I've been reading about two new orthodynamic headphones (Hifiman HE-5LE & Audeze LCD-2) coming to market, and I ran across a gentlemen who tried the Hifiman on his Virtue One and said it sounded great. Excerpts below:
"For those who are concerned that these phones will be very amplifier-sensitive, I do not feel that this should be a concern, as I tried them with my tube/hybrid SOHA, my RWA Sig.30.2, Virtue One T-amp, and my Topkit-modded iBasso D4. All performed to my satisfaction.
I asked him about his experience using the Virtue One as a headphone amplifier, and this was his reply:
"IMO, quality T-amps work very well with balanced phones. I use my Virtue with my balanced Ed.8, K-501, Yuin G1s and OK2s. They all sound just fine with both my Virtue and Sig. 30.2. You just need to make sure you start with the volume low. The Virtue runs with the volume at about the 8:30-9:00 o'clock position for normal listening levels."
The Hifiman is rated Impedance: 38 Ohms Sensitivity: 87.5 dB / 1mW
The Audeze is rated Impedance: 50 Ohms Sensativity 91 db / 1mw
Is there any technical reason the Virtue amps wouldn't play well with relatively low-impedance headphones like these? I have the Sensation M901 with the JT supply coming soon. I thought I had read somewhere that the Virtue isn't linear with the load starts to rise above 16 ohms. Maybe I misunderstood, or maybe it's not a big deal. Anyone know?
