Thanks again for all your input. You’ve all been so helpful.
Over the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to listen to various headphone setups and wanted to share my experiences with you. I’ll also go into what items I’ve decided to purchase and the thought process behind them. There’s a tl;dr section at the very end for those of you who just want a brief summary.
Sennheiser HD 800, Beyerdynamic T1, Audeze LCD2 and AKG K 701
Connected to Violectric V200, V181, V100
I decided to go to the Lake People’s (Violectric) headquarters in Konstanz. Everybody there was extremely nice and helpful. They really took their time to explain their philosophy to me and answer whatever questions I had. Seeing where they actually produce and test the amps was pretty cool as well. They had all kinds of headphones to try out with their amps, but I only tried out the four listed above. The source was a Pioneer CD player used as transport and connected to the V800 DAC. To sum things up, I wasn’t really convinced by the V200. The fundamental problem for me was that it was both too bright but also too warm depending on the headphone used. The vocals and detail on the HD 800 were great but the sound was too bright and had little weight to it. The first movement of Beethoven’s 5th, e.g., had little impact. Conversely, the LCD2 made a very cohesive impression with good weight and impact but there simply wasn’t enough treble. The T1 was somewhere between the LCD2 and HD 800, having no clear drawbacks but it also didn’t really shine in the ways that the other two did with their respective strengths. I only listened to the 701 for a short time because I found it to be clearly the weakest of the four. Concerning the differences between the various Violectric amps, I found the V200 to be far better than the V181 and V100 in basically every respect. The V181 was slightly better than the V100.
So what was I to do? I liked both the HD 800 and the LCD2 but found them to be too far on each side of the spectrum. I figured it would probably be a good idea to try the LCD2 with a more neutral sounding SS amp and the HD 800 with a warmer sounding tube amp to bring both of them closer towards neutrality.
Audeze LCD2 and LCD3
Connected to Lehmann Linear
I had the opportunity to demo this setup for a whole week at my house. Simply put, the LCD3 blew me away. It has to be one of the best sounding headphones on the market today. It is mind-bogglingly good. What I like most about the LCD3 is how natural it sounds. It comes extremely close to the sound that I hear in concert halls and opera houses. It combines the detail of the HD 800 with the lushness of the LCD2, producing a beautiful, musical and natural sound; simply amazing. The LCD2 also performed very well, the Linear was a better match with the LCD2 than the V200, but in my mind the LCD3 is leagues above the LCD2. A common figure that is thrown around is that the LCD3 is only 20-30% better than the LCD2. I couldn’t disagree more with that statement. To me, the LCD3 is easily twice as good as the LCD2 and is absolutely worth paying double for. Concerning the pairing of the Linear with the LCD3, I think there are better matches to be found. Don’t get me wrong, it was very good, but the Linear made the LCD3 sound just a touch too bright. I would suggest pairing it with a slightly warmer SS amp (innerfidelity.com seems to swear by the Burson Soloist) or a neutral-to-slightly-warm sounding tube amp.
Comfort
Given what I’ve said about the LCD3, shouldn’t I be purchasing it? The major problem I have with both the LCD2 and LCD3 is that they are way too large and heavy. I always lie down on my sofa when I’m listening to music. The Audeze headphones are so large that I can no longer turn my head to the left or right when I’m lying down, regardless of how far forward I move them on my head; listening to them feels like I’m wearing a neck brace. I experienced this problem even though I have a rather firm pillow, which my head doesn’t sink into (with a softer pillow the problem is only worse). The weight of the Audezes is also a problem; they are so heavy that I couldn’t listen to them sitting up for any extended period of time. Initially, I had thought that the weight of the cans at least shouldn’t matter when lying down, since most of the weight is passed on to the pillow, but in reality, I could still feel how heavy the headphones were. Apart from size and weight, I also wouldn’t say that the Audezes are particularly comfortable (the LCD3 has much softer padding than the LCD2, which makes it better). I probably should mention here that I have a medical condition that affects my neck, so I’m certainly more sensitive to these types of issues than others, but I still think that the Audezes are a big problem for people who want to listen to music lying down. If the weight doesn’t bother you, and you listen to music sitting up, then all of this is obviously a non-issue.
