General Headphone Advice

Nimble-handed men are being worked to the bone to provide us fancy cables for personal audio devices. I ought to try making some cables... *looking at hands*

 

No thanks, I have ShakyHands ™.

I can work hammer and forge fine, file and sharpen even.

Soldering though, only if impressionist soldering becomes a thing.

 

Careful, potential side effects may include carpel tunnel, gear acquisition syndrome, and babies.

 

Fresh. Dads. Don't. Sleep. Period.

 

Look at the bright side, after the terrible twos you get a full 12 years of (relative) peace so you can look forward to *dramatic pause* teenagerism.

 

You're right, the fun part still ahead of me. But my wife had complications and, well, this requires my attention almost constantly. At times it's hard to keep up with all this and being a business owner. But there are people who're in much worse situations so I'm thankful for what I have and I struggle with my daily stuff with head up high. The glass is half full, right ?

 

Uh, no.

Just being a new dad I could make fun of, but now I feel like poop q.q

By the way, can you suggest someone - preferably in Europe - who does speaker cables.

Looking for sensible stuff like your products, not audio jewelry.

 

id be using the thx00 or oppo pm3 only at home finally, for bed time next to my gf. in that situation, which would you guys prefer, oppo pm3 or thx00? all driven by a iphone 5...

thanks

 

Whichever one is more likely to initiate the sexy times with the gf, I'd go with that one.

 

Break out the Surrounder!

 

ok from what I read thx00 benefits greatly from a amp?
so oppo pm3 better with a ipod?

 

Oppo sounds about 98% fine on iPod, is a relaxing but detailed listen at normal volumes, and is more likely to bring the sexytime.

I actually preferred them over the Audeze EL-8O overall.

 

Im really torn between the Oppo pm3 and the Meze 99. Id be using it only with my iphone 6, mostly at home and sometime to commute.

so, PM3 or Meze 99?

 

I don't recall the two sounding all that similar. I'd vote PM3, although i do like the bassyness of the 99s. The PM3 destroys the 99s in comfort, I think.

Depends on your preferences, really.

 

The 99s are not as good as the PM3.

But they're also far less transparent, in a good way, meaning they sound better from crappy gear.

Size is a concern though.

The cups on the PM3 are not big, but on the 99s they are positively small. The sprung headband is also small, too small for big heads.

Source: I have 99s, they make my crappy tablet sound nice for train trips, but the headband is basically tapped out on my head and the cups are 50% on ear.

 

some interesting news from the recent Headphone Festival in Tokyo:-

Foster/Fostex is pushing their OEM programme and flogging both new developed IEM and headphone drivers, and as part of this programme they announced and displayed a prototype Fitear/Fostex headphone tuned by Fitear.

(get your google translate ready)

https://www.phileweb.com/news/d-av/201810/27/45487.html
https://www.phileweb.com/news/d-av/201810/28/45504.html

 

Anybody else here has a Sennheiser HD540?

I am pretty much blown away by how good this headphone is.
I have the early 80´s 600 Ohm one. It took me a while to figure out some pads which work (there is no original spare parts any more). I now have a strange sandwich construction with a 6 mm velour base and chinese shallow pleather pads on top, inspired by a recommendation from the HD540 thread at HF. Also got me a decent balanced Forza audioworks cable for it.

These work great for classical. They have an open airy presentation (better as HD650 / JAR650), they don´t have the midbass hump nor the "veil" of the HD650 which I just can´t accustom to (I did not like the ZMF Atticus with its strong midbass either). Resolution and dynamics don´t lag behind. I find them more lively than the HD650. They need a good and powerful amp though. They are quite a bit more demanding than either HD650 or Auteur. They loose a lot of their magic when I plug them in directly in my Soekris 1541 compared to the powerful Trafomatic tube amp, where I also can adjust the output Z.

I still prefer my Auteur in general, but the HD540 is so lightweight and open feeling (nice with orchestral music), and it is by far my best bang for buck investment ever. (50 € for the used headphone + 25 € for pads and 135 € for a good copper litz balanced cable).

 

Sennheiser pre-HD800 was a different company. They made some excellent niche headphones that have made us audio dorks go...



Their 250 and 600 Ohm headphones were known to react to good amplification. Find the right amplifier and that driver comes to live. I still miss the sound of my old HD250 II Linears.

Get a spare, do not look back.

 

@sacredgates I recently grabbed a pair of 540 reference golds (300 ohm I believe). They came with some memory-foam type pads. I bought the official replacement pads which are for the current HD 430. Those are a lot shallower so that my small ears touch the drivers which I do not like. I thought they closed the sound in also (i.e. they have less of that airy presentation which you mentioned and I like) but gave it a bit more bass which, in contrast to the Auteur, is lacking a bit for my tastes.

In comparison to the Auteurs (in combo with CD Transport, Modi Multibit and the LP), there are some tracks that I would say in the treble region they present a bit more of detail than the Auteur (the echoes/reverb on John Mayer's 'Clarity' in the first 20 seconds of the song). However that is the only plus, besides being much lighter, than the Auteur for me. Still I find it an enjoyable headphone and great for the price (135 Euro in real good condition and the wooden box. I have not upgraded the cable).
On the LP I reach my max at about 8.45 with the Auteur (balanced). With the 540 golds (SE) I get up to 11.30. It is also nice to get way past the slight channel imbalance on the LP. So it seems as if reached similar judgments concerning the 540's in comparison to the Auteurs.
As an aside, I would like to upgrade my DAC, likely to a Gungnir Multibit, as that seems like the next step to take. Not sure if you have any experience with that dac?

 

I have a pair of PM-3's and the cups barely fit over my ears, which I don't consider to be on the large size. The interior dimensions of the ear cups are roughly 2.5 by 2 inches. They sound pretty good for closed cans. I just took them out and tried them on and my ears immediately began to sweat, which never happens with my HD800S. I think I will just go ahead and list them for sale as the Senns have spoiled me for other cans.