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I find them just as crystal clear and immune to distortion in the loud passages as the Sennheiser 800's.

 

They have plenty of audible bass -- but even less of the "haptic" or feel-it-in-your-bones kind of bass than bigger headphones do (and of course less than any kind of speakers). I find that with good audible bass that missing aspect is quickly adapted to (probably would not be true if you also couldn't hear those same parts of the music). As an example of that adaptiveness, I was recently able to THOROUGHLY enjoy an old favorite pipe organ CD on my sennheiser's, and I would have thought I would need to be able to feel the pedal-notes in order to do so. Being able to hear them better than I ever have on any speakers I've owned more than made up for the loss of "feel".

 

Another nice thing about the Etymotics is the extreme amount of sound isolation they provide. They are ideal for travel for this reason. I've sat right next to the prop on turbo-prop planes and was able to enjoy the music without cranking it up any more than usual. Also you can listen as loud as you want and not annoy the folks sitting to either side of you.

 

I really like everything about the Ety's except for the unpleasant feeling of having something crammed in my ears. If you're not as sensitive to that as I am, you'll probably really like them.

 

cheers,

jp

 

PS, thanks again for the headphone category!

 

New guy here - old guy elsewhere...Mac Mini - BitPerfect - USB - Schiit Bifrost DAC - shit cable - Musical Fidelity A3.5 - home-brew speakers designed to prioritize phase and time response (Accuton ceramic dome drivers and first-order crossovers) and a very cheaply but well corrected room...old head, old ears, conventionally connected to an old brain with outdated software.

 

"It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." -- Mark Twain

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  • 2 weeks later...

I restarted my audiophile addiction several years back, starting at HeadFi.

 

Office : RSA Apache - balanced HD800s and balanced AT W5000

 

Home : Bottlehead Crack/Speedball or K.I.C.A.S. Caliente with HD650s

 

Beach/Travel : MacBookPro - DACPort - AT ESW10JPN

 

Airplane/Car : iPod Touch/iPad (+/- RSA Shadow) UE10pro

 

From there I built my speaker system, which I do enjoy the best when no one is asleep at home, or vacuuming.

 

[Home Digital] MSB Premier DAC > Modright LS300 > Atma-Sphere "Class D" Monoblocks > Daedalus Audio Muse Studio Speakers

[Home Analog] Technics SL-1200G > Boulder 508 (Benz Glider SL)

[Office] Laptop > Kitsune R2R lvl3 > Violectric V281 > Meze Liric / Meze Elite

[Travel] Laptop/iPad -> Focal Bathys

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Currently stuck in a hotel room for the next 2 months. Bought a pair of Ultrasone Edition 8 to make the times without my main gears bearable.

 

Edition 8 is driven raw from either a Macbook Pro or an iPhone to surprisingly good effect.

 

Looking forward to listening to it from my main gears. Unfortunately I sold my Weiss DAC202 in favor of a Debussy DAC with no headphone out. The DAC202 really does have an awesome headphone amp.

 

 

 

Macbook Pro/MacMini/dCS Debussy/Cambridge 650BD[br]Vitus Audio SS-010/Living Voice OBX-R2 Speakers/Ultrasone Edition 8 phones[br]Airport Express/Meridian AD88[br]

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40GB iPod (RockBox firmware, FLAC & SHN capable) >

BioScienceGeek (OPA2227P-based) mobile 'phone amp >

beyerdynamic DT-831 (closed)

 

1) Asus netbook/XP > decco integrated > audiodata 88 dB @1W/1m, 8 Ohm loudspeakers[br]2) Rega Planet or Asus desktop/XP > Rega IO > Mapleshade-modded Heathkit SA-2 (2x EL84/ch) > audiodata 90 dB @1W/1m, 4 Ohm loudspeakers

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Cans:

 

Audez'e LCD-2

Audio-Technica W1000X

Sennheiser HD-25

 

Amps:

 

M^3

Yamamoto HA-2

 

[iMac/Amarra Mini/W4S DAC2]

 

 

In the beginning God made 'the light.'

Shortly thereafter God made three big mistakes.

The first mistake was called MAN, the second mistake was called WO-MAN, and the third mistake was the invention of THE POODLE.

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I also prefer my 2 speaker setup. That said, I do enjoy listening to my Sennheiser HD650's and my Metric Halo LIO 8. I have a Larocca headphone amp that I haven't compared to the 8...something I've been meaning to do. But so far, the LIO's headphone amp sounds really good.

