Headphones

Started by Bonehelm, June 10, 2007, 02:50:21 PM

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Todd

I decided to skip the Rupert Neve Designs unit for now and instead went for both new Schiit Magnis.  Schiit is offering a 30 day money back offer for buyers of both so they can keep the one they like better and ship the other back with no restocking fee.  I'll keep both.  That'll show 'em!  I'm gonna do a shootout of the three different Magni 3s to see what, if anything, the differences are, and then I may give away the two I like least.  My son has already volunteered to take one, the selfless fellow.  If all models sound identical, I'll keep the Heresy model since it looks cooler.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd

Did some comparisons of the two new Magni models.  The Heresy is much better than the Magni 3+, which in turn is better than the Magni 3.  The Heresy is so clean and extended that it is hard to believe that it's only a hundred bucks.  The soundstage is basically flat, but the precision is startling.  It's nearly as good as the Schiit Jotunheim.  The TI (Burr-Brown) op amps are simply magnificent little devices.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Holden

Quote from: Todd on December 15, 2019, 12:48:11 PM
Did some comparisons of the two new Magni models.  The Heresy is much better than the Magni 3+, which in turn is better than the Magni 3.  The Heresy is so clean and extended that it is hard to believe that it's only a hundred bucks.  The soundstage is basically flat, but the precision is startling.  It's nearly as good as the Schiit Jotunheim.  The TI (Burr-Brown) op amps are simply magnificent little devices.

What DAC are you pairing that with
Cheers

Holden

Daverz

Quote from: Holden on November 30, 2019, 12:59:38 PM
What amp is the Topping paired with?

Sorry, missed your question.  It's a Schiit Magni 3 (not one of the newer models mentioned by Todd), and the 'phones are Senn HD650s.

Todd

Quote from: Holden on December 15, 2019, 11:12:47 PM
What DAC are you pairing that with


For the comparisons, I used a Schiit Yggdrasil.  The Heresy is now in its permanent home in the bedroom system with a Schiit Bifrost Multibit.  It's a better pairing, less revealing, though even so, it is deafeningly obvious through this set up when watching movies and TV when overdubbing is used - it's clear when the voices are in different acoustic spaces than what one sees, for instance - and how heavy-handed some Foley artists are.  Music reproduction is outstanding. 
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Mirror Image

#925
I had acquired a Schiit Heresy last week and was rather unimpressed with the sound quality, so I sent that headphone amplifier back for a refund and bought this one, which I received today:

FiiO K5 Pro -



This headphone amplifier sounds amazing. Incredibly clear, superb soundstage, no noise, and all of the extra 'bells and whistles' made it a worthwhile purchase.

Daverz

Surprised you didn't like the Heresy, MI, it got really good measurements at ASR. 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/schiit-magni-3-and-heresy-headphone-amp-reviews.10311/

My Topping D10 DAC was making popping noises, particularly during playback of hi-res files.  I think this might be related to the USB connection, which also supplies power, being loose and flaky.  Power being delivered by the Raspberry Pi USB bus might also be an issue. 

So I decided to to replace my D10  + Magni 3 stack with a single device, a ... Topping D3xpro DAC/headphone amp. Yeah, a real quality control crap shoot, but I could always send it back if it's another flaky Topping device.   This version also has the latest bluetooth codec (LDAC).  The only thing I don't like is the 3.5 mm headphone jack.



vandermolen

My daughter was delighted with the Sennheiser noise-reducing headphones that I gave her for Christmas. Thanks to all here who gave advice.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: Daverz on January 09, 2020, 04:41:05 AM
Surprised you didn't like the Heresy, MI, it got really good measurements at ASR. 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/schiit-magni-3-and-heresy-headphone-amp-reviews.10311/

Well, I was rather surprised I didn't like it, but it just didn't excite my ears plus it doesn't have the digital ins like the FiiO has, which I may need at some point. Basically, I was looking for an upgrade to my SMSL sAp II and I finally found one I'd like to keep. :)

vandermolen

Advice please.
My wife is a sign-language interpreter and although, during the current corona virus crisis she counts as a key worker as her work is sometimes in hospitals, police stations, courts etc, she is now, for obvious reasons, increasingly working from home via video link. She needs a pair of wireless, noise reducing headphones. These are for speech and not for music. Any advice welcome.
:)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Todd




