[Digital-Pride]

Uh oh, Upstateguy's here.  Quick, everyone hide your silver and copper cables!

 

[cheapskateaudio]

 
Quote:

Audio DiffMaker or it's hot air.

Read it and weep:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/578171/cables-measuring-the-differences#post_7860800

 

[skeptic]

Interesting read cheapskate - even if you are overstating your case just a wee bit in my estimation.
 
I nonetheless look forward to following your measurement thread - and very much hope to see more samples and more details about your method (as I understand you weren't actually able to reproduce the same results you got the first time around?).  
 
 

 

[skeptic]

As for all the "price gouging" rage - Hennyo I understand your frustration, but I think your analysis is way off.  Higher prices are fueling the demand for some of these phones that would otherwise be lumped in as mid-tier and promptly ignored by much of the audio community.  
 
Costly phones that are judged in the court of public opinion as performing under their price point (i.e. the PS1000's) take a serious beating when priced at $1.5k.  But I guarantee you there is going to be no shortage of willing buyers for the LCD-3's, given the rave RMAF reviews, despite their $2k price tag.  Similarly, Stax maintains a fervant customer base despite the extremely high cost of their flagship headphones and amps.    
 
With respect to the HD800's, their novel ring drivers provide a level of detail that is unmatched by any dynamic headphone - and their overall design results in a sound stage that is far better than any other headphone period (in my opinion).  Do I wish you could still buy them new on Amazon for $1,200?  Absolutely.  But there is a good used market, and I don't think the pricing warrants the sort of criticism you are heaping on them.  Just my 2 cents.

 

[Austin Morrow]

Just a few more impressions from me personally. Before writing my final review of the Continental & CLAS tomorrow and returning them to ALO Audio, I decided to try the combo out with my iPod through some AIFF & ALAC files on the HD650. Needless to say that I was blown away. I didn't know that the HD650's were actually this good, they scale up really well on higher end amps and sources, even if they are portable/transportable. The Continental added a new level of airiness, treble extension, and low end surge that I haven't heard on the HD650. Every phase of the frequency was token up a notch. As for the CLAS, it added a lot more width and depth, coupled with more resolution and instrument separation. I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was it because of this over $1000 combo? Yep, the HD650 scales up a lot, and while it's not enough to sound like an LCD-2 or a HD-800, I honestly think that the HD650 can now be considered a top tiered headphone, at least to my ears for that matter. What do you think on the whole scaling up factor of the HD650? Does anyone else use these with high end amps and DAC's?
 
I'm hoping to get a Bifrost soon and ca't wait to see what it adds overall to the presentation of the Sennheiser HD650.

 

[Hennyo]

Quote:

Just a few more impressions from me personally. Before writing my final review of the Continental & CLAS tomorrow and returning them to ALO Audio, I decided to try the combo out with my iPod through some AIFF & ALAC files on the HD650. Needless to say that I was blown away. I didn't know that the HD650's were actually this good, they scale up really well on higher end amps and sources, even if they are portable/transportable. The Continental added a new level of airiness, treble extension, and low end surge that I haven't heard on the HD650. Every phase of the frequency was token up a notch. As for the CLAS, it added a lot more width and depth, coupled with more resolution and instrument separation. I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was it because of this over $1000 combo? Yep, the HD650 scales up a lot, and while it's not enough to sound like an LCD-2 or a HD-800, I honestly think that the HD650 can now be considered a top tiered headphone, at least to my ears for that matter. What do you think on the whole scaling up factor of the HD650? Does anyone else use these with high end amps and DAC's?
 
I'm hoping to get a Bifrost soon and ca't wait to see what it adds overall to the presentation of the Sennheiser HD650.

Well, I did hear it on a few different high end amps... certain amps took it too the next level, yes. Still not quite as nice as other headphones on the same setups, but it was impressively close.
 
 

 

[metalsonata]

I listen to the HD 650 on my Phonitor, and wow, it makes me happy. I've never heard a higher-tier headphone above the HD650 or the AKG K701, but I have a hard time believing that it could get too much better than how both currently sound on my setup. Still, I'm really itching to get a meatier DAC to replace my Headroom Micro DAC, and I've been debating over my next high-end headphone purchase for months now. 
 
Quote:

Just a few more impressions from me personally. Before writing my final review of the Continental & CLAS tomorrow and returning them to ALO Audio, I decided to try the combo out with my iPod through some AIFF & ALAC files on the HD650. Needless to say that I was blown away. I didn't know that the HD650's were actually this good, they scale up really well on higher end amps and sources, even if they are portable/transportable. The Continental added a new level of airiness, treble extension, and low end surge that I haven't heard on the HD650. Every phase of the frequency was token up a notch. As for the CLAS, it added a lot more width and depth, coupled with more resolution and instrument separation. I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was it because of this over $1000 combo? Yep, the HD650 scales up a lot, and while it's not enough to sound like an LCD-2 or a HD-800, I honestly think that the HD650 can now be considered a top tiered headphone, at least to my ears for that matter. What do you think on the whole scaling up factor of the HD650? Does anyone else use these with high end amps and DAC's?
 
