WOW! What the R2R has done for the Sennheiser HD430SLs! Listening right at this moment, using the stunningly fine Two Men With The Blues album, AIFF files from iTunes through the usual Jitterbug, Kimber cable to the USB input of the R2R. Talk about revealing, both the album and the R2R with these cans. They are a little brightly lit mid-forward for my preference, but it's just their sonic sig, which is a different flavour to my goto HD540 Ref1s. Still using the Ref1s pads and inner foams for now, plus the Mogami cable, which allows some stunning detail and fine focus to be so easily available - there is a woman who sneezes at the beginning of Stardust that is so clear and focused in space, it alone is a revelation. Each note on the piano is dynamically clean and clear and never blurred with the next note, same goes for the knockout trumpet playing by Wynton Marsalis ........ make that for every note on all instruments! While being a touch forward, the sheer clarity, definition and lack of harshness is ..... well ... again a revelation. A couple of drum strokes on the snare right at the back of the stage are sublime in their crisp clarity and ambient space. Each string of the double bass plucked in twangy rich clarity, the lower notes of the piano lack sheer weight and therefore ultimate dynamics, yet the clarity is superb and any good pianist could tell you exactly what note was being played. On stage chatter is very clear and focused in space. Rhythmic integrity is as good as the Ref1s and that is really saying something! The HD430SLs just lack the sheer relaxing total 3D immersion of the Ref1s and are not as silky smooth through the mids, a tad less harmonic richness too, yet they have their own sonic benefits and that slightly more brightly lit upper region can benefit some music, although the Ref1s don't lack any ambient detail for that extra smoothness, they just portray it in a silkier darker space.
These HD430SLs are extremely enjoyable through the R2R ..... the clarity of each piano note is fantastic! Another reason why the HD6xx's stay in this household is becoming extremely tenuous ... again. I'm actually hearing some reverb on one of the drums I've never heard before. Vocal diction is knockout in it's definition, these would make - and probably were - fabulous studio monitors, just like the AKG K240DFs. What is it about these 600 ohm cans from the late 80's and into the 90's?
Ah, I've just clicked as to why the soundstage is not as big and 3D as the Ref1s, it's the bass depth. It's like adding a correctly set up sub-woofer in a home system. This same music on the Ref1s seems to extend right down into my chest (always has, even stock years ago) and extends the actual soundstage in perceived height as well as width, even to sounds appearing from behind my ears by, say, 10-15 degrees, the HD430SLs hint at it, keeping their admittedly crispy clear stage in a 180 degree arc over/through my head and to some degree in front. The drum solo at the end of the concert is mind boggling in it's attacking clarity and detail! Where the Ref1s have it is image density and sheer 3D solidity, the actual apparent physical weight of each voice and instrument ... but heck, what a pair these two make! Take a bow, Sennheiser, though I'm not sure you've done better since then for overall performance short of the very best you make.
An open window compared to a somewhat grimy and sandy one.
