Headphones

So, one of the main reasons I finally joined Head-Case (after reading here and the other place for ages) was that my friend asked me to help him find an IEM. He's got a Christmas bonus and wants to spend a portion on an IEM that'll improve his bus ride into work. I'm wholly ignorant to portable audio (Barring my PX100 and XM5, which I only have because they're "transportable" with my laptop.) and thusly can't really make any good recommendations. I came here because I don't want to be recommended whatever the flavor of the month is and then be told it's junk a month later. As far as what I think he'd like: Comfort's a must, as his bus ride isn't short. Isolat…

Hi y'all, I have a Stax SR-007A e-stat (with the blu-tac port mod) energized by a Stax SRM-T1S with the CCS mod running a pair of NOS US-made Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB tubes through angled socket adapters at 6.0 mA / tube section. The signal from my DAC (RME ADI-2) is being fed through custom-made balanced XLR cables and the energizer is powered by an Audioquest NRG-Z3 power cord. The system has been running fine for at least a year. Yesterday I removed the earpads for a routine cleaning of the driver (dusting off the dust covers, etc.), but after that the 007A developed what seems to be a ground loop in the right channel. The right driver started having this 60 Hz hum t…

Hey guys... I'm new around here and am not sure of the protocol for such things, but I'm in need of some advice. I recently sold a pair of ATH-A900 LTD's that I really enjoyed, but just had to get rid of them to help out with rent. Well the time has come to nab another pair as I'm about to lose my sanity if i dont get some good listening time in. So the headphones I've owned (in order): SR-225, ER4-P, DT-770(80ohm), and the ATH-A900LTD's. So where to go from here? I'm still undecided on whether i want open or closed, but I really want something different this go around. I had pre-ordered HF-2's but had to cancel due to the above reason, so thats sad. But my proble…

Since when did Nixon make headphones? link They're probably OEM'd, but then again, I doubt their watches are OEM'd, so maybe not. But then again, their specialty is watches, so of course their watches aren't OEM'd, so it's still possible that everything else they sell (clothes, bags, cufflinks, etc.) is. But I certainly don't recognize them, so if anyone has any theories on the subject -- much less heard them -- please speak up. No, I'm not getting them -- way too expensive to try just for whimsy.

Fed up with the pod, I dissected them last night. I just used the ibud cable to make things simple. Sorry for the crappy pics, I'm too lazy to get my rebel.

My K701 came in Always curious about these, only encountered them very briefly in a meet. Unfortunately I haven't been able to listen to most of my reference discs since the audio PC I stream from is being completely rebuilt and I'm waiting for a power supply. I got these this afternoon, then went out for a bit, so I only have around 3-4 hours of head time on them. These aren't completely burned in either according to the original owner (~50-100 hours of use) These are definitely some weird headphones to try and describe, they're like a cross between Grados and Sennheisers. Not exactly sure what to say, but I'll try. I have NOT compared them to t…

Don't ban me, please! My girlfriend has a portable DVD player that is pretty much useless when we are traveling on the interstate, because the volume doesn't get loud enough to overcome the road noise. We haven't used it on a plane yet but I imagine the situation would be similar. I have zero experience with noise canceling phones, but I'm thinking they may be what we need in this situation. I already suggested IEMs, but she doesn't want to have to jam something in her ear. Budget like $100-200, cheaper the better. She wants circumnaural phones. Comfort is a top priority, and movies are the primary medium, but I'd still like something that is at least respectable so…

I want a headphone to use on my exercise bike. The bike is quite noisy, so I need noise isolation. I understand from some browsing that the In Ear Monitors are nice for noise isolation, value, and sound quality. I am looking at the etymotic ER-4P, and the Shure E4c, or something in that price range (about $300 list, $175 online price) I like to listen to a variety of music, including rock, bluegrass, jazz and classical. Thanks for any advice.

Yeah, me neither, never heard of them. Then some distributor in New Jersey contacts me and says I should hear them. "They're like the Beats Solo HD but better!" Yeah right. Using those headphones as a reference sure gets me excited ... not. Then they show up. Look a LOT like Solos. Sound and measure like pure gold though, baby! Woot! This is a seriously good headphone. They're available here at Amazon for $99.

just found this forum searching for reviews on hfi 780.. great forum straight talking love it! guess I need to look for something other than 780's.. feel like I have just awoken from the Matrix that is head-fi cans.. needs bass (primary use - driven by av reciever hk avr255 watching mens films), comfort, easily driven, movies. UK. Straight enough? Have tried... senn 650,595,grado 80,dennon 5000, ath 1000,beyer 770,akg701/702

Just need an audiophile version. https://www.nuanceaudio.com/en-us

I just saw this at Audiocircles, thought I would post a link to the new headphones coming that they claim will rock the headphone world: Headphones sneak preview If this is old news, sorry.

