[gilency]

I'd go with Stax. Even my mid tier 404's sound wonderful with strings. My son plays violin, my daughter piano and flute and I play piano. in my limited experience, Stax are wonderful for strings.

 

[TwoTrack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilency /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd go with Stax. Even my mid tier 404's sound wonderful with strings. My son plays violin, my daughter piano and flute and I play piano. in my limited experience, Stax are wonderful for strings.

Stax are really good with strings.

 

[boomana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoTrack /img/forum/go_quote.gif Stax are really good with strings.

My new amp for my O2s arrives tomorrow. I'm quite fond of Anner Bylsma's Bach cello suites. I'll be sure to try it out.

 

[chicscantdrive]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wower /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow. I'm impressed you had the balls to say that to a well respected member with +7800 posts. I, and likely most of us here, will agree with mule's statement. But what what we really don't like is your attitude. I can imagine you screaming at your monitor: there can only be ONE way to listen to cello and it MUST BE MINE. yeash.. no fun at all and a bad start to the boards my friend.

He may be well-respected, but I find it hard to respect someone I don't know who's openly condescending to me. I'll be less rude when he's more deserving of it. You may not like my attitude, but you're okay with his.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the audiophile search for the "perfect sound" is partly synonymous with a search for the most pleasing, unnatural sound. Equipment that distorts natural instrumentation and vocals to your liking.

And everyone's free to listen to whatever instrument however they like. I just prefer one way: the sound the instrument/singer gave off.

 

[boomana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicscantdrive /img/forum/go_quote.gif He may be well-respected, but I find it hard to respect someone I don't know who's openly condescending to me. I'll be less rude when he's more deserving of it.

If you continue being rude, your time here will be short.

Quote:

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the audiophile search for the "perfect sound" is partly synonymous with a search for the most pleasing, unnatural sound. Equipment that distorts natural instrumentation and vocals to your liking.

The audiophile search, as you call it, is the effort to accurately reproduce a live music experience, or at least come close to accurately reproducing what's been recorded. To state that it's a search for the most pleasing, unnatural sound is not only inaccurate, it suggests natural sounds are not pleasing. I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but your take on things is pretty distorted.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomana /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you continue being rude, your time here will be short. The audiophile search, as you call it, is the effort to accurately reproduce a live music experience, or at least come close to accurately reproducing what's been recorded. To state that it's a search for the most pleasing, unnatural sound is not only inaccurate, it suggests natural sounds are not pleasing. I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but your take on things is pretty distorted.

It's seem the majority prefers 'fun' over 'accurate.' Or more accurate.. Neutral/accurate/slightly/un colored cans get the cold shoulder by many here.. Just look at the HD800 threads.. & other headphones of that ilk.. I guess music can't be pleasurable without added fluff, color?

 

[boomana]

kool bubba ice, people listen to headphones in order to enjoy music, and that means different things to different people, and doesn't make one an audiophile. That fact doesn't diminish individual appreciation or goals when choosing audio gear. I don't consider myself an audiophile, though I do understand that way of approaching things, but I also understand and value quality reproduction, placing particular importance on the reproduction of tone and imaging. If chickscantdrive wants to feel more knowledgeable and superior than others here by pointing out that headphones are flawed and not as good as the real thing, fine and dandy, but I'd prefer we get back to the op's question of what headphones we've heard do well with cellos.

 

[chicscantdrive]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's seem the majority prefers 'fun' over 'accurate.' Or more accurate.. Neutral/accurate/slightly/un colored cans get the cold shoulder by many here.. Just look at the HD800 threads.. & other headphones of that ilk.. I guess music can't be pleasurable without added fluff, color?

That's exactly what I'm sayin'. There are at least two camps here. True/accurate vs. fun/entertaining. I'm a musician, and I completely prefer true/accurate. We put too much sweat into creating a certain sound to have musical equipment change it. I'm going to guess that those who prefer the fun/entertaining/warm also are non-musicians, mostly.

 

[chicscantdrive]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomana /img/forum/go_quote.gif but I'd prefer we get back to the op's question of what headphones we've heard do well with cellos.

Then we have to ask the important questions, does the OP prefer the untouched cello sound or a colored cello sound?

