Topic: Sennheiser HD-580 headphones

[Nick Culbreth]

Mmm....tube amp   

Quoted for truth, I think the HD-580 pairs up very well with tube amps.  I powered my 580s with a Musical Fidelity X-can V2 and I was very pleased with the sound after I found the right tubes, though I ended up selling due to the price of the 6DJ8 family tubes.  I'll agree with gloco, do some research on head-fi.org and then keep your eye on their amp sales/trade forum.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Bumping a really old thread. 

I powered my 580s with a Musical Fidelity X-can V2 and I was very pleased with the sound after I found the right tubes, though I ended up selling due to the price of the 6DJ8 family tubes.

I just bought an xcan V2 for my office, since I live there now.  Do you mind posting which tubes you liked and what you liked about them?

[Nick Culbreth]

Bumping a really old thread. 

I powered my 580s with a Musical Fidelity X-can V2 and I was very pleased with the sound after I found the right tubes, though I ended up selling due to the price of the 6DJ8 family tubes.

I just bought an xcan V2 for my office, since I live there now.  Do you mind posting which tubes you liked and what you liked about them?

My favorite tubes with the Sennheisers were Amperex A-Frame 6DJ8s, followed very closely by Amperex Bugle Boy 6DJ8s.  Both tubes had a warmish sound with excellent treble clarity which really shined with the somewhat subdued Sennheiser headphones.  Unfortunately both tubes are rare, expensive and the X-Can amp isn't very easy on the tubes.  I thought most of the current production 6DJ8 / 6922 tubes were pretty lackluster, though I suppose the Electro Harmonix 6922 wouldn't be bad in some situations.  I found the tube to be rather dull and lifeless but I suppose in another setup that sort of effect might be desirable.  You might want to try a pair of NOS 61NP tubes, they're old Russian military-issued tubes, but in my setup they sounded pretty good and weren't too expensive.  They won't work in all 6DJ8 / 6922 circuits but they worked fine in the X-Can.  Hope that helps.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Thanks, that helps alot.

The x-can arrived today and I happened to have the 722 and grados at work with me.  It sounds very nice.  I'm listening to a kate gaffney show I recorded blumleim 414s in spot well ahead of the crowd so it's a really clean recording.  The show sounds very nice and airy though the x-can>SR80 combo. 

A lot of people seem to dislike the grados but I'm liking what I hear so far - but this is my first HP amp.