Headphones for N272

Dear hkmac, 272 headphone amp is bot that great and wont drive hd800s in a well deserved way.

it is not a headphone amp to go with a high end headphone

so you got two choice in my opinion

1. Invest in a decent headphone amp / many available at a very competitive cost starting from 3-400usd - use your 272 as a source

2. Get a easy to drive headphones for 272 without spending too much and not expecting too much - massdrop fostex is an ideal choice, it is ın now dont miss it! 

Focal Elear is a excellent choice for all round headphone better that hd800s in my opinion, no idea about T1.

272 will drive Elears but not at their peak performance so Fostex massdrop is a better value option. Fostex is closed cans, Elear are open.

The Audioquest Nighthawk are easy to drive and very comfortable. I use them with a tablet and a Chord Hugo. They should work ok with your 272.

I use a pair of Sennheiser 700 (open back) along with OPPO 3 (closed back) with a Headline & NAPSC as the  Supernait 2 headphone amp is average/ok sound. Certainly not as good as in the Arcam A39 that I had.

I had a Trilogy 931 on dem for a couple off days and the dealer was surprised that I preferred the Naim Headline amp.

I have a N272 on order and wondering if the headphone amp is better than the Supernait 2. Maybe somebody on here has some feedback.

cat345 posted:

The Audioquest Nighthawk are easy to drive and very comfortable. I use them with a tablet and a Chord Hugo. They should work ok with your 272.

+1 I use these and they are a very musical and enjoyable listen. Warm sounding with no fatigue, you can listen for hours and hours. Great value for money. Don't be fooled by the relatively cheap price, these are top drawer headphones. Take a good week constant playing to break in. Not for everyone though as they are very laid back, very smooth top end but it's all there. They are very light and comfortable. I preferred these to Audeze el-8.

Hopfully my experience with the 272 is of interest here. Contrary to one opinion above I find the 272 to have an excellent headphone output stage, it is one of the features they highlight on the information page afterall. Easily as good as my GS Solo SRG headphone amp. Infact I did a direct comparison about 10 minutes ago as I have literally just plugged my GS solo into the line out of the 272 so that my wife can listen on headphones at the same time as me (Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience on Vinyl may be the reason for the interest ;-)). Not much in it at all but would say the bottom end on the 272 HP output is slightly ahead of the GS for quantity and slam. Would have to do more extensive testing to say more than that but Its definitely good enough to drive HD650s.

With the Hd650 (Sennheiser), which I can wholeheartedly recommend btw, I find the volume is at around 50 for a nice dynamic volume level which is similar to the volume pot position (12 oclock) on the GS for a similar level of output. Seems good to me.

best regards & Merry Christmas.

As Emre wrote - you need a dedicated headphone amp to drive such headphones. If you do decide to go down that route you can add AKG 812 to your shortlist.

"Hopefully my experience with the 272 is of interest here. Contrary to one opinion above I find the 272 to have an excellent headphone output stage, it is one of the features they highlight on the information page after all."

Fingers crossed. I'm thinking that if the headphone amp in the 272 sounds good enough then I might get rid of the Headline & NAPSC thus creating a spare shelf on the Fraim for maybe an XPSDR.

If you're looking to keep box count as-is, then rather than get great headphones and a dissapointing experience, why not get a pair that the 272 can drive properly. Everything from the HD600 up might be an issue (thought the HD700 are the odd ones out in that they are easier to drive than both the HD600 and HD800). However, HD598 might be the right balance of quality and easy driving.

There are probably other non Sennheiser cans in the same price bracket that are easy to drive but I have no experience wih them.

On the other hand, others have all offered good advice on possible solutions if you are prepared to add a headphone amp.

It is not only ease of drive, it is like having a crappy pre amp that can drive 20,000£ speakers they may be loud but not same...

So 272 is OK but not worth to have with 1000£ headphones....  598 is a good one as well

Thanks everyone for your valuable opinions and over Christmas as well. I think I will drop down the range a bit and try and have a listen to some of the options you have all suggested.

Just wondered if the 272 has a better psu aka XPS, 555ps .... whether this would improve the headphone amp.....

İ have a 555ps with 272 but did not using headphone amp till it arrived, i need to check, it has to to some extent

get a headline and supercapdr

jon honeyball posted:

get a headline and supercapdr

Nice inexpensive suggestion there...

