sennsay
1000+ Head-Fier
Hi all, I'm a Head-fi virgin though catching on fast! I've been a long time headphone buff and my almost 20 year old Senn HD 540's have seen countless hours. Thing is, they're sods of things to drive and are not exactly well endowed in the bass dept, although they ARE very articulate and many's the time I have thought that I've left the main speakers on because I would have sworn I felt the floor move. Yet, at the same time, they do not have the visceral impact of the Denon AH-D1000's I have recently bought, which cream them in the quantity of bass though are left far behind in the quality stakes of speed, precision and focus.
My head amp is one I built from a Silicon Chip magazine kit and his given me many hours of pleasure, driving the Senn's to plenty of volume, sounds very clean and dynamically quick, it would not be classed as warm sounding. It uses a OPA 2134PA op-amp running into a transistor stage to boost current for more difficult cans, like the 600 ohm HD 540's.
A couple of questions for those more experienced than myself in rolling op-amps etc, 1) I'm now wondering if the Senn's might fill out a little in the bass with a higher output impedance than the virtual zero of the headamp - they have sounded ... um ... gruntier ... through the headphone socket of two big Yamaha amps I own (though still no real deep bass punch), 8 ohms+ maybe?
2) The original Senn cables started separating some time ago ( I mean the join between the wire for each channel) and so I bought some new ones from the Senn importer in NZ, they cost $50 and they're rubbish! Don't use 'em, they ruin nearly all aspects of the sound stage and add some flubber in the bass and grain most everywhere else. However, the 540's do not have the same cable plugs into the cans as the newer models and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if there are any decent replacement cables that will fit?
3) I know that there is a higher spec version of the OPA 2134PA op-amp, but can anyone suggest a classier device to pop in it's place? I'm also thinking of upgrading the caps to Black Gates or similar.
Thanks for any help I can get, I love my old 540's! They are also by far the most comfortable cans I've ever had on my head, though the Denons are rather fine too, if a bit warmer over longer listening periods.
One thing I have noticed with the D1000's that no one seems to have mentioned yet (that I've seen so far, anyway) is that despite their flaws they REALLY HAVE SOMETHING!
No matter at the moment that they miss the precision of the 540's, man can they boogie! There's a real sense of not so much hearing a recording but more like actually BEING there. An example, my current fave CD is the new Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis " Two Men With The Blues", recorded live at The Home of Jazz at Lincoln Centre, the D1000's give a palpable sense of the energy and feeling of being there, the atmosphere and emotional connection of the musicians and the audience, who were clearly highly appreciative! I ran a set of Senn HD 555's alongside (the amp has two output sockets) and I heard a clearer recording of a live concert, yet they didn't give me the feeling of being there, didn't emotionally connect me to the event. Hell, I was doing a little sashay around the floor, lost in it with the D1000's.
They had the same effect with the studio recording of Supertramp's "School", less detail, but man Roger Hodgeson was right there! Love 'em already. The cable mods sound good, though if I want to put the Dynamat in them at some stage, I will probably need to import it or find a more local alternative.
I've kinda gone nuts and bought a 2Move for use with the Mac iBook (and an iPod at a later date), Jan is posting it tomorrow, and a Zero amp/dac for use with both the iBook and the Yamaha CDX 1110 CD player I use as my main source, I'm thinking it will make a good transport.
Love the review you wrote on the Zero amp/pre/dac, PENCHUM, you sold me on it, boosted with a couple of other fine comments in various threads. I've wanted a separate DAC for a while now. It seems almost ridiculously well built for the money!
By the way, I use a Trevor Lees valve pre-amp between the CDX 1110 and the headamp, Although I can run the CD player direct into the amp using the variable output (it tightens the bass of the D1000's a bit and adds a dash of extra crispness in the mids), the pre-amp is such a joy to listen too that I simply prefer running the music through it. Cables are White Zombie Audio's La Cacanya (silver) from CD to pre and a short (1/2 M) length of silver flat-section braided cable from pre to amp. Sometimes, if I'm using the HD 540s, I will swap the short silver cables for my long-time favourite Neotech KHS154-SPC Hyper Balanced ones. They're fuller in the bass, if a little less articulate, than the silver cables, but they sure can communicate a fine rhythm and tune!
