Headphones

I have the Ether/Ether C on loan and I did some listening last night vs. my HD800S. TLDR Version The Ether is legit. I like it better than any Audeze I've heard. It won't be supplanting the 800S in my collection, but this is a legit good headphone. Frequency balance issues and price are its biggest weaknesses. Bass and comfort are its biggest strengths. Long Version For reference, my chain: iPad -> Wyrd -> Yggy -> XP-10 -> DSHA-4. Pros: Ether bass is fantastic. Waaaaay better than HD800S bass. Going back and forth you can really hear the distortion on the 800S. The Ether feels like it is clear an octave lower than the 800S. The…

Picked these up at a good price last month over on HF. Kind of a random purchase, but Grado cans hold a unique mystique for me, quite unlike any other company in the market. I have no idea why. Maybe its because of that first experience I had with the RS-1/PPX3/Modwright 999ES/MFSL Ryan Adams "Heart Breaker" SACD combo: it was the first time I felt like I was really listening to what I then understood to be "hi-fi" sound. The midrange was just so beautiful and right, right there perfect and lovely with the guitar sound and Ryan's vocals. Its such a vivid memory along my hi-fi journey, the kind of mind ripping audio experience that tends to come fewer and further between t…

I was just informed by Alex that the right driver on my K1000 is "kaputz". The serial number is 6191 and I would like to know if anyone here has a K1000 with only one driver working and would be wiling to sell it "as is". As you can imagine my idea would be to make one working K1000 out of the two. Ideally your K1000 should be a mid production unit, hopefully with a serial number in the 5000 to 7000 range. Sure would appreciate hearing from someone. HELP! Thanks.

What current production Audio Technica headphones are closest in sonic signature to the leatherhead? Basically: a nice extended frequency response in both bass and high frequencies, no weird humps or lumps (at least, not extremely so); closed; smooth in the midrange, really smoov. ATH-W5000? I missed the boat on the leatherhead, and am regretting it. Yes, I could buy used, but in the meantime...

This is really getting out of hand. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/k701s-here-294171/ <-- Check Post #10 I think K701s need almost 700 hours to be fully burned in...I'm at around 800 hours and it's a huge change of soundstage + impact + smoothness + detail compared to 200 hours or so... Some said they need more like 1200 hrs for it to be fully burned in - I can see why, it just keeps improving and improving. I just need to improve my source from iAudio X5L 30G FLAC (shudder).

Interesting summary of the flagship headphone landscape. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wi8M-HSeK0JF33P-5ypydQjQ4OshRQhvWM0IX2h0NQ8/edit?pli=1#slide=id.p

Bob Katz is an audio mastering engineer and author of a popular book on audio mastering. Katz has mastered three Grammy Award-winning albums and one nominated album. He has received acclaim from audiophiles and his book on mastering has received acclaim, with some considering it the "definitive work on mastering Spritzer is cited in the video regarding his Stax expertise, mods, amplifier design and building - Congratulations !

Haven't got around to ordering a K701 replacement yet. Considering AD2000 for A-T's proven noggin-friendliness. Source: PC > Fireface > Max or direct from FF Gets tossed around a lot (the K701 ended up looking very secondhand before it died, and the HD650 doesn't look a lot better). Unsure whether the AD's will hold up. If they're anything like the A900 / A1000 the chances are not so I'll avoid. Yay or nay. And why. Thanks. ?300 ($550 + ship if abroad) is the max I have in mind for this phone, so any other (open) suggestions and why appreciated.

After two years of development time has come. In a few weeks he will go into production. look http://www.open-end-...read.php?t=4455 Jürg Jecklin and Manfred Stein worked 2 years to achieve this goal: The implementation of the specified standard. And thus to achieve the improvement in all respects to the old Jecklin Float. We will see: In a few weeks of this interesting headphones are available in series. The JJ Float QA is manufactured in Germany with Quad Musikwiedergabe. http://www.quad-musik.de/

I'm curious what cans some of you consider to be the most revealing of the signal chain and still have a 3 figure price tag? I'm not looking for your favorite headphones for listening, but which ones you'd choose if you were evaluating say sources and wanted to hear the smallest of details? I'm hoping "most revealing" is less of a wide open question than "favorite" and there might be some reasonable consensus on at least a few choices?

