jnscmttmyr

joined 10 months ago
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Do headphones that are easy to drive – such as the Hifiman HE1000se – benefit much from better amps? in c/headphones@hi-fi.community
[–] jnscmttmyr@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If you're near a city my advice would be to either find an audio store near you that will let you bring in your headphones to try on their equipment or check out if there are any head-fi meetups near you where individuals and sometimes companies bring their stuff for people to try.

That's what I'm currently looking for… Hamburg ⚓️ people, do you hear me?

But if you can afford the Euforia I'd get that first and upgrade the DAC later since you already have good equipment and the amp will probably be more of a noticeable improvement between both components.

As I got sucked into the head-fi adventure some two years ago (damn!), I'm experiencing this massive rabbit hole of audiophile seductions (being a hobby photographer, I know the "gear acquisition syndrome" all too well) with a limited budget, so I'm not really sure if things like the Euforia are something I could or should afford if there's something else that gives me more goose bumps for the buck.

Closing the cirlce, I'll never find out until I tried – which brings us back to the first advice you've given. ;-)

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Do headphones that are easy to drive – such as the Hifiman HE1000se – benefit much from better amps? (alien.top)
 

The Hifiman HE1000se are my daily drivers and known for not being too power hungry. I have two chains in which I listen to them:

  • Living Room: Marantz DAC-1 -> Schiit Asgard2
  • Desk: Schiit Bifrost2 -> Schiit Lyr3

I wonder whether the HE1000se benefit much from better amps, and if so, what price range we are talking about… Are amps like the Feliks Audio Euforia or the Flux Labs Volot a complete overkill? Is there something worthwhile in between? Or is even the DAC the better component to tackle here?

Hifiman headphones lifetime in c/headphones@hi-fi.community
[–] jnscmttmyr@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I personally never experienced any Hifiman QC issues, neither with the Ananda (after years of heavy use) nor the HE1000se (bought more recently), or the HE1000 Stealth I owned in between. To me, the build of their cans is maybe nothing to rave about, but definitely more than "good enough". If you take care of your headphones, those should entertain you for years to come.