Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
- Solid State
- Schiit Ragnarok 2 - Works like a bloody champ, just gotta remember to go on the low gain side or risk popping the cute little drivers with the full output power of the amp.
- Drop THX789 - Works exactly as expected, extremely able to push all the juice the cans need... which isn't much as they're about as sensitive as IEM. The pair keeps the mostly neutral sound signature intact too.
- Drop LCX - Also works about as expected. The slight hint of darkness from the amp gives the cans a nice bit of extra kick when doing bass heavy cotent.
- BRZHiFi/Weiliang E600 - Also does an admirable job at making the cans sing, especially considering it is a $90 balanced amplifier built using recycled components, and using a TI output chipset known for having slightly higher than optimal output impedance. Mind, I did swap out the JRC opamps with Burson.
- Hybrid
- xDuoo TA-20 - Handles the cans very nicely. With a ~6vrms balanced signal, I had the volume at ~65 on the amp and enjoyed some very nice tube flavored sound. The combination works rather well.
- LittleDot 1+ - Depending on your unit, the noise or interference might be a problem. My Dot has a habit of picking up cel beacons. Other than that, it sounded rather fine. Not as good as the TA-20, but good enouh.
- Drop CTH - Also works well, but the inherent gain of the amplifier makes for having the volume dial turned down kinda far with these cans if you don't have a preamp you can cool down the signal with. Overall, very nice tube flavor and works well with the cans.
- OTL
- XiangSheng 708B - NOPE.
- xDuoo TA-03S - NOPE NOPE.
- xDuoo TA-26 - Even more nope.
- Spartan Music Helot x2 - God nope.
- Schiit Valhalla 2 - Pretty nope.
- DarkVoice - NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE
- Transformer Coupled Tube
- Muzishare i3 - I worried about this one as it is a 12w tube amp, and easily able to deliver ~6w into a 16Ω load. So far, no driver explosions, and the R7DX sound absolutely phenomenal when being driven by the 6P1P-EV push-pull. By far my favorite tube amp for pretty much any headphone at the moment.
- APPJ PA1502A - Like pretty much any other headphone that doesn't require huge power (like planar), the APPJ is able to easily handle the R7DX. And yes, it sounds wonderfully single ended and noise free.
- Weiliang E200 - Variable impedance selector at the minimum, the E200 drives the cans with ease, imparting that lovely 6SN7 tone with zero noise. Very good combination.
I'm definitely happier with these than the HE-35x, and I was extremely pleased with them. Edit: Verified the pad mounting assembly is different than the similarly shaped and sized pads from the HE5xx and Deva. They operate on the same principle and have mounting holes/catches and posts in the same general area, but the sizes are wildly different. Hopefully it sells well enough to cause Dekoni to make pads for it. Edit: My solution to the bad fit and uncomfortable headband. Dekoni Nuggets. It worked for my OG HE-4XX, HE-5XX, and HE-X4, and it absolutely works for the HE-R7DX.