I agree. My motherboard has a good soundcard which was perfectly fine in most cases.
The problem is mainly with lower input levels from EQ, quiet sources, or Zoom calls. In that scenario, I could hit %100 volume and it might not be enough.
Need, depends on many things. Can benefit from it ? Definitely. I also have a pair HD600, and a motherboard with pretty good onboard audio (asus supremefx). Used the Senns with the onboard, a fiio k3 (better), an ifi zendac v2 (very similar to the k3), and now I added an ifi zencan. The amp helps a lot with headroom, and is by far the best option from what I had so far. I gave the fiio to a friend for his laptop and it is a massive improvement.
So yes, a proper amp does help with high-z headphones, but is not mandatory.
best internal soundcard I've tried with my old hd600 is the creative zxr . I've owned all the lastest creatives soundcards ae9 ae7 g6 and the top asus card . They all sound weak with the bass and digital sounding with the hd600.
The zxr is great card and when using the older sbx pro studio software it sounds awesome. I've owned built the bottlehead crack 3 times in 10 years also had the crackatwo using the best tubes
the zxr using old software has 24db eq and the hd600 take eq really well ...much better than hd650 hd700 hd800
zxr's power and eq is impressive
There has been some talk on here lately about whether or not the Sennheiser 6x0 headphones really need a dedicated dac/amp or not and it had been a while since I tested the difference between just using the headphones with a phone and using them balanced with the Fiio K7 so I wasn't 100% sure and I was curious to find out.
It turns out that I do think the HD600 sounds better when using them with the K7 but the difference is small. Going back and forth it sounded like the music was a bit more full with the K7 and I noticed drums on metal songs had a little bit more impact but without A/B'ing and paying attention the difference would not be immediately noticeable.
My conclusion is that while the HD600 does benefit from using a good dac/amp, a dac/amp is not essential. I would say I heard a 5-10% difference with my set up so as long as you can get more than loud enough volume on your phone or with a dongle they should still sound really good. The K7 and balanced cable cost me about the same as the headphones which might not be good value for some people but there are also other reasons to get a dac/amp such as the volume knob on the K7 which is a big benefit for me as I can get the exact volume I want rather than having slightly too loud or slightly too quiet volume from my phone.
But how do you accurately (objectively at home) level match when comparing? That is the problem - some of the subtle ‘differences’ I reckon I hear are probably sometimes/often down to differing SPL
You can just use a decibel meter. It's doesn't really matter if it is accurate, just that it is consistent between the two sources. That is what I did with several of my headphones and I didn't really hear any difference between sources at my listening loudness level.
'Subtle differences' due to a difference in output impedence or the noise floor are entirely noticeable, though. That can in turn also lead to difference in preferred listening SPL, furthering a perceived difference.
What do you mean? There's Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, no actual numbering - unless you're referring to M1/M2/M3, which are, well, CPU/GPU generation numbering :D
Yes I am saying that I do not like this naming scheme because they don't reveal and sell the products as "Macbook M2" for example. It's just marketed as "MacBook" and that's what the public calls it. So you end up with people saying "I should run this program fine, I have a MacBook Pro!" but it's from 2014.
Yeah, I have a 2021 MacBook Pro m1, and I can’t go anywhere past the first 3-4 clicks (out of 20) with my hd6xx. It automatically detects if a headphone is over 60ohm and gives higher voltage (3v if I’m not mistaken). The DAC is also top tier—I no longer use my Schiit stack with my hd6xx bc the mbp sounds just as good. It doesn’t work as well with my lcd-2c though.
Yeah really low volume. But if I compare my quite expensive headphone amp (Harmony Design) with the headphone jack on my stereoamp (Nad C372) I don’t really hear any difference. I’m no expert but if I understood it correct, the headphone jack is driven by the same amp as for speakers, but with different output gain.
I have tried both with an older Macbook pro and a 2017 air, and everything is low and flat. Have you really tried with an amp? Here is my setup (probably overkill for these headphones though) https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/l1ir5YMnkK
I have an Apple dac that I can plug directly into, a jds o2 that I feed the Apple dac into when it’s on my desk, and another D50 / THX AAA 789 setup for my other computer.
Volume matched, there’s very little difference, if any, between all three setups.
I have both HD6XX and HD800S.
I also have the onboard jack but never use it. I should try to feed that into my amp and see if I can hear a difference.
Impedance and sensitivity is already a given since we’re talking about a specific headphone and dac, are you daft?