If the op wants to save money the hd650 is almost as good as hd800. Some would argue better, I have both and like both equally

and the 272 drives my 650's very adequately. Its far from my primary listening method though and it isnt a patch on listening through speakers IMHO.

jon honeyball posted:

get a headline and supercapdr

An expensive choice! 

jon honeyball posted:

get a headline and supercapdr

Not my cup of tea. The Headline's pretty poor & not even a DR Supercap can rescue it.

Hello, 272 main function isn t headphone amp, senn hd 600, 650, 700, 800 are demanding headphones, if u like hd650 with 272 its ok, but doesnt mean 272 can drive them like a headphone tube amp for example, its like u have a ferrari and use it to pull/push  a truck because have a lot of horse power.

I use the Phillips X2 with my 272.  Excellent.

tonym posted:

jon honeyball posted:

get a headline and supercapdr

Not my cup of tea. The Headline's pretty poor & not even a DR Supercap can rescue it.

Oooh controversy. Love it. 

Many people have a strong disliking for the HL. I'm not one of them. 

Sure there are many other great headphone amps out there with more modern bells and whistles. But I've had a hard time finding a pure analog one that really beats a HL. It may be a design from another simpler time without much in the case, but it shows what it can do partnered with an excellent source.

While there's lots of love for the Senns, there are other headphones out there which are far easier to drive. I personally have Grado SR325e 'phones and they're a very easy drive, so will make the 272 sound it's very best. I recently was able to compare the Grados with Senn 650s and both are very good, but I preferred the Grados - they were simply more entertaining. I absolutely recommend them.

Solid Air posted:

While there's lots of love for the Senns, there are other headphones out there which are far easier to drive. I personally have Grado SR325e 'phones and they're a very easy drive, so will make the 272 sound it's very best. I recently was able to compare the Grados with Senn 650s and both are very good, but I preferred the Grados - they were simply more entertaining. I absolutely recommend them.

This is true and I loved the sound of the Audeze range too. Truly outstanding. One caveat about headphones is that comfort has to trump sound quality. While I would probably have gone for the HD800 anyway, the main issue with the Audeze was that they hurt like hell.

On the other hand, plenty find the Senns hurt (especially the unusual shape on the HD7/800). You really need to make a shortlist of ones that don't hurt your head shape after 10 minutes of wearing - it won't be the same for everyone.

But even this HD600 & HD800 owner fully admits there is a wider world out there.

feeling_zen posted:

tonym posted:

jon honeyball posted:

get a headline and supercapdr

Not my cup of tea. The Headline's pretty poor & not even a DR Supercap can rescue it.

Oooh controversy. Love it. 

Many people have a strong disliking for the HL. I'm not one of them. 

Sure there are many other great headphone amps out there with more modern bells and whistles. But I've had a hard time finding a pure analog one that really beats a HL. It may be a design from another simpler time without much in the case, but it shows what it can do partnered with an excellent source.

İt is not bad but it can not be in top 100 list of headphone amps in current market in my opinion and addition of PS makes it a top ten expensive/poor value headphone amp!

500 is ok but add a hicap/supercap the value crashes, one must have a idle PS or Naim but Naim only super fan!

feeling_zen posted:

Solid Air posted:

While there's lots of love for the Senns, there are other headphones out there which are far easier to drive. I personally have Grado SR325e 'phones and they're a very easy drive, so will make the 272 sound it's very best. I recently was able to compare the Grados with Senn 650s and both are very good, but I preferred the Grados - they were simply more entertaining. I absolutely recommend them.

This is true and I loved the sound of the Audeze range too. Truly outstanding. One caveat about headphones is that comfort has to trump sound quality. While I would probably have gone for the HD800 anyway, the main issue with the Audeze was that they hurt like hell.

On the other hand, plenty find the Senns hurt (especially the unusual shape on the HD7/800). You really need to make a shortlist of ones that don't hurt your head shape after 10 minutes of wearing - it won't be the same for everyone.

But even this HD600 & HD800 owner fully admits there is a wider world out there.

Common!!! Hd800 as an uncomfortable cans???

compare the audeze they are not there! İ have both lcd2/hd800 and lcd2 is a tank, the hd800 is a cabrio! Elear somewhere between.