[elwappo99]

Quote:

Well as long as it doesn't sound overly bright I'm good. I care a lot about sound stage and clarity when listening to instrumentals. The HD800 is supposed to have the best sound stage of all dynamics but the bass was almost non-existent and the treble gave me headaches when I tried them. That's why I look at the T1 since I heard they are less bright and not as amp dependent.

 
It's a pretty subjective thing to say "overly bright". Can you list off other headphones you have owned/listened to and if you found them to be too bright. 
 
I think the T1s are still what I would consider to be a "bright headphone", but I agree less bright than the HD800. I actually really don't like the HD800 because I think it sounds too much like the old Sony SA5000 which are super clear and detailed, but at the cost of really draining out the bass. 

 

[LinkPro]

Quote:

 
It's a pretty subjective thing to say "overly bright". Can you list off other headphones you have owned/listened to and if you found them to be too bright. 
 
I think the T1s are still what I would consider to be a "bright headphone", but I agree less bright than the HD800. I actually really don't like the HD800 because I think it sounds too much like the old Sony SA5000 which are super clear and detailed, but at the cost of really draining out the bass. 

 
Besides the HD800 which I only tried out for 15 minutes or so, the SR80i and the ATH-W1000X that I owned some time ago are also what I consider bright. Since the 80i all of my headphones have been the ones on the warm/bassy side: DT770/80, D5000/7000, D600, UE900. I have no problems with those, but I'm starting to find them boring and want to look for a different sound.
 
The DT990 Pro that I tried out a month ago seemed bright as well. Also I had the Q701 for 2 weeks or so and found them sibilant but still tolerable in terms of brightness, I had to put them off because the headband was terrible, way before the treble actually caused any pain.

 

[elwappo99]

Quote:

 
Besides the HD800 which I only tried out for 15 minutes or so, the SR80i and the ATH-W1000X that I owned some time ago are also what I consider bright. Since the 80i all of my headphones have been the ones on the warm/bassy side: DT770/80, D5000/7000, D600, UE900. I have no problems with those, but I'm starting to find them boring and want to look for a different sound.
 
The DT990 Pro that I tried out a month ago seemed bright as well. Also I had the Q701 for 2 weeks or so and found them sibilant but still tolerable in terms of brightness, I had to put them off because the headband was terrible, way before the treble actually caused any pain.

 
Unfortunately the HD800, SR80 and ATH-W1000x are all pretty bright headphones. 
 
The Q701 are also a pretty bright headphone, but, I would say they are pretty close to the T1s in terms of brightness, with the T1s maybe being a tad bit brighter. I would be a little concerned with you getting the T1 without an audition first. That's just my 2 cents though. 

 

[LinkPro]

Quote:

 
Unfortunately the HD800, SR80 and ATH-W1000x are all pretty bright headphones. 
 
The Q701 are also a pretty bright headphone, but, I would say they are pretty close to the T1s in terms of brightness, with the T1s maybe being a tad bit brighter. I would be a little concerned with you getting the T1 without an audition first. That's just my 2 cents though. 

 
If the T1 is just a tad bit brighter than the Q701 I may be able to deal with it then. Yes sadly no way to audition since I'll be buying from amazon. The price is still going down as we speak, at sub-1000 I feel like they are worth it enough to give a shot. 

 

[elwappo99]

Quote:

 
If the T1 is just a tad bit brighter than the Q701 I may be able to deal with it then. Yes sadly no way to audition since I'll be buying from amazon. The price is still going down as we speak, at sub-1000 I feel like they are worth it enough to give a shot. 

 
 
The lowest I have ever seen it was around $950. If you're buying from amazon, I wouldn't worry too much, as returns are just too easy

 

[LinkPro]

Yes I remember they came down to 950 during Thanksgiving. I didn't have enough money at that time anyway and a few days later they went back to 1400 and I thought I finally had peace of mind, now they are going down again and this time I do have money...argh this hobby  

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

 
Unfortunately the HD800, SR80 and ATH-W1000x are all pretty bright headphones. 
 
The Q701 are also a pretty bright headphone, but, I would say they are pretty close to the T1s in terms of brightness, with the T1s maybe being a tad bit brighter. I would be a little concerned with you getting the T1 without an audition first. That's just my 2 cents though. 

+1 
 
the 701s are not as bright as the T1. the 701s are bright, but the treble is rarely ever too hot or fatiguing. the T1's will generally be smooth sounding but at louder volumes, especially on poorer recordings, they are very unforgiving and will sound very bright, similarly to the hd 800. they are very revealing

 

[Focker]

I agree with what's been said about the Q701s and the T1s in terms of the top end. The main reason why I sold my Qs, though, was because I thought the treble just sounded off to me, whereas the T1s sounded bright but "correct", if that makes any sense. I definitely agree with DG that poorly recorded tracks may be a bit intolerable. I thought the Qs were comfortable and even though they weren't bottom feeders I did feel the low end was of nice quality, but I didn't consider them to be on par with the T1s in any area. Just my personal opinion, but even at 3x the price I'd go with the T1s every day and twice on Sunday. Also, one of the things I've found really helps tame some of the top end harshness with poor recordings is the incorporation of a tube buffer. I run my DAC into the buffer, and then from there into the Meier Corda Jazz. This has proved to be a really nice signal path in terms of my preferences. 

 

[barid]

Quote:

 
 
The lowest I have ever seen it was around $950. If you're buying from amazon, I wouldn't worry too much, as returns are just too easy

 
 
Yeah i picked up mine for  $930 on amazon almost a year ago.  Worth the price imo.

