saint.panda
Headphoneus Supremus
First of all, thank you Jan for inviting everybody to your place and for being a most terrific host. We just had a great time and those hours passed by really fast.
Only some short impressions here:
Rega Planet (2002 version): incredibly smooth, amazing groove, great details. Much better than my old Philips CD 850 and imo better than Jan’s modded Sony SACD player. I'd get this player if I had the money. And it looked so damn tasty as well. I loved the toploading system.
Gilmore Lite (mine) vs. Corda HA 1: Frankly, the HA 1 outclassed the Gilmore Lite. Especially the midrange on the Gilmore Lite was too lacking - no body. It was the same with all headphones and the HA 1 wasn’t even burned in as it was fresh out of the box. However, note that the Gilmore Lite retails for 250$ and the HA 1 for 375€´
Edit: the bass on the Gilmore Lite was a bit tighter. But the highs were a bit too bright (fatiguing).
Prehead vs. RKV MKII: At first liked the RKV better but in the end the Prehead was just more natural and realistic. The Prehead also did a great job as a preamp when feeding Jan’s 2 self-built mono poweramps powering some Kef speakers.
Jan’s analoguer: the other participants noticed more of an improvement when using the analoguer. Imo the sound was just slightly less fatiguing.
I, now, believe that amps make more of a difference than I originally thought. Imo the amp is almost as important as the source. The source changes the sound signature but only a good amp can unleash the source’s given potential.
Headphones (usually out of the rega planet and a prehead and Jan's self-made interconnects)
-HD 555: I was not impressed at all. Imo there was no comparison to headphones such as hd600 or Beyer 880. Definitely more forward than the HD 600. I can't provide a thorough analysis but IMO these headphones lacked quite a lot.
-Beyer 770: Now these headphones have bass but the rest wasn’t very convincing. Plus the bass was really slow and a bit bloated. Jan called it a boombox.
-Beyer 531: Not as a groovy as I thought but it came really close to the Beyer 880, pretty much the same sound signature but with less details and less soundstage. Definitely good for the price.
-AKG 1000 (plugged into the rkv): I finally got to try these
Well, they were nice but nothing for me. More bass than I expected. Great soundstage. I’m glad I didn’t like them because I couldn’t afford them anyway.
-Grado HP 1000: best details among all headphones tested. Very good highs and midrange. Not enough bass which might be due to the bowl pads. These headphones are so fast and the attack is stunning. Nevertheless, they didn’t have enough soundstage for me.
-Jan’s heavily-modded 931: good but not enough listening time on them to make a proper judgement.
-Sony CD3000: These cans failed to impress me again. Despite the Prehead and the Rega 2002 which is really smooth cd source, I still found them too bright. And the soundstage just didn’t sound right to me. Calling it fake might be a bit too much, but to me it just didn’t sound right. Nonetheless, the cd3k had the best bass (tight and impact) among all headphones tested (including the hd650).
-Senn HD 600: I still can’t figure how these were supposed to be the “best headphones in the world”. Some instruments just sounded plain wrong. A piano didn’t sound like a piano. Bass was slow and bloated in comparison to Beyer 880 or CD3k
-Senn HD 650: Now we’re talking. Though still a bit too dark and this one sounded really good
-Beyer 880: I liked them at the start of the meet, partially because they were mine. However, at the end of the meet I thought that on a good source and a good amp they were better than the Sony 3k, better than the hd600 and better than the HD 650 (for classic and jazz). The HD 650 was better when it came to more ambient and electronic stuff. The Beyer 880 lacked some bass. One last note: The HD650 sounded really realistic and natural, just a bit too dark. Although people claim that vocals on the Beyer 880 are great I found the vocals best on the HD 650. Vocals on the Beyer 880 are a bit sweetened.
Comfort: Imo the Beyer 880 and Sony 3k won this contest followd closely by the Beyer 531. The HD 6x0 had too much clamping force.
I’ll post more detailed comparisons between the HD 650, HD600 and Beyer 880 in the “headphones” forum as I spent hours listening to these 3 cans in particular (out of both the prehead and the RKV). And maybe some references to the Sony 3k. I’ve made some notes but can’t find them at the moment.
Pics (sorry Jan...ISDN modem....
)
Audio Valve RKV MKII (sweet)
Jan wearing HD 650. Headphones (clockwise: ) Sony CD3000, Beyer 880, Beyer 531. CDP is the Rega Planet. The silvery amp is the Gilmore Lite. The big amp at the bottom is the prehead without front panel and the amp on the top is Jan's new prototype
Some additions to the earlier pic:
Sony D-211 at the right side, the headphone on the farest left is the Beyer 770, on top of the big amps is the Corda HA1 MKII, the big player on the left is the Philips CD 850, the weirdly-coloured cable is a Oehlbach NF2, the normal looking cables are Jan's self-built ones
Beydynamic 880 plugged into a Philips Dolby processor and Lords of the Rings (amazing
)
Sennheiser HD 555, Grado HP1000, Ultrasone 650
AKG K1000 with the "earcups" flapped out
AKG K1000 and the Beyer 531
Jan's speakers and you can see his poweramps on the left and right side to the speakers
From left to right: Impedanzer for the RKV on the top and one of Jan's mono poweramps at the bottom; Audio Valve RKV; Prehead at the bottom and Analgouer on top; Jan's modded Sony SACD player
Great meet and a big thanks to Jan for providing and setting up all the stuff. Even opened a new Beyer 770 just for us to try them.
