The sound stage is unmatched. A lot of headphones does left to right sound stage well, but HD800 is one of the few with 3D like presentation.

Yeah I use HD800 with mine. You either used to treble or you're not. IMO you really need to mod the HD800, or EQ it, regardless of amp.

Day 3 report. I was basically WOW'ed the first time I heard it. Even with new-toy syndrome fading away, I'm continued to be WOW'ed by this thing. If it weren't for all the measurements telling me it's very neutral, I would swear it's adding something, because I always heard my HD800 as open...

crosstalk - I clarified that it shouldn't be audible in a later post low level channel imbalance - yeah theoretically all analog pots will have it. But you can engineer it to not-audible levels. I certainly can't hear any imbalance with my SPL, but that was originally a $700+ amp

Supposedly the dual XLR-in to balanced-out pathway eliminates several potential extra paths that the RCA-in has to go through.

My #2 was related to crosstalk. That's an non-issue imo. #3 was balanced out having more power than SE. I don't think your current headphones require that much power anyway. The only advantage this amp has over your Aune is the super low output impedance. The Aune is pretty much for high...

I don't think #2 is an actual issue. This is one of those things that show up on measurements, but it's low enough to be inaudible. #1 is a legit preference though. So I understand if this is a dealbreaker for you.

1. Yes, with the volume all the way down, you can still hear music playing 2. Crosstalk refers the signal leaking between left and right channels 3. For this amp, the balanced XLR out is more powerful than SE. Depends on the amp.

Received mine. I don't have much impression other than it's a solid SS amp that seems way too good for its price. Compare to my SPL Phonitor, the only thing that I noticed it's FAST. It does imaging slightly differently. This little thing is easily matching my SPL in power and clarity. Pros: -...

The previous posters already summarized the points well, so I won't repeat what they said. I'll just add something that I noticed while wearing my V Moda. With the headphone on your head and cable properly plugged in, swing your head left to right and back. What do you hear when the cable...

After a day with this mod, I can see why some people prefer "colored" headphones. The standard K701 is just... too flat, too clean, and no bass impact, which translates to NO FUN for a lot of people.    I can't believe I'm saying this now, but I'm listening to Rock music with K701 and I ENJOY...

For gaming, positional audio > everything else. Sound Blaster Z should have something like CMS3D included to give you DSP to emulate position on headphones. Or you can get yourself an Astro Mixamp, which can take in 7.1 Dolby signal and convert to headphone audio. Your audio quality will take a...

I saw this mod several months while ago, but I was afraid of ruining my headphones. Now I'm more adventurous, I decided to give it a try.   So I just did the mod on my old K701. I report that the Bass IMPACT is much better than before. You can FEEL the bass now, which was one thing that K701...

You'll need to state what you don't like about the ATH M50s. Since audio is subjective, people often find "sidegrades" enjoyable because they offer a different signature, sometimes more preferred signature. There may be something that you'll enjoy more than ATH M50s for much less $$, but first...

- one pair of open headphone for quiet listening at home. HD800 for me. It actually responds quite well to EQ. So if I want more bass, I'll just EQ everything else down 3-5db.   - one pair of stylish, portable, semi-closed headphone for office Still looking. It needs to isolate my music...

It's all about personal preference and brain conditioning. I have a friend who is working at a nightclub as a DJ; he's been there for at least 4 years now. He can't listen to anything except Beats because his hearing simply filter out most of the bass.   As for me, I was okay with the AD700...

Quote: This kinda scares me. Even if you have an ultra quiet car, the noise floor is still going to be at least 20db higher than your average living room whenever you are on the highway. What's the pointer of using HD700 when the noise floor is that high? You are not going to find any...

Both the Razor and the Phillips are gaming headphones. This forum doesn't really review gaming headphones. We mostly care about headphones that are dedicated for music.   I only heard XB500 out of your list. It is a good bet if you like bass. I have heard a number of Senn HD4xx series...

I would be very careful about volume on the K701. Human ears are simply very sensitive to treble. The treble range has a very low ceiling to be intolerable. 80db of bass sounds very nice to my ears, while 80db of treble is enough to have me roll around in pain.    People always bash the...

I use the Phonitor with my HD800. Phonitor may be a SS amp, but it's definitely on the warm side. I spent a lot of hours playing with the crossfeed function also.   If you are on a budget, use the Auditor instead. Same circuitry as the Phonitor, but without all the different miscellaneous...

Sennheiser Orpheus and Sony Qualia are the two that I had the pleasure of seeing in person. Beautiful beautiful headphones, sadly I can't afford them.   Are you looking for "most expensive that has a practice use" or "most expensive that should be displayed in a showroom"?

Last time I went home, I brought my K701 and showed it to my brother. His reaction was "no, I'm not putting on". I asked him why, and he answered: "once I put it on, I will no longer be able to listen to my own headphones". LOL I'm glad that he knows the truth about audio. Sadly, it took me a...

No experience with LCD3, but I had some encounters with LCD2. I remember the first time I heard LCD2 (forgot which revision) at a meet, and I immediately told the person who brought the demo set "holy, this is magical!" However in the end, I went with the HD800 because LCD2 was uncomfortable for...

Probably just a bad combination of things.   - Essence One has a high gain compare to other popular amps.   - HD650 has high sensitivity, reacts very well to volume gain   - Your music is loud. Since you are on PC, use Foobar's replaygain scanner to scan your music. I bet Foobar will...

First you should decide whether you want solid state or tube amp.   I use SPL Phonitor with my HD800. It is outside of your price range, but my understanding is that you can get the SPL Auditor, which has the same amp components as the Phonitor. Phonitor just has a bunch of extra functions.