 

[Denosha]

Quote:

 
 
nice! maybe the soloist is the SS version of the WA2 

 
i still use my PS Audio DL III and though its an old dac, i'm still very happy with it and will probably not buy anything until i have the money to buy a Perfectwave DAC. 

 
I just spent a few hours over the weekend auditioning the T1 (and LCD2 rev1) with the Soloist vs the WA2 and they really sound nothing alike. The WA2 is lush and sexy with an ultra smooth sound signature. Bass is thumping though noticeably slow. The Soloist is fast, detailed and perhaps somewhat bright (my current amps are the Yamamoto HA-02 and Continental V2 so I'm used to somewhat darker presentation). Since most of my music collection is pretty fast (90% metal) and all of my other home amps are tubes, i decided to go with the Soloist. If i listened to mostly slower music, the WA2 would have been the sure win. It just sounds so seductive and fun with the T1s.
 

Posted this in the Soloist thread but didn't get much traction. Maybe this is the place for it....
Hi guys. I currently have the the LCD2 and I'm seriously considering the T1 and soloist. However, I'm hearing that people are also loving the mjolnir with the lcd 2. What would be the better value? Mjolnir and balanced cables for the lcd 2 or having the lcd2 and t1 with the soloist?
Also, will the t1 sound good on the mjolnir if it is recabled as balanced?
I hope im not derailing the thread.

 


I was in a very similar position and recently decided to get the T1 (2nd hand) and the soloist. Right off the bat I can tell you that the LCD2 and T1 sound nothing alike. As for balanced, it's a rather hefty investment since your entire system will need to go balanced. My Soloist is still burning in and perhaps it's my familiarity with the LCD2 but I think the LCD2s sound better on the Soloist than the T1s. But then again it really depends on the type of music you listen to.

 

[punks15]

Quote:

Well as long as it doesn't sound overly bright I'm good. I care a lot about sound stage and clarity when listening to instrumentals. The HD800 is supposed to have the best sound stage of all dynamics but the bass was almost non-existent and the treble gave me headaches when I tried them. That's why I look at the T1 since I heard they are less bright and not as amp dependent.

The clarity is pretty good on T1. Soundstage is also good too, precise. I agree with Dubstep Girl that T1 is generally smooth sounding, but it's very revealing.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

 
I just spent a few hours over the weekend auditioning the T1 (and LCD2 rev1) with the Soloist vs the WA2 and they really sound nothing alike. The WA2 is lush and sexy with an ultra smooth sound signature. Bass is thumping though noticeably slow. The Soloist is fast, detailed and perhaps somewhat bright (my current amps are the Yamamoto HA-02 and Continental V2 so I'm used to somewhat darker presentation). Since most of my music collection is pretty fast (90% metal) and all of my other home amps are tubes, i decided to go with the Soloist. If i listened to mostly slower music, the WA2 would have been the sure win. It just sounds so seductive and fun with the T1s.

 
 
i've been using the WA6-SE for my T1 when i need more energy and dynamics for my music. it also seems to have a slightly more revealing midrange and a wider soundstage than the WA2. but that warm silky smooth sound that WA2 has is the reason i wanted a tube amp! 

 

[Clayton SF]

Quote:

 
Besides the HD800 which I only tried out for 15 minutes or so, the SR80i and the ATH-W1000X that I owned some time ago are also what I consider bright. Since the 80i all of my headphones have been the ones on the warm/bassy side: DT770/80, D5000/7000, D600, UE900. I have no problems with those, but I'm starting to find them boring and want to look for a different sound.
 
The DT990 Pro that I tried out a month ago seemed bright as well. Also I had the Q701 for 2 weeks or so and found them sibilant but still tolerable in terms of brightness, I had to put them off because the headband was terrible, way before the treble actually caused any pain.

If the general consensus is that certain headphones were too bright or too veiled, then one would have to wonder: "What were the headphone engineers thinking?!!!

 

[Lord Soth]

If the general consensus is that certain headphones were too bright or too veiled, then one would have to wonder: "What were the headphone engineers thinking?!!!

The T1 is simply revealing the bright nature of the digital source.

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

[sdmanfar]

After reading pages after pages and thread after thread that had something said about T1 and possible synergetic combinations I'm finally about to pull the trigger on T1 with Woo Audio Wa2 amp + Burson Audio DA-160 DAC. I'm getting the Cambridge Audio 500 series RCA cable as well. I just don't know whether I should get a good quality USB cable running from my laptop to the DAC as well. Any thoughts on stock USB cable (comes with DA-160) vs good quality USB cable?. I'm ready to shell out around $50-70 on it just because I don't want to leave any weak link in my audio chain.
 
I have been saving for a high end Headphone audio setup for months now. It will be a big leap for me since I have been using Audio Technica AD700 with Fiio E7 for almost 2 years now.
 
Addictedtoaudio have the T1 for $1099.00 at the moment and they were generous enough to give me a reasonable group discount on top of it as well (which is well appreciated). Getting myself a Woo audio dual headphone stand as well, it just doesn't feel right without it for some reason .
 
I have the same feeling I had when I got my first Home Theatre setup years ago (Paradigm Reference Studios fronts, center and sub). Can't wait to listen to Pink Floyd's Dark side of the Moon album on the T1. 
 
T1 had been on my radar for months and I just want to get the best out of them so I'm really hoping the above setup will bring exactly that. Just one more public holiday to go.