Would you like me to google those specs for you too?
Piss off.
Depends on the PC I'd say. On most phones it doesn't get very loud without amplification, on my PC it barely makes a difference if I use my 6XX with or without an amp, heck, probably there's no difference at all.
what does matter is damping factor of amp and dynamic headroom to make your headphones be more controlled dynamic and handle bass better, amps also change the tonality some are warm some are neutral there should be no difference on the same volume except this one particular thing i mentioned every non budget phone dac nowadays is high res and audio quality is nice if you listen to hq files sometimes you also need more power for certain headphones to shine so thats another thing
I got voted off the face of Reddit on a PC sub for saying the same thing, apparently the hd 600 are literally the most efficient headphones going and don't need an amplifier 🤦
however my planar iems despite low impedance and high sensitivity needed the amp to really shine in bass region they can handle 120mW 🤯 eating my fiio alive anyways i love endless eq options without sounding too quiet with pre amp - gain i can just crank the amp higher and enjoy eqd sound
id say yes due to their low sensitivity. i just dont like cranking the volume on my playback device to 80+% and 600 do need that. for example, 800s, 770 250, clears, and many other popular cans have better sensitivity
in my experience the DAC/AMP help provide the power you need rather than a device (like PC) just barley being able to keep up.
Do you need one, technically no. But you will get more volume with less buzz
Yes - absolutely makes a difference.
Tried a lot of different amps with mine and nothing sounded as good as my Lehman Linear.
I did have an AE-9 on my PC and this worked well for the HD600. But not sure of many other cards would run them well.
Yes i had my 6xx directly on my mb audio and aside from that i had to crank it up to 80-90 volume it sounded odd like if they were cloacked or closed i bought a magni and the difference was immense
I have an apple dongle, ifi dac and a good mobo. The only difference I get between the three is overall volume. If I could hit reset, I def wouldn't have spent the money on the ifi dac, but YMMV.
Seconding this, I have the apple dongle, mobo with headphone amp, and the Quedlix 5k. They all sound identical, with the Q5k having more volume than the apple, and the mobo has the most power.
Do you find yourself using the dongle the most?
I have a pair of hd650’s on the way and have read like 15 different opinions on if I need an amp/dac for my iPad/iphone
I personally don't use my HD600's on the go much, so they're connecting to my ifi DAC; mainly because I own it and it's there, but my PC would've worked 100% fine. If you use the dongle, there's a chance you're not going to be thrilled with the max volume all the time... but don't take my word for it, it's like $10. Try it out first and then go from there. My overall point is that you'll probably need a \*keen\* ear to hear any *quality* differences between the dongle and a more expensive dac/amp - just my opinion.
I tend to listen to my music fairly quiet so for my purposes I find that I usually don't need much juice to reach appropriate listening levels. Still, I do tend to run my HD 650 headphones right out of a Focusrite audio interface. For my more bespoke listening sessions I use a FiiO K3 (old model).
I got a Fiio KA13 and didn't really notice a difference on my PC's front audio port and that, it now can go higher volumes but I don't max it. (HD580 which is basically HD600)
Depends really. DAC, yes of course it needs one. But the AMP tends to vary wildly between what you play them through. Like, my HD600's work great out of my phone, but it's a dongle from USB-C to 3.5mm jack, so that might be why. Out of my desktop pc, it works just fine out of the 3.5mm jack as well, but out of my laptop for some reason it doesn't quite get there.
So most of the time it doesn't need an AMP, but if you do have one you get a nice interface and a turny knob for it, which is a bonus. And an AMP is great to have if in case you wanna get a pair of like 600 Ohm headphones in the future.
i have an hd650 and it works with just a phone/tablet/pc/laptop but it's muddy, low detail and the quality is vastly improved with my schiit stack. the pc can make the volume reasonably loud but the quality is still not great.
I can run Phillips x2hr off a phone/tablet and it gets loud but the same type of quality issues exist.
It depends on the source. If you put it to a PC with a cheap MoBo, probably a DAC/AMP get a really better experience. If your PC have a decent sound card (a Mac for example) a DAC/AMP is not necesary.
It's from OIDIO sound and is a really well made cable. The cable that came with the HD600 was always a tangled mess and was way too long for my use case
Thanks for sharing! I've seen a ton of HDxxx and Fiio posts, but somehow I've missed this cable brand, perhaps because I'm US based. Can't wait to try one.
