Headphone lovers, what do you love, what do you have, Head-Fi fans 2015 edition.

If it's that difficult then it means you have your upgrade already. As long as you like the sound of what you have enjoy it. If you are bored or looking for a different sound there are all kinds out there. If you just wished for some slight tweaking difference from what you currently have then give your feedback to the manufacturer and while you are waiting for them to do something look into modding your setup if that appeals to you. Believe me I understand the frustration. It sure would be nice if you could have a headphone manufacturer custom make and tune a headphone to one's own exact liking!
Open backed reviews: http://www.innerfidelity.com/category/full-sized-open-headphone-reviews

Closed backed reviews:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/category/full-sized-sealed-headphone-reviews

 

PM1 http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/scrumptious-oppo-digital-pm-1-planar-magnetic-headphone


PM2 http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/portable-luxury-lower-price-oppo-pm-2

Pads
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/oppo-ear-pads-listening-and-measurements

 

I've only used the leather pads that came applied to the phones, haven't tried the velour or alternate leather pads. Very happy with these. I'm running a PS Audio DirectStream DAC into the Decware CSP2+ preamp/headphone amp, Redbook, cable TV--and SACD, DVD and Blu-ray via Denon DVD-A1UDCI into the Decware CSP2+.

 

No I was looking for something with a bit of wow factor over what I have, not simply a tweak. The Sennheiser was a notable improvement over my former models as now I do prefer more open backed models. The surprise has been how divided opinion is on upgrades to it. Again, thanks for your replies.

 

I currently just use some of the $99 Bose directly into my receiver, or into my laptop at work. (I keep an external hard drive with music there.) I'm contemplating a more serious set, though. Lots of good ideas on this site, including this specific thread.

 

Ok, but those pads work on both models, right? So the pads may change the sound, but the pads can be used on both models.

 

Hd600's with cardas headphone cable and a modified bottlehead crack/speedball. Quite wonderful really

 

Bowers and Wilkins P5's. I use them all the time and like em' a lot. I use them mostly with my Sony NWZ-A17 hi Res player.

 

You're welcome. Good luck in your search. Perhaps you need to try the abbyss or Stax headphones. Otherwise forget headphones and go with great loudspeakers in an acoustically treated room or to a live concert that has a great engineer in an acoustically well designed concert hall or try and get to sit in on a recording/mixing/mastering session in a studio. Hahaha.

 

I just got a pair of the Audio Technica ATH-M70x and even though they are still in the burn in process, I have had them on much of the night and wow! These things actually make me want to listen to music. The highs are crystal clear and clean and unlike the extended low end of the Audio Technica ATH-M50 these are a touch more natural, but still full and rich in the lows.

I can't wait to hear how they sound in a few days after burn in.

 

The HE-560 is an improvement over the HD600 in terms of detail. It's able to resolve lower level detail in the music that the HD600 washes over and misses. What the HE-560 (well, at least my HE-560) is doing wrong is in the frequency response where it is nailing me with some frequencies I don't want to be nailed by. I don't consider my HE-560 to be a pleasant listen right now, either with the original Focus pads or the alternative Focus-A pads. I hear potential though if modding can fix the problems I'm hearing. The potential is the only reason I'm keeping it for now.

Once you hear headphones like the Audeze LCD series, and other headphones that are able to resolve the sorts of lower level detail that the Audeze headphones can do, you begin to regard the HD600 and HD650 as just very very good mid-fi that are able to scale very well with some expensive amps. But ultimately aren't playing at the same level as the headphones in the higher-end tier.

Whether headphones better than the HD600 will give you a wow factor will depend on what exactly triggers your personal wow factor. For some people that wow factor comes from additional details being heard. For others that wow factor is in tone and presentation. For other people it's a mix of both.

 

Haha yes live concerts are the best. I have been in recording studios. The funny thing is I brought my Sennheiser 600s to listen to the mic feeds on a session some years ago. When the engineer listened to them he looked dumbfounded. He later told me he rushed out to buy a pair the next day!

Yes I think you are right. I would probably have to go all the way to the Stax 009. If I could only listen on headphones I would do that and get an appropriate amp. However under present circumstances it doesn't make sense.

 

Excellent post. I have heard the Audeze and some of the earlier Hifiman cans. The problem is that unlike the Sennheisers which sin by omission those (and many others) sinned by commission to my ears. So I cannot enjoy added detail if other things are messed up in the process. One of the hardest things I had to accomplish with my main system was getting more resolution in a natural sounding way.

 

I agree with Ham Sandwich on the 560's he was able to describe better what I was hearing as well. The only thing lacking in the HD600/650's is more clarity for the most part.

