REAL good headphones..........

V

victa1

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Anyone here know about some good "cans"? I currently have the Sony MDR-V600. I bought these about 5 years back after my then puppy chewed up my Beyer 911s. For the money, the Sonys are fine, but just don't compare to the Beyers.

I remember reading some real good things about Grado 'phones a few years back. I have listened to some electrostatic Stax some time ago, and they were fabulous, but did not deliver the kind of level I need.

Most of my "serious" listening is done with open reel copies of records played on a "high end" TT, 15 and 7 1/2 ips half track.
Also some cassettes on a Nak 700II.
 
Stax electrostatics?
Woo hoo.......
I've got Sennheiser's[540 Reference Gold's].
Very nice,even for 10 year old phones.
 
I'm not an expert in headphones by any means, but I've heard favorable reviews of Sennheiser HD 580 from years ago. There are disputed claims that they run with the Grados, and they're still around so they can't suck too bad.

Apparently the Grado will show a predilection toward producing bass beyond what most others do. I personally don't like bass to be obtrusive and the preamp flavoring with the objective of driving your standard bass speakers instead of a set of headphones will likely produce a fairly different response to your ear. The damping on the output optimized for a larger inductive load relative to the headphones may tend to wash through the bass a bit and cause some perceivable loss of definition - my opinion only, and clearly very subject to how well designed your amp is. My guess is a guy looking to buy headphones like you are has got something pretty special pushing them, so this may not be a concern for you at all.

I did a couple of searches and the HD580 seems to go back a lot of years from what I can see despite newer models of Sennheiser coming and going - perhaps a "survivor" in the face of supposedly better technology that never worked out, since you can still get the 580?
 
I just use the standard Sony 7506's in my home studio. In my studio arts and music production classes at school thats what we were all using. But then, the school studio was pretty low budget when I was there.
Im looking into getting the 7509's once I get my electronic drum kit.
DCEPTCN: I have gotten a lot of my music equipment through Musician's Friend. But, I get most of my studio equip through a local outfit here in NY:
Boynton Pro Audio
Much better prices on studio and PA stuff than Musicians. They are mainly a wholesale supplier and do lots of volume, but I can just as easily walk into their place to get an adapter. They can get just about anything.
 
Sennheiser HD 580's are indeed nice. Prolly best ive heard with exception of exorbitantly high-priced audiophile BS.
 
Hmm.....if I could strap my Polk SDA-SRS 2.3TL's to my head I'd have the best headphones........

Actually this is a good question. Hmmmm..matter of fact, I dont think my Receiver even has a headphone jack.......hmmmm..whoops there it is..... wonder if theres a such thing as Dolby EX or THX 7.1 headphones :)

Think headphones could withstand some juice from a Carver M1.5t? :p

SO how many audio heads we got in here anyway??? Its my second vice....despite not having the money to go REALLY high end.....
 
Well, an audio head wannabe :D
Im more of a recording engineer head. My listening is done in the car or on my studio gear. I have some McIntosh in the car, and Tascam, Roland, Sony, and Yamaha in the studio.
For my home gear I have McIntosh tastes on a Panasonic budget ;)

I happen to like Panasonic gear, but my house would be full of high end equipment if I could afford it. Since the Regal needs work, it comes first.
Ive been looking into some McIntosh gear for a home setup. Maybe once I get my tax returns this year, I will go to their labs in Binghamton and do some listening.
 
I'm an amateur audiophile myself and I have to say, nothing beats the Sennheisers when you get into the higher range of headphones because everything else is just noise. :D My HD590's are the only headphones I've ever worn that I could not hear someone talking to me if they were standing right next to me.
 
I also like the Sennheisers. :)

Still use my vintage 1973's on occasion too, yup they last. ;)

Got a set of the high end Sony Digital ones with large diaphragms and they worked well also. Plastic tends to degrade on them over the years however, and the foam they use rots away.

All McIntosh here, American made power. :cool:
 
TURBOJIM wrote...

"SO how many audio heads we got in here anyway??? Its my second vice....despite not having the money to go REALLY high end.....".........

My Apogee Scintillas(yes, the 1 ohm pain in the ass to drive ribbon beasts) have been idle for two years. I had to sell my Sunfire amp to help pay off the engine on my Regal(love it/HATE it). The only real affordable amp that can push the Scintillas to the limit is the Sunfire. Otherwise, you are looking at $7000+ each Krell monoblocs. Hopefully in a year or so, I can buy another Sunfire and get the Apogees going again. Outdated, hard to drive, very inefficient, and big, these are still the best loudspeakers I have ever heard. I know the also old Apogee Divas are a much easier load to drive, mabey I should listen to them, but the Scintillas just plain "float my boat".

I also usually use a NAD 7155 reciever and a Fisher 500C reciever driving the following pairs of speakers on a rotation basis....

