The headphones thread! [Sorry about your wallet]

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › The headphones thread! [Sorry about your wallet]

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169 posts

Master Geek
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#960431 2-Jan-2014 21:18

Yeah pretty keen on the Sony's just have to go to a shop and then save up.

NZtechfreak

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#973220 23-Jan-2014 22:00

Latest acquisition: Auralic Taurus MKII amp.

Dear lord this thing sounds good, one of the very few headphone amps that can actually drive my HE-6 (before getting this amp I was actually running the HE-6 directly from the speaker taps of an 80W pc dedicated speaker amp). It also sounds fantastic with all of my headphones, by which I mean it has the power to drive the hungry HE-6 and other orthos, but also the finesse to drive the somewhat amp-fussy HD800, which is a very hard to come by quality in a headphone amp. On the desktop amplification front I think this thing is my endgame.

Auditioned it for a few hours at Audio Reference in town, very nice people who have historically been in the speaker/home theatre business, but are now expanding their offerings in the headphones realm too (sensible I think given the trends in the respective value of the two markets). They had the Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-3 there for audition, making two spots in town with these available for a listen (the other being Computer Lounge, who look like they'll have the Fostex TH900 in for audition soon too).

The LCD-3 was pretty wonderful, a very big improvement on the LCD-2 I must say. Better treble and overall balance through the frequency spectrum, more air, larger soundstage, better imaging and PRaT. Probably worth mentioning that Audeze latest headphone the LCD-X, which is not yet in Auckland for audition as far as I am aware, sounds like it might be even better than the 3. For my ears the LCD-3 still isn't as good as the HE-6, which is quite a lot cheaper, but can easily see why they are so highly regarded.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

ashnizzle

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Master Geek
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#973261 23-Jan-2014 23:25

checked out the Audio Technica At-M50's and wow i was quite impressed. Wasn't expect the sound quality to be that good. Def getting a pair soon

JamesL

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Ultimate Geek
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#973262 23-Jan-2014 23:28

NZtechfreak:

Auditioned it for a few hours at Audio Reference in town, very nice people who have historically been in the speaker/home theatre business, but are now expanding their offerings in the headphones realm too (sensible I think given the trends in the respective value of the two markets). They had the Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-3 there for audition, making two spots in town with these available for a listen (the other being Computer Lounge, who look like they'll have the Fostex TH900 in for audition soon too). .

Just ask Billy to bring in his TH900's :)

NZtechfreak: Congrats man! Fantastic headphone, still recall my first few listens on my own LCD-2s (which I sold on the same day yours arrived, as it happens).

Wondering what you mean by low frequency loving though? Pretty sure the LCD-2 will beat out the TH-900s in the bass department, quite soundly I would think.

For my money you want something to complement the LCD-2 sound - something with a much better soundstage/imaging/treble like the HD800 (but to each their own in this wonderful subjective hobby).

Given the TH900's are closed I would've thought they'd be more bass heavy? That's the impression I got from Billy who has LCD2, TH900, HD800 and T1's from memory

NZtechfreak

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#973293 24-Jan-2014 00:38

JamesL: Given the TH900's are closed I would've thought they'd be more bass heavy? That's the impression I got from Billy who has LCD2, TH900, HD800 and T1's from memory

More bass heavy than Audeze planars? It might be more bass tilted, I could go along with that, but I'd be utterly incredulous if the bass had better quality than the LCD-2/other Audeze headphones. I'd prefer to EQ up the quantity of the bass in the Audeze headphones, rather than have mwoar bass of lower quality. Fortunately I'm not a bass head, so I don't have to worry about these things, I'll just have the perfect and perfectly integrated bass from my HE-6 :)

I am quite interested to spend some time with the TH900, being one of the only non-Stax/non-Abyss flagships I have not had, but from what I've read about them I don't think they'll be my cup of tea.

Still need to start working on organising the meet for sometime in Q2 of this year, I wonder if some folks like Billy would like to have a presence at something like that...

