Most albums sound flat and non-layered to me as opposed to some (rare) live recordings such as Leonard Cohen Live in London or Metallica Unplugged (noisy but has realistic ambiance). These live albums sound more layered with better soundstage. Is it because paradoxically the recording of live...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDZcz-V29_M&hd=1

Obviously there are no perfect headphones and there are many things to look at, so say I'm looking for HP which deliver speakers-like presentation as my current HD650 do. Which attributes make a HP so? From your experience do some HP successfully sound more "live" than that or mimicking speakers...

I just got the DAC which I bought in a hurry and didn't notice has no usb input... now I don't know if there's a way to use it without jitter as it has no asynchronous usb input, only xlr, coaxial, and optical digital inputs. Which is a better option and how can I connect to a computer with...

Cambridge DacMagic Plus or Emotiva Stealth DC-1? The Cambridge has better S/N (and is said to have great value), but the Emotiva has better THD measurement.

I was looking for good albums to test my rig's 'transperancy' and could only find live albums which gave a sense of realistic sound with deep holographic soundstage and was wondering what gives studio rock albums which mostly have electrical guitars and synthesizers a realistic "live" sound? Do...

http://www.tjaekel.com/T-DAC   I just spent more on a used DAC which doesn't get close to it in some measurements...

It's something I heard and which I can attest to with my HD650. Piano just doesn't sound anywhere close to real. What are the special characteristics of piano sound which make it hard to reproduce?

Is the reason some headphones perform better in soundstage lays in presenting better layered similar frequencies with slight changes in phase better?

I use a Sennheiser HD 650 with a $700 dac+amp . How much would it cost to get the same quality with speakers?

Does anyone know any good music recorded binaurally? Sample of what I'm talking about: http://jesscooper.net/2011/10/01/binaural-recording/  

For people who sit for hours a day near a desktop computer, isn't the fast spinning fan a source of constant high frequency? I can hear only up to 17kHz it seems. What's the best solution to silence the pc (to use the biggest slowest fan)?

I was curious as to what is the algorithm used behind the ranking system for the equipment in http://www.head-fi.org/products/ Some high ranked cans have few reviews which are all short.

The test takes 20 seconds: http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/mp3-sound-quality-test-128-320/   Did you find out right?   My answer:       Second test: http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/can-you-hear-this-hearing-test/ What's the highest frequency you can hear?  

I'm curious for the gain in quality reported when tested blindly. I'm skeptic it has a noticeable difference.

Unfortunately there's only a limited selection to audition locally, but then I don't mind buying a used can from a reputable member though. I heard some of the mid-range sony sets, like DJ700 and all were too straining to me. I listen to classical music (1/3 to piano music as I'm a pianist)...

hi, Will used HiFiMan HE5 for $465 be the best use of the money? I can't test them as I couldn't find them (or many other) headphones locally. They seem to have been discontinued and replaced with other models. I'll probably get the HiFiMan EF2A to drive them. I listen 50% to rock/pop...