Headphone Heaven

m7rso

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Brilliant..that i wasn't wrong….my amp is wrapped up at the moment, awaiting my Birthday. Its a gift from my daughter. Break it out Saturday. But for me the best headphone sound I have heard for anything like that sort of money! Mad.
 
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m7rso

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Hey, you're not wrong about the sinnergee between the Little Bear B4 amp and the Beyer 990. 👌
They are singing their hearts out for me!
Here's mine. The Beyers arrived yesterday.

IMG_20230315_064806.jpg
What are the rubber bands for Jerry, I got two, but had no idea?
 

Lawrence001

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Re. the 600 not being muddy and the 650's being muddy.

This was my experience too. The 650/6xx are a curious phone. There's something I really like about them but a muffled quality too.
It's called the Sennheiser veil. Funnily enough it disappears with a good OTL headphone amp and the bass becomes a forte to balance out the natural roll-off of the amp.
 
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Headcoat

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It's called the Sennheiser veil. Funnily enough it disappears with a good OTL headphone amp and the bass becomes a forte to balance out the natural roll-off of the amp.
Yes, I've heard that mentioned many times before. Funnily enough imo it doesn't disappear with a good OTL amp, I think that's a well propagated myth.

I've used the 6xx with a Feliks Elise and Echo, also an Arcam rHead and the headphone out on a NAD C368 (good quality head amp section).

The 6xx's sound different on all four amps, as you'd expect, but the so-called veil does not lift on the OTL amps. If anything it is less so on the Arcam rHead out of the four amps I mention.

To my ears the idea an OTL amp changes the 650/6xx is just not true. Either I'm half deaf or this is an audio myth.
 
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JamieMcC

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OTL is a bit of a general term and results can differ widely depending on the circuit implementation quality of power supply and of components and tubes used.
 
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Headcoat

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OTL is a bit of a general term and results can differ widely depending on the circuit implementation quality of power supply and of components and tubes used.
True.

Though I think the 650/6xx work best with OTL amps is born out of the fact most OTL amps have high output impedance suggesting they need high impedance headphones. And of course, 650's are 300 ohms.

In reality, many headphones show no difference in frequency response regardless of amplifier output impedance.

The Feliks Elise is a good amp and in fact one of the amplifiers many suggest does lift the Sennheiser veil. I've tried the 6xx with many different valves on an Elise and they all sound good, but there is no lifting of the so-called veil ime.

I think impedance mismatching is over stated, sure it does happen now and again. Similarly, I'm currently using the Feliks Elise as a pre-amp into the power section of a Marantz PM8006.

Bearing in mind the oft-quoted advice is for the power amps input impedance to be 20x that of the pre's output impedance...

- The Elise is 2.5kohm output
- The Marantz is 15kohm input

So only 6x greater. Sounds fine to me.

To test I hooked up a Schiit Loki in between the two. This has an input of 47kohms and an output of 75ohms, meaning the Schiit's input is close to 20x that of the Elise's output and the Marantz's input is now greater than 20x that of the Schiit's output. Effectively an impedance buffer and eq.

And... it makes no difference to my ears, switched on or off, or not even in the chain. Obviously, if I start eq'ing with the Loki it makes a difference.

💁
 

JANDL100

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Lots of headphone and headphone amplifier comings and goings of late.

So maybe it's time for a summary of the current status of my collection.

Headphones:

Planars -
Monolith M1060
Monolith M1060c
Hifiman Sundara
Oppo PM-3

Dynamic -
Audioquest Nighthawk
Beyerdynamic DT 990 250ohm
Audio-Technica M50x
Audio-Technica SR5BT (Bluetooth)

IEM :
BQEYZ Autumn


Headphone amps:

Mains powered -
Audio gd NFB 15.1
SMSL sAp ii (I've 2)
DOUK U4 (Bluetooth, valve hybrid)

Portable -
Little Bear B4x (valve hybrid)
FiiO E12
Neotek NTK106 (Bluetooth)

Fwiw, the best headphone / amp synergies I've found so far are....

AQ Nighthawk / SMSL sAp ii
M1060 / Little Bear B4
Beyer 990 / Little Bear B4
Sundara / FiiO E12 or sAp ii
M1060c / Audio gd
Oppo PM-3/ Audio gd
 
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m7rso

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Ooo, i just haven't had the time to check out what goes best with what. Hence i nearly put the smsl up for sale and thinking about withdrawing the Deva which I dont think is even run in yet as it seems to improve each time I use it.
 

JANDL100

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Ooo, i just haven't had the time to check out what goes best with what. Hence i nearly put the smsl up for sale and thinking about withdrawing the Deva which I dont think is even run in yet as it seems to improve each time I use it.
Yes, all this headphone/amp synergy - it's difficult.

I was definitely not keen on the AQ Nighthawk with relaxed sounding amps. I had my Nighthawks up for sale, but kept them after I'd heard them with the taut, powerful and precise sAp ii amp, transformed the sound enough to change them from sell to keep. I really enjoy the combo.

But sometimes I just have to admit that no combination will work. Sennheiser HD 600 sold now. No amp I had made me want to listen to them.
 
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eddie-baby

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But sometimes I just have to admit that no combination will work. Sennheiser HD 600 sold now. No amp I had made me want to listen to them.
I felt the same about the 600's. Never had a Senn HD I wanted to keep.

Tried the new 660s2 at the Bristol show briefly as well. Wasn't an ideal trial but I think they may be one of the better ones but still not for me.

What I did think were extremely comfortable were the 820, and to a lesser extent the 800S. I'm an open back headphone convert now though think I would entertain the 800 first. Everyone seems to rave about them who likes them. Would like to spend some time with them one day.
 
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JANDL100

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I've never heard a Sennheiser 800 series headphone, but I would like to.
But I don't fancy spending the necessary without a decently long listen beforehand.
I did enjoy the HD 700, and I'm baffled by its mixed reviews.
 

bullinachinashop

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My conservatory audio electronics and headphone listening spot.

IMG_20230317_181118.jpg

AudioEngine B1 Bluetooth receiver, feeding 1) SMSL sAp ii headphone amp and Audioquest Nighthawk headphones, and 2) Sabaj A2 class D amp and B&O CX100 speakers (which I am listening to atm).
Now that I've experienced decent wired cans through a dedicated headphone amp I find the drop in quality from Bluetooth unacceptable!!
 
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