Latest Thread Images

Headphones for metal music - ultimate solution
Apr 13, 2015 at 1:01 PM Post #946 of 12,280
markm1 said:
  That's totally fair. With some of the future HE-600 market potentially going to the 1000, this may be a great time go get a HE-600 particularly if they discontinue the 600.
 
Also, going to the meet reminds me how the Headfi demographic tends to be very young and/or engineer/IT personality types.  I'm a lot less detailed oriented -more of a big picture/broad bush, liberal arts, right brain guy.
 
And, I'd like one ring to rule them all so to speak across genres with maybe 30% non metal listening. Way off topic, but for jazz I think the 560 would be really good.
 
 I'm sure the HE-600 is fantastic. I just find the overall presentation of the 560 to be very compelling, detailed and neutral. I listened to a couple of "bass" tracks-FKA twiggs which is not metal. I thought the 560 presented it competently but didn't give the same weight as the Audeze line or Dharma. I would guess the HE-600 would have more bass impact. But that would be more of an issue (for my listening) to pop/electronic and hip hop which is a very miniscule portion of my listening.
Click to expand...

 
There's an HE-600?
blink.gif

 
*looks on Google*
 
Oh, you just meant the HE-6. XD
 
Apr 13, 2015 at 1:27 PM Post #947 of 12,280
music alchemist said:
   
There's an HE-600?
blink.gif

 
*looks on Google*
 
Oh, you just meant the HE-6. XD
Click to expand...


Yes, I should edit my post-HE-6.
 
I should also say, I got a chance to listen to the EL 8 and I wasn't crazy about them. Pretty sparkly in treble I thought from a brief listen. Quite the un Audeze I thought
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 1:16 PM Post #948 of 12,280
markm1 said:
 
Yes, I should edit my post-HE-6.
 
I should also say, I got a chance to listen to the EL 8 and I wasn't crazy about them. Pretty sparkly in treble I thought from a brief listen. Quite the un Audeze I thought
Click to expand...

 
how was the bass?
 
a grado-like sparkly treble with classic planar bass sounds like the headphone for me!
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 2:19 PM Post #949 of 12,280
ferday said:
   
how was the bass?
 
a grado-like sparkly treble with classic planar bass sounds like the headphone for me!
Click to expand...

 
Man, I need to give another listen. My analysis isn't really fair in that I was focused on other set ups and give it a quickie. I remember thinking they were very sparkly and w/ my RS1i's felt like, I don't really need more of that.
 
I'll have to revisit . I  just remember being somewhat underwhelmed and moving right into the HE560 owned by the same guy. The bass didn't make an impression. They didn't have that full, lush Audeze sound. But I gave it a cursory listen and  the bass might be perfectly fine had I picked my own music. I didn't pick the track. There were two headphones into the same source, so I was listening to whatever this other dude was listening to-and he was listening to some kind of electronic pop I was unfamiliar with.
 
There were some folks that really liked them. So take my comments with a grain of salt. I think I was expecting an inexpensive LCD-X in a mobile can with less, didn't get it and moved on. Kid in a candy shop syndrome. And, I was really waiting for the Dharma.
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 2:31 PM Post #950 of 12,280
music alchemist said:
Here you go! :evil:

But really, a list of artists alone isn't quite enough. Many songs/albums are much better than others, after all, so I'll just give ya some test tracks to look up.