For almost all non-work, non-exercise headphone listening, I'm a Beyerdynamic guy.  For almost a decade, the T1s have been my go-to cans, even though I have tried others.  And then in the midst of the pandemic, the left channel started having problems.  I popped the earpiece open and all looked good, including properly soldered connections, so I suspect the cable went south.  I will get it replaced in the summer, but I couldn't go too long without reference level Beyers.  I thought about the second gen T1, but the frequency response curve is too different, and subjective reports indicate that the sound is too different.  I decided to plump for some Beyer "pro" cans instead, the DT-1990s.  That they are far more reasonably priced (~$500) was a bonus.

They are superb.  To start with, the build quality is crazy good.  Beyer uses much metal in the construction, which is always a good thing.  The clamping force is firm, but not too much so.  The weight is just fine.  And the unbalanced cable is removable.  The cans come with two cables.

The sound, well, it's superb.  The cans come with two sets of pads, which result in very different sounds.  The "analytical" pads markedly reduce bass response, though what remains is very clean.  When used with the basically no IMD Schiit Magni Heresy, everything sounds "faster", exactly as one would expect.  When used with that amp, or a Schiit Jotunheim, or even a Woo WA6-SE, the mids and highs are boosted, and as such the apparent detail retrieval almost overwhelms.  Piano recordings sound especially good with these pads.  The balanced pads sort of mimic the boom-tizz frequency response of most consumer monitors, but in a much more refined way, and they serve as the more enjoyable pads to use for long-term, multi-genre listening.  The apparent dynamic range beats the T1s, and all other cans I own except the Focal Elears.  The T1s have a smoother high end with more apparent detail retrieval up top, and the headstage is wider.  I'm not sure the T1s sound better, though.  Maybe a cable failure was a good thing.

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

TMHeimer

Headphones? Up to $200 CAD? Not me. How about the pair I still have from buying my Walkman packages in the '80s for like $4? Open air, I guess. Turn down the volume if need be.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book
tomheimer.ampbk.com/
austinmacauley.com/author/heimer-tom
(click on book image, PDF samples)
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet solo
(Sheet Music Plus)

71 dB

Quote from: TMHeimer on May 25, 2020, 12:59:05 PM
Headphones? Up to $200 CAD? Not me. How about the pair I still have from buying my Walkman packages in the '80s for like $4? Open air, I guess. Turn down the volume if need be.

$200 is a good price point for headphones imo. You get a lot of quality for a dollar and after that point it's about diminishing returns. You won't get the best cans for $200, but you get a lot of bang for the buck, especially if you get those cans for $100 at black friday sale!  :o
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Todd

#933



I was in search of some closed back headphones primarily for late evening television viewing, and started searching around a bit.  Being more or less a Beyer guy, I was leaning toward either DT770s or DT1770s, and given my taste, the latter seemed more likely, though I didn't want to spend that kind of money for gear that would be used for little to no music playback.  I looked for a few other cans, and then thought about Denons for no particular reason.  Then, serendipitously, I visited the Denon site during the whole Black Friday sale-a-thon and found the AH-D5200 on sale, marked down from $700 to $210.  I thought such a deal would not last, so I bought.  (Turns out the sale did not last; as I learned subsequently on headphone sites, the sale priced units were gone in hours.)

When I received them, even though the site stated "black", I got the zebrawood enclosures.  The wood looks nice enough, but I was fine with black.  That minor aesthetic nicety aside, the D5200s are very nice.  The build quality is excellent, with a lot of metal, nice pads, and they are smaller and lighter than anticipated.  The ear cups almost seem too small, but they end up surrounding the ears just right.  As to sound, with the Schiit Jotunheim or Asgard III, they have tight, punchy bass, but not too much weight, a pretty neutral midrange that does voices well with no shrillness or chestiness, and the highs are excellent, while not as clear and pristine as Beyers (and sounding more rolled off than the high frequency boost that comes with Beyers).  They present all detail perfectly.  Since the cans more or less hew to the Harman curve, they represent a high-priced and high quality execution of the most widely used frequency response curve.  Denon reputedly switched to making their own drivers rather than using Fostex sourced ones, though I have no way of confirming that.  (I suppose I could email corporate.)  Whoever makes them, they work quite well.

