Headphone amp

Hi-Fi Corner
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Hello, colleagues,
due to upcoming relocation to a new semi-detached house, unfortunately, I’ll need more often to use headphones for serious music listening. I’m planning to get Sennheiser HD650 300 Ohm headphones. I’m new to headphones amps and matching, can you please advise?

  • Which amp you would suggest for up to 1000 eur?
  • How about Headline2 in 2022? Can it be powered by old SuperCap or HiCapDR is needed? SupercapDR is out of my budget.
  • Sorry for the primitive question, but how new headphone amp should be connected? Which additional cables do I need? My Current system NDX2/555PSDR/ NAC52/SC Olive/ NAP135s
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I own those headphones and use a Pathos Aurium headphone amp, which is spectacular and around your price range. That amp has lots of great features—gain adjustment, balance, and a tape out—but the best part is its sound. It’s a tube hybrid, so you could tube roll to further customize your sound. Couldn’t recommend it enough. Plenty of reviews out there.

Sounds like someone else has chimed in about connection. Good luck!

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I picked up a Headline in January 2021 and I love it.

It’s barebones, so if you want more features you’ll need more devices to meet that, or a different amp.

There’s also the Uniti Atom HE, which I’ve seen a few used ones on the market. It also has more features than the Headline.

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I hace a Headline 2 with HiCapDR and both HD-600 and HD-800.

If you can get a second hand Headline and a second hand HiCap (even if a bit older) as long as they have been serviced recently, that might be a great way to go. I think an older pair for EUR600 would be the limit though. Beyond that, there are better matches for the Sennehisers for the same money.

If buying new, there are just so many really good options out there. At the low end of the scale, the Rega Ear is a hugely impressive headphone amp and despite it being a fraction of your budget, is a capable match with the Sennheisers.

FWIW, Sennheisers respond really well to tube amps too. And there are some capable ones that don’t cost the earth out there.

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I’ve run HD650’s with. A a Lehman Audio Black Cube for more than 10 years now and can’t think of a credible reason to change it - spectacular combination - not sure how much they go for now but I paid about $700 used for mine at the time…

The other HP amps I’ve had good success with HD’s are Maple Tree audio and Woo…

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I’ve read good things about the Pathos Aurium. I even seen it for £800 as an ex demo quite recently so bargains can be had as well!

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