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Headphone amp - help please
#31
So today I ordered my HE1000 headphones
They will be driven by my Devialet 200 into my Auralc Tauris MK2 headphone amp.
I had the HD800 and HE1000 on home demo over the weekend which gave me a chance to compare them. The HD800 arrived first and straight out of the box sounded amazing. The new amp is quite a step up from my old one so not sure how much of it was down to this. But compared to my Q701s they were in a different league. Soundstage, clarity and detail in abundance. I sort of regretted asking for the HE1000 as at this stage I thought they could not match the HD800.
I was wrong. The HD800 is an amazing headphone and if I had never heard the HE1000 then I would have been very satisfied with them. But the HE1000 arrived and changed all that. Wow!
In my opinion soundstage is even better than the HD800. In short I felt it offered the same as the HD800 but was just more pleasing to my ears. The HD800 on certain tracks could sound a bit bright to me, some female vocals like Birdy for example had too much of a hiss for my liking. I feel the strengths of the HD800 would be with Classical music, I would imagine it excels at that.
I took advice on here and tried to EQ out some of the brightness and after about two hours experimenting I achieved it. Well to a degree. The reason I even tried this was the large price difference. So I thought I had achieved this, until I put the HE1000 back on. It again just sounded better, more natural. More forgiving possibly.
I have an album by Amber Rubarth-Sessions from the 17th Ward. Not usually my kind of stuff but I have grown to love this over the last few weeks. A track called Tundra I thought would be perfect to hear the HD800 on. It was, but again the HE1000 just did it better in my opinion. The percussion on this track with the HE1000 is absolutely stunning. Then a bit heavier stuff. Royal Blood, Arctic Monkeys, Foals etc. The HE1000 just did it all so well.
I much prefer the look and the fit of the HD800 , a simple and beautiful design, oh and I much preferred the price too , but it was always going to be about the one I enjoyed the most and that was undoubtedly the HE1000.
I just wish I could have the looks and fit of the HD800 with the sound of the HE1000……maybe one day.
Devialet 200 -- Roon Nucleus-- Sonus Faber Olympica 2 -- Tellurium Q Black Speaker Cables --
Chord Qutest -- Niimbus US5 Pro Headphone amp —HifiMan HEK, Abyss 1266TC
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
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#32
I just ordered the HE1000 as well. I don't have a dedicated headphone amp and was planning to use the devialet preouts to drive them. Does anyone have experience with this solution in terms of SQ and safety for the headphones? Would appreciate if folks could tell me what adapter to buy / where to do so. Thanks.
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#33
I tried the preouts direct to my headphones and they worked quite well but two things always concerned me. First was having the same volume control controlling the headphones and speakers at such varying levels, there is a real danger of accidentally blasting the wrong volume through one or the other. Secondly was having the headphone always connected, so i would have to power down the Devialet each time to connect or disconnect which is a hassle. 

The cable/adapter you will require is a 2 x RCA to (6.3mm) headphone socket
I used this one
not great quality but i was unable to find a decent quality version without having one made up

In the end having a separate headphone amp was just a more convenient solution for me.
.
Foobar2000/Win10 ~ Devialet 440Pro ~ Tannoy Precision 6.4 ~ Auralic Taurus Mk2 ~ Sennheiser HD700
The Missing Link Cryo Reference Mains Cables / The Chord Company Silver Plus USB / Townshend Isolda Bi-Wire Speaker Cables / Townshend Isolda DCT 300 Interconnects / Quadraspire Q4 EVO Rack

The Cotswolds England
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#34
I used the pre-outs too for a little while but I found the addition of a headphone amp made a big difference. The HE1000 are a fantastic headphone and if you have the cash I think they deserve a dedicated HP amp.
Devialet 200 -- Roon Nucleus-- Sonus Faber Olympica 2 -- Tellurium Q Black Speaker Cables --
Chord Qutest -- Niimbus US5 Pro Headphone amp —HifiMan HEK, Abyss 1266TC
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
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#35
Tyefighter and Womaz - Many thanks. Will report back once I try the he1k with the dev preout and will start trying dedicated headphones amps. Too bad Devialet did not think of a more elegant solution, the 250 on paper has all it takes to be a great headphone amp and software could probably improve both the SQ and the safety concerns (could have a headphones pre out mode where volume gets adjusted automatically to -30db on speakers etc)
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#36
I was actually in the market for new headphones for work as I'm still using my ten years old (or more) Grado SR80's, so I checked out the HE1000s mentioned above..... Ouch!!!

>>> 1st Place Award: Devialet, last decades most disappointing technology purchase.  <<<

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#37
Hooked up my brand new he1000k to dev250. SQ really good, much better than April viva v2 and AK120. Wonder how much better it gets with a dedicated amp? Any advice if to upgrade or not, which amp to try?
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#38
I found there was a significant improvement with a dedicated HP amp and this was with a musical fidelity M1HAP , however I have the 200 so may not be a good basis on which to compare
Devialet 200 -- Roon Nucleus-- Sonus Faber Olympica 2 -- Tellurium Q Black Speaker Cables --
Chord Qutest -- Niimbus US5 Pro Headphone amp —HifiMan HEK, Abyss 1266TC
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
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#39
Obviously I would say the Auralic Taurus as that's what I have. Other brands to check out would be Cavalli, Violectric, Schlitt and Questyle have a new amp out and HiFi plus have reviewed it and loved it
These are the brands I was recommended when I was looking . I did not hear any of them I just bought mine after a lot of reading and research
Devialet 200 -- Roon Nucleus-- Sonus Faber Olympica 2 -- Tellurium Q Black Speaker Cables --
Chord Qutest -- Niimbus US5 Pro Headphone amp —HifiMan HEK, Abyss 1266TC
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
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#40
(04-Mar-2016, 18:12)GTX Wrote: Hooked up my brand new he1000k to dev250. SQ really good, much better than April viva v2 and AK120. Wonder how much better it gets with a dedicated amp? Any advice if to upgrade or not, which amp to try?


There are a couple at increasing price and performance points. For the HE1K I'd recommend the Violectric V200 (V281 is a bit overkill for the HE1K but needed for HE-6), Auralic Taurus MK2, Simaudio 430HA, GSX MK2.
• Devialet 400 + Magico Q1
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