Abigor: Weeping Midwintertears, The Legacy, Project: Shadow
Agalloch: Our Fortress Is Burning... II - Bloodbirds
Agathodaimon: Cellos For The Insatiable
Ajattara: Hurmasta (Thrill)
Alas: Absolute Purity
Amon Amarth: Sorrow Throughout The Nine Worlds, Death In Fire, Runes To My Memory
Anorexia Nervosa: Stabat Mater Dolorosa, Sister September [Director's Cut mix]
Antaeus: Inner War, De Principii Evangelikum, Rot [Blood Libels version]
Arch Enemy: Burning Angel
Arcturus: Kinetic
At The Gates: Blinded By Fear
Behemoth: Sculpting The Throne Ov Seth
Children Of Bodom: Mask Of Sanity
Cradle Of Filth: Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids
Dark Tranquillity: Punish My Heaven, The Wonders At Your Feet, Monochromatic Stains, The New Build, The Lesser Faith, Dream Oblivion, The Silence In Between
Darkthrone: Transilvanian Hunger, Det Svartner Nå (It Darkens Now)
DHG (Dødheimsgard): Traces Of Reality
Dimension F3H: Final Solution
Dimension Zero: Your Darkest Hour
Dimmu Borgir: Blessings Upon The Throne Of Tyranny, Devil's Path [2000 version]
Disarmonia Mundi: Nihilistic Overdrive
Dissection: Where Dead Angels Lie, Starless Aeon
Dominion III: A Dead Heart In A Dead World
Dragonlord: Unholyvoid
Drudkh: Furrows Of Gods
Emperor: Into The Infinity Of Thoughts
Erra: Seven
Esoteric: Abandonment
Evergrey: Mark Of The Triangle
Fear Factory: Powershifter
Heaven Shall Burn: Counterweight
Ill Niño: What Comes Around [Day Of The Dead mix]
Immolation: Furthest From The Truth
In Flames: Dead Eternity, Episode 666, Embody The Invisible, Bullet Ride, Minus, My Sweet Shadow, Leeches, Sleepless Again, Fear Is The Weakness
Kalmah: Bitter Metallic Side
Kroda: Cry To Me, River... (Betrayal Of Knjaz Volodymir)
Lacuna Coil: Daylight Dancer
Lamb Of God: Letter To The Unborn
Lengsel: Coat Of Arms
Leviathan: What Fresh Hell, Unfailing Fall Into Naught, Odious Convulsions (They Are Not Worthy Of His Name)
Limbonic Art: Dynasty Of Death
Living Sacrifice: Conditional, Killers
Meshuggah: Sane
Moonspell: Nocturna, Upon The Blood Of Men, First Light
Naglfar: I Am Vengeance, Odium Generis Humani
Nevermore: The River Dragon Has Come
Nightrage: Omen
Old Man's Child: Hominis Nocturna, The Underworld Domains, The Plague Of Sorrow
Opeth: The Grand Conjuration
P.O.D.: Southtown
Papa Roach: Broken Home
Passenger: In Reverse
Rob Zombie: Superbeast
Rotting Christ: Aeternatus, Thy Wings Thy Horns Thy Sin, Rege Diabolicus
Samael: Eternal, Moongate, Black Hole
Satyricon: The Dawn Of A New Age, Tied In Bronze Chains, Fuel For Hatred
Shining: Låt Oss Ta Allt Från Varandra (Let Us Take Everything From Each Other)
Silencer: Taklamakan
Slayer: Disciple
Slipknot: Surfacing, The Heretic Anthem
Soilwork: As We Speak, Cranking The Sirens, Stabbing The Drama, Spectrum Of Eternity
Summoning: Lugburz, Nightshade Forests, Long Lost To Where No Pathway Goes, South Away, Across The Streaming Tide
Susperia: Devil May Care
Today Is The Day: In The Eyes Of God
Tristania: Crushed Dreams, Libre, Exile
Underoath: Never Meant To Break Your Heart
Vital Remains: Dechristianize
Xasthur: The Prison Of Mirrors
Zao: Autopsy, 5 Year Winter, Physician Heal Thyself
Zyklon: Hammer Revelation

Thanks for testing all those for us! :D

lol. But to anyone reading this who is seriously willing to test these tracks with various headphones, especially high-end ones: the thread salutes you!
Click to expand...


Great list of tunes dude, with some bands I've never heard of before. Will try my best to have a listen.
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 8:56 PM Post #951 of 12,280
Hi everyone,
 
I'm late to the party but want to say thanks for this awesome thread.
Very informative!
 
I'm looking to buy a new pair of headphone.
My budget is 400$ Canadian, so 300$ US + shipping.
I'll drive these with a Cambridge Audio Minx XI. I need closed headphone and I'll used them at home only...
 
Now, if I'm here, I'm obviously a metalhead :)
 
My range of genre:
 
- Hard rock/metal (like motorhead)
- Heavy / power (gamma ray, iron maiden, Tarot, etc)
- Folk (Ensiferum, TYR, Finntroll)
- Death / Grind / Pagan (Wolfchant, Cryptopsy, Bolt Thrower, Light this city, Exumed, etc)
- Additionally : some Punk, Hardcore and jrock
 
Now my initial list was : Dt-770, Soundmagix hp-150 and more recently the MrSpeakers Mad Dog.
 
There is not a lot of place here where I could go and try headphone.
Most of the place have Beats (no thanks!) and a couple of models. So I'm kind of trying to guess using your reviews and opinions...
 
What do you think ?
 
 
Thanks!
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 9:09 PM Post #953 of 12,280
I've heard the Mad Dogs and I think their a quality HP-I won't speak to metal as I only heard a demo at an audio fest for a few minutes -but definitely relative to price performance ratio and at in your price range- a nice can.
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 9:30 PM Post #955 of 12,280
shaika-dzari said:
money4me247 said:
 
Dt-770 and MrSpeakers Mad Dog are non portable. Soundmagix hp-150 is more portable. heard great things about all your options.
Click to expand...


