[lustaficko]

I've had my pair of E500s for two years now and I want to upgrade them to a pair of full size cans for home listening. I really like everything about the Shures, but I just wished that they had more presence in the higher registers. I'm tending to lean towards a Sennheiser because they apparently have the same sound signature, but I'm open to new ideas. Mainly, what can I expect from the different companies with respect to my current IEMs?

 

[catscratch]

Well, let's see. How much do you want to spend? Do you have a stationary amp, and a good source? Do you want open or closed headphones?

Yes, the Senns have the closest sound signature to your Shures. The HD650 will probably give you what you want provided that it is well amped. If it isn't well amped it can actually fall behind the E500 in sound quality, but in a good rig it will be significantly better. It will have a bit more presence in the highs but it will also have substantially more extension in the highs as well. The HD650 treble is a bit recessed but very extended, and is IMO one of the best trebles I've heard in a dynamic headphone. The mids can range from a bit dry to lovely and lush, depending on the rest of your system. The bass can be bloated and overpowering or tight, deep, and impactful, once again depending on your system, and more precisely on how much power your amp can deliver. With the HD650, more power = more betterer

Grados will be quite different. I don't have too much experience past the SR-60, but so far I've heard a lot more treble energy, more forward sound signature with a smaller soundstage, but good air/instrument separation, and very good impact. I'd say they're closer to the Etymotic sound signature than they are to the Shure sound, but with substantially more kicking bass and fuller midrange.

Vintage AKG's can give you a sound that is Shure-like in some respects, but with a lot more presence and crispness in the highs. The K340 does have a very full midrange, a tight and punchy bass in the bass-light versions, and quite a bit more presence/extension in the highs. Like balanced-armature canalphones it is a very quick headphone, thanks to its electret tweeter. The difficulty with it is a) driving it right, and b) finding a good-sounding pair. Different pairs really do sound differently, and you never know what you're going to get.

Stax would be a good option if you're starting out in full-size cans, though electrostatics get really expensive really quick, and absolutely, positively require top-notch sources to sound good. I think the Omega 2 would be more or less exactly what you're looking for, but it will cost you a lot, and you really shouldn't drive it with Stax amps, but rather opt for a KGSS, Blue Hawaii if you can get someone to custom-build one for you, Woo GES maybe, or an SRD-7 Pro transformer box with a beefy speaker amp. Stax amps don't have the juice to wake up the O2. Lower-end Stax models have a decidedly un-Shure-like sound signature, but listen to them, maybe you will like them. They have less presence in the mids and a lot more presence in the highs, with a somewhat electric midrange coloration with emphasized upper midrange (rather than the warm, lush, somewhat throaty midrange of the Shures which stress lower midrange a lot). The 2050 system is a very good bargain and should be a good teaser for the 'stat world - but even it needs a very good source.

But, that's just a general summary. We do need to know more about budget and the rest of your system.

 

[lustaficko]

Thanks so much! This is exactly the kind of post I was looking for! I don't think I'm ready to try electrostatics yet, and I'm not much of a fan of the in-your-face presentation, so I think I might look into those Sennheisers.

I'm just starting so I don't have much of a "system" per say. At the moment I'm just plugging my E500s into the headphone jack which seems to run them okay. So I have to look for a good amp. I have a good amount of money to spend on setting up a rig but I don't want to break the bank. Do I have to spring for a desktop amp or would a nice, high-powered, portable amp do the job?

Thanks again for the reply!

 

[catscratch]

With the 300 ohm Senns, I would really suggest a desktop amp. This doesn't mean that they won't sound nice with a portable amp, but you will probably be overpaying for the quality that you'll get out of the system. A desktop amp will definitely unlock their potential. For maximum potential, you will want to get balanced drive. This is very critical to Senns as it tends to speed up their impulse response greatly, which is their main Achilles' heel (and that of dynamic headphones in general). It also brings their bass back in line and makes them more open, with better instrument separation and more transparency all-round. But, balanced drive, and a balanced source, will be expensive. The Senns may be fairly cheap headphones themselves, but driving them right puts them into uber-can territory, and the whole system could easily compete with an O2 rig in price. Note, though, that if you DIY or get a DIYer to build you inexpensive balanced amps (like a balanced M^3 or mini^3) it doesn't have to be expensive. But if you go with established offerings like the RS Apache, Headamp GS-X, or the EC HD2, then it will be very expensive indeed.

I have little experience with balanced headphone amps since I drove my HD650 from a push-pull speaker amp. So, I got the benefits of balanced drive without the need for a balanced signal. Still, the difference it made was massive. I don't like dynamic headphones in general, having grown up on 'stats, but the balanced HD650 really won me over and was a world-class headphone driven this way. Since then I've sort of become an O2 fanboy (impossible not to, really, once you hear a well-driven O2) but I still miss the balanced HD650 at times, and there are things, such as bass impact and soundstage size, that it does better even than the mighty O2.

I'd check the amp forum for HD650 amping advice. You will probably get a lot of conflicting opinions but there should be a lot of food for thought there as well.

Sorry I couldn't be more specific. I wouldn't really recommend my amp for them since, while the combo sounded absolutely terrific, the amp didn't really have the headroom to drive the HD650s right, and there was some clipping during dynamic passages. So, past that, I don't have any HD650 success stories to add. I tried them with a RS Raptor, which was very good on the HD600, but it definitely didn't work out for the HD650. But, in general, if you're hearing any kind of slowness, loose bass, or lacking transparency and air, then you aren't giving the HD650 enough power. Driven right, it shouldn't be dark, slow, or too laid-back. Rather, it's extremely impactful, vivid, and engaging, while retaining excellent detail and soundstage for a dynamic headphone.

 

[lustaficko]

I've been doing some browsing in the amp forum and one that consistently shows up is the MKV. It received great reviews and seems to have a really nice synergy with the HD650s. Have you heard of it? It's a Solid State amp and seems to have enough power to drive the 650s well. So my system would be:

iPod Touch -> Little Dot MK V -> Sennheiser HD650

Am I missing anything out of there? Would like to hear back from you.

Thanks!

 

[glac1er]

Isn't the MKV supposed to be quite revealing? If the source is not good, it might amplify that flaws. How about building a home setup for your source too and add a DAC?

 

[lustaficko]

Could you explain more please? Sorry this is my first attempt at putting a home rig together so I don't know all the pieces.