Best Amps For the Sennheiser HD800 - 2017 Edition

Any Schiit amp won't do justice to the HD800. Side by side with my ECBA, the Ragnarok, Jotunheim clearly showed their flaws, lack of head stage and openness, and gross over of micro details. Tonality yes, these Schiit amps work for HD800, but unlike Schiit DACs, Schiit amps aren't really Hifi. I heard better affordable SS amps for HD800.

 

@Illya One point of clarification on the Black Widow, it has an XLR4 output but only RCA inputs. It's a single-ended amp and the additional output is for convenience only. Wanted to point that out in case you were looking to put together a fully balanced setup.

 

Thanks I really appreciate it!!!

 

Yup, there's a whole thread dedicated to balanced vs unbalanced if you want to read more from Marv on the topic. I wish I could say I followed his advice on my first go around, instead I wasted my time and money on a cheap balanced amp that didn't get me halfway to how much I love my current BW/HD800S combo. Trust your ears, not a spec sheet.

 

I thought the Cayin IHA-6 did a pretty good job with both the HD800 and hifiman HE6 for a solid state balanced amp half the price of a BW.

 

I found the iHA-6 matched well with HD600, but a tad bright with HD800. It's one powerful amp, great for dark sounding planars too.

 

If you came here from HF, you probably think you need an tube inventory in the hundreds. That simply isn't the case. Choose a tube amp, and read up or ask questions from the same amp owners on which tubes work best with the HD800. Buy that set and maybe a backup set too. HF sure has a way of scaring people who are on a budget, like myself...

 

Worrying about tube life, warm up and expense is unfounded.
That same worry held me captive in the solid-state purgatory for years.
Please, climb out now !

 

I steadfastly agree with what others have been saying: avoid the Rag and LAu with the HD800's, don't run from tubes and forget balanced.

I also think it is impossible to find an amp that playes equally well with the HE6 and HD800's. You can find something that does a mediocre job with both, sure, but not something that's excellent with both.

If you are going to dig your heels in and demand a S/S amp, balanced that plays reasonably well with both is a SuSy Dynahi with a warmish DAC. At least that's the best I've found. Finding one that's well made, however, requires a bit education on the amp to avoid getting a dud: There are a good number of poor builds out there.

Why are people taking this amp on as their second build I ask?!!?

Anyway, now that I built a Crack, I am going to get back to making my T2. Any recommendations for a good soldering iron?

(^^ The above statement is a joke/sarcasm).

 

Yeah, tube amps warm up much faster then solid state. 30min is more then enough on my T3 and i've had similar experiences on other tube amps. Also don't use expensive tubes, if you pick the right amp you can seriously cheap out on tubes and get amazing performance and tube life. I paid 30€ for a matched pair nos 12AZ7's and they have seen daily use for 9 months or so and i wouldn't be surprised if they last another year.

 

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/solder-and-soldering-irons.659/

 

I was kidding

I'm not building a T2.

 

oh and I don't remember if I asked this in this forum yet but I see that cavalli's amps are unavailable and also someone ( i think from another forum) said that the Liquid gold and the other amps are out of production. I just wanted to ask if thats for good or if they will start making some soon. Your thoughts everyone?

 

An answer for such a specific question about a rare amp is probably best asked in a thread about the liquid gold, or at least Cavalli amps, or even Cavalli themselves, and not in a thread discussing the HD800, especially since it's already been established there really isn't anyone in this thread using a LAu. That said, I talked to Warren about it a couple weeks ago and he said he only had "one left" I didn't bother asking for a clarification on if that was permanent, since I wasn't in the market.

 

Last I heard all the amps are out of production except the Liquid Spark and the prototype Liquid Tungsten. But an email to Cavalli might be in order, just to be 100% sure...

 

Thanks and I'm sorry about that. i'm new to this forum stuff actually just made an account yesterday. But again thank you and sorry.

 

Thanks I appreciate it!