[ucbEE]

I listen to a lot of mahler, shosti, tchaik, etc. Any suggestions on cans? Under 300 bucks please.

 

[dshea_32665]

Sennheiser HD650 which you can usually find at around $300. Of course you problably will want to save up for an aftermarket cable to go with it. I have had my HD650/Zu cable for about 6 weeks and it is absolutely incredible for classical music. I listened to Mahler 9/Karajan with them last night and it was absolutely incredible.

A cheaper route might be to go with something like HD600 with an Oelbach cable which people seem to really like as well. You could probably get that whole package for $300.

dshea

 

[ucbEE]

Thanks, any other suggestions? What kind of an amp will adequetly power 650s? I've auditioned one but the only amp on hand was a grado ra-1 and I didn't like the sound much coming out of that combo.

 

[Pars]

As I noted in the Mahler thread, the Senn 600s and I think I also listened to 650s at the Chicago meet last weekend didn't do it for me, personally. They were breaking up a bit on the end of the Mahler 8th, which is unacceptable (and this thru a Gilmore Dynahi and Sony SCD-1). They were both really nice phones, very comfortable... just a bit laid back for me in addition to the previous problem (they sounded great on the bit of jazz I listened to, however). I own Grados (SR-125s), which I like, but also do the same think in terms of breakup. I should have tried some higher end Grados at the meet, but didn't get around to it.

Perhaps AKG K501s? A900s (those are Audio Technica?)

 

[some1x]

I dont like to speculate, but since it has already begun....
I dont think the A900s would do Mahler better than HD650s.

I will have to wait for the rest of my system before commenting on the HD650s true abilities

 

[Bill Ward]

I actually prefer the somewhat brighter sound of the Beyer DT880s with Mahler recordings. They do take some serious amping, but that's equally true of the Senns.

I don't think any single headphone is "best" for Mahler. Depends on your preferences in sound. I've used the HD580, HD650, DT880, A900 and K501 at various times for Mahler recordings. Each has strengths and weaknesses. You might be able to audition the Senns at a local high-end audio dealer if you've got one handy.

BW

 

[ucbEE]

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. It's just that I have a hard time finding headphones that do a good job of handleing large volumes and complexity at the same time. When I auditioned headphones, I much prefered SR-125 out of an RA-1 to HD650. Currently, I'm using a pair of MS-1 powered by an RA-1-like amp. I'm listening to sibelius 2 at the moment. Sounds superb most of the time, but sometimes the music just gets too complicated for the cans.

 

[saxphile]

What's good for classical music is potentially good for Mahler, but what's not definitely won't be good for Mahler, which means Grados will probably not serve most people's taste for classical music here.

RA-1 is designed by Grado to drive Grado headphones. So it doesn't really work that well with high ohms headphones like HD650. Some audio dealers treats the RA-1 as a generic amp, which IMHO is a big mistake. RA-1 is a very, very good amp, but it needs to be paired with the right cans.

I have recently upgraded my amp from a TBH to Perreaux SXH-2. The SXH-2 is simply an amazing amp, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. My options for the upgrade were Rega Ear and the Perreaux. And it was a no-brainer, even tho the Perreaux was more than twice the price. Rega Ear is also very, very good. But overall it actually sounds quite similar to my TBH, so it wouldn't be much of an upgrade.

ucbEE, I see that you have a Indigo for your computer setup. I have never listened to it, but the general opinion is that it's quite good. On the other hand, I doubt it has enough power to drive headphones like HD6XX, not to mention K501. So if you plan to get a pair of those, you might need to get a more powerful amp.

As for cables, I'd say leave that till you've got everything else. You're much better off spending the money on amp, source, etc, first before getting a (usually) very expensive after market cable.

 

[Ferbose]

No headphone is good for Mahler, IMO. Mahler should not be listened on headphones. Too much dynamics, unless conducted by Bernstein. In soft passages you are tempted to turn up volume to hear the details. In loud passages the volume would go way too high. I have heard of a record store employee listening to too much Mahler on Stax and suffered severe hearing loss. Maybe K1000 would be more suitable. It works more like speakers and you are more likey to be able to tell when it is too loud.

 

[ucbEE]

Well, my policy with listening to classical music is to turn the volume loud enough to be just able to hear the softest sections without strain and to leave the volume knob where it is after. I guess either my taste in classical is different from most people's here or I just haven't heard the right equipment to know. How would the RA-1 fare driving some HD580? I hear the AKG K501 are very hard to drive.

 

[eweitzman]

I'm pretty new to the headphone experience. Currently own HD-650 and modified HP-100a tube/MOSFET hybrid. Have listened to HD-600, SR-80, MDR-?? phones; Headroom Max Home, Airhead, Consonance amps; zu, Cardas, stock, and Canare cables.

None of these combos comes anywhere near what a good set of speakers can do with classical. The sense of space and scale are all much different than speakers can produce.

For example, I listened to three performances on CD of Rossini's La scala de seta overture last night: (1) Orpheus CO (DGG), (2) Norrington/London Classical Players (EMI), (3) Reiner/CSO (BMG). On the phones, (1) and (2) sounded quite similar: dead, compressed, and (2D) flat. (3) had some scale and space. On speakers, (1) was clearly a chamber orchestra recorded from mid-hall in a smallish reverberant space, (2) was very large and lively, and (3) became a bit muddy and bombastic. I'd expect an original Living Stereo LP of the Reiner to have a very large, realistic presentation, so I think the phones actually gave a better hint as to what recording (3) could sound like.

My point is that the phones did not render an experience that was similar to a very accurate and dynamic speaker-based system. I'm still trying to figure out which sonic aspects of phones are better than speakers. The only obvious one so far is the potential for uncolored sound due to lack of room colorations.

The low bass on the HD-650s is unlike anything else I and a friend of mine have heard. There's also a true physical feeling of the bass in your sinuses.