parbaked
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2012
- Posts
- 2,119
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- 216
No offense taken. Belllari is a sweet, versatile amp. I should have said "some OTL amps"! I'm surprised the Bellari is not recommended more.
I have an SR60i and I'm new to the audiophile world. What should I upgrade next? Pads, cable, amp, source? What will make the biggest difference? I have a Macbook pro and a 6th generation Ipod Nano.
I don't know if I want to bother with upgrading my portable music, because according to reviews I have read, you seem to get less quality for the money with portable stuff, compared to the value you get out of home equipment. I don't go out much either. Still I'm wondering if I should sell the Nano and get the Sansa clip which seems to have a big following.
One more question, do wooden cups actually make a discernible difference in sound? I'm very skeptical about this and I suspect that people only get them because they look cool. The sound comes from the drivers not the cups.
I play harmonica and a lot of harmonica players are obsessed with wooden harmonica combs. Wood has serious drawbacks such as making your lips bleed, yet people still want it. Some solve the bleeding problem by buying expensive wood composite combs. Some even buy harmonicas with ABS plastic combs and replace them with fancier, much more expensive plastic. However the truth is comb material actually makes no difference in sound. The sound comes from the reeds, the body of the instrument doesn't resonate like a guitar. A lot of harmonica players seem to suffer from an irrational aversion to plastic because it seems cheap, and they imagine sonic differences that don't really exist. I can't help but wonder if the same thing is going on in headphones.
It was an unbound question and got an unbound answer - "high current" relative to what? The current my electric dryer needs? The current my car's starter needs? The current the overhead lines carry? etc
Ohm's Law dictates that low Z means high I and low V, and high Z means low I and high V. So proportionally speaking, Grados want "more" current than a similar, but higher Z, can. But as Ohm's Law also tells us, we can't just arbitrarily have "a lot" (or as Master Shake specifically told the organ bank - a "buttload") of current. And when you factor sensitivity into this, which tells us that Grados have a generally low power requirement (I think the GS-1000 is the least sensitive and needs something like 1.0mW/ch for 90 dB SPL; most of the other Grados are well below that line, and want some fraction of a mW (I forget if the SR-325 or PS-500 is the most sensitive, but the most sensitive one only demands something like .05 mW for the same output)), so the overall power is low (V*I), Z is fixed (32R), and voltage is decided by the output amplifier. I is generally a low value as a result, especially compared to less sensitive low Z cans (take the HE-6 as an example).
I always find the "you need lots of current" or "they're super current hungry" claims to be extremely arbitrary and cryptic, but most people don't seem to be interested in the "why" so I figured I'd give an equally cryptic and arbitrary answer.
I've always been curious about RTR, having seen them as a kid. Certainly don't find this boring at all.
Quote:It was an unbound question and got an unbound answer - "high current" relative to what? The current my electric dryer needs? The current my car's starter needs? The current the overhead lines carry? etc
Ohm's Law dictates that low Z means high I and low V, and high Z means low I and high V. So proportionally speaking, Grados want "more" current than a similar, but higher Z, can. But as Ohm's Law also tells us, we can't just arbitrarily have "a lot" (or as Master Shake specifically told the organ bank - a "buttload") of current. And when you factor sensitivity into this, which tells us that Grados have a generally low power requirement (I think the GS-1000 is the least sensitive and needs something like 1.0mW/ch for 90 dB SPL; most of the other Grados are well below that line, and want some fraction of a mW (I forget if the SR-325 or PS-500 is the most sensitive, but the most sensitive one only demands something like .05 mW for the same output)), so the overall power is low (V*I), Z is fixed (32R), and voltage is decided by the output amplifier. I is generally a low value as a result, especially compared to less sensitive low Z cans (take the HE-6 as an example).
I always find the "you need lots of current" or "they're super current hungry" claims to be extremely arbitrary and cryptic, but most people don't seem to be interested in the "why" so I figured I'd give an equally cryptic and arbitrary answer.
I've always been curious about RTR, having seen them as a kid. Certainly don't find this boring at all.
