Sennheiser HD580 and an amp

T

ToastMaster

Limp Gawd
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Nov 2, 2005
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I was wondering, what some of your opinions are concerning using an actual home theatre system reciever to power the Senn 580s. I have a 5.1 channel Panasonic surround sound reciever sitting here doing nothing, because I no longer use it for my surround sound system and the tv. I was thinking of using it to set up a more customized speaker system for the computer, and as I'll often be using whatever headphones I buy, I could just plug them into it.
 
If you are satisfied with it........................................
 
No problem with that setup. Although if you want a portable version the CMOY is the most popular small amp; they fit inside an Altoids tin.
 
I plan on getting the 580s as well soon. My question is, do you think its worth getting an upgraded soundcard, like an x-fi to go along with the CMOY amp? Or should I just stick to the CMOY amp and use my existing soundcard? The positive things bout the xfi would be that I could use it for gaming, but not sure if its worth 130 bucks just for gaming. Will an xfi power a 580 without an external amp?
 
Oh, and even though I realize it's almost $100 more, what would actually be better: a HD580 amp-driven, or the HD595s (at times using an amp and at other times not)?
 
Those two headphone have very different sounds. The HD580 hgas teh characteristic laid back Senn sound where as the HD595 has a more foward, grado like sound. Their both good, though, so you should listen to both.
 
Im getting the 580s and a cmoy amp for sure. I just heard them today in a local shop and they are AMAZING!
 
I have the 580s but no amp yet. I have heard that cmoys arent the best amp for these because the 580s need a lot of voltage. Ive been trying to find a good 12-24 volt portable amplifier that wont bust my budget, not sure how much I want to spend yet, so i might be waiting a while. Looking at the Portaphile v2 maxed or something similar.

If you play Counterstrike or any other game where sound is important, I would say get a X-Fi soundcard too for the cmss-3d sound. It really does help a lot in multiplayer. It helped me alot when I tried my 580s for a little bit without an amp even.
 
What about the headphone jacks on say a set of computer speakers, such as the Klipsch 5.1 ProMedias, or the Logitech Z5500s. Are they powerful enough to drive a set of 580s?

Edit - Given that the control module is powered by an amp attached to the sub for the speakers.
 
I've heard that using a reciever with headphones isn't ideal. that you should also use a headphone amp directly from the reciever headphone jack. I went from using a c-moy and sen 280's to a reciever and senn 280's and I am satisfied with the results. The speakers seem to have better range actually and for one have no interference since the reciever is over spdif.
 
I'll look into getting an X-fi, as I hear they are pretty good at driving upper-end headphones. But I'll deff need a portable headphone amp, and yes after reviewing the ohms, 300 :(, I'll need a pretty good one at that.
 
I'd also recomend another amp than teh CMOY. It doesn't quite have the juice to drive the HD580s and other high impedance headphones. If your going to build something, you should do it right the first time, IMO. I'd say build an M3 or a PPA, but they might be out of your range price and skill wise. There are other kits avaliable, but I'm not familiar with them. Go to www.head-fi.com and ask in the DIY forum, they have a plethora or knowledge there.
 
emp7re said:
I'll look into getting an X-fi, as I hear they are pretty good at driving upper-end headphones. But I'll deff need a portable headphone amp, and yes after reviewing the ohms, 300 :(, I'll need a pretty good one at that.
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The x-fi itself is not suitable for driving upper end headphones like the 580
 
Whitebread said:
I'd also recomend another amp than teh CMOY. It doesn't quite have the juice to drive the HD580s and other high impedance headphones. If your going to build something, you should do it right the first time, IMO. I'd say build an M3 or a PPA, but they might be out of your range price and skill wise. There are other kits avaliable, but I'm not familiar with them. Go to www.head-fi.com and ask in the DIY forum, they have a plethora or knowledge there.
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I do agree that he should get another amp instead of the CMOY. I have a CMOY and it's barely enough to push my DT770's.. and the 580s are quite a bit harder to drive. As far as going over to head-fi.. you do realize there are quite a bit of reciprocation between head-fi and our very own [H] forums? I am sure if we get a head count you will be surprised on how many people are from head-fi. :) (a good example is to look at the "Post your Headphones" thread, you can see there are a lot of people that got hit with the head-fi bug and emptied bank accounts in that thread) lol
 
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