[KR...]

Quote:

My (and other's) impressions of the HD600/Max combo would seem to make sense. HeadRoom claims that the HD600 are their favorite dynamic headphones, so my guess is that in designing and tweaking the Max, the HD600 got a lot of bench time.

So in other words that Blockhead must sound insane, since I do remember how when the reports came in on headwise how everyone was going nuts over the blockhead, and how the 2001 Max didn't even come close. But, it sure is pricey and you can't use it for anything else, expect for those Modded RS-1's which hasn't even been shown as of yet. The special cord for the 600 to use it cost $350!!!

No one from team Head-Fi (heh) has gotten it yet.

Hey, maybe Headroom can let Jude demo it so that he can review for the site?

 

[Vertigo-1]

When given purely instrumental music, actually I find it hard to fault any headphone. Things like neutral or rolled off treble and especially any difference in the midrange area don't become noticeable. And I think it has to do with musical instruments overall usage of highs and lows rather than mids to get the music across. Unless the headphone is a Sony Streetstyle where a lot of the treble IS rolled off, most headphones can deal just fine with instrumental music I believe. When I listen to instrumental music, that's when I tend to be the least demanding on the headphone, and if I had to pick and choose one, I'd probably go after the brightest/driest headphone in order to prevent any sort of warming up of instruments. I've seen many people suggest the Earmax Pro/HD-600 combo for classical, which in my mindset, scares me.

With a human voice though which resides mostly in the mids, that's when you start hearing things like that veil I'm talking about, right in the midrange area. It actually extends a bit into the lower treble and upper bass too, it basically throws this grittiness to the voice that just ends up making the voice sound unsmooth. It was my preference for vocal music that made me tend to err towards the warmer headphones in the headphone world. It also makes me wonder if I would actually prefer the R10s over the Stax Omega IIs, given that preference.

As for the amps...I'll check back in later on that.

 

[kwkarth]

Man! All this talk about the 600s is making me want to save up my shekels for a pair of ETY's

I've listened to them before, but never lived with a pair.

 

[coolvij]

Vertigo: what instrumental music do you listen to? I mean, try some Coltrane - the tenor sax, for sure, has a STRONG midrange presence.....

 

[KR...]

I was listening to Opera with the 600/X-Can V2 combo, and the MIT 330 CVT v2 ICs, hooked up to my DVD player. The voices sounded incredible.

So again, the type of music is important. (it was an audiophile CD, btw)

 

[KurtW]

Quote:

If we could pretend that the response graph of the both the Senns and the AKGs were ruler straight from 20-20k, (they're not, but let's pretend) the Senns have a 6-10 degree downward slope and the AKGs a 6-10 degree upward slope. That, in and of itself describes the overall tonal balance of each of those 2 cans.

I think this statement sums up a lot of the differences between these two phones, assuming that they're both driven with a good amp.

I would describe the HD600 as laid-back rather than dark. They do sound like you're in the audience, but towards the back rather than in front, or on stage like some brighter headphones. They are my favorite bedtime headphone by far because they're so relaxed.

 

[kwkarth]

KR, since you listen to Opera, have you heard the Mont Blanc CD, "Placido Domingo's Operalia '98?" Wonderful Disc!

BTW, have you compared MIT ICs against Transparents?
Thanks,
kwk

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Unless the headphone is a Sony Streetstyle where a lot of the treble IS rolled off, most headphones can deal just fine with instrumental music I believe.

Vert, that's actually where I would disagree the most strongly. Classical and jazz are easily the most difficult for any headphone to reproduce well, because of the amazing dynamic range and the diverse intruments that can produce 20Hz bass notes combined with 15kHz+ highs, all of which being integral parts of the piece. I have found plenty of headphones that make rock, pop, electronica, etc. sound great. I have found *very* few that can allow me to enjoy classical and jazz. There's just so much more there to get wrong

Vocals, though, are difficult, I completely agree. But I think you're missing out if you think any headphones can do classical and jazz just fine

 

[Tim D]

I think it just depends on what you hear/analyze a lot, whether it be some vocals, or certain instruments.