I'm hoping to get a Bifrost soon and ca't wait to see what it adds overall to the presentation of the Sennheiser HD650.

 

 

[jtaylor991]

X2 on the DAC. I just ran across some money and I NEED a new DAC. I think it could be the thing that will bring out the detail in my 650s since I'm currently using a portable amp as a DAC (iBasso D4 Mamba). I was looking at the Yulong D100. Any other suggestions?

 

[Wapiti]

Quote:

I just ran across some money and I NEED a new DAC.

 

 

[cheapskateaudio]

 
Quote:

X2 on the DAC. I just ran across some money and I NEED a new DAC. I think it could be the thing that will bring out the detail in my 650s since I'm currently using a portable amp as a DAC (iBasso D4 Mamba). I was looking at the Yulong D100. Any other suggestions?

I need a DAC too. I'm trying to verify that the HRT Music Streamer 2 is really as good as people say it is. I've seen a few negative reviews strewn about here and there. A lot of people claimed the uDac 2 was great, turned out it was a dud when feeding a very transparent amplifier. 
 

 

[jtaylor991]

I've read good things about the II and II+
One website review said that the II+ was a big step forward and somewhere on here someone said that it wasn't much of an improvement, and not worth the price (I remember reading this at least).
 
Good luck!
 
Quote:

 

I need a DAC too. I'm trying to verify that the HRT Music Streamer 2 is really as good as people say it is. I've seen a few negative reviews strewn about here and there. A lot of people claimed the uDac 2 was great, turned out it was a dud when feeding a very transparent amplifier. 
 

 

 

[Wapiti]

Quote:

I was looking at the Yulong D100. Any other suggestions?

In the same price range:
 
Musical Fidelity V-DAC, MK II
Cambridge Audio DacMagic
Peachtree Audio DAC*iT
 

 

[jtaylor991]

Thanks! I'll look at these!
 
Quote:

In the same price range:
 
Musical Fidelity V-DAC, MK II
Cambridge Audio DacMagic
Peachtree Audio DAC*iT
 

 

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Uh oh, Upstateguy's here.  Quick, everyone hide your silver and copper cables!

 
Uh oh, Digital-Pride's here, break out the cool aid ! 

 
 


Quote:

Read it and weep:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/578171/cables-measuring-the-differences#post_7860800

 
It's more like read it and laugh.  You proved nothing, there were too many variables,  it was a very flawed test and you were not able to reproduce your results. 
 
Then of course, was the resistance, inductance and capacitance of each of the two cables used for comparison, measured to make sure they were the same?  No.  Why?  Because you didn't think of it......?  No that's not the reason, the reason is:
 
"...because I can't listen to a scope??  .......correlating readouts on a scope to sound quality?? I don't see what the point would be" 
 
"The arguments using a scope would be that it's far more sensitive than my ear is, the "objective" crowd has an excuse for everything you know? "
 
What kind of silver wire did you use?  Was it an industry standardized wire or did you get it from online jewelry supply store?  And you knew it was 99.9% pure because... someone on the internet said so?  Do you know anything about the wire besides that it was silver colored?
 
Btw, where were you when Nick_Charles was running his quite scientific cable tests?
 

 

[cheapskateaudio]

 
 
Quote:

 
Uh oh, Digital-Pride's here, break out the cool aid ! 

 
 
 
It's more like read it and laugh.  You proved nothing, there were too many variables,  it was a very flawed test and you were not able to reproduce your results. 
 
Then of course, was the resistance, inductance and capacitance of each of the two cables used for comparison, measured to make sure they were the same?  No.  Why?  Because you didn't think of it......?  No that's not the reason, the reason is:
 
"...because I can't listen to a scope??  .......correlating readouts on a scope to sound quality?? I don't see what the point would be" 
 
"The arguments using a scope would be that it's far more sensitive than my ear is, the "objective" crowd has an excuse for everything you know? "
 
What kind of silver wire did you use?  Was it an industry standardized wire or did you get it from online jewelry supply store?  And you knew it was 99.9% pure because... someone on the internet said so?  Do you know anything about the wire besides that it was silver colored?
 
Btw, where were you when Nick_Charles was running his quite scientific cable tests?
 

The bottom line is that upgrading my cable from the stock cable, results in measurable changes in the sound the headphones produce. That was the core of the initial argument the first time I said "I hear a difference". If you still deny that different sound came from using different cables after looking at my controlled test, you're demanding more than is reasonable from an internet forum on headphones... 
 
I also clearly explained why I wasn't able to reproduce my results exactly after moving the mic... 
 
Were you subconsciously ignoring the facts to suit your point of view?