[Saltuk]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a headphone setup for my office rig. Will use foobar>audiophile2496 for flac music. My plan is to experience headphone sound in "three steps" first a setup for 500$ than a k1000 and finally a O2 or R10 (or some thing in that neighbourhood).

I listen to classical %95 of time in my home speaker system with proper gear driving Focal be1027. I had the opportinuty to experience the best of the best in speaker world via friends systems (sonus faber, marten design,kharma,wilson,gryphon,B&W 800s etc...) and gradulay upgrading my system to a satisfactory level. I frequently attend to live performances so I have an idea on how the instruments sound and what home audio can/can't do to reproduce them.

I know the advantages and shortages of headphones, what I look for to achieve in "step one" is to have above avarage micro details , good instrument seperation and out of head sound.

İs it possible for that budget? I believe the Stax 2050 system might fit the bill. I dont need articulate and deep bass (I know how real bass feels like and dont expect much from the first two steps ) so for bass quality is much more important than quantity for me . I have listened to HD650, DT880'03, HD600,AT-A700 in avarage setups and none got me excited.

So what do you say about the 2050 and any other recommenditions?

Saltuk.

 

[krmathis]

I give the Stax SRS-2050 system a thumbs up!
It will most probably don't disappoint you, and at the same time give you a great entry into the world of electrostatic headphones.

It fit nice within your budget as well.

 

[majkel]

I wasn't impressed with cheaper electrostatic gears so, for a person familiar with live performance and sounds of real instruments, $500 is just enough for the Grado RS2. I guess they will be quite properly driven directly from your soundcard. They have 32 ohms of impedance which is a "default" value for most computer related headphone outs.

 

[Saltuk]

There is also another point , I know here at head-fi most people don't take frequency response measuraments seriously but , I have read nearly all the reviews on headphones here and the reviews almost always match with the frequency graphs.

For example one of the most acclaimed headphone is K1000 here and it measures rulerflat from 50hz to 20khz. MDR-F1 is known as lacking details and its measurament shows that it has nearly no presence beyond 13khz. I never come across a favorite headphone here that measures badly. HD650 sounded too thick to me and when I looked at the FR Graph I saw that it had a very wide bump that peaks +10 db between 30-300hz.

The SRS-2050 has very worrying measurements , the low end response doesnt worry me but high frequency looks unacceptable to me. I would say forget about the measurements to myself but as I said earlier the reviews of the headphones here are just like explanations of the FR Graphs of them.

And do RS2 really create an out of head sound?

Here is the site I use to see measurements of various cans.

ƒwƒbƒhƒzƒ“ƒŒƒrƒ…[

And here is Akg K1000 Frequency Response Graph (provided by Akg)

 

[drummerboy47]

I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb and recommend Audio Technica's ATH-W5000 to you. I'm incredibly happy with mine.

They're a bit more than what you want to pay (I've seen many for around $650 used, or slightly less).

Quote:

what I look for to achieve in "step one" is to have above avarage micro details ,

They have incredible detail resolution.

Quote:

good instrument seperation

Same here.

Quote:

and out of head sound.

I suspect there are some open cans that could do a better job at this. I don't have any to compare to, but I've read that the W5000's do quite well in this area for being closed cans. I'm never bothered by feeling closed in. Also, being closed might prove to be an advantage at an office. Others don't need to hear whatever you're jammin to

Quote:

I have an idea on how the instruments sound

This is possibly the W5000's greatest weakness. They have a forward upper midrange. Some say they have rolled off bass as well. Much of this can be corrected by modifying them to the F5005. (follow the link in my signature if you're interested). I'm usually aware of this "colouration," but I'm never really annoyed by it.

Another area these phones excel at is quiet listening. Details are very present at low listening levels.

Hope you find something that works for you.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltuk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi everyone, I am looking for a headphone setup for my office rig. Will use foobar>audiophile2496 for flac music. My plan is to experience headphone sound in "three steps" first a setup for 500$ than a k1000 and finally a O2 or R10 (or some thing in that neighbourhood). I listen to classical %95 of time in my home speaker system with proper gear driving Focal be1027. I had the opportinuty to experience the best of the best in speaker world via friends systems (sonus faber, marten design,kharma,wilson,gryphon,B&W 800s etc...) and gradulay upgrading my system to a satisfactory level. I frequently attend to live performances so I have an idea on how the instruments sound and what home audio can/can't do to reproduce them. I know the advantages and shortages of headphones, what I look for to achieve in "step one" is to have above avarage micro details , good instrument seperation and out of head sound. İs it possible for that budget? I believe the Stax 2050 system might fit the bill. I dont need articulate and deep bass (I know how real bass feels like and dont expect much from the first two steps ) so for bass quality is much more important than quantity for me . I have listened to HD650, DT880'03, HD600,AT-A700 in avarage setups and none got me excited. So what do you say about the 2050 and any other recommenditions? Saltuk.

At least you are aiming high, instead of going the slow route..

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltuk /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is also another point , I know here at head-fi most people don't take frequency response measuraments seriously but , I have read nearly all the reviews on headphones here and the reviews almost always match with the frequency graphs. For example one of the most acclaimed headphone is K1000 here and it measures rulerflat from 50hz to 20khz. MDR-F1 is known as lacking details and its measurament shows that it has nearly no presence beyond 13khz. I never come across a favorite headphone here that measures badly. HD650 sounded too thick to me and when I looked at the FR Graph I saw that it had a very wide bump that peaks +10 db between 30-300hz. The SRS-2050 has very worrying measurements , the low end response doesnt worry me but high frequency looks unacceptable to me. I would say forget about the measurements to myself but as I said earlier the reviews of the headphones here are just like explanations of the FR Graphs of them. And do RS2 really create an out of head sound? Here is the site I use to see measurements of various cans. ƒwƒbƒhƒzƒ“ƒŒƒrƒ…[ And here is Akg K1000 Frequency Response Graph (provided by Akg)

Still boggles my mind, when they were in production no one seemed to care about them.. Now they are like gold.. They must have always sounded great..