So personally I think you would really need to invest in a good speaker amp to pull these off well. Which would raise the price a fair bit. That being said, I think you could get close with the he5se imo, as I would say that is right under these. While the 5se doesn’t need a speaker amp, it does take a fair bit of power from a nice headphone amp. I would say the he5se is a better value and a better choice for more people since you don’t have to have a speaker amp to get the best out of them (but a powerful headphone amp is something you will want)
What about the Emotiva BasX TA-100 zeos said it did crazy headphone power?
I think you are thinking of the BasX A100, and yes while that has lots of power I don’t think its enough/high enough quality to really get you to the level of performance where you feel like you bought a 700 dollar headphone. The he5se with the emotiva would be pretty nice though imo
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Guys, I will repeat what Mon keeps saying, I have these in hand and they will play with the BasX with the jumpers pulled and sound OK. There is a difference of night and day between OK and how these are capable of playing with MORE amplification. I swear i wish i could make a video so folks could hear the difference. Bare minimum you need a pair of Emotiva PA-1 monoblocks, and those would set you back about $650 for the pair. You will also need a good DAC, you CAN hear the differences in DAC’s with these. I’m still playing around but my ears needed a break after about 12hrs… I attached them to a Monoprice Monolith amp, https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15595 and the sound got even more layered and open. These things are wild but they need allot of watts. I do NOT believe any headphone amp will do them justice and you are wasting your time and money headed that route. Yes you can get them to play but they won’t give you what they are really capable of (seriously).
This is a screaming deal but it’s gonna cost you hundreds if not thousands on the back end, which is fine if you have the time and inclination to play. I want more headphones like these in the future, i think they are awesome!
I’m looking at an Odyssey audio amp next, http://www.odysseyaudio.com/products-stratos-stereo.html. Or something else similar from the used market at a minimum of 150watts per channel. Have fun and good luck!
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I just think that if you are going to cheap out on an amp with these it’s not worth it, as I think you could get alot better sound for your money with something like the he5se or edition xx in that price range (or most other headphones lol) if you plan to not spend on the amp (or use your existing amps)
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Consensus seems to be even with discount, these still probably end up costing over $1700. At least if you don’t already have the requisite equipment. Oh well. Might look into these down the road, but there were other things like the focal clears I’d rather try over this. Not that I’d be buying something like that soon anyway, I’ve got an Aeolus arriving on Monday and am super excited for it. I mostly was interested in this because of the discount. Happy for the people that can drive it though!
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Well I have only heard good things about zmf headphones, so hopefully it works out pretty well for you 
Dang I have to go out and hear a zmf headphone sometime
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I too have been seriously looking at ZMF and Kennerton models. Both brands are beautiful. The ZMF are higher OHM though and work better w/ most of the amplifiers I have so they are leading my desires… congratulations on the new cans, I’m sure you will love them!
I forget that you are a normal mortal that hasn’t heard everything. I’m sure eventually you’ll have ZMF headphones further cluttering/decorating your house though ^^
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I swear I feel like Ive heard the majority of headphones besides zmf. I don’t know how, but I never get around to it
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HE5se on sale!
They had them for 320~ ish at one point. Here is a good deal
Here is a used pair for more of a deal
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Hmmm in your opinion sundara or he5se? Been thinking about upgrading from my HE4XX for sometime now and one of these seems like the obvious path to that. Also you say that the 5se needs power to sound good, would a monolith 788 thx be able to drive them good enough?
I think it should be good, but you could scale to more power if you wanted a bit extra. I think the sundara vs the he5se come down to preference and the type of amp you have. If you want a more light and airy sound with more emphasis on mids and high end with clean and tight bass, along with a more easy to drive headphone, the sundaras would be for you. If you want a more v shaped, wide, bassy, punchy sound thats more fun (but also detailed), the he5s is for you as long as you have a fair amount of power on tap (I think the 887 and 789, cayin iha6, some audio gd products, some schiit products, and other powerful amps). The 788 should be fine in balanced
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@M0N, do I need a fully balanced cable to use the Hifiman he-adaptor box or can I simply use a 4 pin XLR to 3.5mm adaptor cable to plug in other headphones?
I want to try some other headphones off my lower powered amps and I am wondering what cables I need or if I can just use the adaptor. Thanks in advance…
You would want a proper balanced cable, and I would not recommend going off of the speaker adapter with other headphones, just because they don’t sound that good compared to a proper headphone amp imo.
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Mon, next time you are in Virginia, please stop by my home, and bring headphones. I managed to do a “thing”; you will be pleasantly surprised to hear just how good some headphones can sound powered off a full sized speaker amp…An older engineer at work today swore to me It would work w/ what I had available to me and he was absolutely right.
Good class A speaker power harnessed for headphones…it’s friggin awesome, I have a grin from ear to ear.
I swear brother, this sounds really good, there is so much headroom, no distortion, no noise and the amount of power and amplification at your fingertips…
It’s the tinkerer in me, I can’t not try till I fry myself and even then, I’ll go back for another shot 
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Interesting, I guess I just feel that most of my headphones sound better off of a proper headphone amp. I have tried most of my headphones off of the speaker adapter, and I don’t think they stacked up compared to some of my nicer headphone amps. I also wasn’t really thinking when I said that either, as I know you have some pretty sweet speaker amps better than your headphone amps imo, so it would make sense they sound better on the nicer amp. I was mainly saying that most of my headphones preform better on the same tier headphone amps rather than the same tier speaker amp.
Not knocking you brother, I respect your opinion and experience. I just wish you were nearby to hear what this Sugden amp does with headphones. It takes forever to warm up, but once she’s nice and hot she’s a damned BEAST i tell you… haha LOL.
I was dead set on trying this and I’m happy I did not blow anything up yet.
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I think if you are careful, you won’t blow up anything and be perfectly fine. An amp does not push power to speakers (or in this case headphones)
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