[KaiSc]

I agree, that is a critical ability for systems used to play classical. I don't know the Ananda, so can't comment there. I agree dynamics are a strength of Hedd. But also a strength of HEKse. And if the 'quiet' content is high pitched, I would place HEKse well ahead of Hedd

Hard to compare HEDDphone and Hifiman HE-1000:
They live on exact opposing poles in the treble balance.
HE-1000 bright and clear, HEDDphone soft and treble-recessed.

This difference dominates every comparison.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Hard to compare HEDDphone and Hifiman HE-1000:
They live on exact opposing poles in the treble balance.
HE-1000 bright and clear, HEDDphone soft and treble-recessed.

This difference dominates every comparison.

Yes, I may have drawn 'outside the lines' with that post. I was trying to talk specifically about preferences for classical music -- didn't mean to be making a generalized comparison.

 

[KaiSc]

Yes, I may have drawn 'outside the lines' with that post. I was trying to talk specifically about preferences for classical music -- didn't mean to be making a generalized comparison.

I do own the Hifiman HE-1000 and had owned the HEDDphone over some time.
My musical taste is widespread, Classical and Acoustic Jazz have a significant part of my listening time.

For Classical and other naturally recorded styles the HE-1000 is the superior ‘phone.

Overly hyped or badly mastered music can be made bearable by HEDDphone, at the price of coloration.

BTW:
HEDDphone and Hifiman HE-1000 are equally loud on the same amp, only that HE-1000 is brighter and has wider bass-extension.

 

[realmassy]

^ good point about level matching. I'll do some 'scientific' listenings, at least trying to match the volume on Ananda and HEDD, during the weekend. For what it's worth I usually listen at around 70db, using pink noise as reference. What do you guys use to level match?
One more thing I've noticed the sound on the HEDD changes A LOT by adjusting the headband: with my small head, shorter is better, but the clamp force is obviously greater.

 

[skor]

I’ve read a few threads about Burson and iFi amps/sources and I guess I’ll pick one of those if I feel the RME won’t have enough headroom. I’m still a bit confused by the Burson offer, 4 versions of the Conductor plus the Soloist/Composer combo.
Edit: in the meanwhile I've received the HEDDphones...not bad at all

I am currently evaluating the Burson Conductor 3XP with the HEDD Heddphones and it's a good pairing, plenty of power in reserve to drive them. If you're looking for an AIO at a reasonable price, it's a good match. HFN did a review on the Burson and briefly discusses how it pairs with the HEDD's on p. 4 HFN Burson 3XP Review, which I agree with.

 

[KaiSc]

^ good point about level matching. I'll do some 'scientific' listenings, at least trying to match the volume on Ananda and HEDD, during the weekend. For what it's worth I usually listen at around 70db, using pink noise as reference. What do you guys use to level match?

Level matching by technical signals makes sense when sound differences are minor.
Pink Noise, or A-Weighted Pink Noise (which has the lower frequencies reduced) works well.

For pairings like Ananda/HEDDphone or others with very different sound, matching levels by ear with the music used for listening makes more sense.
Technical matching might still give a good starting point though...


Anyway, in this pairing sound differences are very obvious, although things like detail, transparency, definition and soundstage are largely overshaded by spectral difference.

One more thing I've noticed the sound on the HEDD changes A LOT by adjusting the headband: with my small head, shorter is better, but the clamp force is obviously greater.

The sound variation between different head positions up/down - front/back are quite strong with the HEDDphone.

Opposed to that the Hifiman HE-1000’s sound is remarkable consistent between different on-head positions.
I don’t know, but Ananda might share this, as it’s based on similar construction and dimensions.

 

[talan7]

I do own the Hifiman HE-1000 and had owned the HEDDphone over some time.
My musical taste is widespread, Classical and Acoustic Jazz have a significant part of my listening time.

For Classical and other naturally recorded styles the HE-1000 is the superior ‘phone.

Overly hyped or badly mastered music can be made bearable by HEDDphone, at the price of coloration.

BTW:
HEDDphone and Hifiman HE-1000 are equally loud on the same amp, only that HE-1000 is brighter and has wider bass-extension.