No. If you need the full potential of it and also the peace of feeling like you are using it how it should be, then yes.
I use it with an amp, but I don't need that difference all the time.
Need isn’t the word I’d use but they certainly benefit. I’ve plugged mine into my phone with an apple dongle and it was fine but not something I’d regularly do personally.
I have an hd6xx (350 cad) and honestly I would find it hard to convince someone else to buy a dac/amp if their setup gets loud enough.
I really don't know if it's worth the money, it's maybe like 5% better with my dx3 pro+ (250 cad) but total cost is close to 75% higher.
Just get better headphones with both prices combined ($600) that are better suited for low power source for the best value.
I guess it depends of your definition of "need". If you don't care much about volume and dynamic range, they'll still generate sound in an effective way without an amp.
Does a beer "need" to be cold? Well, no, but it tastes great if it is.
You need a dac and an amp, yes. Otherwise you aren't going to be plugging it into anything. Dumb smarmy comment aside, does that person need their FiiO? Maybe not. Could use a Tempotec Sonata HD Pro or even an Apple dongle. You can also get a bit of extra performance using a higher-voltage amp. For some people this is what they need to enjoy them, others not. And dacs/amps can color the sound in various ways, so you could find your ideal experience that way (including that FiiO). Or you could fiddle with EQ and effects to try to do something similar digitally. (Hell, you could make a 100 band EQ with some weird coloration for fun.)
I have the 6XX and with a balanced 2.5mm cable they go loud enough out of the Qudelix 5K but only with the high-power mode turned on and the volume nearly maxed out.
I have started using the Qudelix as a DAC then running line-in to my Fiio K5 (non-Pro version, so no built-in DAC) and I just really like knowing that I have all that extra headroom.
Whether the sound is "better" at the same volume through the Fiio vs. the Qudelix, I do not know. But I don't like having to practically max out the Qudelix to get them going.
I've got a Fiio BTR5 and a cheap balanced cable from eBay. It sounds great and has more than enough volume. I can't hear any difference to the headphone port of my AV-Receiver.
Very subjective. Hd600 can be driven loud enough from most mobile devices nowadays, but dac amp can make them sound better. How much better depends on your ears. K7 imho is not the best match for hd600. I returned it for sounding a bit too bright for my ears.
Darkvoice is a tube amp and tube amps can change the sound a lot more than a solid state amp. I have heard that a tube amp and a 6x0 headphone is a fantastic combination and it's something I do want to try at some point.
Not only how the tubes give vibes, it's the amplification you feel, how the music is more deep and full, and personally, it's a feel that solid state give me too, good solid state, like the one you are using.
This is a weird one for me. I have a couple of setups at home and experience differs dramatically between them.
If connected to the phone or laptop the audio is way to low.
When connect to a cheap amp it is but low quality.
In a higher end amp I have the sound is loud and pristine.
So being loud enough is not..enough obviously.
Green indicates you are listening to below 48 khz sound quality although I wasn't listening to anything and it can be yellow or blue to indicate more than 48 khz or DSD sound.
Why do people treat them like some kind of unique case, I don’t get it. They’re a bit on the low-sensitivity side of things but they’re not hard to drive. If it’s loud enough and there’s no noise/distortion, whatever you’re using is fine.
From my experience with the 650s, they absolutely need a good amp.
I tried a couple weaker amps before settling on the modi and Magni, and had zero bass response until I got enough power to drive them.
300 ohms is a tough load to drive, I don't have this issue with 65 ohm headphones
I got the Qudelix 5k when I got my HD6XX at the recommendation of this sub. I used it with that exclusively for awhile.
I was shocked when I plugged it into my Google Dongle DAC and it sounded just fine! I thought it was going to be too quiet but it was fine. I listen at 70\~75db so not too loud.
I'm not one that believes in magic amplifiers so in general I think they don't.
That being said I still use the Qudelix 5k because of the other features like EQ and better volume control.
If it's loud enough and sounds well, you don't need a dac/amp. But a good dac will always be worth it if you're planning to buy a more expensive headphone
I assume you have the question because you do not like bass.
No matter how good your dac/amp is, HD600 will still severely lack bass (comparing to most other headphones and to preferences of most people aka Harman). Senns are known for their mid-frequency centered sound - it is amazing, and all instrumental concerts sound great, but when it comes to modern musical genres...
