Harley1962
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2010
- Posts
- 8
- Likes
- 11
Greetings & Salutations!
It's taken quite a while for me to finally post (after having joined in 2010), but I have an "excuse" due to living / working in 5 countries in the last 4 years!
As a former symphonic musician having performed in all the major concert halls in Europe, the USA, and even Asia I'd always believed "bigger is better", so in years past (when I was more "settled" in my life) I always invested in decent hi-fi equipment (Examples : Muse, Arcam, Musical Fidelity pre-amps & amps, Rega and Dual turntables, MacIntosh CD player, Magnaplanar, KEF, and B & W speakers, countless brands of isolation feet, and "super high fidelity" connecting cables and speaker wires. Basically what I'm trying to communicate is that I've spent my fair share of $$$ on audio gear.
Now that I'm retired from the music business (having recorded and performed with world-class artists and conductors), I am now primarily concentrating on keeping things "compact" and travel-ready.
I've recently purchased a JDS Labs C5D (although I almost went for the O2 + ODAC), primarily because I didn't want to depend on AC "mains" power (I'm often in countries with 220-240V AC as well as standard US 110V), so hauling around an AC to DC adapter seemed impractical.
So now I need to think about HP's. I have always thought of portable HiFi as being "low quality", so listening from a source such as iPhone or Android phone is totally new to me! Since I now live a "nomadic lifestyle" I do (on occasion) listen to music from my Win10 laptop (Sony VAIO), but mostly via the lousy headphone jack on very small speakers (USB powered, but tiny--less than 1 KG in total weight).
I recently ordered a Bose Soundlink Mini II, which I understand uses BT to connect from the source (laptop in my case, mostly 320 and .flac files). But now I've decided to upgrade to a "higher quality" (but still very compact) of sound with the JDS C5D, and I really don't know what to do "next".
I found a "lightly used" set of V-moda XS HP's, which (for me) represents something new and special--as I rarely used HP's in the past (except the few times when I recorded in a studio). As a career musician, I used to feel that listening to symphonic music though HP's was "limiting" in some way--and that speakers gave the sound more "breadth"--although maybe I'm just living in the past with the memories and ideas of all my high-end audio gear from the 1980's and 90's?
So aside from the "new" V-Moda XS HP's, in years past I had always bought "value" IEM's which (to me) meant "decent quality for not a lot of $$". So I still have a set of RE400's (brand new in the box), and a Japanese IEM called "Final Audio Adagio III".
At this point, I am just not sure in which direction I "should" be going, either 1) use what I have now and see if that is musically satisfying?, OR, 2) go for a higher-quality IEM that may better-represent classical, jazz, acoustic, vocals and other genres that I normally enjoy? 3) Is there any way to utilize the Bose speaker, AND still take advantage of the AMP / DAC unit---or is the sound quality so superior when using directly-connected HP's that I'll never even "miss" listening through speakers again?
I suppose that a LOT of the answers to these questions are largely subjective, and quite dependent on the individual's musical taste and HOW one listens to music (i.e. analytically, peripherally, emotionally, etc...) I am wondering if once I start "serious" listening with HP's on will ever be able to get any work done? Will I have to do all my "serious" listening during non-working hours to minimize interruptions and keep my concentration on the music itself?
Apologies if this "introduction" is likely to generate more questions than actual answers--but given the vast amount of experience this community has on the technical side I am confident that I will be enlightened and educated in this new pursuit.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions, ideas, or observations.
HMB
It's taken quite a while for me to finally post (after having joined in 2010), but I have an "excuse" due to living / working in 5 countries in the last 4 years!
As a former symphonic musician having performed in all the major concert halls in Europe, the USA, and even Asia I'd always believed "bigger is better", so in years past (when I was more "settled" in my life) I always invested in decent hi-fi equipment (Examples : Muse, Arcam, Musical Fidelity pre-amps & amps, Rega and Dual turntables, MacIntosh CD player, Magnaplanar, KEF, and B & W speakers, countless brands of isolation feet, and "super high fidelity" connecting cables and speaker wires. Basically what I'm trying to communicate is that I've spent my fair share of $$$ on audio gear.
Now that I'm retired from the music business (having recorded and performed with world-class artists and conductors), I am now primarily concentrating on keeping things "compact" and travel-ready.
I've recently purchased a JDS Labs C5D (although I almost went for the O2 + ODAC), primarily because I didn't want to depend on AC "mains" power (I'm often in countries with 220-240V AC as well as standard US 110V), so hauling around an AC to DC adapter seemed impractical.
So now I need to think about HP's. I have always thought of portable HiFi as being "low quality", so listening from a source such as iPhone or Android phone is totally new to me! Since I now live a "nomadic lifestyle" I do (on occasion) listen to music from my Win10 laptop (Sony VAIO), but mostly via the lousy headphone jack on very small speakers (USB powered, but tiny--less than 1 KG in total weight).
I recently ordered a Bose Soundlink Mini II, which I understand uses BT to connect from the source (laptop in my case, mostly 320 and .flac files). But now I've decided to upgrade to a "higher quality" (but still very compact) of sound with the JDS C5D, and I really don't know what to do "next".
I found a "lightly used" set of V-moda XS HP's, which (for me) represents something new and special--as I rarely used HP's in the past (except the few times when I recorded in a studio). As a career musician, I used to feel that listening to symphonic music though HP's was "limiting" in some way--and that speakers gave the sound more "breadth"--although maybe I'm just living in the past with the memories and ideas of all my high-end audio gear from the 1980's and 90's?
So aside from the "new" V-Moda XS HP's, in years past I had always bought "value" IEM's which (to me) meant "decent quality for not a lot of $$". So I still have a set of RE400's (brand new in the box), and a Japanese IEM called "Final Audio Adagio III".
At this point, I am just not sure in which direction I "should" be going, either 1) use what I have now and see if that is musically satisfying?, OR, 2) go for a higher-quality IEM that may better-represent classical, jazz, acoustic, vocals and other genres that I normally enjoy? 3) Is there any way to utilize the Bose speaker, AND still take advantage of the AMP / DAC unit---or is the sound quality so superior when using directly-connected HP's that I'll never even "miss" listening through speakers again?
I suppose that a LOT of the answers to these questions are largely subjective, and quite dependent on the individual's musical taste and HOW one listens to music (i.e. analytically, peripherally, emotionally, etc...) I am wondering if once I start "serious" listening with HP's on will ever be able to get any work done? Will I have to do all my "serious" listening during non-working hours to minimize interruptions and keep my concentration on the music itself?
Apologies if this "introduction" is likely to generate more questions than actual answers--but given the vast amount of experience this community has on the technical side I am confident that I will be enlightened and educated in this new pursuit.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions, ideas, or observations.
HMB