Autumnal
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2002
- Posts
- 28
- Likes
- 10
"Hey, I think we're all Bozos on this bus." --The Firesign Theatre
(This is a long read, so bear with me.)
My audio history is probably typical of many older members here. I participated in and survived the scattershot analog-to-digital revolution of source materials from transistor radios to vinyl LPs and Revox 15" reel-to-reel 1/4" tape to cassettes (I skipped 8-tracks) to CDs to DAT to MP3. Along the way I owned some nice mid-fi gear---KLH 1; Thorenz turntables with Grado cartridges, Advent receiver/speakers; Nakamichi, early NAD and Class-A Denon components, ADC satellites and Atlantic Technology subwoofer---and then Pioneer and Sony home theater Dolby systems. All of which culminated after 35 years in my shucking it all and going minimalist, with just a JVC FS-6000 micro system and my Mac Firewire DVD/CD Powerbook (which has remarkably good sound output).
My headphone history, however, is more limited and less circular. I started out in the 1960s with big sealed Koss 4A stereophones. Ugh. Then in the 1970s and 80s I owned and loved two consecutive pairs of those classic spartan Sennheiser HD-414s (the ones with the yellow pads). In the early-90s I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD-320s and was content with those through the end of the century.
Two years ago I began lurking on Head-Wize and Head-Fi. I noted with great interest the advances in headphone quality---the Grado/Senn wars, the AKG/Beyer factions, and the amazing Etys. As others have noted, these forums are downright dangerous. I could feel the itch building again and knew that it would be only a matter of time before my well-worn 15-year-old Senns wouldn't cut it, and I'd explode in a wallet-gutting frenzy of headphone lust. Well, now it's happened.
Over the last two months, I've popped for the following:
Koss KSC-35 ($35 shipped, from Headroom)
Sony MDR-V6 ($63 shipped, from etronics.com)
Alessandro/Grado MS-1 ($99 shipped, from Joe)
Philips SBC HP-890 ($100 shipped, from Jan Meier)
Sennheiser HD-580 ($118 shipped, new on uBid, bundled with a refurb DSP-360)
Each arrival has been provocative. And each step up the ladder has provided surprising comparisons and shocking perspectives. It's one thing to read these forums; it's another thing altogether to hear with your own ears what people are talking about (or arguing passionately over).
The KSC-35s were a revelation. I'd figured that all the crap earbuds and cheap sport phones were just for kids, but Nooooooo! These were actually good! A tad boomy on the bass, perhaps, but with nice mids and decent highs, and so comfortable with the earclips. Wow. Impressive for $35.
Then the Sony V-6s arrived, and I was amazed. Such tight, deep bass! And talk about crisp mids and highs. Double wow. And again, the price was certainly right. They put my old Senn 320s to shame, making them seem downright muffled by comparison. And I love that they fold up so small and come with their own pleather bag.
Two weeks went by, and I ordered the Alessandros. They let me finally experience that "Grado sound" (even if tweaked a bit toward more neutrality). Still, such presence. Holy cow! Tight bass, detailed mids, and the highs are sweet. That onstage thing as opposed to being in the audience is really true. And to get an SR-80/125 hybrid for 99 bucks shipped was certainly pleasing. Suddenly my Koss earclips seemed muddier (and more like the $35 portable phones they are), and my Sony V-6s sounded less "analytical" and more just plain crude. The debate about open versus closed phones came to life here. Very interesting.
When the Philips finally arrived from Germany, everything changed again. First off, they're physically huge, as numerous posters here have pointed out. But the design and build quality are very good, and they are indeed oh-so-comfortable! Perfect fit for my head, and the velour pads are heaven. The HP-890's sound is well-rounded and open, much less up-front than the Alessandro/Grados, but softly transparent---unlike the Sony V-6s, which now seem to me uncomfortably pressured, almost colored. Now we're getting somewhere! I could listen to these Philips cans for hours at a stretch and never feel fatigued. They're very classy and refined.
