[up late]

You can try and use this as a place to encourage you not to upgrade☺After all you have a fostex TH900 and a K3003 both should give you a reasonable stereo image inside and out

not coming here would be more effective i think

 

[Takeanidea]

I agree with you 100%

 

[Zoom25]

HD800 is the first headphone that has quenched my upgradititis to this degree.

 

[knowhatimean]

Boy, that's a tough question !
 
I guess it comes down to at what point your pure enjoyment of the music you're listening to says to your "Audiophile" nature "What I'm listening to right now is as good sounding as I'm likely to get for what I'm reasonably willing to spend to get this sound ! ". That's of course if you pay attention to your "reasonable" side (Guys with families are better at this than single guys; They have to be !) I didn't answer the question did I ?
 
I may have found my 'end game' headphones in the Sennheiser HD 800, so that's a start. I'm a single "Audiophile" with a pretty decent system that thinks I may reach a 'semi' end game setup at some point. There's a serious roadblock to reaching that for the fact there is simply too much recorded music where a "good enough"production attitude was taken that can be "fixed" but it's up to the listener to "fix it"
 
It's just not in my nature to take a good enough music listening attitude ! (I'd have more money in my pockets, but it doesn't always take money, just persistence)

 

[screwdriver]

Hifiman he6 and first watt F1J , I'm very content right now. It is better than the ones I owned before namely senn hd800 and audeze LCD 3 and lcdX with the alo studio six and Decware preamp.

 

[Hirsch]

End game setup snuck up on me.  Basically, it was a realization that almost anyone who isn't an audiophile recognizes instantly:  It's not about the gear, it's about the music.  At bedtime, I often put on headphones and pick up a book. However, if I'm actually able to read the book, then the audio system isn't the end game.  Music, properly reproduced, has the power to grab and hold my attention until it is done.  It makes doing other tasks impossible while playing. I'm not listening for extended frequency response or ultimate detail, and in fact would have great difficulty in using audiophile language to describe music when I'm absorbed by it.  Much easier to think in terms of the emotional impact and what the artist was accomplishing. R10 and SDS customized specifically for that headphone (and pretty much no other one) is what works for me.  No changes to that system in many years now. For me, the long-term ability to suck me into the music defined the end game.  HE90 rig is a nice change-up, but R10 is go to headphone when I don't want to be bothered by the gear and just want to listen to music.

 

[Takeanidea]

Good few entries coming in this week , keep them coming , if you could try to explain to us what the phones you have now bring that your previous headphones were lacking that would be of interest to lots of us I'm sure

 

[Zoom25]

Good few entries coming in this week , keep them coming , if you could try to explain to us what the phones you have now bring that your previous headphones were lacking that would be of interest to lots of us I'm sure

 
Since we're talking end-game here, everything has to be perfect, at least subjectively.
 
D2000 - Excellent comfort and soundstage. Not the most transparent and not fast as planars or top dynamics. Mids weren't the best for music, although exceptional for gaming and movies.
 
HE-500 - not enough soundstage depth, also a bit fuzzy in the centerstage (ill defined)
 
HE-6 - Amping requirements means you're stuck to a speaker amp on a desk. There are decent headphone amps, but I much preferred speaker amps driving HE-6. Also, comfort. 
 
LCD-2.2 Classic - No real complaints here besides the weight. It's a laid back headphone, but it does that job perfectly. It doesn't sound artificial while being laid back. It's not trying to do something that it can't do, which makes it my absolute favourite headphone under $1k
 
LCD-3 Classic - Didn't have LCD-2's slam. Seemed a bit softer. Didn't like it's voicing as much as LCD-2, even though LCD-3 was technically better in all sound aspects. Also, more pickier with amp synergy.
 
Winner - HD800 - The most real-life sounding headphone of the bunch and a speaker like kick. The least artificial sounding headphone I've tried yet. No need to adjust to a characteristic FR tilt that almost all headphones come with. Best resolution, imaging, soundstage, mids, ambience, bass resolution and impact (LCD-2 would tie the HD800 here for me. LCD-3 would come beneath that for me). I've also found this to amp well with most of my lighter gear and so can move my rig around with lot of ease. It's really good for music, but it's the undisputed king for gaming. For movies, it ties with D2000. Also, beats the other top phones in comfort.
 
I'm pretty much done with headphones for the time being. Stax might be something I consider in the future, but one also has to take into account amping. So it's almost building a system again. Now I use speakers 80% of the time, and HD800 fills in the rest of the time (mostly at night).

 

[Earspeakers]

Stax - any kind with any amp. 

 

[Takeanidea]

 
Since we're talking end-game here, everything has to be perfect, at least subjectively.
 