Sounds like the Arya compared to the Heddphone. I get much more brightness and deeper bass with the Arya. The Arya’s bass is focused more on the subass and stands out (is more separated) from everything else so you get that contrast which is dramatic. But, I think the Heddphone’s bass is better integrated with the music. The Arya seems to be chopping up the music so you hear the parts very well. The Heddphone is more musical to me. The Arya scales better, and with some eq in the midbass and lower mids to warm things up, and meld things a bit, becomes sublime. Still, I think they’re about equal overall.

 

[realmassy]

I think I got my mind around the HEDDphone, after a few hours of listening during the weekend: as a reference I’m using the RME ADI-2 as source and amp, in high power mode.
I wrote some notes, mainly a comparison with the Hifiman Ananda, I need to polish them off and then I’ll post them.
In the meanwhile I’ve requested the demo of a couple of amps: the Burson Conductor 3 Reference should be with me on Tuesday and the Chord Hugo 2 on Thursday.
I also looked for a iFi iDSD but for now got no reply yet by the retailers or IFi itself.
The same Chord retailer has also offered the TT2, but I hope won’t need that

 

[mendye770]

In got a lot of various Sennheiser headphones, from very early times until contemporary.

What’s, in your opinion the best headphone to get for the 1900 dollars or less?
Btw , what’s your opinion on the focal clears?
How are they in general and specifically timbre?

 

[KaiSc]

What’s, in your opinion the best headphone to get for the 1900 dollars or less?
Btw , what’s your opinion on the focal clears?
How are they in general and specifically timbre?

The best headphones in this price range are the STAX SR-L700.
Soundwise it’s head to head with the SR-009, but it’s bit warmer and more fun tuning makes it even preferable quite often for me.

The SR-L700 needs a dedicated STAX amplifier (“Driver”), but is easy to drive out of the Stax bunch, no need for something fancy.
I get very good results i.e. from a SRM-1 MK2 Pro.
I would not suggest a tube Driver for the SR-L700.
Very comfortable and light to wear even for longer periods of time.


FOCAL CLEAR:
I have the Focal Clears and quite like them.
They are pleasant to listen to and comfortable to wear.
Their sound is like Sennheiser HD-650 on steroids.
Neutral, clear (sic!), transparent, neutral bass and treble with good extension.
Slightly emphasized upper mid range which brings vocals a bit to the foreground, but not annoyingly so.

For its price it could have a bit more “sparkle” in some way.


Here are frequency response measurements of STAX SR-L700, Focal Clear and the HD 6XX (=HD-650) as reference.

 

[realmassy]

The best headphones in this price range is the STAX SR-L700.

OT, but the Stax thread is huge: I've been out of the STAX game for a while, but used to own a 009 until a few years ago, what is a good amp for the SR-L700?

 

[KaiSc]

OT, but the Stax thread is huge: I've been out of the STAX game for a while, but used to own a 009 until a few years ago, what is a good amp for the SR-L700?

The STAX SR-L700 has modest amp requirements, any mid range transistorized STAX Driver will do.
Even driven by the lesser, very entry-level STAX amps (which sound a bit soft in comparison) the SR-L700 blows most other, even much more expensive headphones out of the water.

Compared to what the headphone does the amp has very minor influence on the total result.

 

[mendye770]

The best headphones in this price range are the STAX SR-L700.
Soundwise it’s head to head with the SR-009, but it’s bit warmer and more fun tuning makes it even preferable quite often for me.

The SR-L700 needs a dedicated STAX amplifier (“Driver”), but is easy to drive out of the Stax bunch, no need for something fancy.
I get very good results i.e. from a SRM-1 MK2 Pro.
I would not suggest a tube Driver for the SR-L700.
Very comfortable and light to wear even for longer periods of time.


FOCAL CLEAR:
I have the Focal Clears and quite like them.
They are pleasant to listen to and comfortable to wear.
Their sound is like Sennheiser HD-650 on steroids.
Neutral, clear (sic!), transparent, neutral bass and treble with good extension.
Slightly emphasized upper mid range which brings vocals a bit to the foreground, but not annoyingly so.

For its price it could have a bit more “sparkle” in some way.


Here are frequency response measurements of STAX SR-L700, Focal Clear and the HD 6XX (=HD-650) as reference.

