This thread has got some frankly brilliant discussion going on and I feel that I would like to contribute my own perspective. There are a great many posts with worthy arguments and information and stories however I have picked this one to precede my own.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif
okay. but we're not talking about speakers here. to me speakers versus headphones is a completely different conversation. if someone owns an hd650, a $250 headphone, and then goes to an L3000 or R10, both more than 10x the amount of the 650, i think the difference in sound quality will be minimal if used in a system with an average source. but if that same hd650 owner invests that $2500+ in a source, the difference imo will be significant and far greater than any upgrade to headphones or amplification.
|
With this as a context I will elaborate on my own experience...
I presently have a Stax Omega 2, an Ergo AMT, a TakeT H2 and the only headphone remaining which I would seriously consider adding to this stash is an AKG K1000. That's going to be in the end, four different driver types, each of which is a seriously difficult and demanding transducer as far as amplification is concerned.
I currently run the three I have from my digital source which is an Audigy 2 ZS soundcard. Now I appreciate that some of you source first philosophers will find that to be quite painful reading.
The reason that I have gone so heavily into the transducer first camp is because I believe that one should establish the character of sound that one likes best, prior to anything. Even though they are all getting garbage in, each of these headphones sounds absolutely nothing like the others and each is incredibly musically enjoyable in its own right.
Because they are such very difficult electrical loads, compared even to tier headphones like the HD650, K701 or DT880, amplification is of much more importance to making them sound correct in that character than is normally the case. Three of them need a speaker amplifier and one a very ballsy electrostatic amp.
I want to get the transducers firing as best as possible in order to maximise the potential of their sound character, before I finally cap off the whole lot with a really good source, in order to then fill out their ultimate potential as far as detail and accuracy and musicality is concerned.
It will also serve my wallet best ultimately to do this, because the amps I pair them with will still be excellent matches, many many years into the future. Whereas sources, particularly digital sources: CDPs and DACs, are advancing technologically far more aggressively. By the time my headphoning and amping is satisfactory, there will be a better CD player, at a better price point to match them with, than there is now.
I recognise the importance of the source in the chain of things. However I find that is it the transducer which is the most ultimate importance in a sound character which is euphonic to the individual, and with some transducers, amplification really is massively important.
I agree that if you are using a DR150, HD595, all the way to K701 or RS-1, you are probably better spending on a source than on an amp within that price context. These headphones though are peanuts to drive compared to what I like the sound of, and want the best from.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif
...if someone owns an hd650, a $250 headphone, and then goes to an L3000 or R10, both more than 10x the amount of the 650, i think the difference in sound quality will be minimal if used in a system with an average source.
|
To requote and to comment. I've made that jump, you are I regret, incorrect in your postulations, the TakeT H2 sounds better from my average source than the HD650 can ever hope to.