[blomquist]

Hi, I haven't posted here for a while. Nevertheless I've quite a bit of Headphone history

I'll just post a my own ranking of some Headphones that I've aquired over the years (you guess - I'm Austrian..)

AKG K207
- Sadly, not made in Austria
-had one of the drivers failing
+got free replacement from thomman.de (after 2 years of owning it)
- needs a capable drive/amplification
+most comfortable to wear HP over all, you can wear them for 6h+ without sweating significantly, extremely comfortably earpad pressure, small weighted, headband adjustment, headband quality
+ you get tons of high-quality cables relatively cheap now (Mini-XLR, and no...I do not rate cables by their "sound")
+most balanced sounding, they offer everything:very "fine" and extended Bass/Low Midrange with a great sounding "Punch". Highs are almost up to T50RP




T50RP with damping/epoxy mods (one of my latest purchases)
-included cables and way of connection
-lacking bass extension and to some part the "Punch"
-mounting - cheap construction, changes over wearing-time
- needs a capable drive/amplification
+ I'like planars and AMTs, use them for my speakers as well - it's a special "Airy" sound, "quick"
+ best midrange and treble
+-only really comfortable after fitting them some nice Sure earpads.
+I like Fostex, very solid performing products over all, good speaker drivers, good quality overall, non-fancy stuff


AKG K400
- IMHO lacking detail in Bass/Treble
- needs a capable drive/amplification
+Meadrange is almost on par with K702
+2nd most comfortable HP

Mi Pro HD (2+1 Hybrid)
-sounds like a multi-way system, sound "picture" is distorted/seperated
-fatiguing
+ isolating earphone
+-phones can drive them easily (with higher distortion)
+ "Punchy"/intoxicating sound - IMHO like beeing in a good club



AKG K271MKII with epoxy and driver-port mods
-very uncomfortable - sweating, earpad pressure, have a lift-up tension - they are too small, and are "pushing" to keep isolation high
-smearing highs, lacking detail and space/soundstage
+-made in Austria, but overall build quality could be much better
+ the biggest "Basshead" I've ever listened to, extremely low extension, "punchy" Mid-Bass, fast attack (after mod)

...... I've owned quite an amount of Mid-Level gear, like Superlux's ,Philips', Sennheisers - I have no particular memory of them, some times their sound was ackward but mostly just the build quality was bad (otherise I'd still own them)

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I drive all of them with the following sources and amplifications:
PC, i5-4560 / Win10

USB Interface
original Amanero Combo384
Chi-Fi CM6631A
Chi-Fi Xmos U208

DAC
TDA1541 DAC
* latest EC-DESIGN DEM circuitry (50HzDEM)
* active I/V and line driver: LT1028 (870R FB)
* 4µV noise LDOs overall

Chi-Fi ES9018K2M board
* single supply, 12V infeed 4µV noise LDO followed by AM1117 LDO (ferrite beads, Kemet A750 C's)
* pseudo-grounded LM49860 amp/filter/line driver with Wima MKP02 caps

various TPA6120 designs
* balanced gain=1 and unbalanced Gain=2
*+-8V unregulated with 12000µF Pana FCs
*+-15V 4µV noise LDO regulation followed by RC-filter 1R, 4000µF (Kemet A750 polymer)