Kibble Fat
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The headphone sensitivity will determine what percentage of your amp's power you need to reach your normal listening levels (dB)
Detroit - Ann Arbor Impressions Thread - 2/18/12 Meet
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shrimants
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I figured the sensitivity of the headphone would just determine how loud the headphone sounded given a fixed amount of power going into the load. What is the actual calculation/equation that is used to come up with the numbers? I cant believe that an amplifier designer would pick some arbitrary power requirement and simply calculate P=IV and whatnot.
I might shoot misterX an email or something and ask him about it.
I might shoot misterX an email or something and ask him about it.
elrod-tom
Moderator - Prefers "stereo weirdo" to "audiophile"
Ugh...just now getting a chance to post about this meet. Travel soccer and a 10 year old boy will keep you busy.
I had a great time as always...thanks to Jude for hosting the meet and providing the pizza, and to Adam for bringing bagels. Oh, and to everyone who brought gear...tearing down and setting up and tearing down and setting up is a lot of work, and anyone who brings anything more than the most portable stuff deserves kudos.
Some (very) quick impressions:
Loved musicman59's PS Audio Perfectwave DAC driving either the RSA Darkstar with HE-6, or the Woo Audio 5 with the Sennheiser HD800 or...well, pretty much anything. Thanks Jose for bringing it all out.
I liked the HiFiMan E-6 amp with the HE-6 and HE-500...but I'd have expected that. The AudioGD DAC that Jude had driving it sounded pretty nice...don't recall what it was.
The controversy about the pads (pad-gate?) on the Audeze LCD-3...what to say? I'm wondering if there are any pictures of Jose "testing" the pads? I'll be interested to see what comes of all this.
I tried to listen to as many headphones as possible in my own rigs:
1) iPhone=>iStreamer=>RSA SR71B (balanced or unbalanced), or...
2) HRT Music Streamer Pro=>Blossom BLO-0169 balanced amp with Cary PS upgrade (balanced exclusively)
I wanted to do this so that the comparison would have some meaning. The results were as follows:
Shure has a couple of new headphones - The SRH-1440 and SRH-1840 are their first foray into open cans. I listened to these in the SR71B rig.
I really liked the SRH-1840. It reminded me of the best of the AKG K-501, which is an old favorite of mine from way back. It seemed pretty easy to drive...I used the RSA SR71B for my listening. I thought it did a wonderful job with Chris Isaak's "Blue Spanish Sky", picking up subtleties of cymbals and the lower end, with gorgeous full midrange. I really liked it, but with all the offerings out there the MSRP of $700 seems high-ish to me. I will be very interested to see what the street price ends up being.
As for the SRH-1440, I liked the sonic signature, but there's something about the upper end that seems fatiguing to me. Maybe they will break in somewhat with use...
As for the HiFiMan HE-400's, I used them for some extended listening with rig #2...they sounded GREAT...for a while. Then bad things started happening to them. Long story short, we had two pairs and both went bad quickly. I sure hope that they get this straightened out, because I was really impressed with how easy they were to drive. They weren't the most detailed cans I've ever heard, but they were liquid and rich in a way that was really enjoyable to listen to...here's hoping for good news.
Listened to Jose's Beyerdynamic T70's out of my balanced rig #2, and the first thing that jumps out at me is how much easier they are to drive than my DT-770's. They are 250 ohm impedance, which surely makes a difference over my DT-770's at 600 ohms. That said, there's clearly a different driver in these cans...I like the difference. Also really enjoyed listening to Jude's (single-ended) and Jose's (balanced) T-1's. I can see why people like them a lot...tons of detail, and nice sound-staging. Not nearly so fatiguing as my DT-770's can be with extended listening. I'm going to have to give a more thorough listen to them one of these days.
Then there were (was) the Thunderpants - amazing what one can do with a $50 pair of cans and another $500 in after market modifications. They remind me of the AKG K-340's that I owned once upon a time and still miss every time I hear them...airy detail, but with a nice but not overemphisized bottom end. A nice, easy listen with detail and soundstaging...again, wish I could spend some real quality time with them.
That's all for now...more later when I have more time.
I had a great time as always...thanks to Jude for hosting the meet and providing the pizza, and to Adam for bringing bagels. Oh, and to everyone who brought gear...tearing down and setting up and tearing down and setting up is a lot of work, and anyone who brings anything more than the most portable stuff deserves kudos.
Some (very) quick impressions:
Loved musicman59's PS Audio Perfectwave DAC driving either the RSA Darkstar with HE-6, or the Woo Audio 5 with the Sennheiser HD800 or...well, pretty much anything. Thanks Jose for bringing it all out.
I liked the HiFiMan E-6 amp with the HE-6 and HE-500...but I'd have expected that. The AudioGD DAC that Jude had driving it sounded pretty nice...don't recall what it was.