I personally don't even think the headphone matters that much, if at all, short of $10 headsets. The cello naturally produces a warm sound - partly due to the gut strings - and coloring that sound by whatever means only exaggerates that sound by a bit.

 

[moonboy403]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicscantdrive /img/forum/go_quote.gif Then we have to ask the important questions, does the OP prefer the untouched cello sound or a colored cello sound? I personally don't even think the headphone matters that much, if at all, short of $10 headsets. The cello naturally produces a warm sound - partly due to the gut strings - and coloring that sound by whatever means only exaggerates that sound by a bit.

No offense really, but that bolded part begs the question: which headphones have you heard?

I'm not being condescending here. It's just an honest question.

 

[ephemere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Willett /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree - the cello has a wonderful sound - but can be very difficult to record well because it radiates different frequencies in different directions (see diagram below to see how the cello radiates at different frequencies). Posted as it's so interesting.

Indeed it is! That's one of the most interesting posts I've seen for a long time. Do other instruments have similarly non-uniform patterns of radiation, or is the cello one of the "worst"?

 

[ephemere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicscantdrive /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's exactly what I'm sayin'. There are at least two camps here. True/accurate vs. fun/entertaining. I'm a musician, and I completely prefer true/accurate. We put too much sweat into creating a certain sound to have musical equipment change it. I'm going to guess that those who prefer the fun/entertaining/warm also are non-musicians, mostly.

I don't want to step into the middle of a flame war, but I agree with what chicscantdrive is saying. I am 100% in the true/accurate camp and believe "fun" and "warmth" should be in the recording, not added as distortion by the equipment. I've found that any magazine or publication or internet forum is a minefield at best for equipment recommendations because there are a lot of people who actually do want a certain distortion added. There's nothing wrong with that, but it makes it challenging to read through the lines to guess at what equipment I might actually like. There's really no substitute for auditioning for oneself.

That said, I saw nothing in the OP's post to indicate that he wants anything other than a perfectly accurate sound reproducer. So, I don't see anything wrong with his request.

 

[ephemere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicscantdrive /img/forum/go_quote.gif I personally don't even think the headphone matters that much, if at all, short of $10 headsets. The cello naturally produces a warm sound - partly due to the gut strings - and coloring that sound by whatever means only exaggerates that sound by a bit.

Oh, but that I couldn't disagree with more!

 

[chicscantdrive]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonboy403 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No offense really, but that bolded part begs the question: which headphones have you heard? I'm not being condescending here. It's just an honest question.

Here's what I remember.... Grado SR60/125/225/RS1/GS1000/HF1/HF2, MS1, Denon D2000/5000, K702, HD600. Some I own, while others belong to family members. I've kept some and craigslisted off the others. I've bought these based on the recommendation of others on here, stereophile reviews, and whatever else. If I had realized that there were different camps (true/accurate, fun/entertaining, bassy, etc) I probably would have saved a grand or two by avoiding the types of headphones I don't like (highly praised, but not my type). There's a lot of recommendations made here and there, but there are little descriptions of the sound produced.

 

[moonboy403]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicscantdrive /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here's what I remember.... Grado SR60/125/225/RS1/GS1000/HF1/HF2, MS1, Denon D2000/5000, K702, HD600. Some I own, while others belong to family members. I've kept some and craigslisted off the others. I've bought these based on the recommendation of others on here, stereophile reviews, and whatever else. If I had realized that there were different camps (true/accurate, fun/entertaining, bassy, etc) I probably would have saved a grand or two by avoiding the types of headphones I don't like (highly praised, but not my type). There's a lot of recommendations made here and there, but there are little descriptions of the sound produced.

All the bolded headphones are well-known to be colored cans so you should've done better research than you have in getting those cans. I don't have much experience with the HD600 so I'll refrain from commenting. As for the K702, it's certainly not truly neutral as it tends to have a treble emphasis and there's also something a little off on the mids IMO. So out of all the ones that you've tried, only the K702 and HD600 can be considered neutral really.

You mentioned that headphones don't matter much since they are very colored, that's probably because you picked out all the highly colored headphones to begin with.

Now if you want truly neutral cans, try the K1000 and HD800.