one thing to note is that maggies can torch some of what classifies as "consumer grade", it needs to be low impedance stable

and @ canbus, I just made a connection based on your post, however if you've got the dosh, just re-read my post without the suggestion to save some $$$ and go low-fi, lol

if K1000's are impossible to find, and HD 650's are out of the question, you might consider W5000 or D5000's (AudioTechnica or Denon, respectively), or SR-325i's (I only know the W5k from comparison to other phones, the D5k's are amazing, and the 325i's are pretty good, but I somewhat prefer the senn sound (bit more relaxed))

you might also consider the Kenwood KH-K1000's, although not everyone loves them

And there are those who don't believe in burn in. This person almost jumped because of it. Good thing you didn't get the K701s. You'd still be on the ledge.

OK deeply busy,

From your post, you now like the 650s? So how did the experts guide you wrong? If it was because you weren't aware of burn in, perhaps they assumed you knew about not immediately judging a product without some burn in. There are many who don't believe in such a practice. I guess they didn't want a flamewar in the thread.

If anyone here can help you on a primo system, Wmcmanus can. Certainly not the only one but one well respected with enough first hand experience on all types of hps to help you. Now, music genre and particular sound characteristics you key on when listening. What impresses you about hp performance? Is this only about hps or are speaker options part of this?

In honor of the forum title, throw budget aside. What are some of the best systems out there? World class, last 2%, build a house around it systems. When your mother in law listens to it they come away with a smile.

When you see the price on some of this stuff, $5k will cover a mid level power cord.

I like Uncle Erik's idea of some maggies but they get uncomfortable on my head after a little listening time. I went with the Martin Logans. Not as heavy to the head and don't stretch out the headband.

Sorry to break it to you, but most people on this forum aren't "experts" in the traditional sense. And even if they are, the first thing they'll usually say is that headphone listening is more subjective than speaker listening, and requires a lot more personal effort from whoever is going to be building the system. Headphones ignore HRTFs, which your brain still compensates for while you're listening to them, which means that headphones will actually sound different to different people without any placebo or strings attached. So, the same headphone that sounds dark and veiled to you may sound simply rich and full but still close to neutral to me (not that a SE HD650 does sound like anything but veiled to my ears).

As to your negative attitude - I understand your frustration, but insulting the same people you're soliciting advice from isn't going to get you in anybody's good books.

There is a great deal of shilling, marketing, fanboyism, immaturity, corruption, and general stupidity going on in this forum. As will always be the case on any large, popular, succeful message board. The burden is on you to sift through the garbage to find the relevant info, and not on us to dish out said info on a silver platter. Some of us are liable to do that and provide their best, honest advice based on personal experience. But, these people are not the whole board and should not be held responsible for the entirety of the forum's content.

Anyway, I'm glad you're liking your system. I know what you're going through because I've been there before.

flamewars = v v v v bad. Please dont be upset at me just because I am upset at life. I mean no harm. Im just frustrated. It is not just to emit my frustration on others. Sometimes things get to powerful and its hard to control myself verbaly. Every post I have made in this thread has been whilst drunk. Not this post though. I am very sorry. I *hate* idiots like me! Im normally a chilled out headphone wearing hippie. I have alot of idiots in my life giving me grief. I would'nt mind but all i do is sit in my flat listening to headphones. I am truly sorry. There is an awful lot to research and I thank you immensely for your kind help, for being decent and tolerant.

Trust me, I understand where you're coming from. So no offense taken.

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Actually, this post cleared up a lot of things in terms of your perspective. Some of what you've said now makes a lot more sense to me and I do see where you're coming from.

While I can definitely see where you would regard "us" (being mostly the frequent posters here at Head-Fi) as the "experts", none of really are. Or at least very few people that I know of (actually, none that I can think of off hand) regard themselves as experts in an overall sense.

Granted, there are a small number of people who have specialized knowledge and experience in selected aspects of what is discussed at Head-Fi, so there are a select few experts who hang out in the DIY forum, or in the amp or cables forums. There are a whole lot more people who know enough to be scary.

In any case, I'm certainly not looking for conflict either. Not that I'm immune to conflict. Yet, I suspect that if you surveyed 100 frequent posters at Head-Fi, the vast majority of them would say that I'm not generally a confrontational person. At the same time, I'll stand up for something that I believe in.

In this case, I may well have misinterpreted your comments such that I got the sense that you felt "cheated" or "misled" (both are my words, not yours) by the advice that you took and relied on in your decision making. That, in turn, seemed to cause a great deal of frustration on your part, and to have created a certain "expectation" that you could rely on such opinions as though they were facts.

From there, all I was really trying to point out is that with audio gear, there is no objective truth. It's all based on subjective opinions which in turns are based on perceptions that can and do differ between individuals. This is also very much affected by the associated gear that people are using, and may be (as you've discovered) affected by break-in as well.

In any case, I hope you'll find something useful from the various responses you've received in this thread. I really didn't intend to become negative and confrontational until I read your post that I reacted to in my last post, for the reasons stated there - some of which may well have been misinterpretations on my part.

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Thats it, this thread is dead to me. People volunteer they're time to give the best advice they can on here, in fact its the best audio based community I have ever encountered. I fail to see how your inability to audition an imod means other users are obliged to give forth even more. The reason that I fail to see this is because its not so.