Looking forward to getting around the site some more, cheers all.
My head amp is one I built from a Silicon Chip magazine kit and his given me many hours of pleasure, driving the Senn's to plenty of volume, sounds very clean and dynamically quick, it would not be classed as warm sounding. It uses a OPA 2134PA op-amp running into a transistor stage to boost current for more difficult cans, like the 600 ohm HD 540's.
A couple of questions for those more experienced than myself in rolling op-amps etc, 1) I'm now wondering if the Senn's might fill out a little in the bass with a higher output impedance than the virtual zero of the headamp - they have sounded ... um ... gruntier ... through the headphone socket of two big Yamaha amps I own (though still no real deep bass punch), 8 ohms+ maybe?
2) The original Senn cables started separating some time ago ( I mean the join between the wire for each channel) and so I bought some new ones from the Senn importer in NZ, they cost $50 and they're rubbish! Don't use 'em, they ruin nearly all aspects of the sound stage and add some flubber in the bass and grain most everywhere else. However, the 540's do not have the same cable plugs into the cans as the newer models and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if there are any decent replacement cables that will fit?
3) I know that there is a higher spec version of the OPA 2134PA op-amp, but can anyone suggest a classier device to pop in it's place? I'm also thinking of upgrading the caps to Black Gates or similar.
Thanks for any help I can get, I love my old 540's! They are also by far the most comfortable cans I've ever had on my head, though the Denons are rather fine too, if a bit warmer over longer listening periods.
One thing I have noticed with the D1000's that no one seems to have mentioned yet (that I've seen so far, anyway) is that despite their flaws they REALLY HAVE SOMETHING!
No matter at the moment that they miss the precision of the 540's, man can they boogie! There's a real sense of not so much hearing a recording but more like actually BEING there. An example, my current fave CD is the new Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis " Two Men With The Blues", recorded live at The Home of Jazz at Lincoln Centre, the D1000's give a palpable sense of the energy and feeling of being there, the atmosphere and emotional connection of the musicians and the audience, who were clearly highly appreciative! I ran a set of Senn HD 555's alongside (the amp has two output sockets) and I heard a clearer recording of a live concert, yet they didn't give me the feeling of being there, didn't emotionally connect me to the event. Hell, I was doing a little sashay around the floor, lost in it with the D1000's.
They had the same effect with the studio recording of Supertramp's "School", less detail, but man Roger Hodgeson was right there! Love 'em already. The cable mods sound good, though if I want to put the Dynamat in them at some stage, I will probably need to import it or find a more local alternative.
I've kinda gone nuts and bought a 2Move for use with the Mac iBook (and an iPod at a later date), Jan is posting it tomorrow, and a Zero amp/dac for use with both the iBook and the Yamaha CDX 1110 CD player I use as my main source, I'm thinking it will make a good transport.
Love the review you wrote on the Zero amp/pre/dac, PENCHUM, you sold me on it, boosted with a couple of other fine comments in various threads. I've wanted a separate DAC for a while now. It seems almost ridiculously well built for the money!
By the way, I use a Trevor Lees valve pre-amp between the CDX 1110 and the headamp, Although I can run the CD player direct into the amp using the variable output (it tightens the bass of the D1000's a bit and adds a dash of extra crispness in the mids), the pre-amp is such a joy to listen too that I simply prefer running the music through it. Cables are White Zombie Audio's La Cacanya (silver) from CD to pre and a short (1/2 M) length of silver flat-section braided cable from pre to amp. Sometimes, if I'm using the HD 540s, I will swap the short silver cables for my long-time favourite Neotech KHS154-SPC Hyper Balanced ones. They're fuller in the bass, if a little less articulate, than the silver cables, but they sure can communicate a fine rhythm and tune!
Looking forward to getting around the site some more, cheers all.
