A slight change of course - setting up a headphone rig

[anm]

Would like to share something with fellow forum members. I spent some decent money (by my standards) and lot of time and effort putting together a stereo system. However, I have realized that it is difficult to spend much time on a stereo given that it disturbs people around you unless you can isolate it well into a room, can't burn midnight oil with it etc.
Though I am keeping the stereo system in place, I have shifted my mindspace towards building a good headphone system. Got a lot of help from Shaizada in making up my mind.

Another piece is that the headphone rig needs to be decently portable, easy to carry to different rooms in the house, to the lawn, and to the office (I travel by car so no need to be ultra mobile for metro kind of application).

I have shortlisted following, may be of help for others who are planning to tread the same path.

UE 10 vi - already purchased from Shaizada - it was a good smooth transaction. Thanks bro! decent with my blackberry too, and quite great with nad cdp + lyrita pre's headphone out.

senn HD 650 - slightly confused between neutral 600 and more bassy 650 (as per reviews). But I have tilted towards hd 650 and hope I will make it mine in next week or so.

Portable headphone amp - RSA protector. It is a balanced, and as per my understanding, it can drive single ended headphones as well. Yet to buy.

Balanced cable for hd 650 - need to decide. Is there a diy option if I can find connectors?

Portable source - Need help here. There is nothing from squeezebox family that is portable and battery operated. Apple ipod touch/ iphone "MAY" not be able to access entire music lib I want to keep in a hdd stationed at house - without needing the laptop to be on always. Need internet radio, lossless streaming over wifi on this device. did I say I need help on this?

LOD cable (in case its an ipod/ iphone)

Portable DAC - depends on whether I am able to find, or doctor an existing player for digital out.

 

[anm]

btw, I had a similar change of course from movie watching setup to music setup. Though the movie setup is there, it is not what takes up my mind space anymore. Surround speakers are lying unconnected - due to the fact that I live in a rented house and want to move back to my own asap.

 

[iaudio]

anm, I do understand this change of mind. Hopefully things will change once you are back in your own place.
You should Pm sachi too about your headphone amp/dac queries. And ofcourse check out head-fi.org

 

[anm]

I would like all people to comment in this thread so that knowledge is shared for everyone's benefit.
Inviting Sachi, shaizada and everyone. Pls help

 

[longshanks]

HD650 is a very good headphone but give it a try before buying.

You may also want to consider the beyerdynamic DT880 600 ohm,ATH W100 and the AKG K702.

If you don't have an amplifier already and can do a bit of DIY then bottle head crack or s.e.x is a good option.

 

[shaizada]

Hey Anant,

Pursuing headphones is an excellent way to get into very high fidelity of music reproduction. In fact, that is exactly how I started out when I got much more serious into audio. Having said that, the Sennheiser HD600/650, Beyerdynamic DT880 or ANY high impedance headphone is not the way to begin UNLESS you plan to getting a proper headphone amplifier soon. These are very demanding headphones and need the control/power of a dedicated amp. MOST of the gear out there with headphone outputs just don't do these headphones any justice. They are a tough load to drive.

The Audio Technica series in general are very low impedance mostly 32ohms or thereabouts (my W1000 are as well). They are extremely easy to drive so many people can enjoy the cans right out of their normal headphone outputs. They too respond very well to quality amplification.

I've gone through a multitude of headphones including many esoteric ones and I've almost always enjoyed the HD-600 the most. However, to get the best out of them they must be used in balanced operation through a quality headphone amplifier.

One of the best sounding amps for the HD600 is the Ray Samuels Protector as that amp was in fact voiced with the HD600. I have the Protector and enjoy it immensely. So much so that I don't even feel the need to plug the headphones into the Ray Samuels B52 fully blown home headphone amplifier/preamplifier. Just something to consider.

Best thing to do is to register yourself at head-fi.org and learn more there. There is knowledge base there that no amount of posting on hivfivision can ever match up...that forum is completely dedicated to headphones.

 

[sachi]

Honestly, forget about using portable amplifiers to drive full size headphones especially like the HD600. No offence to Shaizada.

The best amp I have heard the HD6xx series of headphones has been the Cavalli Audio EHHA. It seemed to have even better synergy than the Stacker 2 which is saying a lot for me.


Why not look into orthodynamic headphones? Gurubhai is now a staunch convert and has seen the "light" maybe you should think about this more. Honestly, i was a big supported of the HD580 back in my early audio days and have gone through my share of esoteric headphones and amps. Orthodynamic headphones do it for me better than any other. You can have a used Yamaha HP-2 or HP-3 for under 75$ if you look around a bit. Sure they are over 3 decades old bt heck, the wa they sound is a testament to their sound engineering (pun intended)

 

[anm]

thanks everyone. The hd 650 is here!! it is sitting tightly on my head making beautiful music. Currently driven by my lenevo laptop's headphone out. I can see it is a difficult headphone. Normally I would go deaf with my normal headphones with volume of 7-8 and normal listening would be at 4-5, while this is running on full 25 and the volume is just ok.

My dear friend panditji got it for me from HK. Great guy. We met just once earlier.

@shaizada and sachi - thanks for great suggestions. I am slightly confused on the amp part. I am looking for a decently portable solution also (battery driven) that I can keep on my bedside and don't worry about being electrocuted in the middle of the night. Can also carry it around to lawn etc.

@sachi - thanks for the orthodynamics suggestions. I will look around for them. I guess it would be difficult to get them here in India - but easier to find them in the US. Again, I am a little uncomfortable buying used without listening first - may get a bad piece?