To be completly honest, i'm not sure i'm getting all of this,oh well, the important thing is that i'm satisfied with the sound i'm getting from my Grados, altough i admit that i'm very curious about planar magnetics headphones, more specifically Audeze LCD2/3, so i'm looking forward to this year's Hi-Fi show to hear them,
About the RTRs, you just hook it up to the tape input and output and you can record whatever you want, you can even record FM brodcasts if you want to, when i bought mine, it was mainly because i tought those ten inches reels looked so cool when they were turning, but when i heard the sound quality that RTRs were capable of, my jaw just dropped, so i use mine for casual. as well as critical listening.
To be completly honest, i'm not sure i'm getting all of this,oh well, the important thing is that i'm satisfied with the sound i'm getting from my Grados, altough i admit that i'm very curious about planar magnetics headphones, more specifically Audeze LCD2/3, so i'm looking forward to this year's Hi-Fi show to hear them,
About the RTRs, you just hook it up to the tape input and output and you can record whatever you want, you can even record FM brodcasts if you want to, when i bought mine, it was mainly because i tought those ten inches reels looked so cool when they were turning, but when i heard the sound quality that RTRs were capable of, my jaw just dropped, so i use mine for casual. as well as critical listening.
I have an SR60i and I'm new to the audiophile world. What should I upgrade next? Pads, cable, amp, source? What will make the biggest difference? I have a Macbook pro and a 6th generation Ipod Nano.
I don't know if I want to bother with upgrading my portable music, because according to reviews I have read, you seem to get less quality for the money with portable stuff, compared to the value you get out of home equipment. I don't go out much either. Still I'm wondering if I should sell the Nano and get the Sansa clip which seems to have a big following.
One more question, do wooden cups actually make a discernible difference in sound? I'm very skeptical about this and I suspect that people only get them because they look cool. The sound comes from the drivers not the cups.
I play harmonica and a lot of harmonica players are obsessed with wooden harmonica combs. Wood has serious drawbacks such as making your lips bleed, yet people still want it. Some solve the bleeding problem by buying expensive wood composite combs. Some even buy harmonicas with ABS plastic combs and replace them with fancier, much more expensive plastic. However the truth is comb material actually makes no difference in sound. The sound comes from the reeds, the body of the instrument doesn't resonate like a guitar. A lot of harmonica players seem to suffer from an irrational aversion to plastic because it seems cheap, and they imagine sonic differences that don't really exist. I can't help but wonder if the same thing is going on in headphones.
I have an SR60i and I'm new to the audiophile world. What should I upgrade next? Pads, cable, amp, source? What will make the biggest difference? I have a Macbook pro and a 6th generation Ipod Nano.
I don't know if I want to bother with upgrading my portable music, because according to reviews I have read, you seem to get less quality for the money with portable stuff, compared to the value you get out of home equipment. I don't go out much either. Still I'm wondering if I should sell the Nano and get the Sansa clip which seems to have a big following.
One more question, do wooden cups actually make a discernible difference in sound? I'm very skeptical about this and I suspect that people only get them because they look cool. The sound comes from the drivers not the cups.
I play harmonica and a lot of harmonica players are obsessed with wooden harmonica combs. Wood has serious drawbacks such as making your lips bleed, yet people still want it. Some solve the bleeding problem by buying expensive wood composite combs. Some even buy harmonicas with ABS plastic combs and replace them with fancier, much more expensive plastic. However the truth is comb material actually makes no difference in sound. The sound comes from the reeds, the body of the instrument doesn't resonate like a guitar. A lot of harmonica players seem to suffer from an irrational aversion to plastic because it seems cheap, and they imagine sonic differences that don't really exist. I can't help but wonder if the same thing is going on in headphones.
That's sort of where my interest lies, too. Since I'm such a huge fan of Magnepan, I've always been curious about planar magnetic headphones. I'm really quite content with the headphone collection I've put together, but at some point I'd like to hear the LCD2/3, as well. I probably won't pull the trigger until at least the end of spring, early summer...so if you audition them before then I'd love to hear your feedback.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try the bowl pads.
I've been thinking of trying to build some c-pads, like this. Do you think this would negatively influence the sound?
I wonder if anyone has done a test on the wood cups. It wouldn't be too difficult, you would just need to have people listen to the plastic cups and identical shaped wood cups while blindfolded, and see if they report any difference.