What would be a good portable Dac/Amp to use with my HD6xx and Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone?
I am new to this hobby. I purchased a HD6XX and plan to use it with my Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone, that has a 3.5mm jack. I was wondering if I needed a portable dac/amp or just a portable amp and if so what would one recommend? Any assistance one could provide, would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Haz
Mar 7, 2024
What has not changed in the HD58X Jubilee? -Still has 38mm dynamic drivers. -Still audiophile quality. -Same tooling, comfort, interchangeable 600/650/6XX/660S parts in the rest of the headphone. What is different in the HD58X Jubilee? -300 ohm resistance lowered to 150 ohms. -Voice coil material has changed, it has a lower electrical resistance. -Diaphragm shape has been revised. -Different damping scheme and acoustic baffle. These changes were made to lower impedance (easier to drive) as well as increase the top end of the frequency range. In the “air” treble region of 12kHz-15kHz, there is better extension as compared to the HD600/650. The bass rolls off a little earlier than typical for the line as a tradeoff for lower distortion in the area. We have requested an increase to bass extension if Sennheiser can do so without any negative effects by the time of production and they have agreed. These new drivers have been characterized as clearer, faster, and more lively in presentation...without requiring specialized gear. Audiophiles like to say that the 580/600/650/6XX “scales well” with better gear. The HD58X are designed to perform well “out of the box” with almost anything you plug them into. They're great with your laptop or phone but as with all headphones in this series, you gain a lot by adding a dedicated amplifier. This driver is closely related to the driver in the new HD660S. EDIT: Same size (both 38mm as confirmed by Sennheiser), same materials, there are some differences in the damping scheme and driver housing. This is the newest evolution for the line, another beginning deserved by the line-up that started with the HD580 25 years ago. Add these to your collection to complement HD6XX/K7XX/HE-350 or start your journey here. Value The packaging will be simplified to reduce cost. The 600/650/6XX come in hefty “presentation boxes” which may be piling up in your closet. After the first drop, the price will increase in future drops. The magnitude of the increase is unclear pending production of the HD58X. The Massdrop x Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee pays homage to the headphone that started it all and represents the start of the next chapter…
"What has not changed in the HD58X Jubilee? -Still has 38mm dynamic drivers. "
So why would he say "What has not Changed" in the HD58X? Nothing has changed these are new. He writes "Still" "still has 38mm" from what? What has happened? Nothing has happened concerning changes in the HD58x... why does he use "still"? Then he posts:
What is different in the HD58X Jubilee? -300 ohm resistance lowered to 150 ohms. -Voice coil material has changed, it has a lower electrical resistance. -Diaphragm shape has been revised. -Different damping scheme and acoustic baffle.
What is the difference? Well one difference is that they have 38mm drivers as compared to the HD580 Jubilees 40mm drivers which he did not mention here. So yes I did read the post... and your puppy is cooler then you. Puši kurac!
So yeah, there will be future release for this unit but price will increase.
Edit -- Just saw your response to someone else:
"The HD800 uses a 56mm ring driver. Overnight, Sennheiser confirmed that the HD 600/650 drivers have always been 38mm."
It will be interesting to revisit advance reviews of the HD58X to see whether the authors revised them to reflect the lack of difference in driver size. I remember reading about all kinds of sonic attributes that were assigned to that (according to Sennheiser, imaginary?) difference.
« The bass rolls off a little earlier than typical for the line as a tradeoff for lower distortion in the area. We have requested an increase to bass extension if Sennheiser can do so without any negative effects by the time of production and they have agreed. »
All graphs from reviewers regarding the HD58x show that it has less bass level and extension than either the HD600, HD650/6XX or HD660S and also most probably less than the original HD580 Jubilee, which by the way is the same headphone sonically than the HD600 (they only differ on cosmetical aspects).
So Massdrop, Cee_Tee, may you give us an update on this mod demand? This fact alone could do a difference in my decision to pull the trigger on these nice headphones.
You're talking about bass extension and the amount of bass. I'm talking about driver size and the various reviews I've read that cited the (apparently) nonexistent difference. The conversations that followed sometimes buttressed references to measurements with (apparently) references to an incorrect difference in driver size and drew subjective conclusions that, if valid, must have originated from other differences. It would be interesting to know what those differences really are, and if they apply.