Alternatives? (Revisiting Grado RS1 connected to Lehmann Linear and Cayin HA-1A)
Having demoed the Audezes at my house, I was made aware of the need to find a high end headphone that is both light and has a much smaller profile. This basically meant that the Hifiman He-500 and He-6 were out as well as the Stax SR 007 Mk2; the HD 800, even though they are light, are probably also out due to their size, but I’d like to try them out once more before totally removing them from consideration. My experience with the Audezes led me back to trying out the RS1 again; they are very small and light after all. Contrary to the experience during my first audition, I was able to get them into a position that was fairly comfortable (not great, but not bad either). I listened to them again on the Lehmann Linear and the Cayin HA-1A tube amp. This time around, I also noticed that the Cayin’s Ohm setting was incorrect; changing it significantly improved the sound of the amp (playing around with ultralinear and triode mode also helped). In the end, I actually preferred the Cayin over the Linear for the RS1, but I didn’t really like the RS1’s non-neutral tonality. The RS1’s tonality problem led me to seriously consider the Alessandro MS-Pro, which according to most is a far more neutral version of the RS1. The other cans I’m still seriously considering are the Beyerdynamic T1; they’re only a few millimeters larger than the HD 600, which I already own and work for me. IEMs would of course be another option, but I think I first really want to try getting over- or on-ear headphones to work before I go down the IEM route. I’d greatly appreciate any other suggestions you might have.
Amps & Tonality
One key thing that I noticed when listening to headphones, as opposed to loudspeakers, is that I’m far more bothered by brightness. To me, bright headphones just don’t sound natural, whereas I don’t really mind bright loudspeakers all that much. As a result, I quickly concluded that I should get a tube amp, especially considering that the MS Pro and T1 aren’t particularly warm. I did enjoy the Cayin HA-1A the second time I heard it, but it is only rated to 300 Ohms, so it wouldn’t power the T1. Everyone seems to love the Woo Audio WA2/T1 combo, but the WA2 doesn’t seem to work quite as well with MS Pro. In the end, I decided to go with the WA6SE. Would I probably prefer the warmth of the WA2? Yes, but the WA6SE gives me great flexibility, which in my circumstance seems to be critical. Once I receive the WA6SE and my new Naim Dac (see below), I’ll audition the headphones I mentioned above as well as whatever other ones I can come up with on my new system. Basically, I’ve decided to build my system from the bottom up. By doing this I can then focus on nothing but the headphones themselves and don’t have to worry about all the interdependencies and synergies going on in my hi-fi system.
Source
When I first heard the LCD3/Linear combo at the hi-fi store I wasn’t too impressed. The source was a Rowen tuned NAD CD player (565Bee I believe). There was a clear lack of musicality and a lack of body and weight. It just didn’t sound right. I decided to take them home anyway (in addition to the LCD2, which sounded much better on that CD player) and try them with my Densen B-410 CD player. WOW! What a difference. All the problems that I had in the store were gone. I then compared my Densen with my Oppo 95 using the LCD3. That comparison really highlighted the problems of the Oppo’s internal DAC (sabre 32bit) for me, being too bright and overly analytical. The differences between these three players were far larger than the differences between, e.g., the Lehmann Linear SS amp and the Cayin HA-1A tube amp. I didn’t expect such large differences between sources that are somewhat similar in price. I had been thinking about getting an external DAC for some time anyway, so I decided to go ahead with that now. After auditioning a bunch of DACs, one emerged as the clear winner for me: the Naim Dac. The Naim, with my Oppo as the transport, through my Verity loudspeakers is just awesome. The soundstage is huge without losing any body or weight and details are massively improved; it just forms such a beautifully lyrical and cohesive sonic picture. I couldn’t really ask for anything else. I guess I’m primarily getting the Naim as an upgrade for my loudspeaker system, but I’m certainly also planning on using it with the WA6SE.
Inferior Quality Recordings
Interestingly enough the problem I was initially most concerned about is a total non-issue. On no headphone system that I tested was the inferior quality of my old recordings, performances from the 50s by Callas, Bjorling, etc., a problem. Sure, with some headphones or amps, e.g., the HD 800, I noticed the problems more, but even there I was still able to enjoy the performances without getting distracted by the recording quality. I could imagine that if you paired the HD 800 with a neutral-to-bright SS amp it could become an issue, but that setup wouldn’t sound good even for well-recorded music. As long as a system isn’t ridiculously bright, I think you’re fine.
tl;dr
I have not yet been able to find the ideal headphone/amp combo. During my auditioning process, I was reminded how interdependent hi-fi systems are, so I’ve decided to remove some of the variables from the picture by building my system from the bottom-up. I’ve ordered Naim’s external DAC (my Oppo 95 will serve as the transport) as well as the Woo Audio WA6SE. Once I receive these two items, I’ll do another round of auditioning, but this time I can focus on nothing but the headphones themselves. I’ve come to see that I need headphones that not only sound great but are also fairly light and most importantly significantly smaller than the LCD2/3. The Alessandro MS Pro and Beyerdynamic T1 (T1s are right on the edge in terms of size and weight), as well as the HD 600 that I already own, seem to fit the bill. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I’ll let you know how things turn out. Thanks again for all your help.
Best,
Joel
