[Nomad]

Being objective, still the Qualias. Sound just doesn't change. It just gets quieter. But it is the same. Same detail, bass, PRAT...

However, being subjective I have to say that it might be the L3000s.

These days I only listen to headphones in bed right before to sleep. I listen at very quiet volumes by then. The L3000 (from DHA3000) excel in those conditions because:

- The bass is nice, deep, relaxed and very present (unlike most headphones at very low volume)

- The slightly annoying "closeness" of the L3000 dissapears on the mids/high-mids. That's why I think this might be produced by the reverberation on the cans. It is a bit like a room with bad acoustics and loudspeakers bad placed. At very low volumes is not that bad. As soon as you go up, things get a bit worse. R10s do much better at keeping this effect at bay.

- Detail is still very good (not like the Qualias, which are the ones less affected by low volumes, they never sound muffed)

- PRAT and slam still there.

So actually the L3000 almost improves with low sound. Well, not really. There is less PRAT and they get darker and a bit siroupy but that is Ok when you are about to sleep. It is a very enjoyable and warm sound.

Other cans are losing more. R10 loses some bass, PS1 lots of detail, Electrostatics will lose lots of PRAT...

On the extremes, you have Qualia not losing anything and the K1000 losing pretty much all its magic.

Hope this helps. Cheers,

 

[tev]

IMHO, A good closed can sounds better at lower volumes than a comparable quality open can, even if both are used in a silent environment. The trouble is, there are not many good closed can in production these days. The higher end Denons are great phones and remain captivating at low levels, and from my limited exposure to the D5ks they seem to really thrive on lower dbs. From what I've read, I think that the Ed9's may need a little more juice to come into their own.

 

[Marximus]

Apparently the GS1000s are excellent for low-level listening.

 

[b0dhi]

^ second that.

 

[Matteman]

Yeah, GS-1000

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Grado HF-1 and Proline 2500 are also good low volume level cans.

 

[drummerboy47]

W5000 for sure.

 

[jgonino]

x2 on the proline 2500

 

[Klisk]

+1 on the Proline 2500.

 

[fld777]

does Grado RS1 fit into this category for low level listening ??

 

[Fing]

I'm a low volume level listener because I can't listen to music for hours on end otherwise due to fatigue, though that's become less of a factor due to changes I've made in my rig recently.

Unfortunately I don't have a pair of Qualias (I'm also looking btw), but I do have the L3000, R10 and K1000. I agree that the L3000 really does need slightly higher listening levels to be really enjoyable. The K1000 laughably so.

Concerning the "closeness" aspect of the L3000, I do admit that it's also something that troubles me as well. I don't find it too bad and in fact it's not really that much of an issue unless I am listening to orchestra classical where treble instrument 'bite', separation and spacial cues are harder to find.

However one aspect of the L3000 that I'm really enjoying is their deliciously sweet tone. For me, getting the right components and settings to allow the L3000 to produce their correct, undistorted tone has really opened up these headphones for me.

Achieving this seems to allow everything else fall into it's musical place, with texture, dynamics, treble/bass balance and spatial depth all working to paint a convincing and holographic musical picture that is easy to grasp and appreciate.

I've gone from being ambivalent and fustrated with them to really loving them again.

My ultimate quiet listening headphones remain the R10. I wish I had a better amp at home though. The Yamamoto has great synergy with it, but I somehow feel that it's the bottleneck in my system atm.

Nomad - don't you have a Sennheiser Orpheus setup? How does that rate on the quiet listening front?

 

[krmathis]

I find the Stax 4070 to be close to perfect for low listenign levels.
First of all because they are closed-back and block out a lot external sound. But also because they have a flat frequency response and don't loose out in the high/low when the volume are turned way down.

 

[Nik]

The Denon AH-D5000 are also very good for low listening level...

 

[Nomad]

Yes, Grados are quite good for this too, although PS-1 seems to lose some detail and the bass gets quite dominant (on the L3000 the bass blends better at low volumes). I don't have experience with Ultrasone or Denon. I have to try these.

Fing, at (very) low volumes I find the R10 a bit lacking (specially on the bass) but I think this must be because I don't have a top dynamic amp that really matches them. Still, it has quite a bit of slam (more than you would expect) and is as detailed and sweet as usual.

I had similar experiences with the L3000 and I'm loving it now. Well, it wasn't that difficult since I got the DHA3000.

I don't have a Orpheus system but I had it at home for several weeks. All electrostatics I tried (HE60, HE90, Omega1, Omega2) present a similar pattern at very low volumes. Very nice detail but PRAT cues suffer quite a bit. I think the Omega1 were the best of the lot for that but I can't be sure to be honest. It has been a while...

All this is IMHO of course. I think that at very low volumes things get even more subjective.