Thanks for the info!
I remember reading about the stax being good only for classical music. Is that true?
Also, how’s the soundstage of the clears?

 

[mendye770]

Thanks for the info!
I remember reading about the stax being good only for classical music. Is that true?
Also, how’s the soundstage of the clears?

Now I recall, the review that I read was regarding the sl 300 and sl 500.
The guy was saying that they lack in bass extension and in general, quality and quantity of bass wasn’t good.
does that sound similar to the sl 700 or the 700 is better and more TOTL?

 

[realmassy]

HEDD listening impressions and comparison with the Ananda
There are many reviews of the HEDDphone in this thread, so probably I’m not going to add anything new, but I’d like to share my thoughts with the community.
It’s not an actual review, I can’t write them and I don’t have enough experience and gear to form an absolute opinion, but it’s a set of listening impressions, going back and forward between the HEDDphone and the Ananda, my other headphones.

My setup is pretty simple, MacBook running Media Centre, connected to a RME ADI-2; the HEDDphone are driven from the 6.35 socket in High Power Mode, the Ananda from the IEM socket. Volumes were matched using pink noise, at 70db.
I only listen to classical music, in fact 90% of my listenings are Chamber and remaining 10% are Solo and Orchestral.
Also, I can’t describe audio in terms of bass, midrange and highs, I can only describe how instruments sound like, at least compared to my live experience of concert-goer. And I can't tell about width, height and depth of stage, imaging and all that. I admire people that can discern that, I can't.

The two headphones are very different: immediately with the HEDD instruments appear to be bigger, massive, compared to the Hifiman. The Germans produce a sound that is like a painting with saturated colours, very vivid, but not glossy.
The Chinese are very polite, modest almost, strokes are just outlined.
Instruments lines are perfectly highlighted on the HEDD,not just by placing them in a different position on stage, but by ‘marking’ the timbre differences heavily.
With the HEDD I get the feeling of being on stage with the players, with the Ananda is more like watching a concert in an auditorium. The HEDD presentation feels somewhat unnatural (I’m not used to seat on stage!) but very engaging.

The HEDD also make background details more evident, I’d say maybe too evident. Things like breathing or players turning the music score have almost the same weight as the music.

The piano benefits a lot from this type of presentation, it’s really much richer and deeper than I’m used with the Ananda. Cello strings are tighter and the bow is ‘louder’ on them too. But the Ananda is so gracious in present the music, simple and non fatiguing. Your brain is not overwhelmed by the recorded information.
On small combos, like trios or duos, the HEDD is more capable to create dynamic contrast between the instruments, and as a listener I like that a lot. But it doesn’t work that well with bigger ensembles: listen to one of the latest Beethoven quartet (in my case it was the 12th played by the Takacs Quartet) and the music is almost torn apart. Shostakovich Concerto for Piano and Trumpet (Boris Giltburg conducted by Vasily Petrenko) sounded completely off too. In that regard the Ananda is more musical...whatever it means.

A couple of recordings have left me speechless: the first is a set of of chamber works by Toru Takemitsu (a, nearly, contemporary Japanese composer). The flute on ‘Toward the Sea’ has given me goosebumps, the realism is incredible. This music with the Ananda is cute borderline boring, too soft and lacking vibration. In the same tracks the guitar is a bite mute, lacking the plucking of the strings.



The second recording was a Piano quintet by Korngold, which was quite bright on the Ananda but acceptable on the HEDD, as the tonal balance is somehow shifted. The strings in the first movement are playing these long, rich, dense late romantic harmonies: add the sweetness of the Ananda on top and it’s just too much for my taste. The HEDD uses his ability to dissect the instruments to create a less homogeneous sound, which is more engaging. By the way the Adagio of the second movement is of a striking beauty.


^ this is not my recording, but it should give you an idea of what I mean.

The effect is the same on harmonically complex music, like Elliott Carter second string quartet (played by the Pacifica Quartet): the 4 way conversation is so well defined...I can almost pretend I understand what is going on.



I have struggled to use the HEDD for more than one hour without taking a break: the weight is not a problem, but I’m getting a burning spot on the top of the head. Also, the HEDD wants the listener to pay attention and stay focused, pestering almost with details and nuances never heard.
On the other hand I could wear the Ananda for a day and use it for background music without any problem.