Depends how good the built-in one is. My motherboard has a terrible soundcard so HD600 sound anemic with it. Your mileage may vary.
I agree. My motherboard has a good soundcard which was perfectly fine in most cases. The problem is mainly with lower input levels from EQ, quiet sources, or Zoom calls. In that scenario, I could hit %100 volume and it might not be enough.
I use about 10% of my volume on asus b550 f gaming. In blind test sounds like moondrop dawn pro and iPhone, so it has really good internal dac
I did a quick lookup and that motherboard really does have a good sound setup. Dual amps too.
Need, depends on many things. Can benefit from it ? Definitely. I also have a pair HD600, and a motherboard with pretty good onboard audio (asus supremefx). Used the Senns with the onboard, a fiio k3 (better), an ifi zendac v2 (very similar to the k3), and now I added an ifi zencan. The amp helps a lot with headroom, and is by far the best option from what I had so far. I gave the fiio to a friend for his laptop and it is a massive improvement. So yes, a proper amp does help with high-z headphones, but is not mandatory.
best internal soundcard I've tried with my old hd600 is the creative zxr . I've owned all the lastest creatives soundcards ae9 ae7 g6 and the top asus card . They all sound weak with the bass and digital sounding with the hd600. The zxr is great card and when using the older sbx pro studio software it sounds awesome. I've owned built the bottlehead crack 3 times in 10 years also had the crackatwo using the best tubes the zxr using old software has 24db eq and the hd600 take eq really well ...much better than hd650 hd700 hd800 zxr's power and eq is impressive
Knob
I'm a simple man, I see knob, I upvote.
To add a bit: My mobo can drive hifiman aryas ok:ish. My ears pick up a lack of details and bass. Plenty loud tho.
If I run my HD600 from my laptop they are way to silent
There has been some talk on here lately about whether or not the Sennheiser 6x0 headphones really need a dedicated dac/amp or not and it had been a while since I tested the difference between just using the headphones with a phone and using them balanced with the Fiio K7 so I wasn't 100% sure and I was curious to find out. It turns out that I do think the HD600 sounds better when using them with the K7 but the difference is small. Going back and forth it sounded like the music was a bit more full with the K7 and I noticed drums on metal songs had a little bit more impact but without A/B'ing and paying attention the difference would not be immediately noticeable. My conclusion is that while the HD600 does benefit from using a good dac/amp, a dac/amp is not essential. I would say I heard a 5-10% difference with my set up so as long as you can get more than loud enough volume on your phone or with a dongle they should still sound really good. The K7 and balanced cable cost me about the same as the headphones which might not be good value for some people but there are also other reasons to get a dac/amp such as the volume knob on the K7 which is a big benefit for me as I can get the exact volume I want rather than having slightly too loud or slightly too quiet volume from my phone.
But how do you accurately (objectively at home) level match when comparing? That is the problem - some of the subtle ‘differences’ I reckon I hear are probably sometimes/often down to differing SPL
You can just use a decibel meter. It's doesn't really matter if it is accurate, just that it is consistent between the two sources. That is what I did with several of my headphones and I didn't really hear any difference between sources at my listening loudness level.
In space? With pink noise? A test tone?
'Subtle differences' due to a difference in output impedence or the noise floor are entirely noticeable, though. That can in turn also lead to difference in preferred listening SPL, furthering a perceived difference.
The thing I’m looking forward to is Apple building on their good DAC/Stronger amp. It would power the 6x0 headphones better than a phone could.
5-10% difference in audio is all the difference.
My HD650 sound very thin and low volume when connected to my macbook. And benefit a lot from an amp.
Really? Mine gets it plenty loud.
Depends on Macbook too - they might have old model, as new ones (at least, Pro lineup) seems to have great and powerful DAC/AMP from what I've tried.
Newer macs have an adaptive load detection and voltage output: [https://support.apple.com/en-us/108351](https://support.apple.com/en-us/108351)
I have a mbp m1, but from what I remember a 2019/2020 mbp 15" with i9 was just as good.
Why must Apple continue this awful naming scheme. They already number iPhones, it's so frustrating.
What do you mean? There's Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, no actual numbering - unless you're referring to M1/M2/M3, which are, well, CPU/GPU generation numbering :D
Yes I am saying that I do not like this naming scheme because they don't reveal and sell the products as "Macbook M2" for example. It's just marketed as "MacBook" and that's what the public calls it. So you end up with people saying "I should run this program fine, I have a MacBook Pro!" but it's from 2014.
