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

I’m using an older Graham Slee Solo Headphone Amp, I have it connected directly to a Mac Mini, no Dac at this time. To my ears, it sounds wonderful.
I like the flexibility your Grant Fidelity has, thats hard to find in a headphone amp/dac for that kind of money.

 

I'll second the Oppo recommendations. Up until the Oppo buy-in, the most 'audiophile' pair headphones I had owned were the Sennheiser HD-600, HD-650 and AKG K-701 headphones.

I've had a pair of Oppo PM-3's for about 6 months now - they are a great pair of closed back headphones, that are exceptionally easy to drive direct from the headphone output of a Sony NW-ZX2, which has taken a bit of a knock on Head-Fi for not having the most powerful output. This pairing has been great - and something I would have been happy as my main listening platform... more on that later.

The Oppo PM-3's comes with numerous cables to hook up to iOS, Android and 'normal' Hi-Fi, and a decent travel case.
The only (very minor) quibble I have is that I wish the pads were removable, much like their larger siblings, the PM-2's and PM-1's - which is more of an issue if, like me, you've purchased the white pair.
I cannot fault their build quality, their comfort (an oft over looked factor), nor their sound quality.

Talking of the PM-1's - I had the opportunity to listen to a pair yesterday, via a balanced XLR cable and an Oppo HA-1 headphone amplifier.
This was with the stock, original leather pads, and not the (preferred by most) alternative leather pads originally designed for the PM-2's.
Bugg3r...

This combination was sublime. So sublime I ended up purchasing the combination on the spot. I have demo units of both, until the New Year, when my order has been shipped.

The combination ticks all the right boxes - the build quality is amazing; the sound quality is an order of magnitude better than the Sony NW-ZX2/Oppo PM-3 combination (as it should be for double the price of that combination, although that often isn't the case).

I have abandoned all nostalgic notions of purchasing an analogue front-end, and will use the Oppo HA-1 and PM-1/PM-3 combination.
The synergy, convenience and sound quality makes this the perfect set-up for me - and I can spend my time listening and enjoying my music, rather than listening with 'an ear on the gear'.

 

Beyer T1 gen2
Fantastic

 

Dumped my Sennheiser HD600 for ATH M50 , much better sound and it has lovely accurate bass.

 

I also use the Sennheiser HD 600 with a Stefan Audio Arts cable. Occasionally, I find it necessary to clean the contacts where the cable plugs into the headphones. I use isopropyl alcohol. In addition to doing such mods as removing the "grill cloth" and black foam, I damped much of the frame inside and out with Blu-Tak. It isn't pretty (although neither are the phones after 15+ years), but has made for a huge increase in transparency, as well as eliminating the "dark" characteristic of the HD 600.

 

My last 2015 purchases were Audeze LCD-3F and Bryston BHA-1. I'm very happy with this combo, for now....

 

Sennheiser HD650s with Pro-Ject Headbox DS. Audio nirvana.

 

What got me to pony up the dough for the HifiMan 400S was that all the reviewers preferred them over the Senn 598, 600 & 650's - high praise indeed - and they sound fine if a hair underpowered just plugged into my phone. Once plugged into a real amplifier they gained some bass, and still sound silky, not grainy, in the treble. In other words: never ever harsh.

 

I have 4 sets of cans. I love the sound if my Koss ESP950 electrostatics. Very smooth across the board, with the only downside is my ears sweet with them on. I also have a pair of Koss PortaPro which for the price are outstanding. For in ear, I have a pair of Auzio from Radio Shack. Oddly I have only read bad things about these in ears, but I found that some burn in time made them way above the price sound quality. They are my favorite phones to use with my iPods. And last but not least a really old pair if Stax elecorit cans which really sound nice when driven by a tube amp.
So which are my favorites? The Koss ESP950 and the Auvio by far get the most use. The Auvio's get the most use Because of on the go use. I can listen a really long time with the Auvio's and the comfy tip foam ear tips.

 

Grado SR325e headphones and a Magni2 headphone amp. Works for me but the overall sound could be better.

 

I’m pretty much done buying hi-fi gear, so I’ve had this stuff for a while. That said, here's what I’ve been using.


