A little help for a beginner :)
Apr 27, 2021 at 2:27 PM Post #46 of 66
Openbacks headphones do not always have wide soundstage. I had the HD560S which is openback and soundstage sucked. It's more crammed. I got rid of it as I don't like it.

The HD800/S might be a very special cans but they are not always worth the dough. I had a time where I really wanted the HD700 and after a while, I dropped it off the list and never looked back. Also the owners have shared their experiences helped me to completely forget about it. Glad I listened. That's why I never base my purchases from youtubers/influencers/vloggers, only purely from the actual owners.

You are a family man, right? Do you listen to music next to your wife? Openbacks are probably not a good idea, like at all.
 
Apr 27, 2021 at 7:24 PM Post #47 of 66
I think everyone is trying to be helpful here. High end audiophile headphones costing $1,300 are made to be connected to a big expensive rig designed to power them. Many of us here have them and are aware of the pitfalls of really good headphones without the associated gear. So it brings up the whole complexity of the pursuit. I was exactly where you were 15 years ago. i bought a pair of headphones from AKG made to be powered by an iPod or iPhone. They were fantastic. That is probably where you should start. somewhere in the $150 to $350 range. A big upgrade, something to learn with.

All digital music systems consist of a:

1) streamer (reads digital music file and puts in a bit stream so it can be sent somewhere) -> 2) DAC (digital analog converter, converts bits to an analog signal that can be amplified) -> amplifier (increase power of the analog signal enough to power headphones.

An iPhone or iPad can do all - Streamer, DAC, and amp.

The first step after better headphones is usually replace the amp. So iPad does streaming and DAC... to external amp. This will open up the possibilities of headphones you use.

Most folks next replace the iPhone/iPad DAC and take the digital stream from the iPhone into an external DAC like your Dragonfly

Then last they will replace the streamer with an external one.

Each of these steps provides a big jump in performance for an incremental cost... and allow you to learn. I have a friend that has been a complete failure at choosing amps... he keeps choosing flea powered amps and headphones that require massive power to sound good. Everyone here is trying to help you avoid any of these hard routes.

I recommend not to listen to us. Go to Stereophile or The Absolute Sound and find a review of headphones. Find some wired ones in your price range ( not really expensive) that can be powered by your source. Enjoy them. You will learn a lot and can work on the next step... becoming knowledgable in the process. Almost all of us own closed back, open, and ribbon headphones. Closed are good around the family, open are more natural. I hope this helps.
 
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Apr 27, 2021 at 9:08 PM Post #48 of 66
I must say I'm really into the Kennerton Gjallarhorn. Their design just speaks to me, even though I know it shouldn't matter but I'm only human.

What is the JM edition? Anyone know of a swedish retailer?

I have found the Kennerton Vali in a store.

I know they are open but I'm not sure I care anymore🙂
There seem to be a lot more options.
Wow Kennerton as been busy as of late. Have to say haven’t heard any of their headphones but now kinda intrigued.
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 1:50 AM Post #49 of 66
The description of the M-12 is off-putting. They are designed to studio monitors... be extremely revealing... for a music lover this translates into emphasize the high frequencies to show mastering, venue and details. So, in particular if you have less than stellar equipment driving them it’s going to bring out noice, distortion, and digital artifacts. . Studio monitors have different design objectives.

I love Beyerdynamic because they tend to be the opposite of this, musical and forgiving. While the T1’s are difficult to drive... I believe they make some that are easy to drive.
 
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Apr 28, 2021 at 2:44 AM Post #50 of 66
So.... with my current setup

Samsung galaxy xxx - AQ Dragonfly cobalt - topping NX3 ( do I need it?)

Usb audio player pro Bitperfect flac-files.

What closedback headphones should I buy?

Im leaning towards Kennerton Gjallarhorn

• Easy driven
• Great reviews
• Stunning design.

Any objections 🙂?
Will I be happy😉?
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 6:18 AM Post #51 of 66
Great sounding headphones and dac/amps don't need to be very expensive to enjoy audio.
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 7:05 AM Post #52 of 66
So.... with my current setup

Samsung galaxy xxx - AQ Dragonfly cobalt - topping NX3 ( do I need it?)

Usb audio player pro Bitperfect flac-files.

