Richard Aldrich,
Since no one else seems to be responding directly. I'll take the chance. You may be inclined to dismiss my opinion because I'm not an audiophile to the extent you are. That is, I won't tweak as long and aggressively and expensively as you have. I've gone just part way down that path and withdrawn from the brink.
Worse still, at the moment all my input is, by audiophile standards, junk--the premium piece among my sources is an ancient JVC 5-disc CD player. However, I've got quite a headphone amp, the Corda HA-1, and headphones that I believe you must try, Etymotic ER4s's. Cables? Well, I'm a cable skeptic. I use whatever routine stuff there is in a broad gauge and think no more about it. I've got a 10-foot Hama extension between the amp and the headphones, and I don't hear anything change when I plug in directly.
Will Etymotics deceive you for any span of time into thinking that you are listening to a live performance? Maybe. Only maybe. And certainly not for long. They don't do that for me very often, but they do provide an incredibly smooth, balanced, and detailed presentation of the recording with no unpleasant artifacts of their own--except for two really major ones (more later on). The music they deliver beats what came out of the best I have owned (and moderately tweaked) in the past, B&W 801f's powered by a Dynaco solid state amp (model forgotten) (That was my feeble bid for your respect of my opinion.)--and it beats them by quite a margin in all respects except soundstage.
OK. Those defects. First, the soundstage is always very much in your head or just in front of it, impossibly near. The spread left-to-right is very solid and convincing with, if anything, an exaggeratedly specific location for each player. The ambience can be stunning if the venue offers it and the engineers have made some attempt to capture it. One of the most realistic recordings I have ever heard is Bach organ through these little devils. And that sustains the illusory live performance long and well.
Second, the placement of the drivers deep inside your ear canals eliminates any skin contributions to the listening experience. Bass is wonderfully full and musical but without the last realistic touch of rattling you a bit when it gets really loud. As you have said, it is all a matter of discovering the trade-offs you can tolerate. I would much rather hear the bass distinctly and without distortion than have it rattle my chest.
With your perfectionist tendencies, I think you will want to add to the Etys custom molds to guarantee placement with the highest possible degree of consistency. I don't use them because I withdrew from the brink, remember. (Well, also because I don't have a good source for them and because my weight fluctuates, which can upset the fit of them.)
I'm not sure what kind of live music you favor as a reference. Mine is symphonic and chamber music in a couple of excellent local halls. However, I find that the soundstage described as praiseworthy by audiophiles and the soundstage presented by even the most admired recordings is quite a different thing from live, no matter how you take it. I think the recording engineering is almost always trying to punch up the music and give you a closer-than-audience perspective on things in a perhaps misguided attempt to get more attention for the recording, to induce a "Wow!" from the listener. Even binaural recordings that I have tried seem to muddle things in this way.
This makes use of live concert experiences as reference a peculiar kind of endeavor. But all that deserves a thread of its own.
Since no one else seems to be responding directly. I'll take the chance. You may be inclined to dismiss my opinion because I'm not an audiophile to the extent you are. That is, I won't tweak as long and aggressively and expensively as you have. I've gone just part way down that path and withdrawn from the brink.
Worse still, at the moment all my input is, by audiophile standards, junk--the premium piece among my sources is an ancient JVC 5-disc CD player. However, I've got quite a headphone amp, the Corda HA-1, and headphones that I believe you must try, Etymotic ER4s's. Cables? Well, I'm a cable skeptic. I use whatever routine stuff there is in a broad gauge and think no more about it. I've got a 10-foot Hama extension between the amp and the headphones, and I don't hear anything change when I plug in directly.
Will Etymotics deceive you for any span of time into thinking that you are listening to a live performance? Maybe. Only maybe. And certainly not for long. They don't do that for me very often, but they do provide an incredibly smooth, balanced, and detailed presentation of the recording with no unpleasant artifacts of their own--except for two really major ones (more later on). The music they deliver beats what came out of the best I have owned (and moderately tweaked) in the past, B&W 801f's powered by a Dynaco solid state amp (model forgotten) (That was my feeble bid for your respect of my opinion.)--and it beats them by quite a margin in all respects except soundstage.
OK. Those defects. First, the soundstage is always very much in your head or just in front of it, impossibly near. The spread left-to-right is very solid and convincing with, if anything, an exaggeratedly specific location for each player. The ambience can be stunning if the venue offers it and the engineers have made some attempt to capture it. One of the most realistic recordings I have ever heard is Bach organ through these little devils. And that sustains the illusory live performance long and well.
Second, the placement of the drivers deep inside your ear canals eliminates any skin contributions to the listening experience. Bass is wonderfully full and musical but without the last realistic touch of rattling you a bit when it gets really loud. As you have said, it is all a matter of discovering the trade-offs you can tolerate. I would much rather hear the bass distinctly and without distortion than have it rattle my chest.
With your perfectionist tendencies, I think you will want to add to the Etys custom molds to guarantee placement with the highest possible degree of consistency. I don't use them because I withdrew from the brink, remember. (Well, also because I don't have a good source for them and because my weight fluctuates, which can upset the fit of them.)
I'm not sure what kind of live music you favor as a reference. Mine is symphonic and chamber music in a couple of excellent local halls. However, I find that the soundstage described as praiseworthy by audiophiles and the soundstage presented by even the most admired recordings is quite a different thing from live, no matter how you take it. I think the recording engineering is almost always trying to punch up the music and give you a closer-than-audience perspective on things in a perhaps misguided attempt to get more attention for the recording, to induce a "Wow!" from the listener. Even binaural recordings that I have tried seem to muddle things in this way.
This makes use of live concert experiences as reference a peculiar kind of endeavor. But all that deserves a thread of its own.
and could fork out $800!!!!
