[sam1e]

Hi, as you can see from the thread title I am new to Head-fi and to high end headphones generally. I have found myself listening to phones as my main system has been mothballed for a time and the house has become busier so I have looked to find a quite corner to listen to music and have found myself being caught by the headphone bug. I have quite broad tastes in music, classical, blues/jazz, soft rock etc and have put together from used kit a set up comprising Bel Canto DAC v3 taking music from Spotify Premium and lossless files on a NAS drive, linked to a Lehmann Black Cube Linear driving Grado GS1000 phones. As a first system put together via reviews I'm quite pleased with the sound all but the top end which can be overly harsh at times, I read that this can be an issue with these phones but I have nothing else to make a comparison with and I have quickly learnt that phones are no lovers of poor recordings. I have played with changing interconnects and that does make a difference but my opportunity to audition these is quite limited and ultimately the problem persists, latest Tellurium Q Graphite. I have considered changing the Lehmann for a tube based amplifier but have no experience and nowhere to audition any. The other alternative is to recable the Grados, and hope that solves the issue. I have the opportunity to buy a pair of GS1000 fitted with the Black Dragon cable but have no idea what difference that might make. I'm hoping that those with experience with these phones will share their experience with me and hopefully give some useful pointers.

Regards

Sam

 

[bwarfel]

Hi Sam,
 
The GS1000s benefit from a tube amp.  I would recommend that you take a look at this amp and put some stock Tung Sol 6V6.  I have this exact set up and it works well......
 
Take a look at this:
 
http://www.questforsound.com/amps/amps_sq84-V2.htm

 

[sam1e]

Hi bwarfel, thanks for the recommendation. My only experience of tube amps, not headphone amps, has been at friends homes and shows, to me they have suffered from two traits, the first Woolley bass and the second a change in musical character over a period of time when powered up. I recall being very impressed with the walk through transparency and soundstage of a set up at a show, can't remember what the kit was but it was stunning, running electrostatic speakers, went back several hours later and it sounded awful. However I have never forgotten the transparent soundstage, do valve powered headphone amps display the same traits or has technology moved on sufficiently to remove these issues if they exist at all?