Headphone lovers, what do you love, what do you have, Head-Fi fans 2018 edition.

I bought the Elegia for work as well. Sounds surprisingly great as I expected a large downgrade compared to the Clear that I love to use at home. Not so. Especially powered by the Monolith THX AAA Headphone amp.

 

Has anyone modified their Sennheiser HD-280 Pro II headphones with Dynamat? I just tore the car stereo out of my brother's old van that's going to be junked, and he'd had the doors lined with Dynamat.

The HD-280 II phones are nice and neutral, but their lowest octave of bass is only really available when you press them against your head. And I've heard speculation that if you line the inside of the plastic cups, you could get that bass without having to dampen the resonance with your hands.

 

I got stupid and took it back to my dealer and swapped it for the Stellia!

 

I have( In no particular order)

ZMF Verite
ZMF Auteur
AKG K701
AKG K340
AKG K240 Sextett EP
AKG K240 Sextett MP
AKG K240 Sextett LP
Sennheiser HD250-300 ohms
Beyerdynamic DT990 -600 ohms
Beyerdynamic DT880-600 ohms
ATH AD2000
Sony MDR-1
Grado SR80

All powered by a custom made OTL-swapping to 6336 tubes allows my OTL to drive planars and low ohm headphones.

I also have the HiFiMan Jade ll here on loan for review purposes.

 

Have one pair of cans...Sony MDR V6 closed over the ear type. Very accurate sounding, so much so I remaster as a hobby a lot of thin and flat sounding CD rock and jazz songs I buy to make them sound amazing in Audacity when played on my car's audio system. Just need to note not to over do the low end of bass and kick drum.

 

Audeze LCD-XC (Closed back type)

I thought my Sennheiser HD-650's were pretty good but the (admittedly 5 x the price) Audeze's simply blow them away with regards to crispness, tonality and extension of bass and the amazingly transparent mid-range and detailed, lively top end. I'm hearing things I've never heard before. The Senns are very muddy with fuzzy bass by comparison. I still use them with a PC and phone though as they are less bulky and more transportable.

The LCD-XC's are the best phones I've heard to date.

 

In general, I'd think that Dynamat would tighten bass up. If you want to increase bass response, get some nicer leather earpads for the HD280's for a better (and more comfortable) seal. There's some inexpensive options on Amazon. Then, if the result is a little too boomy for you, then try the Dynamat in the cups to reign it back in.

 

Nowadays I don't have any home audio components. And I seldom listen to music on my computer, as well. Most of my listening is straight from a smartphone - and with no amp, to boot. As such, although almost all of my current headphones sound way better than a cheap set of earbuds, I feel that none of them sound their best under such a condition.

And this coming from a person who still thinks that the Audio Technica ATH-M50x is overrated and lackluster. I was, indeed, pressured by a salesperson to purchase a set back in 2017.

So, if I must buy a set of closed-back headphones (and it must be closed because most of my listening is on a bus or along a sidewalk, and going open-backed requires me to turn up the volume way too high just to deliver the music over the increasingly loud ambient outside noise), then which do you recommend? (And no, do not suggest models that I cannot try out before purchasing or is only sold online or mail-order.)

 

Depends upon your budget and sound youre looking for.
Willing to get an amp or no?

 

I need it to be as portable (one-piece) as possible. An amp will only make things more bulky, unportable and complicated.

In addition, I do need a little outside noise to come through. I cannot have total isolation. So no more in-ears, please.

 

Budget? Sound preferred? Music preferences?

Im a headphone nut,and have mega bucks invested into my home set-up,so w/o a firm budget to work with im liable to suggest something that seems reasonable to me,but perhaps not so reasonable with your wallet

 

Ugh, congrats! I would love the Stellia's instead. Do you find that they are league's above the Elegia? The price difference is immense. I got my Elegia's for only $500... so new Stellia's would be at least 5-6x more.

 

What's the amp? OTL amps that are able to also drive low ohm headphones and have the power for planars are a special breed.

 

Indeed.

Its a GOTL,made my Glenn Studios. If youre familiar with the various headphone forums,then most likely youre familiar with the GOTL.
My build has,from left to right:

HEXFRED or tube rectifier
Lundahl transformer

For drivers I can use:

6SN7 or 12SN7 or 25SN7 or C3G or EL8(with adapter) or others with adapters that I havent gotten around to yet. I can also run a triple driver config w/ EL8s in the C3G socket and 6/12/25v driver.

