[ofajen]

About the first thing I did here on Head-Fi was to locate a new pair of headphones. Probably not that rare. My old HD540s have a flaky connection in one capsule. I bought rocktboy's modded HD580s. I'm not sure if there is another place for this, but I can't post on his for sale thread yet, so I guess I'll mention here that he was totally honest and diligent in the sale and shipping on the deal. Well done!

I haven't listened a lot yet, but I would say that they are definitely adequate for my needs. They have a stronger low end than the HD540s which kind of gives the impression of less high end and I actually do think they are slightly restrained on the high end. That's not a problem for me since I'm mainly using them for audio production and the last thing I want is overly bright phones that cause me to make dull, flat sounding recordings. I appreciate phones that have a balance that resembles loudspeakers. I still think I'll keep looking around for a spare capsule for the HD540s. I can't stand trashing them.

Now I'm planning for when I can add a headphone amp to get more out of the HD580s and to have the same precision in setting monitoring gain that I have with my studio monitors. I'm planning to get a Sound Devices HX-3. I already have a field mixer of theirs which has a superb headphone output section and the HX-3 should be very similar.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[feh1325]

glad you enjoy your new cans
the hd580 are still my all-around, go-to cans
in fact, i have a second pair of hd580 coming in the mail! :]

but recently, my hd555 have been getting more attention because of their comfort

 

[ofajen]

I now have my two headphone outputs on the M-Audio unit calibrated to the same reference level, one for the HD540s, the other for the HD580s for easy use and comparison. One other possible factor for the HD540s seeming slightly more detailed is that the foam liner inside long since disintegrated and so the elements are free of that foam barrier, while the HD580s have the foam in place. I noticed the "socket mod" for foam mentioned in the "overclocking" thread on the HD580s. I may do that mod at some point.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[CareyB]

I like my 580s too.
Rocktboy has a feedback thread here so you can post your positive experience there.

 

[ofajen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CareyB /img/forum/go_quote.gif I like my 580s too. Rocktboy has a feedback thread here so you can post your positive experience there.

Thanks! Now I know where to handle those posts.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[ofajen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ofajen /img/forum/go_quote.gif I now have my two headphone outputs on the M-Audio unit calibrated to the same reference level, one for the HD540s, the other for the HD580s for easy use and comparison.

I didn't really like this setup too well, since I ended up listening to everything at 0 dB gain setting, which is way to loud for most material. So I've fixed things up on the cheap for now. I have a little Rolls HA43 headphone amp, so I've put it to use driving the phones. Fortunately, it has about the same maximum input level (+14 dBV) as the M-Audio's maximum output level, so at least it doesn't get blown away by that.

I also happen to have another stereo attenuator box. It doesn't have an accurate, stepped pot custom-made for me by Shallco, just a typical 10K stereo pot I bought from one of those usual suppliers like Mouser a while back to do the job until I got the Shallco pot made. I put it in front of the headphone amp and measured and marked off some key gain settings, -3 dB, -6 dB, - 9 dB and -12 dB on the atttenuator panel, so I can pretty much get within at most 1 dB of the setting I want. That'll do for now until I get another Shallco pot made and can afford a cleaner amp.

Cheers,

Otto