joessportster Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 About a year ago now I was forced to sell all my gear and vinyl, I'm not complaining !! Life happens and you have to go with the flow, or get buried in depression worrying about what could have been. Today i mainly listen to headphones Sennhieser HD650 i got as refurbished for a good price, They sound very good but are nothing like stereo setup with speakers. I was a soundstage freak and continually upgrading in order to improve that aspect as well as others. With headphones things are more intimate, and you hear some nuances that were veiled even in the best systems I've owned or heard. Soundstage (as I'm used to it, with stereo) is non existent in headphones. I find i have to almost imagine the soundstage (some good mono recordings allowed me to do this on stereo in the past, Sonny Rollins saxaphone collosis for instance). I've read many a post on head-fi about how much better headphones will sound with an amp so today i placed an order for a Schiit Valhalla (I chose tube amp, only because tubes were my preference in stereo set ups) My source is ripped CD's at lossless I expect ill get a DAC at some point. Im wandering what you guys use as headphone amps etc... and why you chose the gear you did Joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bliss53 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Joe, Been getting in to headphone gear in the last couple of years because of an increase in travel. Hard to set up Khorns or Cornscalas in a hotel room or short term apartment. I started with some Shure 840's and the amp in my Lynx Hilo. Upgraded to some of the Senn 650s with a Zu cord. Then I built a Bottlehead SEX amp. Next was some JH7 in ears with a Audioquest Dragonfly for plane travel. Previously used Klipsch X11 in ears which are really nice and the only ones I could tolerate in my ears for more than an hour or so. I too miss a soundstage that does not come from the center of your head when I am on the road. I owed a friend for some serious assistance and for the Bottlehead SEX amp kit he gave me as a gift. I got him a Schiit Valhalla for his birthday a while back and I it sounded a bit better than my Lynx Hilo with my 650s. You won't be disappointed. I also spent some time with some of the other Schiit gear at the RMAF in Denver. Some great sounding gear. Even the new $100 amp is really good. Add the DAC and the dedicated DSD DAC and you have a first class system for under $350. My 650s and my SEX amp are my best set up, with the JH7s and the Audioquest Dragonfly being almost as good with 24/96. As soon as I move to 24/192 or DSD sources the 650/SEX set up shines. Enjoy your Schiit, Pete 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 thanks pete for the response, i was torn between buying a bottlehead crack and the schiit valhalla, and the woo wa7, in the end the warranty and all the praise on head-fi won me over, im leaning twords the bifrost. but im going to look into the dsd thing who knows joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I use this amp manufacurered by myself. I used to have Bottlehead Crack OTL, WOO Audio WA3 and Schitt Valhalla and Beyer A1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Thats one nice looking piece of gear, how about some more info on it Joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) Thats one nice looking piece of gear, how about some more info on it Joe edited Edited January 23, 2014 by Arash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) headphones never provide sound stage as good and wide and open as stereo speakers in environmental audio setups. I use HD800 which is among the best headphones out there. it has a very good sound stage but I don't know why headphones don't give stages in front direction! the stage is kinda above listener's head! there is nothing wrong with headphones, it's physics rules. in stereo speaker left ear will hear left channel frequencies as well as some frequencies from right channel -some db, it's kinda more complicated that what I expressed but this effect is what makes sound stage. I may be wrong here but if you doubt about this issue then go download some "binaurual records" and give them a listen with your headphones, then you'll see what I'm talking about Edited January 10, 2014 by Arash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bliss53 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 A bit off topic... I got an app for my iPhone that is kinda fun. It does some equalization gymnastics and simulates the cross talk that you you usually only get from speakers. It is called "Canopener". It is pretty fun to play with and it is supposed to play high resolution files. Have not tried that yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 headphones never provide sound stage as good and wide and open as stereo speakers in environmental audio setups. I use HD800 which is among the best headphones out there. it has a very good sound stage but I don't know why headphones don't give stages in front direction! the stage is kinda above listener's head! there is nothing wrong with headphones, it's physics rules. in stereo speaker left ear will hear left channel frequencies as well as some frequencies from right channel -some db, it's kinda more complicated that what I expressed but this effect is what makes sound stage. I may be wrong here but if you doubt about this issue then go download some "binaurual records" and give them a listen with your headphones, then you'll see what I'm talkin I own several binaural recordings from chesky records they are fun, but the soundstage still stays in your head, I guess i will get used to it in time. I have found there are things about the headphones i love over a good speaker setup headphones allow me to hear deeper into the music, I can hear things I've never been able to hear on any speaker (this may be my hearing, but I would bet this would be true of anyone to one degree or another) Headphones allow for a personal listening experience (I dont have the wife making faces or saying turn that down please, I dont have to hear the wifes comments about some music (ie.... Tom Waits......."He sounds like hes dyeing" SACRILEGE) headphones are lighter and easier to move than K-Horns 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 headphones are lighter and easier to move than K-Horns no headphone makes you feel the music in the chest like Khorns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 headphones are lighter and easier to move than K-Horns no headphone makes you feel the music in the chest like Khorns Thats True, Maybe i should devise a way to carry K=horns around strapped to my head, 2 fold advantage Music and Exercise 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 headphones are lighter and easier to move than K-Horns no headphone makes you feel the music in the chest like Khorns Thats True, Maybe i should devise a way to carry K=horns around strapped to my head, 2 fold advantage Music and Exercise yeah don't forget needed corners! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 headphones are lighter and easier to move than K-Horns no headphone makes you feel the music in the chest like Khorns Thats True, Maybe i should devise a way to carry K=horns around strapped to my head, 2 fold advantage Music and Exercise yeah don't forget needed corners! Always a drawback , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Joe, have you ever trying listening through headphones with a subwoofer nearby? One time while listening to my bedroom system with headphones, I hadn't realized the subs (one narrow 100-watt unit on each side of the bed, necessary because of the sound absorption of the mattress and box spring) didn't cut off when I switched off the main speakers. I was listening happily and was really surprised to actually feel the pounding bass. It was impressive, and I took off the headphones to see if I had mistakenly left the main speakers on. That's when I saw it was just the subs. Without the 'phones on, they weren't very loud, as subs by themselves often are not, but with the headphones on, they really added to the sound. The fact that they were only three feet from my head probably helped. I'm suggesting that a small sub in the quite near-field would really enhance your headphone listening experience, without disturbing the rest of the house and its occupants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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