Lol...like the pop vocals in that popstar2 show...haha that was funny stuff.

 

[coolvij]

I'm with MacDEF, man.....I mean....midrange = tenor sax, i'm tellin you !

 

[Xevion]

I also have the HD600s. I use an Airhead (Regular, not TA) with them. My 2 main inputs are/were 1- Older Sony CD changer - it has a very harsh sound, somewhat shrill, and lacking extension, and no deep bass. It actually sounds a lot like the Bose 301s connected to it, and the second would be a SB Live on my PC (I now have the optical out connected to a Yamaha HTR 5440 which sounds a good bit better)


I would agree with MACDef that they can sound a bit muddy (The crossfeed causes part of this, I have discovered a couple tracks I like more with it off), the majority of the mids are crystal clear to me though, but this is coming from someone who has been conditioned from some HD500s for a couple years, and some Sony MDR-V200s for a couple years before that.

The SB Live headphone output has a somewhat phased, grainy upper treble. I wouldn't say it is bright though, as I don't know what I would be comparing it with. The Airhead does a nice job smoothing the graniness out, and the imaging deficency I have felt while listening to stuff on my PC (Although that might be related to mp3s being the most common listening format while using my PC) is made a bit less significant.

Oh - I have said before that listening to my HD600s has never been fautiging. That is an outright lie. When playing 192k or worse mp3s, I very quickly develop a propensity to want to remove them, because the treble can be so harsh, and the HD600s do nothing to remedy the situation (My Celestion speakers on the other hand sound extremely good for cheapies, particularly on mp3s that are harsh on the Senns as they have a very british sound).

 

[KR...]

Quote:

KR, since you listen to Opera, have you heard the Mont Blanc CD, "Placido Domingo's Operalia '98?" Wonderful Disc!

No, My mom likes him and is a fan. I never even heard about him until a few weeks ago, honest!

Quote:

BTW, have you compared MIT ICs against Transparents?

No, can't say that I have. Transparent came from MIT, BTW. I have heard many low end cables, they all sucked. The only good cables that I have heard are the Wireworld (which sounded like a great DIY cable) the MIT T2 (very nice cables, way better than the wireworld cables by a lot), and my current High-End MITs (They make everything sound like the real thing, that's the best way to discribe them) they are pricey however, the current model cost $700 for a meter.

The CD I was using was this one:

 

[Vertigo-1]

coolvij, I'm into orchestra music for instrumentals. I just got back home from another one of my normally scheduled every-2-weeks trip to Tower Records to check out what's at their demo booth, and I picked up Kenny G - Breathless. This CD just blew me away right at the listening booth, on a pair of overblown Koss TD-80s...just so involving and moving, it put one of those "oh man we got something good here" smiles on my face in no time. That's the kinds of instrumentals I tend to be into, the involving and moving ones. Can't wait to unwrap the Kenny G CD later on tonight and check it out the the R10s.

MacDEF, I shouldn't say that all instrumentals sound equal on all headphones...obviously a 30+ orchestra piece is going to sound much, much better with the resolving power of something like the Stax Omegas versus on say, Sony Streetstyles. I definitely prefer brighter headphones when I'm not listening to vocals myself, mainly because of that extra detail that the extra treble brings out.

Quote:

But I think you're missing out if you think any headphones can do classical and jazz just fine

Nah, that's what my HP-1s are for.

 

[KR...]

Quote:

obviously a 30+ orchestra piece is going to sound much, much better with the resolving power of something like the Stax Omegas versus on say, Sony Streetstyles.

30? Fah!

I love Wagner!
The standard Wagner orchestra has 107 instruments!!! Many times there were even more added! And that's not to mention all the singers as well.


Quote:

Can't wait to unwrap the Kenny G CD later on tonight and check it out the the R10s.

Poor R10's, 1st Aqua now this.

 

[Vertigo-1]

What?!? What's wrong with Kenny G???