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

Revogamer

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#973399 24-Jan-2014 10:44

Fostex's are definitely more bass heavy than the LCD's - they are still very good quality though in the bass - definitely have to listen to them to judge :)

Great for EDM, DnB and dubstep etc~

My collection is now LCD-3's, HD800s and Fostex TH-900's

I am also going to become HiFiMAN distributor in NZ (sorry don't mean to be advertising!)

Will be adding HE-6 to my collection most likely too...

I would be happy to help with a meet - can bring a good range of personal and work stuff to help support the brands :)

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DaveDog

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Ultimate Geek
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#973405 24-Jan-2014 10:50

I'm really keen on some Logitech UE6000… I've got a wide head and find these really comfy...

That being said - it is disappointing that the mainstream retailers make it as difficult as possible for you to get these things out of the box and try them on.

networkn

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#973406 24-Jan-2014 10:52

DaveDog: I'm really keen on some Logitech UE6000… I've got a wide head and find these really comfy...

That being said - it is disappointing that the mainstream retailers make it as difficult as possible for you to get these things out of the box and try them on.

Well if everyone who tried them on who liked them and wanted to buy them, bought them from a bricks and mortar store, then more B+M stores would have them like the good old days.

The problem is they try them, and then go online and buy them elsewhere because the price is higher. I have been guilty of this myself from time to time, esp if I can get them when I am in the US, for half price.

NZtechfreak

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#973409 24-Jan-2014 10:55

Revogamer: Fostex's are definitely more bass heavy than the LCD's - they are still very good quality though in the bass - definitely have to listen to them to judge :)

Great for EDM, DnB and dubstep etc~

My collection is now LCD-3's, HD800s and Fostex TH-900's

I am also going to become HiFiMAN distributor in NZ (sorry don't mean to be advertising!)

Will be adding HE-6 to my collection most likely too...

I would be happy to help with a meet - can bring a good range of personal and work stuff to help support the brands :)

Cool! That's great that HiFiMan will have an outlet here!

In relation to the HE-6 it goes without saying that the amping requirement needs attention. There are very few headphone amps up to the task, the Auralic is the best I've heard, and the Ray Samuels Audio DarkStar is probably the only other one - even HiFiMan's own EF6, made specifically for the HE-6 doesn't do it justice. I have a custom cable terminated in banana plugs for direct connection to speaker taps, if you want to borrow that for a while when your HE-6 comes to you. Fang at HiFiMan says direct connection with speaker amps up to 70W pc is perfectly fine, however if you're careful with your volume you can go higher, there are guys happily connecting it to Krell power amps putting out 250W pc.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

timmmay

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#973425 24-Jan-2014 11:00

Revogamer: Fostex's are definitely more bass heavy than the LCD's - they are still very good quality though in the bass - definitely have to listen to them to judge :)

Great for EDM, DnB and dubstep etc~

My collection is now LCD-3's, HD800s and Fostex TH-900's

I am also going to become HiFiMAN distributor in NZ (sorry don't mean to be advertising!)

Will be adding HE-6 to my collection most likely too...

I would be happy to help with a meet - can bring a good range of personal and work stuff to help support the brands :)

Where in NZ are you, and will you have a physical store? Nice collection you have there. I have LCD2 but these days I use little office speakers more as I move around a bit.

JamesL

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#973434 24-Jan-2014 11:19

timmmay:
Revogamer: Fostex's are definitely more bass heavy than the LCD's - they are still very good quality though in the bass - definitely have to listen to them to judge :)

Great for EDM, DnB and dubstep etc~

My collection is now LCD-3's, HD800s and Fostex TH-900's

I am also going to become HiFiMAN distributor in NZ (sorry don't mean to be advertising!)

Will be adding HE-6 to my collection most likely too...

I would be happy to help with a meet - can bring a good range of personal and work stuff to help support the brands :)

Where in NZ are you, and will you have a physical store? Nice collection you have there. I have LCD2 but these days I use little office speakers more as I move around a bit.