What closedback headphones should I buy?

Im leaning towards Kennerton Gjallarhorn

• Easy driven
• Great reviews
• Stunning design.

Any objections 🙂?
Will I be happy😉?
Great sounding headphones and dac/amps don't need to be very expensive to enjoy audio.
Can I enjoy them with my current setup?
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 8:24 AM Post #53 of 66
So.... with my current setup

Samsung galaxy xxx - AQ Dragonfly cobalt - topping NX3 ( do I need it?)

Usb audio player pro Bitperfect flac-files.

What closedback headphones should I buy?

Im leaning towards Kennerton Gjallarhorn

• Easy driven
• Great reviews
• Stunning design.

Any objections 🙂?
Will I be happy😉?

Can I enjoy them with my current setup?
I have no idea as I have never used a horn driver... however it seems to have a bass shelf so it fits the bill of warm, despite it being easy to drive you will still want that AMP because it has bass boost so I suggest buy the headphone and if you need the AMP for either volume or for bass/warmth buy that later.
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 9:32 AM Post #54 of 66
So.... with my current setup

Samsung galaxy xxx - AQ Dragonfly cobalt - topping NX3 ( do I need it?)

Usb audio player pro Bitperfect flac-files.

What closedback headphones should I buy?

Im leaning towards Kennerton Gjallarhorn

• Easy driven
• Great reviews
• Stunning design.

Any objections 🙂?
Will I be happy😉?

Can I enjoy them with my current setup?
There are great chances you'll enjoy. For desktop use I got the Fiio K5 Pro.
Huawei Mate 20X and P Smart Z I use other headphones and earbuds/iems.

For desktop I use the Amirons, Tygr 300R, T5p.2, Fidelio X2HR, DT880 and Klipsch Heritage HP-3. All sounds great.
For mobile use: Airpods 2 if using on bed, Sony WF XM3 and sometimes Amiron Wireless.

I started with small things and my very first great headphone was the DT880 and even the amp was a crappy starter, namely the Fiio E10K lol.
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 11:44 AM Post #55 of 66
I have no idea as I have never used a horn driver... however it seems to have a bass shelf so it fits the bill of warm, despite it being easy to drive you will still want that AMP because it has bass boost so I suggest buy the headphone and if you need the AMP for either volume or for bass/warmth buy that later.
Perfect....and just a little question about AMP.
Isn't the a Topping NX3 an amp?
Even if it's a weak one. Should I use it until I can afford a better one or am I better of without it?
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 1:38 PM Post #56 of 66
The Topping is an amp and a DAC. You should experiment with the equipment you have in various combination. Learn how to connect them, and judge differences you observe.
 
Apr 28, 2021 at 7:41 PM Post #57 of 66
Perfect....and just a little question about AMP.
Isn't the a Topping NX3 an amp?
Even if it's a weak one. Should I use it until I can afford a better one or am I better of without it?
what JDFlood said is true however the dragonfly is a much better DAC so I would use it and put AUX in the Topping and skip it's DAC capability and use the dragonfly..

So what is MOST important about your headphone after the ohms is the sensitivity, so most passive speakers are 4-8 ohm... but your phone cannot drive these because of sensitivity which instead of db/mW is db/W or db/1000xmW... Your phone can handle somewhere around 32 or a little higher maybe almost around 50 ohm USUALLY but the sensitivity matters if you had a 90db/mW sensitivity I would say your would probably be good but you have an insanely higher 100+/mW sensitivity so there is a very good chance you won't even max out the volume...

so 2 factors play into this, we talked about a more expensive AMP giving more detail and resolution.... this is because a cheaper and worse AMP will take the signal you have (if the DAC is a bad dac the signal will be bad and no good AMP will improve it, if the DAC is good then a bad AMP will not give you all the quality but if the DAC and AMP are good you will have very close to maximum quality from the player to your headphones) So in this case your headphones would probably sound noticeably better WITHOUT the AMP as it could possibly downgrade the quality of the DAC which I believe is a expensive "good" one so likely high quality.... So I would avoid it if it can be avoided, if not you should get it try it and try to see if you can notice a loss of detail, resolution or imaging(being able to pinpoint the sound in a 3d soundscape your headphone provides, with good imaging you will have a clear picture in your mind where it sounds like the sound is coming from) and if you notice a loss in quality consider a better AMP (again why I suggested for $1000+ headset to get a used higher quality iFi at a lower price)

