i want high quality for classical. i am a novice, do i also buy an amp with the he 500 and why? dr s
1024604
If you want full fidelity from the Tiffany drums to the high violins and everything in between a headphone amp with a low efficiency high-quality had phone is almost a must. I went with the Schitt Audio "Lyr" and love the outstanding clean accurate stereo sep and clear tonal range. This was not possible thru my Denon receiver jack.
1024605
the schiit magni 2 or magni 2 uber will suffice. you need an amp to properly power the drivers. these headphones require quite a bit of current, more than most AV receivers or phones/mp3 players can output. just like full size speakers, to maximize the sound quality you need to feed them enough power.
1024606
Dr. Sloan, I am also a classical Music listener and to get the best from the wonderful He 500, get an inexpensive , but high quality, headphone amplifier.
57445
I believe so, but upgrade the tubes for sure, you'll notice better bass detail than the stock tubes. I also highly recommend a DAC between your audio source and the Vallhalla, as this will provide even greater clarity. 24bit/ 192k should be perfect. There are a ton of DAC's out there & the Schiit one is good. I personally switched from the Vallhalla to The Passport (includes DAC w the amp) and love it.
403208
Dear Tracy, This will be a good addition to your system. I have been and audiophile for 30 years, and started back in vinyl, and this little amp is great for the price. Be sure to hook the RCA cable input to you AUX, not Phono input. Hope this has been helpful. Good listening. Bill
1319191
No because it's going to be way, way too much power for the 50ohm HE-300. I'd recommend a Fiio E17 Alpen, it's not a tube amp but sounds great & has a DAC built in. The Valhalla is a fantastic, clear sounding amp that won't really color or warm the sound as you'd expect from a tube amp. I paired them with 300ohm HD 650's (w the upgraded Equinox cable) and I thought it was a near perfect match.
564169
Greetings. You will indeed want a "high-current" (sometimes also called high-energy) power amplifier. The power level depends upon the average loudness you want to listen at. This is a medium-low sensitivity monitor, at 85dB at 1 watt at 1 meter on-axis. Depending upon the size of room, acoustics, and average sound pressure level (volume), you might need a fairly high-output amplifier. The NAD 2030D is 15 watts per channel at 8 ohms, 30 watts per channel at 4 ohms. The nominal 8 ohm impedance of the LS50 means that, while you will be able to use the amp with this speaker, it will not play very loud before distortion is noticeable, and even at relatively low levels, dynamic range (depending upon type of program material you listen to) will be quite restricted. I use the KEF LS50s with an amplifier of 125 watts per channel at 8 ohms (200 watts per channel at 4 ohms), and this is adequate our 15' x 30' listening room (450 square feet). Do you need to have the Bluetooth connectivity? If not, there are other budget options you might consider. I can give you some suggestions if you like. One final thing to consider is this: if you are going to buy speakers of the caliber of the KEF LS50, you should invest in a decent amplifier and signal sources. The LS50 is literally one of the finest speakers ever made, one for the ages, and investing in them is worthwhile. You could start with a less-than-capable amplifier, but you will not get the performance that the LS50 is capable. The end of the day, you need to balance the amount you invents in all the system elements - sources, preamplifier, amplifier, and speakers, as well as stands for those speakers, and even room acoustic treatments.
247159
You should probably go for speakers with a 90db or greater sensitivity. There are alot of good speakers out there today. Depends how much you want to spend.Decide on your budget and they pick a brand and see if they have been reviewed.The avsforum.com has quite a bit of info both on audio and video. Good Luck. This amp is a work of art.you can go for more inefficient speakers but woun't be able to play them as loud before they start to clip (get distortion form the amp not having enough power to play at that level).
235725
Your going to want a mono channel class D. Something that can push 2000 watts at least. Dont cheap out on an amp because it will over heat and burn out. Hifonics makes some decent amps. whatever wattage you want to run to it get a amp that will do at least 1000 more than that and just turn it down a bit when your tuning it. Lets say you want to run 2000watts, if you use an amp thats rated for max 2000 watts youll be stressing it constantly and it wont last you long. Also make sure you do not mount it on the sub box or in an area were there isnt enough room for it to breath.
