[ellisos020]

 

[kelly]

ellios
I think the V6 is a good entry level closed headphone--great for the price.

JMT is reknowned. He's offering a transparent case META42 that runs off of 9V batteries that should be good for portable use but it will cost a bit more than the headphones. I'd try to spend the money there rather than settling for the other amps he builds (CHA47, CMOY) because it's a solid leap in performance and you'll be in a better position if you decide to buy a more expensive headphone down the road.

Which PCDP do you have? The portable forum is always a good place to find debate on which one is best. My favorite is the Panasonic CT570 but it is no longer in production.

 

[ellisos020]

 

[carlo]

ellisos,

here's another vote that you "upgrade" to a meta instead of a cha-47. there really is no contest between them, the meta gives you more body, weight, and authority than the cha-47 for barely any more money. jmt did excellent work on an amp (cha-47) i purchased from him.

have you checked the archives on portable players? lots of good info there.

best,
carlo.

 

[ellisos020]

 

[carlo]

ellisos,

if size and sound leaking aren't issues of concern i highly recommend the sennheiser hd580s. a bit of grain on an absolute scale in the upper registers but its not enough to disconnect the listener from the music (in my opinion).

best,
carlo.

 

[DarkWolf]

I thought that the V6 didn't really need any amplification? I mean, I know they don't NEED it, but will it really make that big a difference? I'm in a very similar position of trying to find a set of headphones for under $250 and it seems like any phone/amp combo would be too much. So I'm trying to find phones that don't need an amp. I also would prefer open cans, which makes things even worse for me.. sort of...

 

[ellisos020]

 

[carlo]

ellisos,

i got my sennheisers as a b-stock unit from amusicdirect.com about a year ago for under $150, website says to call for a price... worth a shot.

i used a sony portable cd player (dej-220), an eric343 built "eta42" (belongs to audio&me) and the sennheisers with good results. the amp and headphone combination are easily good enough to follow you through source upgrades.

darkwolf,

have you checked out the grado sr225?

best,
carlo.

 

[kelly]

Sony V6 is for me a bare minimum. It goes for about $60 online. (Try shopping.yahoo.com for best prices.)

A step up woudl be the Ultrasone HFI-650 which I use at work now. (Try www.meier-audio.com for those at $140.)

A portable META42 goes for somewhere around $150 depending on what options you get. I simply would not bother with amps costing less.

Both of these headphones can be driven without by most, but not all, headphone jacks without a dedicated amplifier. All headphones must be amplified. Without an outboard amplifier you'll be using the CD player jack's amplifier, which sucks a lot. Do you NEED a headphone amp? No, you can hear the headphone without buying one. You only want one if you want the headphone to sound good.

 

[ellisos020]