And then I saw the Sennheiser HD-580s on uBid. I'd read the cautionary threads about these uBid auction headphones, and I had no interest in the refurbished DSP 360 junk surround processor bundled with the supposedly new phones. Further, the discussions here about their high impedance and inefficiency gave me pause. My old Senn 320s were harder to drive than any of the new cans I'd bought, and the seemingly endless arguments on these forums about how the Senn 580s/600s would be dull and lifeless without the juice of a dedicated headphone amp worried me.
As a quasi-retired person of very modest means who had no business spending hundreds of dollars on multiple sets of headphones in the first place, I didn't relish the thought of shelling out perhaps thousands more on headphone amps. I mean, enough is enough! I'd rather be a budget, minor-league music lover than a bankrupt audiophile. I could see all too easily how starting out with just a single JMT diy cmoy penguin or cha47 altoids portable amp could quickly lead down the slippery slope to Melos, Wheatfield, and the like. What would be next? A $7,000 Stax Electrostatic system? Yikes! And don't even mention Clou cables.
In the end, however, the price for the 580s---$110 plus $8 shipping---was too good to pass up. So I took a chance.
When they arrived, everything was as advertised. The DSP was a refurb, but the 580s appeared to be brand, spanking new. I liked them right off---good design, nice velour pads, larger than the Alessandro/Grados and Sonys but much smaller than the Philips. They fit nicely, too, with none of the vice-grip I'd feared. Very comfy.
And the sound! Oh, my God. Detailed, full, spacious, transparent, and deliciously balanced. Downright musical. After only three hours of break-in, the 580s were already sweet. None of the others cans came close. By comparison, the Philips were hollow, the Alessandros were unrefined, the Sonys were harsh, and the Koss were, well, earclips.
Don't get me wrong, all of them are good products. It's just that for what I paid---$118 shipped---the Sennheiser HD-580s beat them all hands down. I don't dare imagine what the Senns must sound like with a great dedicated amp and high-quality source.
Well, maybe I'll imagine it. I mean, just one used JMT cha47 with boosted gain couldn't hurt too much, could it? Hmm. I could always sell the Sonys or the Philips to pay for itÉ
I'm doomed.
(This is a long read, so bear with me.)
My audio history is probably typical of many older members here. I participated in and survived the scattershot analog-to-digital revolution of source materials from transistor radios to vinyl LPs and Revox 15" reel-to-reel 1/4" tape to cassettes (I skipped 8-tracks) to CDs to DAT to MP3. Along the way I owned some nice mid-fi gear---KLH 1; Thorenz turntables with Grado cartridges, Advent receiver/speakers; Nakamichi, early NAD and Class-A Denon components, ADC satellites and Atlantic Technology subwoofer---and then Pioneer and Sony home theater Dolby systems. All of which culminated after 35 years in my shucking it all and going minimalist, with just a JVC FS-6000 micro system and my Mac Firewire DVD/CD Powerbook (which has remarkably good sound output).
My headphone history, however, is more limited and less circular. I started out in the 1960s with big sealed Koss 4A stereophones. Ugh. Then in the 1970s and 80s I owned and loved two consecutive pairs of those classic spartan Sennheiser HD-414s (the ones with the yellow pads). In the early-90s I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD-320s and was content with those through the end of the century.
Two years ago I began lurking on Head-Wize and Head-Fi. I noted with great interest the advances in headphone quality---the Grado/Senn wars, the AKG/Beyer factions, and the amazing Etys. As others have noted, these forums are downright dangerous. I could feel the itch building again and knew that it would be only a matter of time before my well-worn 15-year-old Senns wouldn't cut it, and I'd explode in a wallet-gutting frenzy of headphone lust. Well, now it's happened.
Over the last two months, I've popped for the following:
Koss KSC-35 ($35 shipped, from Headroom)
Sony MDR-V6 ($63 shipped, from etronics.com)
Alessandro/Grado MS-1 ($99 shipped, from Joe)
Philips SBC HP-890 ($100 shipped, from Jan Meier)
Sennheiser HD-580 ($118 shipped, new on uBid, bundled with a refurb DSP-360)
Each arrival has been provocative. And each step up the ladder has provided surprising comparisons and shocking perspectives. It's one thing to read these forums; it's another thing altogether to hear with your own ears what people are talking about (or arguing passionately over).