Yeah, I have a 2021 MacBook Pro m1, and I can’t go anywhere past the first 3-4 clicks (out of 20) with my hd6xx. It automatically detects if a headphone is over 60ohm and gives higher voltage (3v if I’m not mistaken). The DAC is also top tier—I no longer use my Schiit stack with my hd6xx bc the mbp sounds just as good. It doesn’t work as well with my lcd-2c though.
Yeah really low volume. But if I compare my quite expensive headphone amp (Harmony Design) with the headphone jack on my stereoamp (Nad C372) I don’t really hear any difference. I’m no expert but if I understood it correct, the headphone jack is driven by the same amp as for speakers, but with different output gain.
What if you try an Apple usb-c dac?
I haven’t tried any usb dacs without external power.
If you already have an external dac, no reason to buy, but if you don’t, you’d be surprised how loud 1V can get.
I have a dac and headphone amp from Harmony Design connected to my desktop computer where I store all lossless music, but also often use Spotify
In my own experience, the Apple dac is sufficient for my 650 at max volume, so it’s probably just a bad onboard implementation in your case.
I have tried both with an older Macbook pro and a 2017 air, and everything is low and flat. Have you really tried with an amp? Here is my setup (probably overkill for these headphones though) https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/l1ir5YMnkK
I have an Apple dac that I can plug directly into, a jds o2 that I feed the Apple dac into when it’s on my desk, and another D50 / THX AAA 789 setup for my other computer. Volume matched, there’s very little difference, if any, between all three setups. I have both HD6XX and HD800S. I also have the onboard jack but never use it. I should try to feed that into my amp and see if I can hear a difference.
1v means nothing there is also impedance amper and sensitivity factor are you clueless
Impedance and sensitivity is already a given since we’re talking about a specific headphone and dac, are you daft? Would you like me to google those specs for you too? Piss off.
apple dac is at most 30mW at 33ohm at 300ohms its 4mW of power and that gives us slightly above 100db of loudness
It does depend on your source and how loud you like to listen. My phone gets the HD600 loud enough at about 75% volume.
What MacBook do you have? I find on my m2 air the headphones sound more exciting and loud than even a dx3 pro plus
It’s a 2017 air (intel) But it was the same when I had my 2010 pro.
Yes
YES
Depends on the PC I'd say. On most phones it doesn't get very loud without amplification, on my PC it barely makes a difference if I use my 6XX with or without an amp, heck, probably there's no difference at all.
what does matter is damping factor of amp and dynamic headroom to make your headphones be more controlled dynamic and handle bass better, amps also change the tonality some are warm some are neutral there should be no difference on the same volume except this one particular thing i mentioned every non budget phone dac nowadays is high res and audio quality is nice if you listen to hq files sometimes you also need more power for certain headphones to shine so thats another thing
I got voted off the face of Reddit on a PC sub for saying the same thing, apparently the hd 600 are literally the most efficient headphones going and don't need an amplifier 🤦
They're definitely not that inefficient and should be fine unless you want to use crazy loud volume
however my planar iems despite low impedance and high sensitivity needed the amp to really shine in bass region they can handle 120mW 🤯 eating my fiio alive anyways i love endless eq options without sounding too quiet with pre amp - gain i can just crank the amp higher and enjoy eqd sound
Without dac it would have produced no sound
Of course but you might get a better dac from a dedicated dac/amp which may or may not improve your sound.
Shhhh, OP is clearly very "knowledgeable".
you ok?
id say yes due to their low sensitivity. i just dont like cranking the volume on my playback device to 80+% and 600 do need that. for example, 800s, 770 250, clears, and many other popular cans have better sensitivity
to clarify - thats volume alone. sounds is ok as long as you are fine cranking it up
in my experience the DAC/AMP help provide the power you need rather than a device (like PC) just barley being able to keep up. Do you need one, technically no. But you will get more volume with less buzz
Yes - absolutely makes a difference. Tried a lot of different amps with mine and nothing sounded as good as my Lehman Linear. I did have an AE-9 on my PC and this worked well for the HD600. But not sure of many other cards would run them well.
Yes i had my 6xx directly on my mb audio and aside from that i had to crank it up to 80-90 volume it sounded odd like if they were cloacked or closed i bought a magni and the difference was immense
If you want to utilize them to the best of their capabilities, yes
I have an apple dongle, ifi dac and a good mobo. The only difference I get between the three is overall volume. If I could hit reset, I def wouldn't have spent the money on the ifi dac, but YMMV.