AR3a (late 60s version)
Klipsch Forte II
JBL 4312
Klipsch KG4
Advent 5002 (the basic big Advent)
Advent/2
Boston A60
University 312s (great with low power tubes)


If I had the money and the space, I would love to get a pair of mid 60s Klipschorns and mabey a pair of Altec 19s.
 
Originally posted by victa1
TURBOJIM wrote...

"SO how many audio heads we got in here anyway??? Its my second vice....despite not having the money to go REALLY high end.....".........

My Apogee Scintillas(yes, the 1 ohm pain in the ass to drive ribbon beasts) have been idle for two years. I had to sell my Sunfire amp to help pay off the engine on my Regal(love it/HATE it). The only real affordable amp that can push the Scintillas to the limit is the Sunfire. Otherwise, you are looking at $7000+ each Krell monoblocs. Hopefully in a year or so, I can buy another Sunfire and get the Apogees going again. Outdated, hard to drive, very inefficient, and big, these are still the best loudspeakers I have ever heard. I know the also old Apogee Divas are a much easier load to drive, mabey I should listen to them, but the Scintillas just plain "float my boat".
Click to expand...

Scintillas.....oooooooooooooo..........
You're mean!
Anybody know where to find info on older,audiophile tonearms?
 
Sliversleeper wrote...

"For my home gear I have McIntosh tastes........."

I had a pair of mint MC40 mono amps 4 years ago. Beautiful, but I had to sell them.

The MC40s,(about 35-40 REAL watts per channel) while down on power, sounded fabulous with the AR3a's. Tubes kick arse.

Now, if I could get a tube amp that could drive the Scintillas.......

Just picture Homer drooling.
 
Anybody into 300B monoblocks???

Im workin on a set now to run through my two RF voight enclosures i just finished.

Valves are tha SH*T
 
Have you looked into the older Carver Mag Field amps? Or heard one? I know they'll do 2 ohms, not sure about 1 ohm. Mine is 350watts RMS and like 1000 dynamic PER CHANNEL, (it dims the lights in my house pretty well) and you can find them on ebay for like 3-400 bucks (I got mine for $355. They were touted to sound as good or better than tube amps. Might be worth a listen.

Rest of my gear is way lower "audiophile" gear. Onkyo TS XR800, Carver M1.5t amp, Denon DCM 777 CD, DBX 3BX, and 120X, Sony universal DVD, DVD-a, SACD player, Polk SDA SRS 2.3tl's, Polk RT2000's, Polk CS350 center, Velodyne 12" servo sub. I sold my old HK T45 turntable, wmodded Grado CM cartridge and Grado pre-pre amp eons ago, but I did use vinyl at one point :p ) Again, not the big dollar stuff you guys have, but sounds as good as my father in laws BIG dollar system, makes me smile to listen to. Thats all thats important right?
 
TURBOJIM wrote....

"Have you looked into the older Carver Mag Field amps? Or heard one? I know they'll do 2 ohms, not sure about 1 ohm. Mine is 350watts RMS and like 1000 dynamic PER CHANNEL, (it dims the lights in my house pretty well) and you ..........."

The old 1.5, right? Nice amp, but lot's of short term power in a 2 ohm load is a whole 'nuther ballgame from needing serious power into a 1 ohm average load (some dips to .7!!!).

Let's put it this way. My listening room is about 35L X 22W. The Scintillas are 3 ft. from the back wall. My couch is about 17 ft. from the Scintillas. At a normal listening level, about 85-89db and 94 on some peaks, my lights would dim a little and the amp would get very warm. Playing quite loud, 94-96 average at my seat with 100+peaks, the lights would dim a lot, the amp got VERY hot(I use a small table fan blowing on the amp).

As a point of reference this same level can be achieved with the KG4s with the 500C (about 25-30 RMS).

Good first gen Sunfires can be had for about $500-700, so hopefully I can get another one soon.
 
PHILM wrote.....

"Anybody into 300B monoblocks???
Im workin on a set now to run through my two RF voight enclosures i just finished."

Any experience with the Lowther drivers from the UK?
 
Speaking of tonearms I use an old ADC carbon fiber straight arm set up on an old Sony 2251 A/C direct drive servo table from 1969, real walnut case too. ;)

I like the Shure V15 series cartridges, all done with moving coils and low output stuff. :D

Table is set up to track the soundtrack to "Earthquake" the movie which usually tosses most arms right off the platter. :eek:

I use (4) 411-8A Altec woofers 2 per side. Midrange efficient but capable of high output low distortion with about 200 watts per woofer quad amp.'d.

Lotsa 70's McIntosh solid state stuff. Gotta run them on 2 power feed circuit breakers. ;)

Yeah I got a CD player too. :cool:
 
Nah, no exp. with lowthers - i am using some rather cheap FR drivers what for some reason sound good. :confused: - nocrossover bs there. Man, now i wanna get those monos done!!! Been clouded by "car ****" - who woulda thought!!!
 
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