Has anyone tried the HEDD with the better Cavalli amps. Like the Fire, Crimson, Platinum, Gold, or Glass? I’m curious if the HEDD has any special synergy with the Cavalli amp style of sound. Those amps will certainly have the power necessary. But is there synergy where the whole is more than the sum of the parts?
I own a Fire, Platinum, and Glass. And soon a Gold X. I’m all about synergy when picking headphones to pair with amps and DACs. I find that Audeze headphones have great synergy with the Cavalli amps. I’m hoping that the HEDD will have synergy too. Otherwise I’ll have to set my sights on something like a RAD-0 instead for my next headphone.
I agree with you that a nicely matching tube amplifier can really bring out something in the Hp that a SS generally will not be able to do. I got a little of that with the Decware but in the end, it lost too much in the lower end for that experiment to continue further.
So I have gone back to the Pro iCAN on the Tube+ setting and it is sounding so lovely with some Rufus du Sol tunes.
I am getting speaker taps cable adaptor for my hard to drive headphones. What do you think about trying it with the Hp? And in particular, do you think it will be safe to connect the Hp to the Decware Mini Torii MkII with this adaptor? And the potential results?
Unless Decware are reducing the output of the Mini Tori MkII for its optional headphone output, then using the speaker taps isn’t going to deliver more power, nor a different sound.
And since the 4W output of the Mini Tori MKII into speakers is probably at 8 ohms (typical spec for speakers, but Decware don’t actually say), there isn’t a need to reduce that output for the headphone output as headphones generally have rather higher impedance than speakers anyway.
4W into an 8 ohm speaker would translate to 760mW into the HEDDphone, which is a bit shy of the ideal (from my experiments that’s about 1W at 42 ohms), but should be fine.
No reason it shouldn’t be safe in this case; there are plenty of headphone amplifiers that push more power from their headphone jacks.
Can’t speak to the results specifically, as I’ve never heard the Mini Tori MkII, but there’s also no reason to think it would be any different to the headphone output.
Re-reading this thread, there are some statements about amp-pairing and power for the HEDDphone that are not complete enough in their information, or are simply inaccurate/wrong.
Phonitor X has the same power output from either it’s single-ended (1/4" TRS) or balanced (4-pin XLR) outputs. The SE output has lower noise and distortion, but worse cross-talk. You won’t get more power here by using a balanced connection from the Phonitor X.
The boost settings on the Phonitor X do not change the amount of POWER available, they change the gain - which is necessary only if using a source with lower than normal output levels and/or with quieter source material.
The Hugo TT 2, which was at CanJam, has MORE than enough power to drive the HEDDphone even from its single-ended output (7.3W at 8 ohms, or 1.4W at 42 ohms). Everything I’ve read about that pairing there points to the Hugo TT 2 being in low-gain mode, however, which is NOT sufficient to drive the HEDDphone properly. And unless you owned one of these, you’d not be switching that mode yourself as the UX is a bit cryptic.
Qualitatively, and speaking as someone that still owns two of these setups, and has owned all three (together), I don’t personally think the Pro iCAN quite keeps up with either the Phonitor X nor the Hugo TT 2, provided they are setup correctly. The Pro iCAN has the benefit of making it easy and obvious as to how to change its output setting, and if under-driven the HEDDphone sound very uninspiring.
Thank you very much for your detailed reply to my question regarding the Mini Tori MkII. I have run out of space at my workstation where I primarily listen to my headphones and bookshelf speakers but when that speaker taps cable comes in, I will give it a go and report back here to see if it makes any difference to my ears.
I also have a small tube amp, Line Magnetic Mini218 IA that I have yet to try with the Hp. I’ll give that a go at that time and report back here on how it works out.
Thank you for your feedback/correction regarding the Phonitor X and especially the Pro iCAN.
I still haven’t had the chance to go back to that second hand headphone/IEM shop that was selling the Phonitor to confirm which model it was. Given your comment that you personally do not think that the Pro iCAN quite keeps up with the Phonitor X, I am that much more curious to check which model that Phonitor X is. If it turns out not to be the X model, I’ll check back here to see what everyone’s comments on how that particular model holds up against my amps.
Now to your thoughts on the Pro iCAN. Thanks for those. On the one hand, it is a bit sad to hear that they do not hold up to those that you mention but on the other hand, I really look forward to hearing the Hp’s real potential. I am already enjoying them right now and if I had to trim down my collection to three, I would say that they would make that list. I think it is my favourite all-rounder. Listening to some Rush now and I am loving how smooth they sound, yet I’m still hearing so much detail.
And for me personally, thank you for doing those calculations on the power. They are very helpful for me because calculating them is not something I am comfortable with doing and getting them right.
Is there any chance a Schiit Jotunheim to be able to move seriously the heddphone in balance mode with a maximum Power @ 50 ohms to be 3000mW RMS per channel ?
I am not sure to have a mind to spend 2000$ or more to drive a heddphone and be glued to only one place in my home for music.
I would prefer to use mainly a WOO WA11 Topaz, and, sometimes if it make sense in terms of sound quality, I would like try drive in only one place the Heddphone with a perhaps a more suitable power but at a Schiit Jotunheim price tag.
Thank you for your reply.
I could understand with some of your indications that 1000mw at 42 ohms were probably in spot but a bit too “short” to fully drive the heddphone. And that the 2900mw at 47 ohms of a Spl phonitor x(xe) were more or less the only/right way to go to get the “full” capabilities of the heddphone.
Or other characteristics (distortion or so what ?) of the phonitor x are more important than just get more power with a jotunheim ?
I’ve said, several times, in this thread, that you don’t need a monster amp to drive the HEDDphone.
1W at 42 ohms is about the sweet spot. More can be beneficial, but the benefits diminish rapidly. A Magni Heresy or Magni 3+ has plenty of power for them,
As for Phonitor X vs Jotunheim, I’d put the Phonitor X ahead across the board. Which is hardly surprising, giving it is 6 times the price.
I’ve covered all this earlier in the thread , time to either read it or use search …
I was able to talk for a few minutes to the Hedd’s CEO at CanJam NY last month, very nice guy and a pleasure to talk to. One of my questions was about the “power” needed to drive them and he said the Heddphone are not one of those really hard to drive we all know, I remember mentioning him my iFi Micro iDSD BL and he agree it was enough to drive them.
And I’m one of those few who didn’t try them on the Phonitor nor the iFi stack , but at the Chord amp and I love it!!!
Was my second favorite headphone at the Canjam after the SR1a.
So what you’re saying is that I haven’t contributed useful to this thread. OK, got it.
Hopefully this is better. Here’s update re: the next HEDDphone shipment I got when I ordered mine today.
“…we are expecting a very large shipment of HEDDphones to be shipped from Germany next week. We don’t have the exact number or date yet but when I hear back from HEDD I will be sure to let you know. We are hoping to be able to fulfill all current orders with the next shimpent.”
So is Hedd Audio only focusing on the US market??
I had the Spanish dealer, whom i´ve ordered my Hedd Type 20´s emailing Hedd Audio in order to get a pair of Heddphone´s for me, and he can´t get any reply from them…Meanwhile we keep seeing Hedd promoting extensively through their FB page and Instagram…come on at least respond in a timely manner to your dealers!! Sorry for the rant guys!