 

[anm]

oh the headphone out of my lyrita pre is driving it to crazy volume levels. Right now listening to nad cdp+lyrita to musafir CD. I think it is slightly restrainted in the bass - need to burn in? There are details in the music but I think it should get better with time.
I will compare with ue over next several days.
Currently lyrita doesn't have the amp connected to it - I wonder if it will loose some juice when connected to the amp.

OT update - my TT is out there to be repaired. The speed problem is solved - pots needed to be changed (as suggested by some people here - I think Hiten, thanks man!). But the pickup is very noisy and there is a kind of echo. When a singer is singing one line, I can hear the previous line as well. The guy there was struggling to fix this problem. Is this a cartridge problem or problem with the tonearm or motor (highly unlikely afaict)

 

[shaizada]

Honestly, forget about using portable amplifiers to drive full size headphones especially like the HD600. No offence to Shaizada.

The best amp I have heard the HD6xx series of headphones has been the Cavalli Audio EHHA. It seemed to have even better synergy than the Stacker 2 which is saying a lot for me.


Why not look into orthodynamic headphones? Gurubhai is now a staunch convert and has seen the "light" maybe you should think about this more. Honestly, i was a big supported of the HD580 back in my early audio days and have gone through my share of esoteric headphones and amps. Orthodynamic headphones do it for me better than any other. You can have a used Yamaha HP-2 or HP-3 for under 75$ if you look around a bit. Sure they are over 3 decades old bt heck, the wa they sound is a testament to their sound engineering (pun intended)

Sachi my friend,

You HAVE to hear the RSA Protector. It runs the Senns in balanced mode and it is absolutely mind blowing good. It can easily swing 14volts from it's lithium battery and has amazing control over the Senn drivers. It has three gain settings (low, medium and high) and a quarter turn of the volume knob on the High gain is more than loud enough. So lot's of headroom still left on the volume knob.

Give me a call when you are around Los Angeles or Orange County and we'll arrange a listening session. Should be fun!

 

[anm]

has anyone tried the headphone amp kit from twisted pear? I have asked few questions but the person must be very busy to answer any queries. OTOH, Ray has been very proactive in responding to queries.

 

[sachi]

Sachi my friend,

You HAVE to hear the RSA Protector. It runs the Senns in balanced mode and it is absolutely mind blowing good. It can easily swing 14volts from it's lithium battery and has amazing control over the Senn drivers. It has three gain settings (low, medium and high) and a quarter turn of the volume knob on the High gain is more than loud enough. So lot's of headroom still left on the volume knob.

Give me a call when you are around Los Angeles or Orange County and we'll arrange a listening session. Should be fun!

Definitely will take you up on that offer dude. Just a matter of time..I should be in Cali sometime early next month or in July. Will keep you posted.

 

[shaizada]

has anyone tried the headphone amp kit from twisted pear? I have asked few questions but the person must be very busy to answer any queries. OTOH, Ray has been very proactive in responding to queries.

Ray is lightening quick on communication in general. His customer service is one of the best I have personally experienced in the industry. Buy from him or not, he is more concerned about the PERSON rather than selling something. Doesn't hurt to have FANTASTIC sounding audio gear

 

[anm]

how much burn in needed for hd 650?

 

[longshanks]

^ it is a highly debatable topic.

Ive read people stating 100 hours minimum(HD600 and 650) cause then u will get more used to the way HD650 sounds and would have heard it enough to understand it.Burn in according to me is two things, the headphone burn in(don't how much true it is) and the listener getting more attached to the sound produced by the setup or component.

My HD600 initially did not impress me but after days and month i started liking it more and more, that could be because of the burn in or the fact that i got used to the way it sounds and started noticing the amazing things it can do.

What is your impression on the HD 650 after these few days?

One thing is for sure cause both HD600 and 650 can very good or bad depending upon the amplifier and rest of the component.

 

[anm]

I am not listening while it is burning in! I leave my cdp on repeat mode for entire night, connected to headphone out of lyrita tube pre. Actually did it only one night and skipped last night (forgot! something even more important came up )
100 hours should not be an issue since it would need about 2 weeks if I leave it overnight. I think I will partially burn it with hk amps headphone out too.

 

[anm]

@sachi - Saw the kit at glass jar audio. EHHA Hybrid Headphone amplifier 6GM8-Mosfet

However, I am not a diyer as yet. Any suggestions on where to get it pre-built?

also this doesn't seem to be "balanced". I am assuming that balanced will give further advantage.

 

[anm]

well I am looking out for some electrician who can do the soldering work for me - so I think I can buy kits that are not too complex to build. Since I am planning to change the cable to balanced - pls suggest some good balanced kits.

 

[anm]

the more I read, more the confusion.
What is the difference between electrostatic amp and dynamic amp? I think this is a property of the headphone and not the amp. If I buy an electrostatic headphone amp, will it not work with my dynamic hd 650?

 

[gurubhai]

Electrostatic amps can't be used for dynamic headphones so you can rule them out.

EHHA can be built in balanced mode but it would double the costs.

Why not look into orthodynamic headphones? Gurubhai is now a staunch convert and has seen the "light"

Yes Sir, I have seen the light. I am a devout ortho believer now.

I guess it would be difficult to get them here in India - but easier to find them in the US

I am selling one of my orthos ( Fostex T20v2 ) to fund my own build of EHHA. Let me know if interested.