Hmm, I will bringing a Sennheiser Amperior to the meet as well, seeing no one else is bringing one.

When I had both Amperior and HD25, I always preferred the sound of Amperior, amped or un-amped. The most noticeable part was Amperior had more controlled and better bass impact. Especially in busy music passages with bass, the extra control of Amperior made the passage not as muddy as HD25...

Quote: I went to the Apple store specifically to get the Amperior, but to my surprise, they displayed a good 20-30 different headphones, except the Amperior. The employee had no clue about the headphone until I ask them to check the back, and he was able to dig up a pair for me. While he...

Quote: Ah, thanks for the clarification on the chipsets; very informative. Amperior is another minor revision of Sennheiser's HD25-1 II, with aluminum cup and some minor color changes. Oh, the impedance goes from 70 ohms to 18 ohms to better serve mobile players.

Quote: Got the new driver, but didn't notice any sound improvement. Oh well, looks like I have to buy a DAC and see if I can tell the difference. Schiit Bitfrost is a bit over my budget, but I guess that's the cost of buying American made goods. Any other well known brand that has US...

I personally use a HD25-1 II, and it isolates sound quite well. I don't think you'll be bothering others too much on the bus when you turn up the volume, although I don't recommend turn it to the max because it can get very loud for on-ear use. If the volume is the max, it will leak a little bit...

Quote: Ah, I did not realize the sound card is actually a half decent one.   I'll look into the SMAL SD-1955, but I can't seem to find much info on this particular DAC on Head Fi. Any other suggestions that ships from USA?

So I currently have a E9 amp sitting next to my computer, powering both my trusty HD580 and HD25-1 II, with desktop computer. The computer has a decent sound card (HT Omega Stryker 7.1), but obviously its no Xonar.   Now here's my dilemma: should I pair my E9 with cheap but excellent E10...

Good luck! I've always wanted to try the Grados, as people always claim they are the polar opposites of Sennheiser, but never really had the chance to. Maybe in the future I'll buy the 325i just for fun

Quote: Well, I have the HD580 for the full sized home listening (which still trumps Amperior in the sound quality department, with an amp). So, the real issue is whether Amperior is worth $150 more than HD25-1 II. I think I'll decide after I give Amperior some burn-in time; if the sound...

I just got the Amperior yesterday, and I must say I'm impressed by these little headphones...very good sound in general, but probably not enough sound quality upgrade over HD-25-1 II to warrant the extra $150. However, the little improvements do add up quite well. The aluminum definitely...

I like the HD598's looks, very elegant.

Count me in too! Still new to the audiophile world, but I'll be bringing HD580 and HD25-1 II with me.

My worst purchase is definitely the Shure E210...sure it's not full sized, but before that purchase I always had hopes for decent IEM sound. Nope, did not like it at all... For full sized cans, I regret slightly about HD595, because with even a low end amp, my old HD580 sounds better.

Just bought HD25-1 2 days ago, and I'm very impressed by the headphones on majority of the music I listen to. However, when the music involves quick sections of high treble and bass, it feels really muddy/muffled. Will that improve over time or my ears are just spoiled by HD580?