m7rso 52 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 (edited) all sorted now me darlins. Many thanks to all. Edited April 6 by m7rso Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lawrence001 507 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 HD800s are the one Sennheiser I've not owned. But from reviews and experience of other pairs, I'd say you'd want an amp with a bit of warmth (the degree depending on your personal tastes) and plenty of power, but not the mega power levels some planars require. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
m7rso 52 Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 (edited) Cheers Lawrence Roger that. Edited January 27 by m7rso Quote Link to post Share on other sites
m7rso 52 Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Looking at a thx aaa rated amp maybe the topping. And oh the other end if the scale maybe the bottle head crack with upgrade. .Anyone using one of these with the hd800. Haven't even got the cans yet! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zeta4 201 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Ive got HD800's with the dupont modification which tames the 6khz peak nicely and I use a 2P29L dht headphone amp with it ( Bartola Valves inspired ). My friend Jon has used the Bottlehead Crack with the same modded HD 800s and we thought it sounded nearly as good as my amp . I dont think you would be disappointed with it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
m7rso 52 Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 (edited) The bottlehead is what i am going for, its just finding one..if push comes to shove ill get one from the usa. messed up, the bottlehead was for my hd600. I am losing the plot. Edited January 27 by m7rso Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JamieMcC 718 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Hi I also use the hd800 and have owned several modified Cracks in the past also currently have the Bottlehead Sex and Mainline. I rate the Crack highly owning one is a lot of fun however do be aware the Crack is not the most transparent of amps the hd 800 will sound great with it but your not going to get what the hd800 are renowned for resolution of details and Spence of space. You will need to look higher up the Bottlehead range for this. Once you figure in the cost of premium tubes to get help get the most out of the Crack and a upgrade or two it's not so much of a jump. Some other more budget friendly suggestions would be Chord Mojo or the Pass Whammy amp (DIYaudio store) fwiw the Whammy with Burson V6 discreet opamps will get you within a whisker of the Bottlehead Mainlines performance for £250-£300 which is roughly a quarter of the price of the Mainline depending on if you go for the PCB or the full kit. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
m7rso 52 Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 (edited) 8 hours ago, JamieMcC said: Hi I also use the hd800 and have owned several modified Cracks in the past also currently have the Bottlehead Sex and Mainline. I rate the Crack highly owning one is a lot of fun however do be aware the Crack is not the most transparent of amps the hd 800 will sound great with it but your not going to get what the hd800 are renowned for resolution of details and Spence of space. You will need to look higher up the Bottlehead range for this. Once you figure in the cost of premium tubes to get help get the most out of the Crack and a upgrade or two it's not so much of a jump. Some other more budget friendly suggestions would be Chord Mojo or the Pass Whammy amp (DIYaudio store) fwiw the Whammy with Burson V6 discreet opamps will get you within a whisker of the Bottlehead Mainlines performance for £250-£300 which is roughly a quarter of the price of the Mainline depending on if you go for the PCB or the full kit. Apologies mate, the crack was for with my hd600s. Still haven't got the hd800 yet. Got outbid on a few but i have a couple of months.I was getting mixed up. Taken what you said onboard. Can you specify the Burson opamps for the Whammy or do they come as standard. I was looking at the mojo and hugo but a preloved mark 1. Any experience with the Hugo? If so, how would you rate the wammy against the mojo and hugo and your hd800. The amps i have available at the moment are smsl200, Topping D or E 90 and Epiphany Acoustics 02. Edited January 27 by m7rso Addition. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JamieMcC 718 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 The opamps that come in the Whammy kit will probably be the generic one they sound ok and are only a couple of dollars they push into a small dip socket and are easy to swap out a bit like tube rolling but only a few dollars a time. The Burson V6 opamps are a premium discreet opamp are around £50 (you only need one) expensive for a opamp but roughly about quarter or the price of a premium tube for the Crack! The Mojo offers great performance for the price The main drawbacks are 1 it's battery powered do you need to charge it up or run plugged in. You can also use a phone charger power bank if needed. 2 it's also a DAC so you are always tied to the DACs performance The Whammy on the other hand as it's a just the amp can be used with different DACs if you wanted to upgrade later. I have never tried the Hugo so can't comment. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
m7rso 52 Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 (edited) Ok, i have gone for the chord mojo which is highly reviewed, the topping L90 and the smsl200 and benchmark dac1 since i always wanted one and its got headphone out and i will use it on my main system anyways. None of the above is a warm amp..maybe the mojo is...by any means so watch this space. Still no hd800 on the scene so using the hd600, dt990pro and sbl can at the moment. ill keep my eye out for a pass wammy... Edited February 1 by m7rso Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Von Krolock 1,257 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Go for the black HD800s if you possibly 'can' - they are superior to the silver ones by quite a chalk. The Cayin HA-1A MK2 amp with black HD 800s is magnificent. The Mojo should be fine. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
livingid 8 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I have recently acquired the budget Topping L30 (paired with an E30) for my lockdown laptop. IMO it sounds as good as anything I have ever had with my long-serving, and fave, HD600s - plenty of power to spare. So I imagine any Topping up the chain e.g. A50s, A90 would work well. L30 is a useful pre-amp too. Cheers Dave 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
griffo104 43 Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 (edited) I found the Chord Mojo a very poor partner for the HD600. You seriously need to crank it up and actually the HD600 needs power not warmth. The Topping L30 is much the better match if you don't require the DAC. The Mojo is about £200 overpriced (overhyped). Best match I have had with the HD600 is the Sabaj Da3 running in balanced mode Edited March 14 by griffo104 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
eddie-baby 1,757 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 On 14/03/2021 at 22:54, griffo104 said: I found the Chord Mojo a very poor partner for the HD600. You seriously need to crank it up and actually the HD600 needs power not warmth. The Topping L30 is much the better match if you don't require the DAC. The Mojo is about £200 overpriced (overhyped). Best match I have had with the HD600 is the Sabaj Da3 running in balanced mode Never seen the attraction with the hd600 myself. One of the most boring headphones I ever listened to. 650 were better but again I still couldn't see why all the fuss, tried the 660 these had potential but I didn't persevere with those. Always wanted to try the 800s though and now as Von says it'll have to be the black ones. Agree with the mojo being 200 overpriced, and some of the reviews on that thing make out like it's an entrance to another dimension or something, it did nothing for me had some better sounding phone jack outputs. But it is chord never a lover, DAVE is good tho! Everything else meh. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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