Hi money4me247,

No need to be portable. I have a small pair of Sennheiser for that :)
Click to expand...


Do you know what the headphone output power is on that Cambridge unit? Couldn't find it. MadDogs take a little more power than usual to drive... Not sure if that will be an issue. If you can find it, we can probably tell you...
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 9:38 PM Post #956 of 12,280
hansotek said:
Do you know what the headphone output power is on that Cambridge unit? Couldn't find it. MadDogs take a little more power than usual to drive... Not sure if that will be an issue. If you can find it, we can probably tell you...
Click to expand...


Hi Hansotek,
 
I should have plenty. I wrote to cambridge audio and they told me that :
The output impedance of the headphone output is 430 ohms.
This should provide the ability to drive 250 ohm or 600 ohm headphones.
Click to expand...

 
Thanks
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 10:07 PM Post #957 of 12,280
I have heard people say the mad dogs are a bit slower and so don't work so well with faster metal. I have never heard them though so take that with a grain of salt. I like my dt770s with metal, but they do have a treble spike that can get fatiguing.
 
Apr 14, 2015 at 10:40 PM Post #958 of 12,280
shaika-dzari said:
hansotek said:
Do you know what the headphone output power is on that Cambridge unit? Couldn't find it. MadDogs take a little more power than usual to drive... Not sure if that will be an issue. If you can find it, we can probably tell you...
Click to expand...



Hi Hansotek,

I should have plenty. I wrote to cambridge audio and they told me that :
The output impedance of the headphone output is 430 ohms.

This should provide the ability to drive 250 ohm or 600 ohm headphones.
Click to expand...


Thanks
Click to expand...


430 ohms? Really? If that's true, that amp won't work with orthos like the MadDog. Impedance limits current and orthos need current to function properly. Also, the negative damping factor will turn the entire low end into a garbled mess. So you'd probably want to get one of the rare 600 ohm DT770s if you're married to that amp and choosing from the options you listed...

Are you sure about that output impedance? That really sounds quite iffy to me. It would really limit your options. It would also be helpful if you could provide a second power factor, like voltage + output impedance or output impedance + watts into any headphone ohm rating... That would be enough to calculate baseline compatibility with most headphones.
 
Apr 15, 2015 at 5:57 AM Post #959 of 12,280
hansotek said:
430 ohms? Really? If that's true, that amp won't work with orthos like the MadDog. Impedance limits current and orthos need current to function properly. Also, the negative damping factor will turn the entire low end into a garbled mess. So you'd probably want to get one of the rare 600 ohm DT770s if you're married to that amp and choosing from the options you listed...

Are you sure about that output impedance? That really sounds quite iffy to me. It would really limit your options. It would also be helpful if you could provide a second power factor, like voltage + output impedance or output impedance + watts into any headphone ohm rating... That would be enough to calculate baseline compatibility with most headphones.
Click to expand...

 
The current issue may definitely be an issue with planars, but the damping factor shouldn't be an issue with a planar - pure resistive load, the output impedance doesn't matter at all to planars except where it impacts current delivery. Right?
 
At 430ohms it won't work even with 600ohm dynamic headphones, which will definitely have a wonky frequency response there.
 
Apr 15, 2015 at 7:50 AM Post #960 of 12,280
shaika-dzari said:
  Hi Hansotek,
 
I should have plenty. I wrote to cambridge audio and they told me that :
 
Thanks
Click to expand...

hansotek said:
430 ohms? Really? If that's true, that amp won't work with orthos like the MadDog. Impedance limits current and orthos need current to function properly. Also, the negative damping factor will turn the entire low end into a garbled mess. So you'd probably want to get one of the rare 600 ohm DT770s if you're married to that amp and choosing from the options you listed...

Are you sure about that output impedance? That really sounds quite iffy to me. It would really limit your options. It would also be helpful if you could provide a second power factor, like voltage + output impedance or output impedance + watts into any headphone ohm rating... That would be enough to calculate baseline compatibility with most headphones.
Click to expand...

nztechfreak said:
  The current issue may definitely be an issue with planars, but the damping factor shouldn't be an issue with a planar - pure resistive load, the output impedance doesn't matter at all to planars except where it impacts current delivery. Right?
 
At 430ohms it won't work even with 600ohm dynamic headphones, which will definitely have a wonky frequency response there.
Click to expand...

 
lol. Sounds like a major email typo to me. Most amps have an output impedance well under 1 ohm. Perhaps they meant 430 mW without specifying the input impedance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 7 (members: 1, guests: 6)
Back
Top