[Sync]

Im looking to get some new headphones and as such I was lucky enough to stumble upon this ridiculously awesome site. Ive spent the last week of my life on head-fi reading and absorbing all the information I can about audio equipment. I do however want to make sure im thinking of sound in the correct manner. Please correct or confirm my theories on sound.

1)If you have a ten dollar portable cd player and hd600's, your still going to get 10 dollar sound.

2)If you have high end source and crappy headphones, you get crappy sound.

3)All an amp does is allow the headphones to run at their maximum capability.

Basically Im thinking that the sound quality is as good as the weakest link in the chain. Any clarification my (mis?)conceptions would be great.

 

[gsferrari]

Right Right and Right...AFAIK...I just went through this process so its fairly fresh in my mind

I suggest you hit all three zones mid-way.

Get a nice iRiver MP3 CD Player, Decent Sennheiser/Grado/Koss headphones and a Headroom 2003 Airhead or a DIY Meta42/PIMETA amp...Id say go with the headroom for the first amp. If you dont like it you can return it...

 

[lindrone]

Well, kinda, but not really...

1) If you've got a crappy CD player and better headphones, you should still get some type of improvement. HD600 is hard to drive, which is why it's likely to get crappy sound even with a good CD player; it really needs an amp. On the other hand, if you got a Sony CD3000, or an ATH-A900, they're easy to drive, and they'll make the sound better even if you only got a crappy CD player.

2) If the source is really high end, it'll improve the sound in your crappy headphone as well. However, if you get even just a mid-range good quality headphone, it should be significantly improved. For example, you don't have to have a HD600 with an awesome source, sometimes a having a Grado SR-60 will be adequate to get good sound. Of course, $10 Radioshack headphones are another matter.

3) Amp does a little more than just pushing the headphone to their maximum capability. Tube amps will make the sound warmer and more smooth, some amps will expand the soundstage and get more definition. The amp does process sound a little bit because of its design. It's not just a clean feed from the source, power it up and passing exactly the same characteristic from the source to the headphone.

That's the reason why some people will get warmer amps to go with their harsher, brighter headphones to get a more tonally balanced or musical sound. To this end, that's all personal preference. Some people like a more punchy sound, some like more laid back. Amps can really affect the type of sound you get from your system.

Overall, you should upgrade each component judiciously, getting one extreme or the other usually doesn't yield as good of an effect as upgrading equally... Synergy counts.

 

[cscott23]

I'm with the ape-shaver.

In order of diminishing returns, it would be 1, 2, and 3. (That is, Headphones, Source, and Amp).

 

[Geek]

Agreed. Headphones, source, and then amp.

I had good experiences driving HD600s with a $100 amp and a $50 portable. The sound was good.

They are only truly "matched" with the right components with, say, a headroom maxed out home or max ($1600) or similar class amp, and a meridian 588 or bluenote turntable / emmeline XR-2 phono setup. In other words, the HD600s sound just fine with $150 of associated equipment, but they are DESIGNED to run on and SOUND MUCH BETTER on high end gear. The cans are like two hundred bucks but you can end up blowing 10 grand on associated equipment. Don't forget this! These phones (and others in their price range) stomped over $4k speakers! Beware of the addiction you are about to bring upon yourself! It's never ending!

Welcome to head-fi. Sorry about your wallet.

Cheers,
Geek