I think I will keep the HD 800S, after playing with the ADI-2 more and looking up some EQ information I find I can get them to a tonal balance I'm very happy with. That said, I am considering a second pair of headphones. Anything in particular I should look at as something of a counterpoint to...

I'll have to play with them more and see. I'm also playing with them with headphone virtualization software. I bought Waves Nx way back when and tried it with the Denon AH-D2000 headphones I had (still have actually) but it didn't give great results. The HD 800s give much better results so...

Well I decided to go for the RME/Sennheiser combo I was thinking of. The RME is amazing, extremely well designed. I think they set a standard here that DACs should be compared to in terms of features. Given that its measurements are more or less at the limits of human hearing, I think it is a...

My top candidate for DAC currently is the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. It measures exceptionally well in all respects, both DAC and headphone component, I am a huge fan of RME and their engineering, it has ASIO drivers which I would make use of, and the DSP features like crossfeed and PEQ would potentially...

After many years of using a nice high end surround setup, the time has come I need to go back to headphones for various reasons. So I'm looking for something that is nice and high end, very neutral, but above all comfortable. I have a big head and wear glasses, so I can't have something that...

I've got some on the way (for a price reference J&R sold them for $250 on 03/01/2012, have to call them to get that price) and I think I'd like an amp for them.   Only thing is I really don't want to spend a ton on it unless you can give me a real, real good reason. I have trouble with the...

There is no bass boost on my PPA, th necessary circuitry isn't even installed. However, I am now staring to wonder if the problem is, in fact, the ear inserts. Playing around the first octave of bass seems high sensitive to head position, because it affects the seal on the plugs. I'm suspending...

  Quote:   The E7 I haven't played with anything else yet. The SE420s sound great on my PPA, and fine on my Denon 3808CI. I mean I guess they are ok on the E7 too, just not as good as they should be. They have good bass on the PPA, on the E7 they sound too much like the laptop's...

No, sorry, nowhere near you. I do travel up to the frozen nation of Canada to visit my folks, but they are west coast, Vancouver area, so not really any closer than when I'm home.

I'm using it as the DAC. Volume is not at all a problem, I have it set at 12 (of 100) and that is plenty loud. These are low impedance, high efficiency phones, they need little power. They just seem to need some heavy, fast, current to hit the real low notes, or perhaps better control of the...

Quote: Sorry, but this is as high end as I'm willing to spend. Headphones are not my primary listening mode, and even when using headphones, IEMs are not my primary units. These are plenty high end for travel phones.   Also, as I said, with a PPA their bass is great, so clearly an amp...

Here's the situation: I got some Shure SE420 headphones. I was displeased with them, thinking about returning them, because of their anemic bass. Then I thought "Well let's try the PPA." Yep, that straightened them right up. They sound fantastic hooked to it. However, my PPA has two problems...

To understand this review, first we need to start with my situation/requirements. I decided to get some IEMs for nice, portable, listening. In particular, I decided to get Shure SE420s. The SE series seem to get good ratings and Amazon was selling the 420s for just $160.   Well when I got...

So I just got a new set of Shure SE420s. Amazon is selling the ones with white accents for $160 right now. Not a bad price for those it seems. Their purpose is to travel with my laptop.   Well I wasn't that impressed. The fidelity was good, but the bass was rather anemic. Now I have high...

Specifically, this is as opposed to the ATH-A700. I've got the A700s for work and just love them. Their sound is quite good but the thing that really sells it is the comfort. Only sealed headphones I've ever used that are comfortable for long term use over my glasses. However, as a surprise...