[jlbrach]

I like to refer to it as accuracy...I want to hear what is on the recording ,that is why I am such a fan of the sr1a..the stealth sounds very interesting

 

[vonBaron]

I’m afraid of that too. I guess there are a few portables dac/amps that are probably powerful enough.

Kann Cube

 

[xirxes]

I will wait, never been a fan of when people just rave about neutrality- sometimes that’s code talk for “not fun” or not enough oomph - will see

I've never understood this. If you have a purely "accurate" set of headphones, with the least distortion and added "color" to the tonality, then you can very easily, and with precision, ADD the precise "color" to your listening experience through proper EQ.

Now if you start with a "fun" or "exciting" set then you have to battle down to neutrality and often have a horrible time trying to change the signiture away from the designed "flavor" of the sound.

Better to have the options.

 

[barbz127]

Just have to remember that it only needs 200mW for 110dB though so pretty manageable in the scheme of things.

 

[trellus]

I've never understood this. If you have a purely "accurate" set of headphones, with the least distortion and added "color" to the tonality, then you can very easily, and with precision, ADD the precise "color" to your listening experience through proper EQ.

Now if you start with a "fun" or "exciting" set then you have to battle down to neutrality and often have a horrible time trying to change the signiture away from the designed "flavor" of the sound.

Better to have the options.

I’ve had that thought, lately, Besides, it is fun to hear what the recording, mixing, etc laid down and delivered. Not that that’s anything wrong with tweaking it to sound more to our preference… that‘s actually a wonderful choice enabled by having tech to reproduce audio.

 

[xirxes]

I’ve had that thought, lately, Besides, it is fun to hear what the recording, mixing, etc laid down and delivered. Not that that’s anything wrong with tweaking it to sound more to our preference… that‘s actually a wonderful choice enabled by having tech to reproduce audio.

I mean there is so much to say about the fact that you really need to pick your exact goal for listening. If you can find the Artist's explicit goals for the sound, then that's one aim, if you listen to the producers target sound as designed for maximum enjoyment, that's another, if you want to re-engineer the sound away from "sounds best on the most widely available end user systems" and tune into the instrumentation, that's another setup entirely. Shoot, even headphone manufacturers have a very specific presentation of music in general that they are producing, layered on top of all of these, and this sound ITSELF can be sought out (Think cultivating and loving the "Beyer" or "Grado" sound profile).

I just feel that if we get a highly engineered headphone to closely mimic the harmon-FR curve, that ALSO obliterates any confounding resonance/peakyness/distortion, then in the end WE are the ones who get to finely engineer our own personal audio Shangrila with that final layer of tonality "flavor".

 

[eskamobob1]

I’m afraid of that too. I guess there are a few portables dac/amps that are probably powerful enough.

Very very few have enough current. Basicaly c9 and bx2+ only and only if listening quiet

Kann Cube

Not even vaugeky close....

 

[ufospls2]

iDSD Diablo might work well. Not sure of course, as I haven't heard the Stealth.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Very very few have enough current. Basicaly c9 and bx2+ only and only if listening quiet



Not even vaugeky close....

I was thinking the Shaling m30 maybe could handle these hard to drive headphones. Although it is a pretty large size, and is of course expensive. But you could keep it in a backpack and then put it in your lap or on your desk:

https://audio46.com/products/shanling-m30-modular-desktop-hi-fi-streaming-player

 

[KiD0M4N]

@mrspeakers Wow. You guys really have a cool product on your hands.

WIll my (budget) Topping A30 Pro be able to power this? I feel these headphones will be really complementary to my HD800S.

 

[430633]

@mrspeakers Wow. You guys really have a cool product on your hands.

WIll my (budget) Topping A30 Pro be able to power this? I feel these headphones will be really complementary to my HD800S.

A30pro supposedly cleanly puts out 5.5W in high gain at 33ohms. Definitely enough

iDSD Diablo might work well. Not sure of course, as I haven't heard the Stealth.

I'm still learning how to read these types of graphs https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/amp/ifi-idsd-diablo-turbo-bal.php#gsc.tab=0

 

[Marshall95]

The headphone is 86dB @1Khz, this is confirmed. It is definitely more efficient than the Susvara, though a good amp is strongly recommended.

Would the WA8 be a good pairing?

 

[erics75]

I've never understood this. If you have a purely "accurate" set of headphones, with the least distortion and added "color" to the tonality, then you can very easily, and with precision, ADD the precise "color" to your listening experience through proper EQ.

Now if you start with a "fun" or "exciting" set then you have to battle down to neutrality and often have a horrible time trying to change the signiture away from the designed "flavor" of the sound.

Better to have the options.

there's more to engagement than just altering the frequency response via eq. maybe it's resonance and decay, i'm not sure. but i know there's been many headphones i've owned over the years that i've tried eq'ing with no success. the hd800s was the last set i bothered trying to eq. no matter what i did it didn't sound good to me. that's why i always evaluate without eq now. if i don't like something without altering it's response, it's gone. just easier that way for me.

 

[ra990]

Would the WA8 be a good pairing?

Probably not, the Topaz would be better though.

 

[xirxes]

there's more to engagement than just altering the frequency response via eq. maybe it's resonance and decay, i'm not sure. but i know there's been many headphones i've owned over the years that i've tried eq'ing with no success. the hd800s was the last set i bothered trying to eq. no matter what i did it didn't sound good to me. that's why i always evaluate without eq now. if i don't like something without altering it's response, it's gone. just easier that way for me.

This experience makes my point more clearly. If you layer as little physical space or driver "color" into the headphones, then they tend to take very well to EQ, which the hd800 is notoriously bad at EQ'ing, where DCA headphones are famously excellent at accepting EQ, because they start from a much more specific focus on getting any overwhelming headphone "sound signature" out of the way ahead of time.

forgive my incessant quotations, but i tend to bracket any and all sonic jargon because it is all so very jingoistic.