Headphone + amp upgrade advice please

[davide256]

One can get decent headphones in the $500~$800 range, Audeze Sine, Focal Elear, Sennheisers, all depends on the sonic signature you like. Decent headphones amps will start in a like range, Schitt and Woo are pretty safe choices. However if you want " a strikingly revealing sound with clearly defined instrumentation in a spacious soundstage " you cant get that without a good source solution. Your "custom PC with SPDIF output"  needs to be compared against a known good source before you build expectations on a headphone upgrade. I'd think an Aries mini as entry level for your expectations .

[davide256]

 

12 hours ago, dalethorn said:

All of the planars I've tried are treble-deficient.  I prefer a somewhat dark sound, with no treble peaks, yet the planars sound rather dull the higher you go.  Even when you smooth out the HD800 peak(s), the sparkle is still there that's missing from planars -at least the planars under $1500 or so.

We all hear different things when we listen. To me Sennheiser are like KEF's, rich and boring. The Elear's are intensely detailed but everything has this kind of sandpaper sibilance. The Audeze are glorious for tone color rectitude but a little slow compared to the Elear.  None of them have a high frequency lack, what they have is a sound signature you either like or dislike.

[davide256]

2 minutes ago, dalethorn said:

There's a tremendous difference in the treble strength of a Senn HD800 and planars in that range, such as the LCD2 Fazor edition I had.  Particularly above 10 khz.  To think that they sound about the same (treble), doesn't compute.

Again, your personal preference/bias. You have no monopoly on the human experience.

[davide256]

5 hours ago, dalethorn said:

Logic is not about monopoly, it's about comparing A to B and realizing they are not identical.  You are trying to create a false equivalence, but it doesn't pass logic.

Last I checked we were flesh and blood, not silicon chips. Logic has zero to do  with each unique persons hearing capability, ear training and experience. You and I can listen to 2 different headphones and based on our uniqueness come up with very different appraisals of its enjoy-ability. As an example, while the Beyers  you have may be more technically accurate, I'd gravitate to the Grado PS1000 because I care more about tone color richness  than I do  high frequency crispness and extension.

[davide256]

 

12 hours ago, hdo said:

I think I have a good answer for this problem. The problem is not with planar headphones. It's sampling rates of digital contents. Planar headphones are simply too accurate. It produces sound exactly recorded in your digital tracks. For 44.1khz sampling rate, there is only four samples available to encode 10khz sound curve. It's just two above and two below the base line. With this kind of sampling rate, sound encoding of treble sound must be heavily distorted. Planar magnetic headphones are too detailed on this.

 

To avoid this problem, you need to use higher definition such as 24/192 or 24/384, or go analog such as vinyls. I tested this theory this on 24/192 track. I couldn't hear roughness. I tried treble rich CD rips, sound horrible! 

 

 

 

Its basically a bandaid... up-sampling moves the high frequency irritants beyond the audible range but confuses the ear on details at the limit of the original formats resolution. Works on cheaper solutions  that can't reach the limit of source  format resolution but decreases the fidelity with better DACs and source solutions that can resolve to the format limit  So enjoy the honeymoon, it won't last as your system improves.

[davide256]

7 hours ago, hdo said:

I don't think you are right. Most large headphones also use large driver.

HD800 has 56mm driver.

PM-3 has 55mm.

Bigger drivers have more inertia, can't respond as quickly to transients in the highs. That's why most room speakers have a smaller tweeter for highs. Headphones are small already but that inertia can still affect high frequency transients. Planars as  a class have bigger driver surface/mass, are slower on highs than the Sennheisers and Focal headphones. The flip side is they have very little resonance coloration from their driver. Having played in an orchestra, I prefer planars. Had I played in a rock band, my preference might have been tilted towards the Sennheisers or Focal headphones