Hi folks, I'm steeling myself to get flamed into oblivion here, but just had to post. The headline is that I'm shocked to say that the Skullcandy Grind Wireless have an even-ness of tone nearly on par with the venerable HD600. No, this is not a troll-post, I'm serious. I was looking for a...

Thanks so much for the guide @yay101! I'd assumed that setting Pulseaudio autospawn to no (last step in your guide) would disable it entirely, however (on my setup at least), it simply prevents it spawning on KDE Plasma startup and hogging all the soundcards; it still wakes up whenever an app...

Equalizers can be used to a certain degree, however (surprising at it may seem at first blush) their effect is less subtle than the physical mod. Also the mod is more about controlling resonance than changing frequency response; the latter is a desired side effect of the former.

  Yeah that is interesting! Just goes to show how the frequency response of ears varies from one person to another I reckon.     My theory on this is that the more present treble of the LCD-X obscures the mids beneath - that the mids are actually measurably equivalent between the two but...

  This is (for the moment) a pure engineering demo - Audeze have not committed to turning it into a sale product. It is the Head-Fi community that has named it the 'LCD-Z' because it is an LCD-X (I believe?) that has been tweaked to have a very high impedance to suit a different range of amps...

LOL - unfortunately that's totally normal!!   It has been my biggest disappointment in this hobby that I cannot find the one, true, perfect headphone for my tastes   Right now I have an LCD-X, but for the first time I think I'm about to buy a new headphone (probably an HD600), not sell the...

  Well as this thread says, both 'phones require mods to sort out their failings, though the HE-560 is the more livable of the two if unmodded.     IMO without resorting to DSP 'surround sound' solutions no headphone can come close to the HD800 soundstage.     You will find the same...

I didn't try them out for gaming, no, but given the must-have-struck-a-deal-with-the-devil-to-get-it soundstage possessed by the HD800 I would have said it'd be your best bet (assuming you apply the Anaxilus mod, without which most find the HD800's treble just too aggressive).

Hi folks,   Before you say it, yes I know these two don't compete on price. I'm posting just to add data points for others considering either of these two amps since I've just upgraded from one to the other.   I've owned a Matrix m-stage for nearly two years now, paired initially with an...

First genuine review here:   http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0315/Audeze_EL_8__Headphone_Review.htm   However it looks like this thread has become the de facto EL-8 thread (it is where the author of the article I link (Mike Mercer) made his announcement!):  ...

LFF? SAA? You're speaking in tongues there JohnJen 

Interesting! If it wasn't for that treble hardness I'd probably be running HE-560s now instead of an LCD-3. I'll be looking out for your results 

Oh and a genuine LOL at the Cypher screen-grab!   "Hmmm, now is this treble sweetly shaped or artificially rolled-off?"

Thanks for the props Dopaminer    The irony is that I ended up selling my HD800 (and HD650) and bought an LCD-3F    It's still not my perfect headphone; it's main crime is that it's treble, whilst always sweet, is focussed at the high end and is not integrated across the frequency spectrum...

  This ^   Today I've spent 4 hours comparing my HD650 & HD800 against the LCD-3 and in the end I've had to admit that as stunning, revealing, analytical as the HD800 is, it's just too much of a good thing, at least for me. I'm Cypher; happier living inside the LCD-3's Matrix than in the...

  It's a lot easier than you might fear. First thing is to pop off the back frame. I start near the angled piece that covers the area where the sockets are on the frame; just pull this directly away from where your head would be if you were wearing them. Once that's off, you'll see how the...

  Mine is 24XXX, and does have a small 6-7K hump. I don't particularly buy the whole 'old ones trebly, new ones smooth' thing. Sure there'll be tweaks and improvements during any product's lifetime but not significant enough to make such differences I don't think. In any case mine are...

  Thanks for the tip!!

  Hi Sorrodje,   So you own what my research says is _the_ midrange HD800 combination - the Metrum Octave and DNA Sonnett. Tell me, what are your impressions of the mids from the HD800 with this combination compared to other DAC/amp combos? Are the mids noticeably more forward than with...

  Thanks for the suggestion. In my case (with Anaxilus 2.0 mod in place) it'd instead be a case of trimming the mids up somewhat; I'll experiment with this for kicks.   The drawback is that I just hate using EQ to correct a hardware problem, and I'd have to either change my transport since...

  Yeah the HD800 are a conundrum for sure. On the one hand they're amazing, on the other they can give you the cold shoulder. Kind of like dating a supermodel    As for the whole amp/DAC thing, I'm getting great advice and am going to at least try out the 'phone on a >$1000 valve amp before I...

I haven't tried any AKGs - many thanks for the suggestions!

  Purrin you're a god-damned star! To the point, no-bull advice of the sort that's so hard to find. Thank you so much! 

  Thanks James, I'll certainly try that. I worry though that it won't be more trebly enough - that it'll be too similar and that there's a better (likely more recent/more expensive) solution. Anyone else have any suggestions for alternate 'phone or whether I can 'fix' the HD800 missing midrange...

I follow this thread daily with great interest; I'm picking up all kinds of useful tidbits about how to improve my HD800 experience, so thanks to all who are contributing!   Five months ago I began my search for "an HD650 with more treble". Having listened to many 'phones and simply not found...