Great conversations, great music, great equipment and great people. I don’t think anybody who was there would have missed it for anything in the world.
And btw, Jan is a pretty good pianist as well
Only some short impressions here:
Rega Planet (2002 version): incredibly smooth, amazing groove, great details. Much better than my old Philips CD 850 and imo better than Jan’s modded Sony SACD player. I'd get this player if I had the money. And it looked so damn tasty as well. I loved the toploading system.
Gilmore Lite (mine) vs. Corda HA 1: Frankly, the HA 1 outclassed the Gilmore Lite. Especially the midrange on the Gilmore Lite was too lacking - no body. It was the same with all headphones and the HA 1 wasn’t even burned in as it was fresh out of the box. However, note that the Gilmore Lite retails for 250$ and the HA 1 for 375€´
Edit: the bass on the Gilmore Lite was a bit tighter. But the highs were a bit too bright (fatiguing).
Prehead vs. RKV MKII: At first liked the RKV better but in the end the Prehead was just more natural and realistic. The Prehead also did a great job as a preamp when feeding Jan’s 2 self-built mono poweramps powering some Kef speakers.
Jan’s analoguer: the other participants noticed more of an improvement when using the analoguer. Imo the sound was just slightly less fatiguing.
I, now, believe that amps make more of a difference than I originally thought. Imo the amp is almost as important as the source. The source changes the sound signature but only a good amp can unleash the source’s given potential.
Headphones (usually out of the rega planet and a prehead and Jan's self-made interconnects)
-HD 555: I was not impressed at all. Imo there was no comparison to headphones such as hd600 or Beyer 880. Definitely more forward than the HD 600. I can't provide a thorough analysis but IMO these headphones lacked quite a lot.
-Beyer 770: Now these headphones have bass but the rest wasn’t very convincing. Plus the bass was really slow and a bit bloated. Jan called it a boombox.
-Beyer 531: Not as a groovy as I thought but it came really close to the Beyer 880, pretty much the same sound signature but with less details and less soundstage. Definitely good for the price.
-AKG 1000 (plugged into the rkv): I finally got to try these
-Grado HP 1000: best details among all headphones tested. Very good highs and midrange. Not enough bass which might be due to the bowl pads. These headphones are so fast and the attack is stunning. Nevertheless, they didn’t have enough soundstage for me.
-Jan’s heavily-modded 931: good but not enough listening time on them to make a proper judgement.
-Sony CD3000: These cans failed to impress me again. Despite the Prehead and the Rega 2002 which is really smooth cd source, I still found them too bright. And the soundstage just didn’t sound right to me. Calling it fake might be a bit too much, but to me it just didn’t sound right. Nonetheless, the cd3k had the best bass (tight and impact) among all headphones tested (including the hd650).
-Senn HD 600: I still can’t figure how these were supposed to be the “best headphones in the world”. Some instruments just sounded plain wrong. A piano didn’t sound like a piano. Bass was slow and bloated in comparison to Beyer 880 or CD3k
-Senn HD 650: Now we’re talking. Though still a bit too dark and this one sounded really good
-Beyer 880: I liked them at the start of the meet, partially because they were mine. However, at the end of the meet I thought that on a good source and a good amp they were better than the Sony 3k, better than the hd600 and better than the HD 650 (for classic and jazz). The HD 650 was better when it came to more ambient and electronic stuff. The Beyer 880 lacked some bass. One last note: The HD650 sounded really realistic and natural, just a bit too dark. Although people claim that vocals on the Beyer 880 are great I found the vocals best on the HD 650. Vocals on the Beyer 880 are a bit sweetened.
Comfort: Imo the Beyer 880 and Sony 3k won this contest followd closely by the Beyer 531. The HD 6x0 had too much clamping force.
I’ll post more detailed comparisons between the HD 650, HD600 and Beyer 880 in the “headphones” forum as I spent hours listening to these 3 cans in particular (out of both the prehead and the RKV). And maybe some references to the Sony 3k. I’ve made some notes but can’t find them at the moment.
Pics (sorry Jan...ISDN modem....
Audio Valve RKV MKII (sweet)
Jan wearing HD 650. Headphones (clockwise: ) Sony CD3000, Beyer 880, Beyer 531. CDP is the Rega Planet. The silvery amp is the Gilmore Lite. The big amp at the bottom is the prehead without front panel and the amp on the top is Jan's new prototype
Some additions to the earlier pic:
Sony D-211 at the right side, the headphone on the farest left is the Beyer 770, on top of the big amps is the Corda HA1 MKII, the big player on the left is the Philips CD 850, the weirdly-coloured cable is a Oehlbach NF2, the normal looking cables are Jan's self-built ones
Beydynamic 880 plugged into a Philips Dolby processor and Lords of the Rings (amazing
Sennheiser HD 555, Grado HP1000, Ultrasone 650
AKG K1000 with the "earcups" flapped out
AKG K1000 and the Beyer 531
Jan's speakers and you can see his poweramps on the left and right side to the speakers
From left to right: Impedanzer for the RKV on the top and one of Jan's mono poweramps at the bottom; Audio Valve RKV; Prehead at the bottom and Analgouer on top; Jan's modded Sony SACD player
Great meet and a big thanks to Jan for providing and setting up all the stuff. Even opened a new Beyer 770 just for us to try them.
Great conversations, great music, great equipment and great people. I don’t think anybody who was there would have missed it for anything in the world.
And btw, Jan is a pretty good pianist as well