Since I use open back cans for all serious listening, and IEMs only while walking, the headstage is different than I am used to.  It is bounded by the ear cups completely.  The cans also sort of present some things in a hard left/center/right fashion when things pan sometimes.  It's not unpleasant and basically exposes less competent sound mixing.  Spatial placement is precise, decays with the Asgard are so quick and clean they possibly over-highlight some audio effects, and they can be listened to for hours with no listening fatigue of any kind.  They work shockingly well with a cell phone, though I would never use them that way for extended periods.  The output impedance output on my Woo (these cans are 24 Ohm) sounds like some tube rolling is in order for optimum sound, so amp matching requires some work with some models.  My DT1990s and T1s are better overall, but otherwise, these are probably the best cans in my collection.  At $700, I'm not sure I would have opted for these over DT1770s, but at $210, it was a stupid good bargain. 
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

André


My Sennheiser HD 650 are broken, the left channel connection goes off most of the time. I guess it can be repaired easily, but it's not an essential service, so will have to wait until February 9 to bring them to the repair shop - if not later, one never knows  ::).

I was thinking of acquiring a second pair of headphones as a spare. Thinking of putting up about 200$ US. I'd like something along the lines of the Sennheiser: closed, wired (with a cord, since I have a Music Hall earphone preamp).

Any suggestions ?

71 dB

Quote from: André on January 14, 2021, 04:10:27 PM
My Sennheiser HD 650 are broken, the left channel connection goes off most of the time. I guess it can be repaired easily, but it's not an essential service, so will have to wait until February 9 to bring them to the repair shop - if not later, one never knows  ::).

I was thinking of acquiring a second pair of headphones as a spare. Thinking of putting up about 200$ US. I'd like something along the lines of the Sennheiser: closed, wired (with a cord, since I have a Music Hall earphone preamp).

Any suggestions ?

Sennheiser HD-569?
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Holden

The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 are possibly their best set of closed back headphones. You can buy the new wireless ones (which can be plugged in with a headphone cable) or hunt out a used pair.
Cheers

Holden

Pohjolas Daughter

#937
Quote from: André on January 14, 2021, 04:10:27 PM
My Sennheiser HD 650 are broken, the left channel connection goes off most of the time. I guess it can be repaired easily, but it's not an essential service, so will have to wait until February 9 to bring them to the repair shop - if not later, one never knows  ::).

I was thinking of acquiring a second pair of headphones as a spare. Thinking of putting up about 200$ US. I'd like something along the lines of the Sennheiser: closed, wired (with a cord, since I have a Music Hall earphone preamp).

Any suggestions ?
Can you ship your headphones to the store?  Or are they even currently doing repairs?  Or is there a way that you can arrange to drop them off to them without having any direct contact with a person?

PD

EDIT:  Oh!  I just did some checking into closures in Quebec (having trouble finding latest news) and saw that many businesses have been forced to close their doors for the time being! Has this been a continuous policy and if so since when?  Are non-essential businesses allowed to operate at all (as in receive shipments and/or ship things off to customers) like with a reduced number of workers?  Or closed period?  Currently, businesses are open here though reduced number of customers allowed in plus some other restrictions.  Sorry, obviously not trying to encourage you to do anything illegal and/or unsafe.
Pohjolas Daughter

André

Thanks for the replies, I'll check both of your suggestions  :). Hopefully I can purchase and arrange for home delivery. Non-essential stores/services are closed to customers until February 8. That is, *if* things improve. If not, the closings will be extended for another month.

Holden

Quote from: André on January 15, 2021, 06:11:48 AM
Thanks for the replies, I'll check both of your suggestions  :). Hopefully I can purchase and arrange for home delivery. Non-essential stores/services are closed to customers until February 8. That is, *if* things improve. If not, the closings will be extended for another month.

Is this corona lockdown being done on a "hot spot", Provincial or federal basis? We don't hear too much about what's happening in Canada here in Australia.
Cheers

Holden