[guermantes]

Hi,
I was just wondering, if I mainly listen to solo piano music (Chopin, Haydn, Bach) in my headphones, would it be worth it to invest in a headphone amp? Or is it only when I unleash the Wagnerian forces that I start to hear anything different compared to when I hook my phones up like in the signature?
 
Thanks !
 
/g

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

Hi,
I was just wondering, if I mainly listen to solo piano music (Chopin, Haydn, Bach) in my headphones, would it be worth it to invest in a headphone amp? Or is it only when I unleash the Wagnerian forces that I start to hear anything different compared to when I hook my phones up like in the signature?
 
Thanks !
 
/g

 
Yes, I would say get an amp.if you can.
 
Solo piano is very difficult to record and there is a lot of subtle information that a good headphone / amp/ combination will bring out.
 
I record solo piano CDs (EG: THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS and the top 5 in this list).  My own listening (monitoring) kit is the Sennheiser HD 800 via the Grace m903.

 

 

[wuwhere]

Solo piano recordings are not easy to reproduce.
 
I have a HiFiMan HE-6 powered by an all tube ARC D-70, 60wpc. I've also used other less powerful speaker amps but the ARC amp is better.
For me, on less powerful amp, the upper bass/lower mids of the piano would sound leaner, not as full. This is where some headphone/amp have trouble reproducing solo piano recordings.
 
Even my ARC amp would sound a little different depending on the output tubes I use. With the new Tung Sol 6550s, upper bass/lower mids is fuller but at the expense of the upper mid/treble a little brighter. Using GE 6550s, the upper bass/lower mids is just a little less fuller but the upper mid/treble is smoother, less bright.
 
So I would state that this would depend on your HP and HP amp you use.

 

[El_Doug]

The piano is indeed the BEST reason for getting a headphone amp   Good control is critical to getting the timbre correct

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

Solo piano recordings are not easy to reproduce.

For me, on less powerful amp, the upper bass/lower mids of the piano would sound leaner, not as full. This is where some headphone/amp have trouble reproducing solo piano recordings.

 
Quote:

The piano is indeed the BEST reason for getting a headphone amp   Good control is critical to getting the timbre correct

 
Yes - and I forgot to say that a piano produces a very fast transient when the hammer hits the strings and you need good headphones and a good fast amplifier to reproduce this properly.
 
 

 

[guermantes]

Ok. Thanks everyone for your input. It sounds like I should start auditioning HP-amps then. 

 
Just a quick question since I am not so well versed in this terminology, what does "a very fast transient" mean?
 

 

[oqvist]

Quote:

 

 
Yes - and I forgot to say that a piano produces a very fast transient when the hammer hits the strings and you need good headphones and a good fast amplifier to reproduce this properly.
 
 

True. Hardly any headphone does this. Ultrasone Pro 900 is the one that got closest for me so far.

 

[Allforheather]

any instrumental solos are quite hard to reproduce, and when the background of the music is that quiet, all the details and potential shortcomings of the system start to light up like big light bulbs in the music. therefore I think adding a good amp for your system is fairly important. 

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

 
Just a quick question since I am not so well versed in this terminology, what does "a very fast transient" mean?
 

It means that the waveform has a very fast rise-time and would look a bit like this:-
 

 
 
As opposed to a more gentle sine wave like this:-
 

 
 
For a fast transient the headphone diaphragm needs to move very quickly - an electrostatic is normally the best, but the Sennheiser HD 800 gets pretty close due to the ring diaphragm and large magnet design.
 

 

[guermantes]

I see. Thanks!

 

[Spareribs]

IMO, for solo piano, yes.