Headphones

[mahler10th]

David, how superb of you to put all this stuff up.    I will have to read your post again and follow the links.  I had no idea such info on these things was available.

Thanks a lot.

[Valentino]

       OK, no one will believe this but I had the original X10-D Tube Buffer (I know, ha ha ha ha......).

       

I have a cardboard box with old cable sins in it...

On topic I have Sennheiser HD580 Presicion for home use, and Sennheiser PX100 (I like the transport box) and AKG K420 for mobile listening.
No funky headphone amps, just the one in my RME Fireface UC USB sound card.

[DavidW]

I hope you enjoy it John, and it's not too complicated.  Even if you grow bored with all of the graphs, seeing what your own equal loudness contour looks like is pretty neat.

[mahler10th]

I hope you enjoy it John, and it's not too complicated.  Even if you grow bored with all of the graphs, seeing what your own equal loudness contour looks like is pretty neat.

The whole project is as geeky as I like it.  Unlikely I will grow bored with graphs!  I'm away to do some tasty analysis now...

[MN Dave]

I like these.

[toledobass]

cans

[DavidW]

Hey John, are those Grados on your head?

[mahler10th]

Hey John, are those Grados on your head?

Aye!

[DavidW]

Nice!  What ones did you get?

[Papy Oli]

Question please : I currently have the following combo : Arcam CD73 CD player > Project Headbox mark II > HD650

I am looking to upgrade the amp a couple of notches up (budget of around £350-400... say £500 at a biiiig push).

I was considering the following :

- Graham Slee Solo (good feedback on head-fi specifically with HD650)
- Lehmann Rhinelander
- also just saw a Musical Fidelity M1 HPA right at the top end of the budget

Has anybody got any experience with those please ? Other suggestions welcome too. thanks.

[jlaurson]

Question please : I currently have the following combo : Arcam CD73 CD player > Project Headbox mark II > HD650

- Lehmann Rhinelander

If the Rhinelander is nearly as good as the Linear (the amp of choice for Sennheiser to present its products), then that would seem like a good option. I reckon the gain can be adjusted to suite the HD650; so you can switch between 600 and 300 (if you ever get the HD800. {Which I'm listening to, right now.}

[Papy Oli]

thanks Jens. The Rhinelander was voted best buy head amp by What Hifi in 2010 for the £300-£500 range but the Solo also got quite a few recognitions along its time (also with the more recent model underneath, the Novo). I had also read that the Solo was more or less made with the HD650 in mind and was also often used by Sennheiser on displays... who to believe... 

there's a shop about an hour away from my place that holds the Solo in stock so I could sample it there...weirdly enough, they also hold the HD800 there too !! given your posts about this model a couple of pages back, i'd better not listen to it and let ignorance being bliss... 

[mc ukrneal]

thanks Jens. The Rhinelander was voted best buy head amp by What Hifi in 2010 for the £300-£500 range but the Solo also got quite a few recognitions along its time (also with the more recent model underneath, the Novo). I had also read that the Solo was more or less made with the HD650 in mind and was also often used by Sennheiser on displays... who to believe... 

there's a shop about an hour away from my place that holds the Solo in stock so I could sample it there...weirdly enough, they also hold the HD800 there too !! given your posts about this model a couple of pages back, i'd better not listen to it and let ignorance being bliss... 

You might also try the head-fi forums. There is a lot of info over there and a lot of comparisons/evaluations.

[Papy Oli]

You might also try the head-fi forums. There is a lot of info over there and a lot of comparisons/evaluations.

yes, i became a member there when i was looking to get new headphones 5-6 years back ...I pop in over there whenever the upgrade bug catches me...like now 

[Papy Oli]

If the Rhinelander is nearly as good as the Linear (the amp of choice for Sennheiser to present its products), then that would seem like a good option. I reckon the gain can be adjusted to suite the HD650; so you can switch between 600 and 300 (if you ever get the HD800. {Which I'm listening to, right now.}

Jens,
Have you experienced the Black Cube Linear with the HD650 yourself ? or anybody else pls, specifically on classical music ?

More research since yesterday seems to give this combination as ideal (also confirming your point that Sennheiser use them on their displays). Might be worth delaying the purchase for this larger budget and going for the Linear instead on that basis...

[jlaurson]

Jens,
Have you experienced the Black Cube Linear with the HD650 yourself ? or anybody else pls, specifically on classical music ?

