The Sony SA3000 appreciation thread - Page 3

I don't know why, but with specific music these remind of my old ATH-AD2000 that I really miss. I was forced to sell it due to the poor fit.

These sound just about perfect for any kind of female vocals. I think they sound the best though with any type of stringed instrument. Acoustic guitar music is pretty impressive. Makes me almost want to listen to more classical. I'm sure there will be a lot of things about it I dislike, but nothing yet. I can probably think of a dozen headphones between between $150-$250 that sound much worse. Certainly not a headphone that's good for every genre.

Comfort on these is good somehow. The pads are supposed to be scratchy, but they don't bother me at all. Feels like it's not even on my head.

Yeah I've compared them with the AD2000 before, they are both highly detailed with excellent speed. The AD2000 are warm while I find the Sony SA cold. As a result the SA's are more analytical which work well with female vocals and.. Enya as I mentioned previously. The Ad2000s being warmer might be the better all rounder, then again it might come down to amp and source.

They certainly will introduce you to new genres if nothing else.

I was listening to these things last night for about 5 hours and loved every minute of it. Somehow the treble on them is less bothersome than on any of my other headphones, even the Q701. The entire signature isn't really that fatiguing for me. Comfort is still pretty much perfect, but someday I'll have to try the SA5000 with it's leather pads.

A $167 headphone shouldn't be this clear sounding or sound this good. It does lack bass somewhat, but it's probably comparable to my K501 in that area. What's funny is that I was listening to my Q701 and not getting into the music all that much. Kind of bored by it's sound for about a half hour. Now I like that headphone, but I think it has to do more with how closer to neutral it is when compared the the SA3000. It doesn't try and make my music better than it really is.

I've found the SA3000 a little more fun to listen. Easier to get into the music. Pretty much any types I've tried. If SA3000 is holding up this well to the Q701, now I wonder how much better the SA5000 is. I just don't want to sacrifice more bass for less forward mids.

I even tried the SA3000 out of a tiny Sansa Fuze and it sounded quite good..what the heck? It even gets louder than the Q701 unamped. One strange thing I noticed is that when I connected it up to an amp, the soundstage seemed to increase in size. It was the first thing I noticed. Sounded very good even with my Sansa Fuze with LOD to a Total Airhead. I DID need to nearly max out the volume to about 75% with high gain. I don't even need to do that with an HD-600/HD-650!

These would be nice for gaming but I think the really forward mids might be a bit bothersome after awhile. I prefer the Q701 for gaming so far. I played through Uncharted 3 with my new Q701 this week. SA3000 just reminds me of gaming with the ATH-AD2000.

BTW about this new Q701. My two minor complaints about the K702 are gone with the Q701..weird. Maybe it's just a variation between pairs or my mind playing tricks? The soundstage now doesn't seem so artificially huge and the treble doesn't even remotely bother me now. Sounds a bit warmer too (more similar to the K601), but I can't really hear any extra bass.

Anyone know of any other headphones that has a signature like the SA3000? Seems it's the type of sound signature I like.

Just how forward are they compared to the AD2K?

WRT the SA5K, It's mids are pretty close to neutral it seems, The uppermost midrange is perhaps tipped up but that's about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler 

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Anyone know of any other headphones that has a signature like the SA3000? Seems it's the type of sound signature I like.

 

I think we've discussed in the past the importance of source and amp or lack there of, being little or no difference over the new cheap arrivals from Fiio etc. As I've continuously slammed Fiio for their inferior sound reproduction while other have praised it, I think a headphone like the SA3000 would prove my point. Because of the transparency of this headphone a change in source would be audible and therefore important in the audio chain, while a headphone like the D2000 or HD600/650 would be less apparent.

With that said I find a warmer sounding amp like that of a tube amp mates much better with bright headphones such as these, the additional bass is also much welcomed. In addition the body of music also referred too as timbre is vastly improved, without such amp the headphones have been described as thin and sterile.

As far as I know and from listening I feel the only difference between the SA3k and SA5k was the leather ear pads which give you a slightly better seal at the expense of loosing some air/seperation of the music. Put the SA5k ear pads on the 3K and I would bet you have an identical SA5k sound. Perhaps it would be accurate to describe the SA3k as an AKG K501 and the SA5k as a K701, if that makes any sense.

As far as similar sounding headphones, that would come down to preference. What would you be looking for; additional bass, less mids, better accuracy? What I looked for over the SA3K was better bass impact and extension while retaining the speed and accuracy; I find that in the DT880/600, again paired with an OTL tube amp. They're not as forward in the mids but still very detailed, they're fast and accurate and have that bass slam I desire. Mating headphones with amp or synergy as they call it is extremely important and more often than not overlooked. As I've discussed previously I prefer my DT880/336i over a T1/solid-state, okay so I'm coloring the sound but as a result I've yet to hear anything better.

You're likely not going to share the same sound preference as me but I would suggest looking at the rest of your audio lineup rather than just the headphones.

I don't use the Fiio E9 with the SA3000 and haven't tried it. I bet it would be fatiguing. I only got the E9 for the K702 I had once since my Asgard couldn't drive it very well at all. One thing I did notice is that the E9 + E7 made all my headphones much brighter than they should be. I ended up returning the E7. The E10 was also a poor match for my DJ100. People say the Fiio stuff is neutral, but it doesn't seem that way to me. The E9 is pretty close though. Right now I use my E9 as a backup amp when I'm working. It's nice having amps in two rooms.

My Headroom Micro Amp I love to death. This thing makes the SA3000 sounds so good. It adds a little extra warmth to it's sound, but is still fairly neutral. Unlike the E9 is doesn't make them any more fatiguing. It's a perfect amp for my K501 and has driven everything I've thrown at it, even the Sextett. My Asgard couldn't even drive those at all..or very poorly. Always felt the Micro amp was the perfect match for any AKG headphone. IMO the Micro Amp is far better than even my old Asgard. Asgard had problems some hard to drive headphones. Micro Amp drives them with ease despite it's size. Even the DT-770 600 ohm sounds amazing out of it and I don't care if anyone says otherwise.

A couple times I've been tempted to check into the Matrix M-Stage, but the Micro Amp is a perfect match for most of my headphones. I prefer to stick with amps that are made in the USA whenever I can. Schiit Lyr looks interesting. I want to only bother with amps that are very neutral though.

I compared the E7 with the Nuforce Icon Mobile DACs and ended up returning the E7. Nuforce Icon was especially perfect for bass heavy headphones, but I don't like to use it for anything with very forward mids. Seems like the perfect DAC for the D2000, DJ100 and M50. Another DAC is what I'd upgrade first. Probably the Micro DAC. I still prefer CD though and not computer FLAC files.

The SA3000 has pretty much my perfect signature. A little extra bass would be OK, but it's not required. On my list to try is also the DT-48, but it's signature has me worried.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism 

Because it's a Sony and that's not cool bra.  Remove the Sony logo, stick them in a metal presentation box and add a $1,000 to the price and they start to sound an awful lot like Sennheisers HD800.

At the last Dutch Head-Fi meet I had a chance to listen to the R10 and HD800. (You can still find my impressions.) I liked the HD800 but it sounded already very similar to the R10. Later on I bought a CD1700 and since then I could not find a reason to ever buy a HD800. The HD800 is a good headphone, but for the price and given what came before it you are better off with some older headphones.   
 

I'm seriously considering trying a pair of the SA3K, can anybody compare them to the HD598s which I currently own?