If reported differences were only a question of bass, then I wouldn't have seen references to the entire sound being different. These initial impressions from Marv of SBAF in December 2017 illustrate the potentially wider differences:
"This isn't anything like the HD580 BTW. It's wholly different driver, possibly more similar to HD660S, but also different from that. . . . HD58X does seem thicker and warmer. HD58X might be tiny more veiled than HD650. Measurements say less extension, but nothing I particularly noted. . . ."
As a person who has owned the original (non-Jubilee) HD580s and HD600 since their inception, and who now owns the Massdrop HD6XX, I'm aware of the similarities. However, I would say that the HD580 and HD600 are not the same headphones. They're very similar -- and the Jubilee model (which I don't own) is said to be closer to the HD600 than the original HD580 -- but the HD600 does sound more refined to me (esp. the highs) and is more durable in terms of individual parts. The drivers are more closely matched, but I wonder whether people actually hear that (or know what they hear if they do).
The kinds of measurements you might be citing are often taken as gospel, but since there isn't a standard rig used by everyone for measurements, I'll have to assume the differences haven't been quantified because advance reviewers who heard the HD58X didn't necessarily agree with the measurement-verified rolloff that CEE_Tee mentioned. Cf. the reviewer who noticed no drop in bass (referred to in my previous post).
I understand that bass response might be the most important thing to many headphone users, but I am not one of those users. Bass extension does matter to me, but the amount of bass does not.
I'm willing to acknowledge the importance of your question, and I'm interested in the answer to your question as well.
With regard to my question, I don't know whether it's right to judge its relevance unless you've (1) understood all its possible implications or (2) polled everyone who reads comments once the implications are explored (if they ever are).
When those two factors change people's presumptions about kit they haven't heard, and the presumptions become standard parlance, you can expect a different judgment to be handed down much later, as it was on the supposedly unanimous verification of the Sennheiser "veil" (which I remember from when I first joined Head-fi in 2001):
https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/very-important-sennheiser-hd-580-hd-600-and-hd-650
The impedance also worries me because I don't listen at high volumes. Sometimes, I'm dependent on physical volume controls that cant to one side level-wise at low volumes. That's especially true with some of my portable kit.
That's particularly relevant to me because there isn't much reason for an owner of the HD600 and HD580 to buy these headphones except as a possible spare to keep at work (if the HD58X lives up to the line).
I've also read several comparisons between the HD58X and the HD660S, which originally was the main point of comparison on many sites, precisely because people assumed they did share the same drivers.
Even though what's relevant to me isn't necessarily relevant to you, I was never discussing driver size itself. I was always discussing assumptions about sound predicated on possible misconceptions about things like driver size.
I think we can agree that the amount of bass matters to you.
I also think we can agree that if the HD58X truly is that different (or dissimilar) from the series, then it's important to know what the HD58X sounds like in its own right.
I'll have another look at the Sennheiser responses.
However the final product might sound, a longtime HD580-600 user who isn't a completist will be taking a gamble with these. The threat of a later price increase as incentive to join this drop might be an attempt to balance (or bypass) that concern.
And don't take HD58X's place in the reference lineup too literally. As Pete has said, this is in certain ways a new headphone that combines elements of the 660S and 600 series, but may introduce compromises and differences that that aren't characteristic of those other headphones. I found Sennheiser's comments about the distinctions a wee Hank vague.
That bleated, this definitely looks like a fun purchase. If I had scads of money to hurl at nearly everything, I'd join this drop.
For most of my life, artist friends and I have trawled for decent horror films and fiction amid the sea of bad. The best (e.g., Black Sunday, The VVitch, Noctuary), we've returned to religiously and that definitely had an effect on our work.
My closest friend from adolescence became a published horror writer at 17. In my 20s, I wrote a collection of stories that is sometimes categorized as horror (though it’s usually classified as contemporary lit).
Back in the dray (hic!), a writer named Kathy Acker and I watched the entire Dario Argento oeuvre when she lived in NYC. She ended up writing a novel inspired by that binge: My Mother: Demonology.
I take your aesthetic goals more seriously than many would. I hate it when people conflate less macabre subjects with taste. (By that logic, Gautier is a better writer than Baudelaire.)
In my experience, the HD650s do an excellent job with horror spatially; the intended rumbles and foley effects are rendered well, but you also get the soundstage and surrounding details (the presentation isn't flat enough to warrant the descriptor background). The Stendhal Syndrome, with its superb kitsch-fortified soundtrack composed as one long passicaille, works incredibly well with the 650s, even with the iFi iDSD BL Micro.
I'm looking forward to trying other pairings after I retrieve more of my kit from storage (I moved not long ago).
I hope that you can do something about this..