Yes, I have. But not extensively. And in direct comparison with the HD800 and Orpheus (at a HiFi exhibit), and the result wasn't so much "wow, how great does the Black Cube Linear sound with the HD650" but "wow, how crappy does the HD650 sound compared to the HD800." My idea of upgrading from my HD580 (with which I am still very happy) to HD650 died then and there. Incidentally, that was the reason that the Sennheiser people didn't actually offer that comparison and where slightly reluctant to let me plug the HD650 from their computer-setup on the side into the Black Cube Linear. At least they were honest about it: 'The 650 is, for most head-phone interested people, the top-line model that they will consider... so comparing them directly to the HD800 would be kind of like dumping on our more important model.'

Well, suffice it to say that, although perennially strapped of cash, I eventually bit the bullet, took a deep breath, said to myself: "if they give you 10% off at the HiFi store, and seeing how I'll get the tax back, I'll get the HD800" [effectively 30% off]... which is what happened. That and the HD580 (recently overhauled by Sennheiser for 70 Euros) are now plugged into a either of my two can-amps; a custom built tube amp from an Italian HiFi lab (a friend arranged that deal; ended up being free) and the Black Cube USB.

Incidentally, the Ω600 models HD580, 600, and 650 are much more in need of amping than the HD800; those can be worked to reasonable, if not ideal, results from a good (either high-end or old-fashioned mid-end), healthily powered headphone jack.

[Holden]

I am doing the majority of my listening via headphones from my home PC and my work laptop these days and am somewhat disillusioned with the sound quality. What is happening is my new Shure SRH840s are quite ruthless in revealing in issues with the source of the music. In this case this is obviously the sound card of both computers.

With this in mind I recently bid for and won this on ebay


(Yes, mine's red too but so what)

.

If you look at the bottom picture there are the two normal RCA plugs (red and white) but also a single very similar plug coloured orange and labelled coaxial. My stand alone CD player also has one of these.

Could anyone explain the function of this plug and what would also happen if I connected it directly to the one on my CD player. Would this bypass the CD players own DAC or is this a way of listening directly to the player without using its own HP plug. What sort vof connector cable would I need to buy to make it work.

I can't find any info that makes any real sense to me so I'm asking the gurus here.

My CD player also has a TOSlink optical digital out but I don't think I can connect that as none of my other equipment has this facility.

[Daverz]

Could anyone explain the function of this plug and what would also happen if I connected it directly to the one on my CD player. Would this bypass the CD players own DAC or is this a way of listening directly to the player without using its own HP plug. What sort vof connector cable would I need to buy to make it work.

I can't find any info that makes any real sense to me so I'm asking the gurus here.

My CD player also has a TOSlink optical digital out but I don't think I can connect that as none of my other equipment has this facility.

The coaxial digital input of the Nuforce is for accepting input from a coaxial digital output from some CD players and some sound cards.  The Toslink optical connection won't work with the coaxial connection.  There are optical to coaxial (toslink to s/pdif) converters, but they are probably not worth it for this application.  You probably want to use the Nuforce's USB input from your computer.

[Scarpia]

The coaxial digital input of the Nuforce is for accepting input from a coaxial digital output from some CD players and some sound cards.  The Toslink optical connection won't work with the coaxial connection.  There are optical to coaxial (toslink to s/pdif) converters, but they are probably not worth it for this application.  You probably want to use the Nuforce's USB input from your computer.

It is the opposite.  That is a coax digital output on your NuForce.   It allows you to play a CD or audio file on your computer and send the digital data to a device which will convert it to sound (instead of the Nuforce).  It allows the NuForce to act as a USB to SPDIF converter.  Typically you would connect it to one of the digital inputs on your receiver, which would convert it to analog and sent it to the speakers.  Most CD players have digital output, but CD players with digital input are rather rare (usually the more pricey models).

[Daverz]

It is the opposite.  That is a coax digital output on your NuForce.   It allows you to play a CD or audio file on your computer and send the digital data to a device which will convert it to sound (instead of the Nuforce).  It allows the NuForce to act as a USB/SPDIF converter.  Typically you would connect it to one of the digital inputs on your receiver, which would convert it to analog and sent it to the speakers.  Most CD players have digital output, but CD players with digital input are rather rare.

Oops, sorry for the misinformation.  Remember when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.