This guy is just so full of crap. http://www.head-fi.org/t/613092/hd650-piggybacked-on-the-hd800-possibly-best-headphone-sound-ever-i-say-yes It's funny, because not only is he annoying like our old friend Gurushanker, he actually looks like him.

From what I can tell there are two main competing companies when it comes to in-ear monitors: Sennheiser and Shure. I'm looking to drop between $200 and $400 on some nice in-ear monitors and wanted to make sure I get the best bang for my buck. I've checked out a few local music stores for information on in-ear monitors but none of their audio experts have too much experience with them and referred me to some online sources. My main use for the monitors at the moment would be for listening to music; however I do have an electric drum kit and plan to do some recording (with the kit and other instruments) in the near future. I was talking to a friend of mine who is a drum…

Well I finally got my system complete with the M^3 and I just don't like/find my system to sound anything special. Right now I have an Northstar 192 MKI and the M^3 using the laptop as a transport. I had the HF2 but it looks I'm not a grado person and for the reasons stated I sold it. Since I just got the M^3 I'm willing to give the system another try with a new headphone before I sell everything. I'm open to your suggestions.

The HE90 is one of the best, if not the best, headphone I've heard. I'm currently using a Stax plug adapter to connect it to a HeadAmp KGSS.

As most of you know, the new Stax Lambdas suck compared to the older models. This "fact" has puzzled me for quite a while since the same drivers mounted in either the SR-Sigma or the 4070 housings just sing. In the case of the Sigmas, the Sigma 404 out paces the other two Sigma models in every area I can think of by a large margin. To make a long story short, I picked up an old, beaten up SR-404 in Japan to test out some theories. I could have bought a new one but half the fun is to take some old, neglected banger and make them shine again. The first thing I noticed about this set was that the drivers didn't align like they should. They were only a couple of mill…

The new AKG K702 AKG Debuts K 702 Headphones For Recording and Broadcast Applications

Oh my God Tyll, I love you. http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/ultrasone-edition-10

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…

Going to post this here and not even bother with the other place. So I have wanted a pair of snake wood Darths for some time now. I figured I would like how they sound seeing as I like my '03 880s and how much they are hyped at the other place. So when a pair showed up at half price in the for sale section I jumped on them. I received them today. Really? People really like these? I know they were going to be a bit bass heavy but not bass bloated. The low end totally ruins any chance they have of sounding good. Or okay for that matter. Makes me really question all the people that talk them up as being a great sounding headphone. No offense if your reading this and …

I currently have two R10's which sound a bit different from each other. I'm trying to decide which one to send to SinglePower for a balanced recable. Mikhail told me he has recabled several R10's before, while I've never read about any other companies who have done so. Actually, there isn't much info about balanced R10's at all. I intend to keep one stock so I can compare it with the balanced recabled one. One has less bass but a better midrange and larger soundstage. Which one should be recabled, the one with less bass or the one with more bass? No poll option, or am I stupid again?

"Sennheiser announced on Tuesday it’s looking for a new partner to buy its consumer audio business, which consists of headphones and soundbars. It’s going to shift its focus entirely to professional audio, including its Neumann microphone division and what Sennheiser calls business communications." Source: https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/16/22285497/sennheiser-investors-selling-consumer-headphones-soundbars-business This is pretty sad. Makes sense why Axel Grell left now. We haven't seen any really new high-end product from them since the HD-820, and it sounds like we shouldn't expect anything else to be forthcoming. The HD600/650 and HD800/S are my two f…

I came into some money recently and I'm considering the purchase of a pair of RS1's. My currently favorite headphone is the MS2i. I live in a town where I can't audition them with out traveling around an hour and a half which I don't want to do. In your opinion do you think I'll benefit from this upgrade?

It looks like Audeze have become headphiles. I wonder if microsuede is as sweaty as lambskin.

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…

Anyone seen or heard these? https://sonomaacoustics.com/sonoma-model-one-headphone-system/ THE SONOMA MODEL ONE ELECTROSTATIC HEADPHONE SYSTEM NEW TRANSDUCER TECHNOLOGY The M1 Headphone System is the world’s first headphone to use a High-Precision Electrostatic Laminate Transducer (HPEL) developed by Warwick Audio Technologies Ltd. This patented technology ushers in a new paradigm in electrostatic transducers offering all of the benefits of traditional electrostatics, but manufactured with unprecedented consistency and matching between transducers. HPEL Transducer The ideal loudspeaker transducer would have zero mass, respond infini…