[joejr]

Hello I'am new to the Headphone/Amp gear.
I'am considering Buying the Berning Microzotl and would like advice on what Headphones work well with this amp.
I prefer a liquid and smooth sound.
What headset do you Recommend?
This will be Strictly Home use.
Thank You in Advance for your time.

 

[Sean H]

EDIT

 

[daycart1]

The Zotl will do a good job with any headphone!

It even gets nice low volume sound from the K1000 for my ears. A super-expert like Hirsch will tell you optimizing it for different cans requires tube rolling, but that is for just the last few percentage points of goodness!

 

[gsferrari]

The Joseph Grado HP-1 !!!! Smashing!! Also the R-10!!!

 

[Sean H]

Quote:

Originally posted by gsferrari The Joseph Grado HP-1 !!!! Smashing!! Also the R-10!!!

Whadda ya tryi'n to bankrupt him already!

Besides, he said smooth and liquid. Ouch! Ok, sorry. Better have a good source for cans like those, too!

 

[Swampwalker]

daycart1- your ears must be burned out way more than mine, cause I can get pretty good volume and nice detail w/K1000s and my micro. HD-600s are smoother and more liquid, but at some considerable loss of detail. I have also used my micro to drive small speakers in my office and Stax Lambda Pros via an SRD7 adapter. Its a great, versitile little amp.

 

[Wmcmanus]

joejr, welcome to head-fi and sorry about your wallet!

My HD650's are on order, so it's nice to see that others have enjoyed this combo. I'm looking forward to that! I'd also say the HD600's do well with the ZOTL as does the Beyerdynamics DT880 and the Audio Technica W100 or W1000. I'm giving examples of pretty good headphones that are in the $200-$400 range new. This is what I'd be looking for as far a mating with an amp in the ZOTL's price range. Yes, it does wonders with the Grado HP-2's (or HP-1's I'd think since they are very similar) but these are not in current production and quite expensive in the used market - about $1,000, more or less, when you can find them. The R-10's are another story - they sound great with anything - but it may be a bit soon to be thinking about them!

I agree that the ZOTL does well with nearly all cans. To clarify a point made by daycart1, the ZOTL can drive the K-1000's to low volumes quite nicely, but it's definitely not the best amp for the K-1000's (or, said conversely, the K-1000's don't mate well with the ZOTL's in terms of satisfying all of your listening needs. Good for low volume and vocals music - think James Taylor).

 

[joejr]

First and foremost thank you all for taking your time to answer and providing me with such valuable information.
How do the Grados RS-1 compare to the Sennheiser 650?

 

[markl]

IMO, one is better off finding a headphone you like first, then choosing an amp to best serve that headphone. There is more variety and larger differences between headphones than there are amps, much harder to find a pair of cans you like than an amp.

To your original question, I liked the Sony CD3000 with the ZOTL. I felt the Senn HD600 was too laid back and not engaging enough with the ZOTL (although I'm not the world's biggest HD600 fan to begin with), which is an extremely well-behaved (if a tad dry) piece of audio gear.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Come to think of it, I had forgotten about the CD3000 with the ZOTL. I've just done some listening with that combo and quite like the PRaT it provides. I then dropped in the HD600/Cardas, and agree with Markl, nothing magical going on there. A bit too laid back for my tastes, so I'd like to respectfully retract my earlier recommendation for the HD600's (to me, they need a slightly more aggressive amp). They work fine with the ZOTL, it's just that there is nothing special about this combo to my ears now that I've given it another try.

Keep in mind, however, I find myself agreeing with Markl almost all the time, so I suspect we have the same listening preferences (and we both have the bad habit of listening at loud volumes).