To recap
Your player, computer or phone or music player outputs a digital signal generally digital is all the same but the output quality generally matters up to "24 bit 96000 hz" consider this the minimum you want for headphones of your caliber ----> then the DAC turns this into Analog because of the complexity of this process the DAC cannot "add" (true fidelity)quality it can only lose quality, a "better" DAC will lose less quality and sound better... SUBJECTIVELY although usually very MINOR a DAC can add sound characteristics like warm or bright or OBJECTIVELY and NOTIBLY a DAC may do very good job not loosing aspects of the sound like detail or resolution(so if someone says a DAC is detailed or resolving the DAC is not making that happen it is making the loss of those qualities not happen) ----> a similar interaction happens with the AMP, an AMP cannot add detail or resolution (real fidelity) instead if an AMP is "detailed" or "resolving" it is because (first if it is, there is no weak point in the chain so whatever DAC it was tested with as the first part of the chain was good enough to let the detail or resolution not be adulterated) it is NOT destroying these qualities, a (usually) cheaper or "worse" AMP will lose these qualities... Same as a DAC to a slightly more extent and AMP may SUBJECTIVELY introduce qualities you make like such as warmth or brightness

So as you can see it is very much like a flow of a river of quality and introducing a sub-par component into this stream will cap the maximum flow of quality music and vs someone with the same pair of headphone and higher quality components, you will not be getting the maximum or closer to the maximum performance of a very expensive headset.... so budgeting is very important the same way as buying a gaming PC you should not blow the whole wad on the Graphics Card and have a bad CPU and bad RAM or you will never get the potential performance you paid for and generally have a bad experience....

The really important question is how much difference will these components make?
This is why I keep bringing up the iFi's... if you spend $200-300 on a desktop AMP the difference to a$500-$600 AMP will be very small because of the size.... good components can be had for around $200 but they are big and not great or sometimes not possible to use in a smaller portable AMP...

I know because I own a $170 MSRP Fiio A5.... portable AMPs are completely different... if you splurged and got a used Fiio E12/A5... you could get a used one under $80 on ebay even then I would say the difference is not terrible but it is noticeable maybe a %10-15 loss in quality for some on my higher end headphones vs a ~$200 desktop AMP where the $200-300 to $500-600 desktop AMP difference is maybe half or %5-10

So going from a Portable AMP from a Desktop AMP that cost the same price (Fiio A5 $170 MSRP vs Zen CAN $170 MSRP) There is a general %10-15 loss in quality that can be heard(detail and resolution) in a sense of when I listen on the A5 a expensive good headphone sounds good but as soon as I am on the Zen CAN it sounds noticeably better basically instantly for $500 pairs of headphones

This is droning on so let's get to the meat, the Toppin NX3 is likely built for much cheaper headphones ->

So here is what I suggest you do, try your headphones with just the DAC which is probably quite good for making sure you get the best audio quality and seems like a quality DAC with good reviews made for a Desktop setup and for a higher quality AMP

If you do not need more volume or want more bass then do not buy the Topping NX3

If you need more volume buy the Topping NX3 and carefully test it within the return period time to see if there is a notable difference in sound quality to you or a loss of enjoyment


If you notice a loss in sound quality and you lose enjoyment from that loss return the NX3 and look for a portable AMP with better performance or consider a larger semi-desktop sized AMP with portable capabilities as they generally perform better for what you pay(buy used under MSRP)
 
Apr 29, 2021 at 1:02 AM Post #58 of 66
I already own the Topping NX3.

But this sounds great. I will probably buy the Gjallarhorn and hopefully experience the upgrade from my Sennheisers.

And the next step for me is to buy a real AMP and we'll see where we go from there.😁
 
Apr 29, 2021 at 1:46 AM Post #59 of 66
The Gjallarhorn’s description sounds interesting. Give us a report when you get them. They look easy to drive and have high sensitivity.
 
Apr 29, 2021 at 1:53 AM Post #60 of 66
I just found another thing I already own 🙂

A Scarlett Solo

Can it be used as a AMP?

If im on a computer 🙂
 

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