Sennheiser HD 650 and Sundara amplification, is topping L30 II powerful enough with EQ?

[cluster]

So yesterday I tried equalizer APO with the HD 650 using oratory's standard preset (-9.3 pre amp) with a E30 II lite > L30 II . With these settings at high gain 12 o'clock, the movies were what I would subjectively describe as 80% of the volume of the same experience in Cinema, maybe at 1 o'clock it would achieve close to parity. I also tried a pure 20 HZ sinewave at this volume and could ear the drivers getting a work out (I would not describe as rattling yet, but you could hear mechanical noise/resonances as well as the 20hz tone, the right channel had slight more vibrations/resonance).

With that said here are my questions:

• It seems to me this amp will be capable for HD 650 in movies with this EQ, however even though the sound of 20 Hz was very clear, I fear they are close to the maximum (I would not go past 1 o'clock so that might not be an issue)
• Having read that Sundara takes EQ better than HD 650 and its equivalent preset is "only" -7.5 pre amp, but also knowing it is less sensitive than HD 650, do you think my setup will suffice for a Sundara?

Some considerations:

I have thought about my subjective volume testing, maybe it is higher than I believe it to be, after all we tend to put our headphones higher than equivalent Speakers as we do not feel the sound in our body, I tested this in Dune and at this volume it was not aggressive to my ears at all. I know HD 650 "behaves" very well though, and with the EQ even more so it won't show any piercing characteristics or any other problem that would kill your ears at high volume. Hopefully the amp will suffice for Sundara.

 

[solderdude]

Yes it is more than enough for both headphones unless you want to blow your ears (well over 120dB SPL is reached for both headphones)

 

[cluster]

Yes it is more than enough for both headphones unless you want to blow your ears (well over 120dB SPL is reached for both headphones)

Thank you, no just 90+ peak at most with Harman like EQ (or slight less bass) for both headphones

 

[Dunring]

I've used a lot of headphones with -6 preamp reduction including the Sundara and it's got plenty of power in high gain for it. Out of the box on the Sundara all I needed to do was a little sub bass bump and dial back the treble peak a couple of decibels. The autoeq profiles are just a guideline, I usually tweak them because the preamp reduction on some are so crazy. Hifiman has those open box with warranty for $199 on last check.