D2000 - Excellent comfort and soundstage. Not the most transparent and not fast as planars or top dynamics. Mids weren't the best for music, although exceptional for gaming and movies.
 
HE-500 - not enough soundstage depth, also a bit fuzzy in the centerstage (ill defined)
 
HE-6 - Amping requirements means you're stuck to a speaker amp on a desk. There are decent headphone amps, but I much preferred speaker amps driving HE-6. Also, comfort. 
 
LCD-2.2 Classic - No real complaints here besides the weight. It's a laid back headphone, but it does that job perfectly. It doesn't sound artificial while being laid back. It's not trying to do something that it can't do, which makes it my absolute favourite headphone under $1k
 
LCD-3 Classic - Didn't have LCD-2's slam. Seemed a bit softer. Didn't like it's voicing as much as LCD-2, even though LCD-3 was technically better in all sound aspects. Also, more pickier with amp synergy.
 
Winner - HD800 - The most real-life sounding headphone of the bunch and a speaker like kick. The least artificial sounding headphone I've tried yet. No need to adjust to a characteristic FR tilt that almost all headphones come with. Best resolution, imaging, soundstage, mids, ambience, bass resolution and impact (LCD-2 would tie the HD800 here for me. LCD-3 would come beneath that for me). I've also found this to amp well with most of my lighter gear and so can move my rig around with lot of ease. It's really good for music, but it's the undisputed king for gaming. For movies, it ties with D2000. Also, beats the other top phones in comfort.
 
I'm pretty much done with headphones for the time being. Stax might be something I consider in the future, but one also has to take into account amping. So it's almost building a system again. Now I use speakers 80% of the time, and HD800 fills in the rest of the time (mostly at night).

 


That sort of explanation is exactly what I'm looking for . thanks very much. It's a shame you are 80% speaker orientated now because you've clealry had a long expensive journey with headphones
Trev

 

[Takeanidea]

Stax - any kind with any amp. 

 



I really need to know more about the avatar Mr.Earspeakers. Do you own a Jecklin Float? Are they not an endgame, even compared to the Stax?
If you have owned the Floats please could you give us all your thoughts on the characteristics of their sound if you can spare a few minutes

 

[Earspeakers]

Do you own a Jecklin Float? 

 
Nope

 

[Zoom25]

That sort of explanation is exactly what I'm looking for . thanks very much. It's a shame you are 80% speaker orientated now because you've clealry had a long expensive journey with headphones
Trev

 
Yeah, I much prefer speakers. It's not all about sound quality and frequency response. I now care more about the overall experience and the content that I am consuming. Speakers just fulfill this job better for me. On the flip side, whenever I DO end up using headphones, I do it on my own terms - I'm not being forced to use headphones for any particular reason (such as having to worry about using headphones late at night or only having high end audio available through headphones). This flexibility actually makes my headphone experience far better because it changes the expectations I have going in when using headphones. Having decent audio only available through headphones IMO (for me at least) results in very high and unattainable expectations. You'll want your headphones to do everything perfectly for all content, mood, experiences etc - in which it will most definitely fail.
 
Now having the option of different headphones and speakers for different application and content, I expect far less out of each equipment overall. I'm not saying that this is the reason that  my headphones or other gear sound better than they actually are. It just takes that edge off. As a result, I enjoy all my gear far more.
 
Didn't mean to get theoretical, but still felt like sharing the reasoning behind my end game philosophy. Going back to the thread, end game for me is when you truly become immersed in the content for it's art value and creativity, rather than it's sound performance. I've noticed that as the system increases in performance and technicality, the less and less I start caring about jitter this, bass response that, or soundstage what??? The speaker and headphone just disappear...which is actually how I was before I cared about sound quality. There and back again.
 
Also, no need to worry about me not using headphones.

 The HD 800 are getting more dominant each day in gaming use. For gaming, only HD 800 gets exclusive rights.

 

 

[Sorrodje]

@zoom25 : great approach. Thks for those explanations.

 

[Earspeakers]

Originally Posted by Zoom25 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Yeah, I much prefer speakers. It's not all about sound quality and frequency response. I now care more about the overall experience and the content that I am consuming. Speakers just fulfill this job better for me.

 
Exact opposite for me. I tried speakers for years (horns, planers etc etc) but gave up because I couldn't get a satisfying experience. I liked headphones but it wasn't real enough until I tried Stax. 
 
Sound stage/presentation doesn't bother me at all, I'm a musician so am used to being in the group, not in the audience. So headphones, and wickedly transparent ones like Stax are heaven for me. Sounds like being a musician.