rubber-bands" directly onto the iPod, but comes with the obvious connectors you need and a little protective back. It's light, has two outlets, seems to take ages to charge up (via USB) but then (supposed 80 hours) holds charge over several sessions. Hard to fault for, what? about £50 IIRC. I am happy to rave about this - my favourite gadget

I went for the E11 http://www.fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=24&am...

Superb bit of kit. Doesn't have the DAC but the research I did said that the amp was better than the E7. Haven't tried them back to back so can't comment on that though.

It's night and day different even with low bit-rate tracks. You seem to sit in the sound-stage rather than in front of it when compared to the ipod's internal amp.

[Dr G]

Thanks chaps, decision made - best go buy one

[Toffer]

...either that or buy yourself a decent record player?

[Dr G]

I have one

...it is however most likely coated with spiders and bat s*** from sitting in the loft this last decade or so.

[K12beano]

So, are you sorted yet?

Having said the Fiio 7 "goes up to 11", I have discovered it actually goes up to 60..... (Mrs Beano's turning the TV up, I'm (trying to) listening to Carmen) .... and it still remains my best buy this decade so far! Remarkably clear and detailed experience.

[Dr G]

Yes, E10 is sitting on my desk now. Haven't had more than half an hour with it so far but initial impressions are quite good.

The coarseness at higher volume levels is gone and detail has jumped another level too

[rhinochopig]

Dr G said:

Yes, E10 is sitting on my desk now. Haven't had more than half an hour with it so far but initial impressions are quite good.

The coarseness at higher volume levels is gone and detail has jumped another level too

Did you get an amp bypass cable too? Makes a big difference to the ipod listening experience as it bypasses the terrible ipod amp and uses your external instead. E.g.

http://fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=23&Me...

[Dr G]

I'm using it with my Macbook rather than an ipod; I very rarely use headphones when I'm out and about so bought the E10 (desktop) rather than the E7 (mobile with battery).

[rich85uk]

the general opinion on here that Fiio amps are good then? i just got some Audio Technica ATH M50 headphones (which are great!) for general movie watching and music, but for music its far easier to use the ipod but i know im going to be restricted with volume

[Dr G]

Yes, worth the outlay definitely.

Mine came from 'mp3amplifier' on ebay and I paid less than the auctions bid up to.