Cut'n'paste from an email I just got: I may have to get one just to go with the HDP I just got.

Just pick up a pair of RS1 that looked a little different one of the drivers appear to be pinkish the other white. They were bought of the original owner and was never repaired. They have the serial number 162 and was purchased around 2004-2005. Anyone know anything about grado using different drivers on the same pair?

Shit. I'd been listening to my RS-1s for a couple of hours. These are the darker wood used ones I bought from Larry at Headphile a couple of months back. I stopped the music and turned off the amp to roll out the tung sol's and RCA grey glass 6sn7, and roll in the sylvania gold pin 5687s and a Ken Rad vt-231 6sn7. All the tubes are firmly in place, and I crank up the amp. A few seconds later, I hear an alarming POP noise come from the general vicinity of my headphones and amp. Just a singular, loud, POP. The RS-1s are now only producing sound from the right cup. I plugged in the HD650 and everything is fine. I even rolled out the tubes in desperation, to no avail. F…

Okay, I'm sure you've seen me asking questions on these setups recently, and I know these systems have little in common, but based I want I already have and some money I should have shortly I could have one of these setups. Soooo which would you choose?

IAMA audiophile who's owned almost $10,000 of headphone equipment, AMA about audiophiles' crazy beliefs. IAMA = "I am a" AMA = "Ask Me Anything"

I brought my Omega 2 setup to my friend's reference system and we did a shootout with the K1000. Source: Naim CD555 and power supply (we used digital mostly because it is easier than vinyl when doing lots of music changing) Preamp: modified EAR 864 Power amps: custom built 300B/ECC99 monoblocks, WE300B Headphone amp: Headamp Blue Hawaii, EH tubes Cables: Kimber Kable, Crystal Cable, Stealth, don't know exact details Headphones: AKG K1000 (11xxx sn), Omega 2 MK1 (both stock) Speakers: Avantgarde Duo 2.1 The Blue Hawaii was run from the loop out of the preamp. The K1000 connected directly to the monoblocks using the extension. These are reference amp…

(This is the same thread as the one I started on that other forum. For the record, the Krell Evolution 505 was definitely better than my Esoteric DV-60. The Grand Utopias were not set up properly yet, but sounded nice nonetheless, though the Krell 402 Evo amp probably wasn't good enough for them.) So there I was listening to Cecilia Bartoli?s Opera Proibita, auditioning the Omega 2s with the SRM-007t tube amp at my friendly local high end audio shop. On track 3, Handel?s Un pensiero nemico di pace: Aria della Bellezza, her voice broke up in places, basically whenever her voice was ?vibrating?. Not the most technical term but can?t explain it any better than that. Th…

I was able to listen to both of them for about 30 minutes and I thought they both sounded good. I think they are both in a similar league of headphone, being the best in each category. They are also around the same price. I guess the HD800 has an advantage of having more amplifiers available to be used with it. Has anybody had to chance to listen to both? What are your impressions as far as detail, being musical, or other preferences? I'm leaning towards the HD800, can anybody convince be that the Stax are better.

Yup, I feel like getting a second setup to complement my K1000 setup, and I'm trying to decide between an Omega II setup or a balanced HD650 setup. My Omega II will be amped by a KGSS, and the HD650s will be amped by a GS-X, when the new MOSFET modules are released. Basically, the intended goal of this secondary setup is to complement the K1000 setup, so I don't really want it to have a similar sound signature. So, what do you guys think?

holyshitholyshitholyshit, freaking out, hyperventilating... fingers crossed [more later, you can guess if you'd like though]

Well, I've had my first exposure to HD650s using push-pull amplification. I have to say, I'm stunned. I *hate* these headphones single ended, for reasons which I will list here. Their bass is loose and overwhelming; there is a very slight grain to their sound, which is more of a characteristic of most dynamic headphones in general to my ears (but not all); the highs are muffled and obscure the detail; the impulse response is slower than a Geo Metro; the tone is far too warm and there seems to be bass even where there shouldn't be. And I have no idea why Sennheiser decided to voice the HD650 this way - rather I can guess (more bass when underdriven), but I have no idea…

Kind of an interesting read. http://gizmodo.com/5981823/beat-by-dre-the-inside-story-of-how-monster-lost-the-world

Assume there's gonna be plenty of talk when these are eventually released so figured I'd start a thread as there's new info today. They finally have a price, $1,099 & $699, and order date (at least for the PM-1) of mid-April. http://www.oppodigital.com/headphones-pm-1/ http://www.oppodigital.com/future/ "In addition to the OPPO PM-1, we will also release an OPPO PM-2 model which will be a more affordable version of the premium OPPO PM-1. The OPPO PM-2 will have very similar performance while reducing costs to the customer. It utilizes the same planar magnetic driver, the same acoustic design principles and tuning techniques, the same tight tolerances for quality…