 

I find the highs too excessive and the bass lacking with the M70x but if it works for you enjoy them. The M50's while not true in timbre are great at resolving the low frequencies for bass heads and for anyone interested in hearing low end detail in a recording even if just for fun. I found the Beyerdynamic T5P to be good for that as well.

 

Wow...I would never call these excessive in the highs, just detailed. I should also mention that I purchased these for studio work and mixing as well as home listening, and I am considering a set of 50's as well just for air travel and studio tracking.

 

The Audeze headphones all are "wrong" in terms of being neutral and natural in sound. They have the resolution (for low-level detail), but they are not right in terms of proper natural neutral headphone sound. The LCD-2, LCD-3, and LCD-X are all not quite right. And that's by design (an error of commission). Which is why I haven't ventured beyond my oldish LCD-2 rev 2. I remain hopeful that Audeze will eventually release something that hits the right spot. When they do I'll buy. Till then I'll wait. Which is why I've been exploring other options like the HE-560 in an attempt to find something more suitable for the time being. But the HE-560 is committing a worse sin of commission. It's nailing me with unwanted frequencies. It has to stop doing that if I'm going to keep it.

I do enjoy listening to the LCD-2. And they hit a wow factor spot for me better than other headphone options. It works well enough for me now, but am on the hunt for better. Finding neutrality and naturalness in headphone sound is not an easy quest. My personal wow factor activation needs a combination of low-level detail along with proper tone. The LCD-2 gets enough of that right that I get those wow moments. Unfortunately I've lost that wow factor aspect with the HD600. It no longer does the wow thing for me. It used to. But no longer. It's the lack of low-level detail that I think has done it in for me. I still listen to it and enjoy it, but no longer expect wow moments while listening.

Wish I could teleport my Cavalli Liquid Fire over to you to try with your HD600. It's pretty neat how the HD600 sounds with that amp. The soundstage gets depth and naturalness that you wouldn't expect from headphones. It's also a testament to the HD600 about how well they scale (show the benefits and amp character) with amps like that and how well they show the character of different high quality amps. The Liquid Fire is a hybrid amp.

 

Yes. Tyll seems to feel the PM-1 sounds best with the leather alternate pads and that the PM-2 sounds best with the original leather pads from the PM-1.

There is a little bit of a difference to the damping between both headphones as well.

 

The t90's are very lively cans. A high output impedance amp (like a schiit Valhalla) is recommended. Tons of detail available; one of the best deals in head fi.

 

The only thing I find "off" is slightly recessed presence with the audezes. Pretty much ruler flat to about 1.5k. And what I find to be very natural tone. But hey, different strokes. I only wish they would increase the bass output by around 3 dBm on the fazor models which I find almost too neutral.

 

My preferred combination:



SPL Phonitor 2 with Beyerdynamic T 1 (600 Ω). Occasionally I use AKG K712 or Beyerdynamic DT 990 (600 Ω) headphones with a Schiit Lyr or a Schiit Valhalla amp.

Digital-to-analogue conversion is handled by Schiit Bifrost DACs.

 

Sennheiser HD650 with Corda Arietta
Soundmagic HP100 (when a sealed headphone is required)
Fiio E17 Alpen
Fischer Amps FA-3 XB in-ears.
AKG K551 (rarely used)

 

I've been using Senn HD800s into the Senn HDVD 800 since Jan and I love the combo - all my listening is now through phones.
I use a Kimber KS 1036 XLR from the Esoteric X03SE into the amp and I upgraded the Senn balanced cable with a Moon Audio Silver Dragon V3 to good effect.
However, being silly, I'm awaiting the ALO Reference 16 XLR cable for the HD800s, I was just curious to hear what one of the costly cables brings to the party
I also use Grado PS500s for rock music. And I wanted to hear some planars but didn't wish to spend mega £/$ so I opted for Hifiman HE560s which should arrive this week. Exciting times; I'm really enjoying the 2 hours or so I spend listening to tunes every weeknight, and more at weekends

 

You'd think with all the headphones there's be something for everyone but two or three people here have said they can't find what they want and nor can I. In my case I'm not surprised - my taste would be for thunderous deep bass (pretty much impossible from a headphone, I guess), neutral through the mid-bass and mid-range, then gently tolled off at the top like the HD650s. I'd probably be the only buyer ( and then send them back after a week).

 

Why would you send them back? I suppose if I had to I could live with any of the following: Sony MDR-Z7, Sennheiser HD600 or HD650, Fostex TH-900, Shure SRH 1540, NAD Visio HP50, PSB M4U 1 or maybe Audio Technica ATH-M40X although none give me everything I want in one package either.