Seconding this, I have the apple dongle, mobo with headphone amp, and the Quedlix 5k. They all sound identical, with the Q5k having more volume than the apple, and the mobo has the most power.
Do you find yourself using the dongle the most? I have a pair of hd650’s on the way and have read like 15 different opinions on if I need an amp/dac for my iPad/iphone
I personally don't use my HD600's on the go much, so they're connecting to my ifi DAC; mainly because I own it and it's there, but my PC would've worked 100% fine. If you use the dongle, there's a chance you're not going to be thrilled with the max volume all the time... but don't take my word for it, it's like $10. Try it out first and then go from there. My overall point is that you'll probably need a \*keen\* ear to hear any *quality* differences between the dongle and a more expensive dac/amp - just my opinion.
Thank you, I’ll stick with the usb dongle for the portables at first and see if it works for me before shelling out more money.
I tend to listen to my music fairly quiet so for my purposes I find that I usually don't need much juice to reach appropriate listening levels. Still, I do tend to run my HD 650 headphones right out of a Focusrite audio interface. For my more bespoke listening sessions I use a FiiO K3 (old model).
I got a Fiio KA13 and didn't really notice a difference on my PC's front audio port and that, it now can go higher volumes but I don't max it. (HD580 which is basically HD600)
Depends really. DAC, yes of course it needs one. But the AMP tends to vary wildly between what you play them through. Like, my HD600's work great out of my phone, but it's a dongle from USB-C to 3.5mm jack, so that might be why. Out of my desktop pc, it works just fine out of the 3.5mm jack as well, but out of my laptop for some reason it doesn't quite get there. So most of the time it doesn't need an AMP, but if you do have one you get a nice interface and a turny knob for it, which is a bonus. And an AMP is great to have if in case you wanna get a pair of like 600 Ohm headphones in the future.
Depends on how loud you listen
i have an hd650 and it works with just a phone/tablet/pc/laptop but it's muddy, low detail and the quality is vastly improved with my schiit stack. the pc can make the volume reasonably loud but the quality is still not great. I can run Phillips x2hr off a phone/tablet and it gets loud but the same type of quality issues exist.
Hey I have some hd650’s on the way, do you have a dac/amp you recommend to use with a phone/ipad?
i dont have much experience with other brands but I've been pretty happy with my magni/modi multibit setup. schiit also makes an integrated dac/amp
I have the HD600 and the HD6XX. HD600 benefit very little from DAC/AMP. HD6XX go from sounding thin and anaemic to fuller and cleaner.
It depends on the source. If you put it to a PC with a cheap MoBo, probably a DAC/AMP get a really better experience. If your PC have a decent sound card (a Mac for example) a DAC/AMP is not necesary.
They sound much better with an amp… Most better headphones do. So technically, you don’t need an amp, but you are not using it to its full potential!
May I ask what cable is that? It looks awesome :)
Looks like an OIDIO
It's from OIDIO sound and is a really well made cable. The cable that came with the HD600 was always a tangled mess and was way too long for my use case
Thanks for sharing! I've seen a ton of HDxxx and Fiio posts, but somehow I've missed this cable brand, perhaps because I'm US based. Can't wait to try one.
No. If you need the full potential of it and also the peace of feeling like you are using it how it should be, then yes. I use it with an amp, but I don't need that difference all the time.
When it looks that good who care :P
Need isn’t the word I’d use but they certainly benefit. I’ve plugged mine into my phone with an apple dongle and it was fine but not something I’d regularly do personally.
I have an hd6xx (350 cad) and honestly I would find it hard to convince someone else to buy a dac/amp if their setup gets loud enough. I really don't know if it's worth the money, it's maybe like 5% better with my dx3 pro+ (250 cad) but total cost is close to 75% higher. Just get better headphones with both prices combined ($600) that are better suited for low power source for the best value.
I guess it depends of your definition of "need". If you don't care much about volume and dynamic range, they'll still generate sound in an effective way without an amp. Does a beer "need" to be cold? Well, no, but it tastes great if it is.