1453094
This is an easy headphone to run with many amps, unlike more demanding competitors like HE-6 or LCD3. So you have a lot of choices according to your sound preferences. This really means ideally you should listen to the better amps as subjectively discussed in forums like head-fi eg Burson, Hifiman, Ray Samuels, Sennheiser etc. I run on EF6 by Hifiman and it sounds superb, detailed and wide soundstage but this is abit (powerfully) overkill as you may get perfectly nice sound for your ears with a cheaper amp (even EF5) - but I love my pairing. Note HD800 is abit bass-lite compared to competitors but a fine phone for classical music or wherever clear separation with nice acoustic presentation is needed. This is an easy headphone to run with many amps, unlike more demanding competitors like HE-6 or LCD3. So you have a lot of choices according to your sound preferences. This really means ideally you should listen to the better amps as subjectively discussed in forums like head-fi eg Burson, Hifiman, Ray Samuels, Sennheiser etc. I run on EF6 by Hifiman and it sounds superb, detailed and wide soundstage but this is abit (powerfully) overkill as you may get perfectly nice sound for your ears with a cheaper amp (even EF5) - but I love my pairing. Note HD800 is abit bass-lite compared to... » Read More This is an easy headphone to run with many amps, unlike more demanding competitors like HE-6 or LCD3. So you have a lot of choices according to your sound preferences. This really means ideally you should listen to the better amps as subjectively discussed in forums like head-fi eg Burson, Hifiman, Ray Samuels, Sennheiser etc. I run on EF6 by Hifiman and it sounds superb, detailed and wide soundstage but this is abit (powerfully) overkill as you may get perfectly nice sound for your ears with a cheaper amp (even EF5) - but I love my pairing. Note HD800 is abit bass-lite compared to competitors but a fine phone for classical music or wherever clear separation with nice acoustic presentation is needed. « Show Less
1722042
You cannot. If you have the budget go with the GT100. It's a much better unit. I had the ME25, GT10, and now I use the GT100. For classic tone, I use the Fender Mustang III. Good luck.
1045446
Hank 51 and Thomas H. are correct, and I wholeheartedly agree with their comments. I've used mine as well with a high-powered vintage Quad (British manufacturer) amp, and they sound great. Just watch the volume level, as these guys have already stated.
376337
Jeputar, should be fine since Titans have a moderately-high sensitivity. As far as trying the amp, if you buy from Audio Advisor they have a 30-day return policy if you're not satisfied.
544916
Same here , I listen to smooth jazz alot. The sound quality is better for HK when compared to a YAMAHA. I own both HK 3490 and a RS700 stereo receiver from yamaha. I got both of them for a good price. But I upgraded to EMOTIVA amp now, which is so much better than these two. HK 3490 is a warm sounding amp. It depends on your liking. Both are good amps.
1264925
Yes I would it's a top notch amp! It will give you all the clean sound you want and it doesn't get hot it stays warm to the touch.
2283804
I use it with my HE-500 and it is great. I don't get better sound from my headphones using anything else, including my Oppo 105 or my Integra receiver on my home theater.
541378
I own the HE-500 and the Lyr with the NOS Tungsram ECC85 tube upgrade and the bass is simply incredible, very deep and well controlled without stepping on the clear midrange or treble with great depth to the soundstage. I do not own the HiFiMan EF-5, so I can't compare them however, one of the reviewers on Amazon (Herbert York) who bought the HiFiMan EF-5 said in his comments that he also bought a Lyr to compare and kept the Lyr stating that there was no comparison between the two. Go to that page on Amazon and look for his name and then read the comments.
675834
Definitely, unless you need lots of bass. The BA 200 make just about everything sound great.
502488
If you like classical music at the loudness of typical concert halls, I think 50 watts/channel is probably too low or marginal.One hundred watts/channel would be adequate. I now own a pair an drive them with a 200 watt/channel Adcom GFA-555.They are in an 11.5 x 11.5 room. The loudness is very good.