The KSC-35s were a revelation. I'd figured that all the crap earbuds and cheap sport phones were just for kids, but Nooooooo! These were actually good! A tad boomy on the bass, perhaps, but with nice mids and decent highs, and so comfortable with the earclips. Wow. Impressive for $35.
Then the Sony V-6s arrived, and I was amazed. Such tight, deep bass! And talk about crisp mids and highs. Double wow. And again, the price was certainly right. They put my old Senn 320s to shame, making them seem downright muffled by comparison. And I love that they fold up so small and come with their own pleather bag.
Two weeks went by, and I ordered the Alessandros. They let me finally experience that "Grado sound" (even if tweaked a bit toward more neutrality). Still, such presence. Holy cow! Tight bass, detailed mids, and the highs are sweet. That onstage thing as opposed to being in the audience is really true. And to get an SR-80/125 hybrid for 99 bucks shipped was certainly pleasing. Suddenly my Koss earclips seemed muddier (and more like the $35 portable phones they are), and my Sony V-6s sounded less "analytical" and more just plain crude. The debate about open versus closed phones came to life here. Very interesting.
When the Philips finally arrived from Germany, everything changed again. First off, they're physically huge, as numerous posters here have pointed out. But the design and build quality are very good, and they are indeed oh-so-comfortable! Perfect fit for my head, and the velour pads are heaven. The HP-890's sound is well-rounded and open, much less up-front than the Alessandro/Grados, but softly transparent---unlike the Sony V-6s, which now seem to me uncomfortably pressured, almost colored. Now we're getting somewhere! I could listen to these Philips cans for hours at a stretch and never feel fatigued. They're very classy and refined.
And then I saw the Sennheiser HD-580s on uBid. I'd read the cautionary threads about these uBid auction headphones, and I had no interest in the refurbished DSP 360 junk surround processor bundled with the supposedly new phones. Further, the discussions here about their high impedance and inefficiency gave me pause. My old Senn 320s were harder to drive than any of the new cans I'd bought, and the seemingly endless arguments on these forums about how the Senn 580s/600s would be dull and lifeless without the juice of a dedicated headphone amp worried me.
As a quasi-retired person of very modest means who had no business spending hundreds of dollars on multiple sets of headphones in the first place, I didn't relish the thought of shelling out perhaps thousands more on headphone amps. I mean, enough is enough! I'd rather be a budget, minor-league music lover than a bankrupt audiophile. I could see all too easily how starting out with just a single JMT diy cmoy penguin or cha47 altoids portable amp could quickly lead down the slippery slope to Melos, Wheatfield, and the like. What would be next? A $7,000 Stax Electrostatic system? Yikes! And don't even mention Clou cables.
In the end, however, the price for the 580s---$110 plus $8 shipping---was too good to pass up. So I took a chance.
When they arrived, everything was as advertised. The DSP was a refurb, but the 580s appeared to be brand, spanking new. I liked them right off---good design, nice velour pads, larger than the Alessandro/Grados and Sonys but much smaller than the Philips. They fit nicely, too, with none of the vice-grip I'd feared. Very comfy.
And the sound! Oh, my God. Detailed, full, spacious, transparent, and deliciously balanced. Downright musical. After only three hours of break-in, the 580s were already sweet. None of the others cans came close. By comparison, the Philips were hollow, the Alessandros were unrefined, the Sonys were harsh, and the Koss were, well, earclips.
Don't get me wrong, all of them are good products. It's just that for what I paid---$118 shipped---the Sennheiser HD-580s beat them all hands down. I don't dare imagine what the Senns must sound like with a great dedicated amp and high-quality source.
Well, maybe I'll imagine it. I mean, just one used JMT cha47 with boosted gain couldn't hurt too much, could it? Hmm. I could always sell the Sonys or the Philips to pay for itÉ
I'm doomed.
