Charlesbian
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2008
- Posts
- 18
- Likes
- 10
Relatively new here. I currently own a pair of Grado sr60's due to head-fi's recommendation a few years ago. Really great cans, and I love them for what I paid for, but their comfort and sound leakage are encouraging me to look into upgrading. From browsing the forums, the Aurvana Live! and Sennheiser 555's seem to be two favorites that are within my price range, more so the Aurvana than the 555's.
The Aurvana's are appealing because apparantly they have the same drivers as the Denon D1001's, but much cheaper (and cheaper than the Sennheiser. The Aurvana's go for 100$ on amazon while the 555's are at 175$ USD)
The Sennheisers are appealing because they are moddable to the 595's and have a good reputation.
Is the Sennheiser 555 that big of a step up from the Aurvana's? I don't have much experience so I can't really say my sound signature preferences, as the Grado sr60's were my first real headphones. I listen to mostly pop rock (think Bloc Party, early Radiohead, etc), Rap, pop electro (Crystal Castles, etc), Classical (Tchaikovsky, spelled that right on the first try!), and folk. So...basically a little of everything...
I simply am outputting directly through my motherboard audiojack. It's a fairly new motherboard (Asus P8P67) so I guess it has decent onboard sound. I do not have a DAC or amp, but might consider it if it makes a huge difference with these cans, especially if I can get an Aurvana + an amp for the same price combined of the 555's, and surpass it in sound quality.
So which would you recommend? Or are there are ones that I should be looking into?
Thanks!
The Aurvana's are appealing because apparantly they have the same drivers as the Denon D1001's, but much cheaper (and cheaper than the Sennheiser. The Aurvana's go for 100$ on amazon while the 555's are at 175$ USD)
The Sennheisers are appealing because they are moddable to the 595's and have a good reputation.
Is the Sennheiser 555 that big of a step up from the Aurvana's? I don't have much experience so I can't really say my sound signature preferences, as the Grado sr60's were my first real headphones. I listen to mostly pop rock (think Bloc Party, early Radiohead, etc), Rap, pop electro (Crystal Castles, etc), Classical (Tchaikovsky, spelled that right on the first try!), and folk. So...basically a little of everything...
I simply am outputting directly through my motherboard audiojack. It's a fairly new motherboard (Asus P8P67) so I guess it has decent onboard sound. I do not have a DAC or amp, but might consider it if it makes a huge difference with these cans, especially if I can get an Aurvana + an amp for the same price combined of the 555's, and surpass it in sound quality.
So which would you recommend? Or are there are ones that I should be looking into?
Thanks!
EDIT: Also, considering a DAC. On the fence between a Xonar DG or STX...At what headphone level will I begin to see a significant difference between the DG and STX?
