Could you explain this a bit? I thought "bright" could refer to either rolled off (missing) high frequencies or recessed (subdued) high frequencies relative to lower frequencies.     Quote:  

No, I hadn't thought of that. Sounds interesting. I'd really, really be interested in what you think of them, especially because we seem to relate similarly to the 598 and 325 phones. Thanks for the idea.   Quote:  

I know. It is a really interesting idea, which I appreciate, but the much, if not most, of the cost of the Symphones Magnum upgrade involves throwing away expensive Grado components and laboriously undoing previous manufacturing work. That kind of process is grossly inefficient from economics...

Some time ago, there was a small wine maker near me who made wine that perfectly fit my tastes. No matter what he made -- jug wine, fine wine, strawberry wine -- it all tasted good. The wine maker's tastes were almost identical to mine. I'm getting the sense the headphones are similar, at least...

My favorite music is a single female voice with subdued instrumentation. My hearing is a little bit damaged, not too bad, but probably weak at the high end.   I bought and tested both the Senn 598 and the Grado 325. I liked the Grado sound better, although for some music I don't like it at...

Is there any double-blind, or even single-blind test showing that people can reliably distinguish high-end cables from run-of-the-mill good cables?

Quote: Absolutely. He provided no evidence. But don't you find it mind-blowing that a person near the top of his profession, a person who reviews the best audio equipment for a living, the author of multiple technical audio books filled with the science of sound reproduction -- a person...

Quote: Well, that's embarrassing, but I did acknowledge an ill-spent youth.       I'm not saying this is right or that I agree with it, but Robert Harley, editor-in-chief for The Absolute Sound, writes in The Complete Guide to High End Audio that cables are major players in the...

I believe you. It seems there should be some better evidence than I'm seeing.   However, just for fun, I measured the resistance in my Monster 400-series RCA cables versus the thin, stock cables that came with my Marantz CD DAC. Both cables measure one meter. The Monster cable measured 0.2...

Back in my ill-spent youth, we'd balance and "blueprint" engines to get more performance and reliability. Blueprinting involved tightening every bolt to exact torque specifications, keeping all clearances to spec, etc. Balancing kept vibrations our of everything that moved. The idea wasn't that...

I got to 17k on one of the first tests, but only 14k on the one with the person talking. Still better than I thought. Although I hear fine in normal circumstances during the day, I'm a combat vet with ringing in the ears. I wonder if I tend to like the brighter headphones because they emphasize...

If not the T1, what would be the best headphones to pair up with the Burson 160?

I've been reading this forum a lot lately, trying to stuff my head into headphones. After absorbing a lot of contradictory posts, I decided to pit Sennheiser HD-598s vs. Grado 125i cans to see where my own tastes lie (lay). For most things, I like the Grados better because of the "veil" (you...

My Grado SR-125i cans are more realistic than my more expensive Sennheiser HD-598 cans, which are warm and shielded. Originally, I liked the Sennheisers better, but soon tired of the color and came to appreciate the more natural sound of Grados. As soon as I upgraded to a better amp, the Grados...

Typical American household voltage is referred to as 110V or 115V or 117V or 120 V. It's all usually the same. Actual voltage varies a bit, especially with utility power. The higher voltage is just double whatever terminology used for the lower voltage: 220V, 230V or 240V.   You are correct...

Thanks.  Is the dedicated headphone amp in the Marantz CD-5004 powerful enough to drive the 650?

Years ago, sometime in the '70s, a friend took me into a high-end audio store and a smiling salesman in crisply pressed slacks handed me a pair of headphones. I have no idea what they were, but when I slipped them over my ears, the room errupted in beautiful sound. I had to take them off because...