Power tubes 6x sockets

Can use 6AS7G or 5998s or 6080s or 6336(for planars or low ohm) or 2/4/6 6BX7s or 6BL7s.

Its a tube rollers dream

Currently trying to convince Glenn to build me an e-stat amp,but he's quite busy. I suppose posting stuff like this isnt helping my case any.

EDIT: was gonna post a couple pix of it,but it doesnt look like I can post locally stored files here

 

I am willing to spend around $200-ish, and I have no specific music preference. I just want a good all-rounder for that price. And just because you suggest a given model does not mean that I will purchase it right away. But if you suggest a model that I already have and own, then I will try to use that.

 

Hmmm...

Under (or near) $200.00 with no amp needed,and closed...

Look into Beyer DT770 32 ohm (lots of treble and bass) or,
1More Triple Driver Over Ear,(closer to neutral,but still has +bass) or,
Meze 99 Classics (above your budget,but the best of three IMO)

 

Sennheiser Momentum (used) I really liked them until I moved up to the 600's and then the 660's. I had version one.

 

I'm not much for hyperbole. I didn't have them on hand at the same time but I was listening to Elegia up until the dealer got the Stellia and I had the Elegia for about a month.
On that basis it's pretty evident the Stellia is the better headphone. Leagues better? Not at all.
Worth the money? Only you can make that call. For me I think so. I use them at work mostly and they will be my most used headphones because they will get used regularly.
My LCD4 and HD800S and PS1000 are stay at home headphones and I only use them occasionally as I like listening to my Maggies at home also.

One think I can say for my ears I like the Stellia over the Utopia. I listened to the Utopia at my dealer when they first came out and I didn't like them very much at all.
The Stellia is just so much of a more enjoyable headphone for my ears.

BTW I pair the Stellia with the Woo Audio WA8 at work and they make a great pair!

 

Thats a nice work rig. What DAC are you using?

 

Neat! I've seen mention of the Glenn Studio amps but haven't investigated them yet. I should investigate, but it's a huge head-fi thread and would take quite some time. Is there a more concise summary of his amps available?

My five year audiophile plan includes getting a very good full tube amp that can drive planars. So I'm getting more curious about investigating suitable tube amps.

It's brave of you to temp yourself with electrostatic headphones. Electrostats are a whole separate headphone path. I'd love to try electrostats but that path is so expensive. The planar headphone path is also expensive. I can't afford two separate paths that are both equally expensive. For me it's one or the other. My wallet won't let me do both. It's neat to see more electrostatic headphones available. For too long it's been dominated by Stax and Stax's interpretation of the e-stat headphone sound. I got to hear a Senn HE60 (baby Orpheus) e-stat headphone driven by a Mjolnir Audio amp a couple months ago at a meet. Nice! I liked that style of e-stat sound better than any of the Stax setups I've heard.

 

Sadly there isnt. Glenn builds amps in his spare time,works a full time job,has a girlfriend,etc... So this is a hobby for him. He is a bit of a mad scientist type,so theres no website.
The only way to get in line for a Glenn is to join Head-Fi and make your interest known to Glenn in the thread or via PM.
I will say that the other Glenn owners,most of which are quite active in the thread,are very helpful with tube suggestions and build options.

Yup. I have a Jade ll here on loan. Its my first extended time with an e-stat. Im liking what im hearing from it,but it def needs a better amp IMO.
I keep trying to convince ZMF into developing an e-stat,as I love Zach's tuning choices on his dynamic headphones,but apparently its a huge departure from building dynamics,or planars. Not holding my breath.

 

That's one of the challenges with e-stat headphones. The good amps are expensive. E-stat headphones are so clean, transparent and revealing that they demand the use of very good, and ultimately expensive, amps that have the tonality and presentation and headstage/imaging that you like. E-stats require expensive amps that are difficult to get a chance to audition before buying. E-stats become and expensive and exclusive path to take.

 

Locally hosted images were taking too much bandwidth. So the powers that be disabled the upload of locally hosted images. You need to upload images to a third party host and then link to them in a forum post.

Here's a thread that explains: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/how-to-add-a-picture-to-a-post.360845/

I tend to use Imgur. It works and is easy to upload an get a link. If you decide to use Imgur I would suggest signing up for an account first so you can manage your album and have control over being able to delete images and make them private.

Post a picture of your amp. I'd like to see it.

 

ifi Nano iDSD Black Label - lovely bit of kit.

 

I posted a photo today here. Let me know if you can see it.