The controversy about the pads (pad-gate?) on the Audeze LCD-3...what to say? I'm wondering if there are any pictures of Jose "testing" the pads? I'll be interested to see what comes of all this.
I tried to listen to as many headphones as possible in my own rigs:
1) iPhone=>iStreamer=>RSA SR71B (balanced or unbalanced), or...
2) HRT Music Streamer Pro=>Blossom BLO-0169 balanced amp with Cary PS upgrade (balanced exclusively)
I wanted to do this so that the comparison would have some meaning. The results were as follows:
Shure has a couple of new headphones - The SRH-1440 and SRH-1840 are their first foray into open cans. I listened to these in the SR71B rig.
I really liked the SRH-1840. It reminded me of the best of the AKG K-501, which is an old favorite of mine from way back. It seemed pretty easy to drive...I used the RSA SR71B for my listening. I thought it did a wonderful job with Chris Isaak's "Blue Spanish Sky", picking up subtleties of cymbals and the lower end, with gorgeous full midrange. I really liked it, but with all the offerings out there the MSRP of $700 seems high-ish to me. I will be very interested to see what the street price ends up being.
As for the SRH-1440, I liked the sonic signature, but there's something about the upper end that seems fatiguing to me. Maybe they will break in somewhat with use...
As for the HiFiMan HE-400's, I used them for some extended listening with rig #2...they sounded GREAT...for a while. Then bad things started happening to them. Long story short, we had two pairs and both went bad quickly. I sure hope that they get this straightened out, because I was really impressed with how easy they were to drive. They weren't the most detailed cans I've ever heard, but they were liquid and rich in a way that was really enjoyable to listen to...here's hoping for good news.
Listened to Jose's Beyerdynamic T70's out of my balanced rig #2, and the first thing that jumps out at me is how much easier they are to drive than my DT-770's. They are 250 ohm impedance, which surely makes a difference over my DT-770's at 600 ohms. That said, there's clearly a different driver in these cans...I like the difference. Also really enjoyed listening to Jude's (single-ended) and Jose's (balanced) T-1's. I can see why people like them a lot...tons of detail, and nice sound-staging. Not nearly so fatiguing as my DT-770's can be with extended listening. I'm going to have to give a more thorough listen to them one of these days.
Then there were (was) the Thunderpants - amazing what one can do with a $50 pair of cans and another $500 in after market modifications. They remind me of the AKG K-340's that I owned once upon a time and still miss every time I hear them...airy detail, but with a nice but not overemphisized bottom end. A nice, easy listen with detail and soundstaging...again, wish I could spend some real quality time with them.
That's all for now...more later when I have more time.
Here is a link of my post in the LCD-3 thread with pictures of the test.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/575751/new-audeze-lcd3/3840
http://www.head-fi.org/t/575751/new-audeze-lcd3/3840
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Curious if anyone compared the two Dark Stars. Were the volume levels consistent between the two?
thread
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Jose was the only one with a Dark Star at the meet.
Audio Addict
Headphoneus Supremus
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Quote:
Thanks. I thought I saw a different one as it didn't look like it was on the stand he brought for his gear.
Kibble Fat
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I saw a lot more pics being taken than what has been posted here... post post post!
ILOVEPOTTERY
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Word! I know Jude and Ben were going photo crazy, I'd like to see some shots!
BlackbeardBen
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Quote:
Word! I know Jude and Ben were going photo crazy, I'd like to see some shots!
Yeah, I'm working on it! Well, I only took about 140, which is nothing for me... I have about 40 I'm going to post.
jjkes
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First I would like to thank Jude for his hospitality and everybody else that helped with the meet. This was my first time at a meet and it will not be the last. I had a great time and got to meet a bunch of great like-minded guys and got to listen to some great equipment. A couple of highlights for me were Jose's HE-6 / Darkstar combo and Tim's Crack (alright guys!, don't even go there. you know I'm talking about his Bottlehead Crack amp. L.O.L. ). The Crack sounded great with my HD650's. I might have to pull the trigger on a crack buy. I just wish I could have beat the price increase. Once again thanks to everybody who made the meet possible.
shrimants
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I really wish there was a Bijou or a Millet Max or Millet Mosfet Max available for me to try with JJikes; HD650. I fell in love with those too and its going to be my next upgrade for sure. And keep in mind that I only tried it out of my Fiio E11, which is only barely able to drive a 300 ohm load. I am still researching the millet designs and the bijou, and I think i'm going to need to look into the various cavalli designs as well. I definitely want an amp that has tubes in it, though I dont know which one yet.
jjkes
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Shrimants,
If your not too far from Brighton you are welcome to come by and take a listen to my HD650's with my Millet Max.
If your not too far from Brighton you are welcome to come by and take a listen to my HD650's with my Millet Max.
shrimants
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I am in novi, that would be great. Do you happen to know the difference between the millet max and the millet mosfet max?
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