Headphones:

Grado PS1

Sennheiser HD650

Beyer DT990

Sony V6 [used only for production work, which doesn’t happen much anymore]

Koss Sportapro’s [used for portable needs]


Amps:

SinglePower MPX3 tube amp

Vintage Marantz integrated amp [sounds as good as many dedicated headphone amps]


Of the headphones above, I use the Beyer DT990’s and the Koss Sportapro’s the most. Because I’m not so interested in neutrality but more interested in a fun listen. Both of those make a wide range of music very entertaining.

 

Amen, and this is where I'm heading. I've pretty much decided to put my lifelong Stax aspirations on hold and go with either the DT990 or the T-90s, likely the latter. My pre-IC 70's era amps do such a great job here that it only makes sense to put more money into the music.

(I can always get a vacuum tube night light )

 

You'll be sooooorrrryyyyy.

 

Especially since Stax doesn't need to break the bank. My normal bias Lamdas with an SRD-7 cost $250. I drive it with a $65 Realistic STA-2200 MOSFET receiver. I've never heard anything in the same price range that comes close.

 

What do I love? With my old ears -- my 1980s ears, that is -- I loved Stax SR-44 electret phones with my customized electronics.

What do I have? Currently I have Grado RS2i, and I don't love them. Granted, I don't have what I need to drive them to their peak performance. The best I can do is plug them into a Dragonfly. They sound best on vintage jazz, 50s and 60s stuff, and older classical material. With my failing upper-range hearing and pop music, I feel like I'm missing too much of the cymbals and hi hat and upper guitar overtones. Partly the fault of my ears, and I think partly the fault of the phones, and partly the Dragonfly not being a great headphone amp. Not bad, but...

For most music I actually prefer listening to my vintage Sennheiser HD-414X phones. Not as revealing in the midband, but I like the frequency balance better. I can't believe they still function nicely, even with the original cables. They used to build stuff to last!

I would like to get something different. Hopefully I can build a headphone amp that will improve things generally, and then sell the Grados and get something more suited to my personal tastes. Or if I bought a low power high quality power amp, I could even go back to the Stax, but they need refurbishing and rewiring.

 

That Nakamichi headphone looks like it might be an orthodynamic style headphone. Planar style driver with magnets on both sides of the driver. If it's an orthodynamic style driver that would be way cool.

 

The easy way to tell is they should be a lot heavier than they look for their size. Looking at pictures, it's not an ortho. Vintage orthos never had foam pads.

 

I always wonder the same thing myself. I have them amped up and everything and they still sound dead and lifeless to me. Maybe it's some kinda of herd mentality thinking. One respected engineer says they are the best headphones he's ever heard at that price and everyone agrees with him. I've heard people say that a certain albums production sounds excellent and clear, but when I hear it, it sounds like mush. Who knows.

 

Recently got the KEF M500 for use with my PonoPlayer. The first word that comes to mind is 'transparent.' They give a natural, neutral, airy sound, without goosing any part of the frequency range.

 

Headphones:
Grado RS2e--just got these and am breaking them in. So far, I've been wowed by the seperation.
UE 900 with Furutech FT-735R OCC cables (until the wire touched a tiny little pool of spilt H2O and killed them)--the OCC cables were "unshielded" in that any tap or vibration send a "bwroongggg" echo to the earbuds. Bass was diminished as well. I'm happy to be back to the UE stock cables.

Amps:
Schiit Asgard 2--got this at the same time as the Grados. Dead silent, even with the gain on--really drives the Grados. Use this with my Bifrost (Uber upgrade) for digitial or my Oppo 83SE for SACDs/BluRay.
Dragonfly 1.2--great for at work laptop listening. Pono player works great with this--I had been stubbornly using Winamp until had problems downloading it on my new laptop.

I purchased the Grados and Asgard in defeat--my pristine listening setup in the living room (i.e., picture the guy in the old Maxwell tape commerical) is under siege with a house remodel. To better control my destiny in the likely event of my gear being shoved in the basement, I got new cans and am still able to drive my family crazy in our half demolished living room with the cans' open sound design leaking out rawk.

 

Nice!

 

What do folks think of this Stax system, which is "affordable" by todays standards? Just $1775 MSRP.

https://www.staxusa.com/system/stax-srs-4170.html

 

^^
I don't know what those sound like, but if you want to look really cool, you need these:

 

Maybe it depends on what you're listening to.
My 600's have sounded exceptional for the 4 years that I've had them.