Koukol
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2014
- Posts
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I thought I'd start a new thread so we can gather results from all the Headphones we've tried with the Pono (good or bad) and any fixes that took them from bad to great.
The other day I got the 650's and gave them a spin on my Marantz CD Player connected to my Little Dot MKIII tube Amp.
I listened to my favorite Rock album (16 bit/44) and loved the results.
The music was perfectly balanced...great bass and crisp clear highs where I can clearly hear the ride symbols which I love.
As a Musician I love discovering the true identity of an instrument (especially between guitars and keyboards) and this setup did that.
Before I got the 650's I was already thinking of putting a balanced cable on them for the Pono but now I'm rethinking that.
With the Pono last night was a bit like Goldilocks as I had three headphones to try (my fourth Grados are lost in the closet somewhere)
I uploaded the Album to my Pono through PonoWorld (I'm not sure if that's as good as EAC)
I first tried my new 650's and was excited because they are my best HPs.
What a let down...the bass was over-powering everything and it was missing the highs (a symbol could not be heard)
I should point out that this is with the stock cable.
I had the volume at 100% and still the music didn't engulf me like a good match does.
So I moved onto my AKG 601's...
Again, the volume needed to be at 100% and anything less lost details dramatically.
Still at 100% the music didn't engulf me but worse these headphones lacked bass and their notorious upper-mid bump made some guitars shrill.
Finally I tried my Sony MDR900's and while they're not the type of headphones that gives you the chills it was the best balanced of the the three.
The volume only needed to be at 50% and yet the bass and the high end were there and engulfed me.
These headphones were clearly made for DAPs.
I can't wait to see what HPs Pono will promote for their Player.
I'm hoping other Headfiers will post their results here so it doesn't get lost in the 130+ pages of the other thread.
The other day I got the 650's and gave them a spin on my Marantz CD Player connected to my Little Dot MKIII tube Amp.
I listened to my favorite Rock album (16 bit/44) and loved the results.
The music was perfectly balanced...great bass and crisp clear highs where I can clearly hear the ride symbols which I love.
As a Musician I love discovering the true identity of an instrument (especially between guitars and keyboards) and this setup did that.
Before I got the 650's I was already thinking of putting a balanced cable on them for the Pono but now I'm rethinking that.
With the Pono last night was a bit like Goldilocks as I had three headphones to try (my fourth Grados are lost in the closet somewhere)
I uploaded the Album to my Pono through PonoWorld (I'm not sure if that's as good as EAC)
I first tried my new 650's and was excited because they are my best HPs.
What a let down...the bass was over-powering everything and it was missing the highs (a symbol could not be heard)
I should point out that this is with the stock cable.
I had the volume at 100% and still the music didn't engulf me like a good match does.
So I moved onto my AKG 601's...
Again, the volume needed to be at 100% and anything less lost details dramatically.
Still at 100% the music didn't engulf me but worse these headphones lacked bass and their notorious upper-mid bump made some guitars shrill.
Finally I tried my Sony MDR900's and while they're not the type of headphones that gives you the chills it was the best balanced of the the three.
The volume only needed to be at 50% and yet the bass and the high end were there and engulfed me.
These headphones were clearly made for DAPs.
I can't wait to see what HPs Pono will promote for their Player.
I'm hoping other Headfiers will post their results here so it doesn't get lost in the 130+ pages of the other thread.