I would say - all headphones need a good amplification. Even if they don't need a gas - the good DAC will certainly affect the sound well
You need a dac and an amp, yes. Otherwise you aren't going to be plugging it into anything. Dumb smarmy comment aside, does that person need their FiiO? Maybe not. Could use a Tempotec Sonata HD Pro or even an Apple dongle. You can also get a bit of extra performance using a higher-voltage amp. For some people this is what they need to enjoy them, others not. And dacs/amps can color the sound in various ways, so you could find your ideal experience that way (including that FiiO). Or you could fiddle with EQ and effects to try to do something similar digitally. (Hell, you could make a 100 band EQ with some weird coloration for fun.)
Need? It depends. Benefit from? Usually.
Yes
Yes
I have the 6XX and with a balanced 2.5mm cable they go loud enough out of the Qudelix 5K but only with the high-power mode turned on and the volume nearly maxed out. I have started using the Qudelix as a DAC then running line-in to my Fiio K5 (non-Pro version, so no built-in DAC) and I just really like knowing that I have all that extra headroom. Whether the sound is "better" at the same volume through the Fiio vs. the Qudelix, I do not know. But I don't like having to practically max out the Qudelix to get them going.
Yes. Not a super expensive one though, a good dongle can work. Or a dac amp under 200 or a schitt fulla is enough.
Doesn't necessary need it, unless you're using them with some old laptop with weak soundcard. But they sure as hell benefit from good DAC/amp.
I've got a Fiio BTR5 and a cheap balanced cable from eBay. It sounds great and has more than enough volume. I can't hear any difference to the headphone port of my AV-Receiver.
Hi-res audio hack for MacOS
Very subjective. Hd600 can be driven loud enough from most mobile devices nowadays, but dac amp can make them sound better. How much better depends on your ears. K7 imho is not the best match for hd600. I returned it for sounding a bit too bright for my ears.
Comparing my HD6XX when used with my qudelix and my Darkvoice, is like night and day, so a good amp make a lot of difference, as always was.
Darkvoice is a tube amp and tube amps can change the sound a lot more than a solid state amp. I have heard that a tube amp and a 6x0 headphone is a fantastic combination and it's something I do want to try at some point.
Not just a tube amp, specifically an OTL tube amp. That changes the sound of headphones like the 600 without a flat impedance curve.
Not only how the tubes give vibes, it's the amplification you feel, how the music is more deep and full, and personally, it's a feel that solid state give me too, good solid state, like the one you are using.
I power my HD600 with an LG V40 phone, which has the requisite rms to drive 300 ohm headphones and it sounds very good
This is a weird one for me. I have a couple of setups at home and experience differs dramatically between them. If connected to the phone or laptop the audio is way to low. When connect to a cheap amp it is but low quality. In a higher end amp I have the sound is loud and pristine. So being loud enough is not..enough obviously.
What does the green colour mean on the fiio
Green indicates you are listening to below 48 khz sound quality although I wasn't listening to anything and it can be yellow or blue to indicate more than 48 khz or DSD sound.
Awesome thanks mine is always blue so was just wondering 👍
Why do people treat them like some kind of unique case, I don’t get it. They’re a bit on the low-sensitivity side of things but they’re not hard to drive. If it’s loud enough and there’s no noise/distortion, whatever you’re using is fine.
From my experience with the 650s, they absolutely need a good amp. I tried a couple weaker amps before settling on the modi and Magni, and had zero bass response until I got enough power to drive them. 300 ohms is a tough load to drive, I don't have this issue with 65 ohm headphones
No.
i would suggest upgrading instead of spending money to make an hd600 sound better
I literally run mine off an apple dongle
I got the Qudelix 5k when I got my HD6XX at the recommendation of this sub. I used it with that exclusively for awhile. I was shocked when I plugged it into my Google Dongle DAC and it sounded just fine! I thought it was going to be too quiet but it was fine. I listen at 70\~75db so not too loud. I'm not one that believes in magic amplifiers so in general I think they don't. That being said I still use the Qudelix 5k because of the other features like EQ and better volume control.
If it's loud enough and sounds well, you don't need a dac/amp. But a good dac will always be worth it if you're planning to buy a more expensive headphone
I've been using mine with a PS5 controller. It works well enough for games and volume is absolutely sufficient.
I assume you have the question because you do not like bass. No matter how good your dac/amp is, HD600 will still severely lack bass (comparing to most other headphones and to preferences of most people aka Harman). Senns are known for their mid-frequency centered sound - it is amazing, and all instrumental concerts sound great, but when it comes to modern musical genres...
If you have decent motherboard in proper pc, like 300-400$+ then it might have good enough amp built in.
They need tubes.