HiFi equipment for ambient/drone/experimental music

Yes, that is the system before I retired in December and left the motel.

We'll see what the future will bring in the way of audio.

I have sold off some gear and will sell of some more gear. Everything remaining is still in the warehouse.

Definitely think people should plan the audio needs/desires along with their retirement plans.

 

There is some ambient style music that includes some binaural sounds or some specially processed sounds specially for headphones. For that type of ambient and experimental music you're going to want a good headphone setup. Drone can also be neat on headphones. Headphones can't replicate the physical nature of sound from speakers in a room. But they still can give a very involving drone music listening experience.

Drone style music tends to rely on bass. For that you want a headphone that has textured and layered bass. And that's an Audeze planar. The challenge with the Audeze headphones is that they are somewhat challenged in delivering a large headstage. To get a larger headstage from the Audezes you need a heroic amp that plays a large headstage.

With ambient you may want a headphone that presents a larger headstage with sounds out there all around your head. For that the HD800 is the best. The HD800 can do a headstage that can feel like you can swim in it amongst the sounds of the music. The HD800 also needs a heroic amp that tames the treble and it doesn't hurt if the amp also preents a bigger headstage than typical amps and has heft and strength in the bass to help the HD800.

So my recommendation for a headphone setup to optimize headphone enjoyment of drone, ambient and similar experimental music is:
Headphones: Audeze LCD-2 Classic, Sennheiser HD800
Amp: Monoprice Cavalli Liquid Platinum hybrid amp. This amp is the hero the Audeze headphones need, and also very well compliments the HD800.
DAC: Schiit multibit. The Schiit multibits are able to do bass with texture and layering. Wonderful bass texture when the recording has it. Super good for drone and other experimental music that tickles the bass textures. The Schiits also have a very layered imaging and do binaural type sounds very very well. Super good for ambient that has sounds swimming around.

I'm also of the belief that optimizing a system for some styles of music must also optimize for all styles of music. And this headphone setup does. It can play everything. It's not just optimized for drone and ambient.

 

For my taste, the ambient/drone/modern classical music that you describe (and I adore) should be listened to very loud or very quiet to receive its full effects. An amp-speaker combo that ‘wakes up’ at low volume and doesn’t lose its low end presence is very important, and it must also move air at loud volumes.

When you pump Earth 2, you want the sound waves to rearrange the molecules in your brain. And when Gas’s Zauberberg is at barely a whisper, you want to be able to follow every part of it and still feel like you’re standing 300 yards away from an incredible party.

 

I agree. A amp/speaker combo that is dynamic at low volumes is the key. Micro dynamics, scale and tonality are the name of the game to me. I said on it page 1, but the Snell/SET line magnetic combo was fantastic for ambient music, EAI/lowercase, free jazz and synth/electronic music. I think it was a combination of high efficiency, SET topology and the large woofer. My current solid state rig will do until my kids are old enough to entertain themselves a bit more, but I plan on trying out a full Audio note rig...or maybe just pull the Snells back out of storage and get another LM amp.

 

Personally I find my Luxman/Krell/Kudos set up is perfectly fine with ambient and droney stuff.