That's Billy from Computerlounge, their physical store is in Auckland

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NZtechfreak

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#978575 1-Feb-2014 17:07

Just an early heads-up that I've been looking into an Auckland headphones meet. I think I have a venue now, just waiting to hear back in relation to my booking enquiry - date is not fixed yet but is likely to be a Sunday in April. There will probably be a small fee to cover some of the costs. More details will come when I have them, but for now gentleman, free your calendars!

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

Batman

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#1008414 18-Mar-2014 21:15

really want to attend the auckland convention but i have various pre-booked commitments

just received my LCD-2 (latest) and the flat bass curve all the way to single digits is amazingly uncoloured and true. i have sold my HD600 so i can't really compare 100% accurately. i am comparing to the HD600 because that was the most detailed/accurate headphones $1000 can buy you i reckon. they were boring though, and a tad fatiguing.

the LCD-2 has slightly recessed mids compared to the HD600 which i think is less fatiguing, but the low treble (where all the action is - guitars, etc) is sweet and commanding. very nicely done. the best bit is the flat bass curve all the way down to subsonic. sound stage is about the same, maybe slightly enclosed, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, not so distant. and finally, the entire frequency range is fuller, more bodied, compared to the HD600 which can sound hollow and thin. do bear in mind this is 2-3 times the price of the HD600.

heavenly! the true measure though will be whether i still think it's heavenly after a few months, years, decades. let's see ...

PS after checking out its natural form i now use it through a laptop DSP - dell XPS 9530's Dell MaxxAudio ... i don't know how it does it (maybe it has a really good DAC) but it sounds like a recording studio blasting it out at a concert hall.

there are a few tracks that you just can't tolerate on any other headphones because the mid bass hump was too much, the midrange was too screechy, the treble was too bright, but the LCD-2.3 makes them all shine like a supernova. brilliant.

my mission now is to see if all amps sound the same. i am convinced they do (without any testing scientific or not, whatsoever). maybe next time ...

Batman

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#1008470 18-Mar-2014 21:50

anyone knows where i can get cheap cables for the LCD-2 ... i searched all over for 4 pin to 3.5mm and it keeps giving me computer cables

the other thing is - is it possible to run a (preferably free) DSP routed to USB DAC? once i plug my USB DAC in all of Dell's DSP is not selectable

NZtechfreak

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#1008588 18-Mar-2014 23:32

joker97: my mission now is to see if all amps sound the same. i am convinced they do (without any testing scientific or not, whatsoever). maybe next time ...

I wonder if you mean DACs there? It's not true that all DACs sound the same (or should we say all implementations of DACs) sound the same either, but I've heard that said of DACs a lot, but not really amps.

Amps can and do sound different depending on their topology and the nature of the transducer connected to them. For example, if we look at the transducer side of the equation, planar dynamic headphones are a distinctly different driver type than the more commonplace dynamic driver and behave very differently. One of the ways this can manifest for example is that the frequency response is not really affected by the output impedance of the amp they are plugged into (they are an almost pure resistive load), whereas dynamic headphones or even more noticeably balanced armature IEMs will exhibit wonky frequency responses if the output impedance from the amp is not ~8x less than the input impedance for the transducer. Planar magnetic drivers as a general rule like more powerful amps, and if you look at my HE-6 as an extreme example they require significant power reserves to properly control the driver to articulately reproduce very rapid transient responses or large dynamic swings in the music being played. That is why some HE-6 owners are running theirs from pure Class A power amps; the topology of Class A amps means they always have this current reserve available, with the notable drawback of always consuming maximum power, most of which is not called for most of the time and is wasted and dissipated as heat (the reason, as I understand it in basic terms, for why Class A amps require a lot more attention to heatsinks than other amp topologies). FWIW my HE-6 can sound dramatically different from one amp to another.

There is a great deal more to it than the couple of things I've pointed out here too, but this is merely to demonstrate that the science behind why one amp sounds different than another (or different than another when this or that transducer is connected) is relatively easy to state in objectivist terms.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

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