Best headphones (or Amps) for bad recordings?

[superfrognyc]

I'm at my wits ends to find a good pair of headphones for classical music lot of these classical recording are technically subpar especially the old historical recordings even new recordings leave a lot to be desired.

My current headphone is the wonderful AUDEZE LCD-X it is very detailed but not the most forgiving headphone when it comes to bad recordings, it really hurt my ears to listen to bad recordings with this.

So is there headphones out there that would be dark or warm enough to help smooths out the bad recordings without losing too much detail retrieving? should I try closed headphones? Should I switch to a tube amp instead of solid state?

Thanks!

AUDEZE LCD-X
Cavalli Liquid Carbon v1
Topping D50 DAC

 

[The Socialist Nerd]

I use the Audeze LCD-2CB's for bad recordings and those are way more forgiving. You won't be complaining about Caruso after using these cans.

 

[PopZeus]

Honestly, one of my favorite things about the Meze 99 Noir is how enjoyable it is with a wide variety of recordings. It's not a super revealing headphone, but that's actually an unqualified benefit sometimes. I love a lot of lo-fi bands, and listening to them through super revealing headphones doesn't actually make for the most fun experience. I think that's why it's a well-liked headphone for a certain part of the community; I can enjoy a larger portion of my record collection with the 99s.

It's also a reason why I got an R2R DAC. The smoother, more analog sound really takes the edge off some rougher recordings.

 

[adeadcrab]

I like the Sennheiser 650.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

The DT990 is wonderful for old less than stellar classical albums.
So is the Nighthawk and the Ollo S4

 

[superfrognyc]

I use the Audeze LCD-2CB's for bad recordings and those are way more forgiving. You won't be complaining about Caruso after using these cans.

Thank for the recommendation I tried the LCD2 classic

I use the Audeze LCD-2CB's for bad recordings and those are way more forgiving. You won't be complaining about Caruso after using these cans.

I have tried LCD2 Classic so I will give the LCD2 Closed Back a try.

 

[superfrognyc]

Honestly, one of my favorite things about the Meze 99 Noir is how enjoyable it is with a wide variety of recordings. It's not a super revealing headphone, but that's actually an unqualified benefit sometimes. I love a lot of lo-fi bands, and listening to them through super revealing headphones doesn't actually make for the most fun experience. I think that's why it's a well-liked headphone for a certain part of the community; I can enjoy a larger portion of my record collection with the 99s.

It's also a reason why I got an R2R DAC. The smoother, more analog sound really takes the edge off some rougher recordings.

Thanks, I have heard of the Meze 99 Noir I will get one on Massdrop and check it out.

 

[superfrognyc]

I like the Sennheiser 650.

I have the 58x and the 660s, the 58x is a warn sounding headphone but not very revealing and the 660s is a little too bright for my taste.

 

[superfrognyc]

The DT990 is wonderful for old less than stellar classical albums.
So is the Nighthawk and the Ollo S4

I have never listen to a Beyerdynamic headphone the DT990 is less than $200 I will try them.

 

[adeadcrab]

DT990 is V-shape signature with a lot of treble. 650 is smooth but revealing also with a good audio chain.

 

[superfrognyc]

DT990 is V-shape signature with a lot of treble. 650 is smooth but revealing also with a good audio chain.

Ok so DT990 is out. I will give the 650 a try.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

The v-signature is why it is more forgiving than say the DT880. If you want something to play well with subpar recordings, then the v-sig is the way imho unless you deliberately seek out headphones with lots of distortion and so forth.
The 650 is a wonderful headphone...but it also has an upper mids-boost, which can make some less than stellar recordings sound rather shouty in a weird way.
I suggested the DT990 because I’ve never ever come across an album that didn’t go down well over it, treble peak or not.
My uncle who probably is Denmarks biggest classical fan has had the K701 for as long as I can remember plus an hd800 as well as the K550. -All cans that play well with beautiful and crystal clear productions, which in the end made him totally neglect huge chunks of his collection simply because the sound quality through his headphones was too harsh, when opting for old rough recordings. He then tested a bunch of different headphones in order to find the ONE that sounded brilliant when his others didn’t. He now owns the DT990 and couldn’t be happier.
Anyways long story short: I’d heartily recommend you listen to some of these cans before you make the final decision

 

[superfrognyc]

The v-signature is why it is more forgiving than say the DT880. If you want something to play well with subpar recordings, then the v-sig is the way imho unless you deliberately seek out headphones with lots of distortion and so forth.
The 650 is a wonderful headphone...but it also has an upper mids-boost, which can make some less than stellar recordings sound rather shouty in a weird way.
I suggested the DT990 because I’ve never ever come across an album that didn’t go down well over it, treble peak or not.
My uncle who probably is Denmarks biggest classical fan has had the K701 for as long as I can remember plus an hd800 as well as the K550. -All cans that play well with beautiful and crystal clear productions, which in the end made him totally neglect huge chunks of his collection simply because the sound quality through his headphones was too harsh, when opting for old rough recordings. He then tested a bunch of different headphones in order to find the ONE that sounded brilliant when his others didn’t. He now owns the DT990 and couldn’t be happier.
Anyways long story short: I’d heartily recommend you listen to some of these cans before you make the final decision

Damn, the DT990 is back on my list then.

 

[superfrognyc]

I have tried something last night I removed the DAC (Topping D50) from the audio chain and connected the Cavalli directly to my MacBook Pro using a y cable, surprise, surprise, using the LCD-X the sound is very listenable with bad recordings, the only problem now is the amp power sounds anaemic I have to crank up the volume knob to 2/3pm to get any decent sound volume (with the gain on!).

 

[Michael103]

HD800 is actually very good with old classical recordings, contrary to what people say, much better than HD650 on the same r2r dac. Too much detail lost in noise for HD650; instrument details are much more distinctive with HD800, with noise in a background layer. For actually poorly mastered recordings (usually pop or something), not sure if it's something we should try to solve... (i personally don't have enough interest i guess)