[Dubwicht]

Looking for a reasonably priced amp or DIY design or kit amp to drive my Hifiman HE-5's. Any suggestions?  What should I look for for output?  Cheers, Dub

 

[takezo]

i'd recommend the schiit asgard solid state amp for the HE-5. the two have great synergy
and the current to drive it effortlessly. it's cheaper than a lot of portable amps
available but outperforms it's price of $249. you also have a 15 day refund policy.
can't beat that.

 

[Dubwicht]

Looks like a great amp for the money!  Thanks for the tip.  

 

[johangrb]

I love my HE5's. I like the LD MK IV SE for that warm feeling, but for slam & PRAT I prefer it balanced our of the Audio-gd Roc.
 
Planning on a Woo2 soon!
 
Under rated headphones.

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

I love my HE5's. I like the LD MK IV SE for that warm feeling, but for slam & PRAT I prefer it balanced our of the Audio-gd Roc.
 
Planning on a Woo2 soon!
 
Under rated headphones.

Woo2 is OTL best suited for high impedance cans, Look at the 6SE for the HE5

 

[MikoLayer]

takezo, I am just curious if you still have that SP extreme? If so, any chance you tried those HE5s on that amp? I know skylab likes these cans with WA6, but I guess asgard is another option. I am looking for something of an upgrade to both my hd650 and he5le (or sidegrade for the former) from my ppx3 if there is a such thing

 

[Roscoeiii]

I will second the Asgard recommendation. It is fabulous on my HE-5LEs, and has enough power that it ought to drive the HE-5s well.
 
An interesting option if you want to recable the HE-5s balanced might be the iBasso Toucan portable amp. Been reported to work well with the HE-5LE, which is less demanding of an amp, but if it still has a good deal of headroom with the HE-5LE it might be a good fit with the HE-5. 
 
And hybrid amps have repeatedly been mentioned as good matches for the HE-5 and HE-5LE. If you don't want to put out the cash for the EF-5, then maybe look at the Indeed G2. Sounded great with my HE-5LEs, with PLENTY of headroom left on the volume dial. Sold exclusively on eBay, they are an upgraded version of the Bravo amps, with better parts and greater tube rolling flexibility. 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I feel that the EF5 is a good match for the HE-5, and would not rule that out at all.  I don't own anything cheaper that will drive the HE-5 (or HE-5 LE) as well as the EF5.  (I haven't heard the HE-5 on Asgard that was recommended above)

 

[johangrb]

Has anyone tried running the HE5's from speaker terminals? (Tube or SS amp).

 

[Roscoeiii]

Yes, that has been tried by a number of members here. Don't recall offhand exactly who, but on the HE-6 thread, a number of people also wrote about the improvement that going from a speaker amp's terminal had. I hope to try this soon, as soon as I get around to ordering an adaptor from the terminals to 4-pin XLR for my HE-5LEs. As the HE-5s are more demanding of an amp you may see even more benefit for them....

 

[johangrb]

Thanks. Can you let me know where to order an adapter from? (My googles didn't result in anything useful).
 
I'll try it with my Ming DA 84C Integrated tube amp. I hope the impedance (25ohms?) is not going to be a problem.

 

[Roscoeiii]

looking for a good place to find an inexpensive adapter myself...

 

[johangrb]

I've ordered one of these from J&R (Amazon):
 
Qty     Model                   Product Description

---

---

---

1       HOS YPR257      HOSA YPR-257 1/4" TRS (F) to Dual RCA

 
I plan to replace/remove the RCA connectors and attach banana plugs.

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

I feel that the EF5 is a good match for the HE-5, and would not rule that out at all.  I don't own anything cheaper that will drive the HE-5 (or HE-5 LE) as well as the EF5.  (I haven't heard the HE-5 on Asgard that was recommended above)

Larry do you know how much power the EF5 puts out and how musical and detailed is the amp. Is it a contender for the LCD2

 

[takezo]

Quote:

takezo, I am just curious if you still have that SP extreme? If so, any chance you tried those HE5s on that amp? I know skylab likes these cans with WA6, but I guess asgard is another option. I am looking for something of an upgrade to both my hd650 and he5le (or sidegrade for the former) from my ppx3 if there is a such thing

" class="bbcode_smiley" height="" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//smily_headphones1.gif" title="

" width="" />

hi, sorry but i don't have the mpx3 slam se anymore. but from memory, it drove the denons d5000 effortlessly with the
6bl7 tubes in the output position, so i'm thinking it will drive the he-5 with plenty of headroom in terms of gain/volume.
whether the he-5 sounds great thru the mpx3 is another matter; unfortunately i don't have it anymore. (sorry for
the late response)