As far as the iPod having a "nice DAC," most of what I've read is that the newer the generation, the worse the DAC, and while I'm no golden-eared expert, I can say that the output from my iPod and -Pad through a simple Pure i20 dock/DAC/digital out passthrough device is very noticeably better...

Nevermind. Picked up a FiiO E12. Seems like it fits the bill: Light, simple, rechargeable. Nicely designed and manufactured little amp. Haven't listed yet; I just unboxed it and it's charging. 

Not sure if we're on the same page here, but I'm quite happy where I am right now. There certainly is "bigger, better, and more," and I've heard some of them, but for the money I've spent and the time I have to listen, it's just fine. Plus, being a Sennheiser fan, I'm not in pursuit of a...

I wonder if the better route would be different headphones. High-end Sennheisers are renowned by their fans (and somewhere between misunderstood and reviled by everyone else) for their neutrality, not for a "thick" sound with "bottom slam." It might be a better idea to find a set that has the...

My headphone listening has been solely through i-devices (Classic, Nano, an iPad). I bough a Pure i20, which is an i-device dock that allows you to get the digital out from an iPod/Phone/Pad (30 pin only). The i20 has a much better DAC than any iDevice, so that's a plus. The i20 also has digital...

Just picked up a Schiit Lyr and like it quite a lot a few days in, through HD650s, which are very similar to the '600s overall. Still burning it in but the results have been excellent. The soundstage grew from "headphones" to "music hall" while retaining the neutrality all owners of the...

My experience with the '600s and '650s is that the better the amp you get, the more the soundstage expands, but you're not going to get "more" of anything as far as any particular frequency range. They get more detailed, they get more expansive, to the point you can really get "under" the bass...

Just something simple and lightweight for walking-around use.

Extra-crisp on the high-end with SE535/Lyr combination, as one would expect from brand-new gear. SSsssibilance. The HD-650s benefit tremendously from all the clean power provided by the Lyr. A very balanced and clean sound from top to bottom. Rather than the much-discussed "veil" being lifted...

Succinct Joe: Moar gooder!

Several years ago, I picked up a pair of HD-650s and a Headroom Micro amp. Sounded pretty good. I never got too deep into can listening though, mostly used the setup outside on the deck whilst sipping a cocktail and the like.    Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when a friend won a pair of...

Quote: Originally Posted by jagorev The thing is, in my experience, engineers really aren't using their headphones for judging how their mix sounds. Phones are used for keeping track of where they are during live recording when the mic is on...and that's pretty much it. They use speakers...

Quote: Originally Posted by JaGWiRE . The way they are manufactered is so complex, anything that they did build 60 years ago which wasn't so complex, was still probably too complex for us. We now know the basics of what materials are used, transistors and stuff, but even if we had them...

Quote: Originally Posted by JaGWiRE Well, I don't know much about headphones, but when they do development video cards and so forth, R&D kills them, and most of all, the tools needed to create something like a cpu are unbelievable. They have such complex processes, it really doesn't...

It is absurd to assume that because the 600 and 650 are similar that it did not take massive R&D $$$ and effort to produce the 650. Or that even though the 580 and 600 have the same drivers that the same doesn't hold true for the 600. I work in R&D at a tech company and can tell you first hand...