 

Ryzen 7 2700 PC Server, NUC7CJYH w. 4G Apacer RAM as Renderer/LPS 1.2 - IsoRegen/LPS-1/.2 - Singxer SU-1/LPS1.2 - Holo Spring Level 3 DAC - LTA MicroZOTL MZ2 - Modwright KWA 150 Signature Amp - Tidal Audio Piano's.  

.

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main: Cary 306 SACD (used as a CDP as well as a DAC with a DIY usb-to-spdif converter) -> Van den Hul "The Second" XLR -> DIY KGSS -> Stax SR-007mk2

 

other: Cary 306 SACD -> Van den Hul "The Second" RCA -> Corda Prehead (modded)-> AKG k701 / AKG k141 monitor (600 ohm)

 

JRMC+Fidelizer-->AudioQuest Cinnamon Firewire-->Weiss DAC202U-->Arcam P49-->PSB Synchrony One

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I run a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT-770 Pro in the 600? version. They are very different from the 80? and 250? models.

 

I recently got a Beresford Caiman DAC/amp with Gator board and AD826. Sounds good, but with an extra lift in the presence frequency area rendering some recordings with extra sibilance.

 

Just for kicks I tried it on the stereo system too, but compared to the Berkeley Alpha it's soundstage was collapsed and treble was very harsh. I have a feeling these particular DT-770/600? are not a good match.

 

The USB receiver on the Caiman is 16 bit, 32/44.1/48 kHz only which is a great pitty. I have a feeling the USB would be better than the Toslink (from a Mac Pro) I'm using now. I only made a quick comparison, but USB sounded like the transients were sharper giving a more detailed presentation. It might have been an illusion, I hope there will come a receiver chip upgrade at some time.

 

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eggers

The vast majority of high impedance headphones will obly work at their best with headphone amplifiers that can deliver higher output voltages than many HAs are capable of, due to PSU voltage limitations. Ideally, you need an amplifier with at least +-15 supply rails.

Also, if the Headphones comply with IEC61938, then they should be driven from a 120 ohm source impedance. If the source impedance is lower, them HF will give the appearance of being exaggerated, and sibilance may be more noticable.

 

SandyK

 

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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Sennheiser HD 580 Jubilee Limited Edition Carbon

Sennheiser IE8

Bose Quiet Comfort 15

Shure 530

 

Electrocompaniet EC4 to drive 580's and Bose.

 

(I'm not sure that I like the IE8's yet. I cannot get them to sit securely in my ears, no matter what I do or what tips I use. Perhaps my genetics are flawed.)

 

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Senn HD600, original Headroom home amp, upgraded Cardas wires on the cans. Still a little dumbfounded by the degree of improvement with moving up from the stock wires on the cans - what now 7 years later - but not to be discounted. I've made my own wires, bought cost-no-object name brands, etc, but getting rid of the stock wires on the cans was the single most dramatic wire-based change i've heard in my system. 'Aint stumpin' for Cardas, lord knows, but consider something other than stock if you can, made a huge difference for me, at any rate. He'll, even convinced my then-No. 1 Special Lady Friend / now Lawful Chattel Property-Legally Binding Roommate that the whole wire mania wasn't total nonsense, and that's no small achievement.

 

Currently have the headroom running off of the single ended outputs on the Ayre, with the preamp (and the whole speaker-facing side of things) running balanced. Seems to work well enough. Would use a tape loop or similar bits on the preamp if I had'em, but this seems to do the trick.

 

Portable-wise, I've got some ultimate ears cans and a little battery powered headroom DAC. Sound plenty nice, but, honestly, find the whole deal way too damn fidgety and never actually use them. The cans never quite sit right and the DAC is just one too many bits of crap to lug around. But, hey, thats just me....

 

Mezmo[br]Mac Mini / Ayre QB9 / Rowland Concerto / Rowland 201s / Verity Parsifals

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Mez,

 

I had the same setup as you only sold the Senn's and bought AKG 701K's. I moved to the Woo WA22 which is balanced and would be great with your QB-9. I also went to beyer Telsa T-1's. Awesome, detail and tube sound (never thought I'd say that after Solid State forever).

 

I still have the HeadRoom home like yours but probably will sell it now since I don't listen to it anymore.

 

Furutech GTX-D, GTX Wall Plate,106-D Cover > NCF Clearline >Custom Computer>J River [Current] > Curious Cable Evolved USB > Chord Hugo MScaler > WAVE Storm Dual BNC> Chord DAVE>DCA Stealth>my ears > audiophile brain

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  • 2 weeks later...

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