[theblueprint]

Why not settle for a setup worth ~$1500 in the meantime? If you look around you can find everything you need. And you'll be 80% there?

Take care of your debt first, then you can consider buying $3000 headphones.

 

[paradoxper]

   
By the way...I have an ever-expanding list of DIY T2 owners.

 
Did you say the DIY T2 sounded better to you in every way than the BHSE? I forget. Most agree that it sounds better, but I've heard varying opinions on whether the DIY T2 is more mellow or more engaging and so on. Since it costs so much, I would definitely want the additional bias thingie and jack to be compatible with the Sennheiser Orpheus HE 90 as well. Does yours have only STAX jacks? Also, is yours going to be black? hehe. I want to ultimately have an all-black system with a Darth Vader look.

I will get a chance to compare the BHSE and T2 when my build is done. Just pro bias. I've no interest in anything else.
 
And no. It will be all silver-polished top to bottom. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

Listening to Old Man's Child's In Defiance Of Existence album on my Sony MDR-7506 with the Sonarworks Reference 3 Headphone calibration profile activated in foobar2000 while drinking Mountain Dew. What a refreshing experience! This headphone really annoys me sometimes, but other times, it's just awesome.
 

Why not settle for a setup worth ~$1500 in the meantime? If you look around you can find everything you need. And you'll be 80% there?

Take care of your debt first, then you can consider buying $3000 headphones.

 
Did you not read my posts about not being very satisfied with the other flagships? I have already narrowed down my choices to STAX for the time being. I could always get the entry-level STAX system for under $500, but I feel that money would be better put towards the SR-009. There's no way I would spend half the money I need for the 009 system right now on something else. I'm extremely passionate about music, so I would rather just slowly pay off my debt while focusing most of it on audio gear.

And who knows? I may make a ton of money and be able to pay everything off quickly anyway. I don't mean to be bragging, though...

 

[Hansotek]

 
Thanks very much for the info. I may get the DT 880 again (later on) based on the improvements you experienced. I liked the HD 650 and want to get the HD 600 sometime as well. Since the Valhalla 2 is somewhat affordable, I may experiment with it. Do you perchance have any experience with the Lyr 2? I know it plays nice with more types of headphones, but don't know if it would sound better or worse than the Valhalla 2 with high impedance headphones.

I actually didn't like the Lyr 2 as much with the 650/880. To be honest, I feel that its hybrid tube nature made it a bit confusing for my ears. It was a bit too dry with it, really nothing special at all. Or it might just be the tubes that were inside the Lyr at the moment. OTL amps (Valhalla) hands down are what I want for high impedance cans, it's why you keep hearing about the Crack + Senn 6xx pairing... you simply can't beat it. Once you try it, I'm sure you'll be hooked too! Add a high end DAC and you got end game sound! Any reason you want both the 600 and 650? 

I was also fortunate enough to try the Abyss on Woo's monoblocks a couple weeks ago and, for me, it was a complete letdown. Granted, it may have been the Sony DAC/player upstream, but the experience was extremely undewhelming. The seal and fit was horrible and the bass impact was nothing to write home about. I hope to give these another try one day and properly evaluate them.

The Lyr's sound changes DRAMATICALLY based on the tubes. As of this comment, there are literally 15,777 posts on tube rolling with Lyr on Head-Fi. So I'd venture to guess your experience with it was probably less than conclusive.

 

[Music Alchemist]

The Lyr's sound changes DRAMATICALLY based on the tubes. As of this comment, there are literally 15,777 posts on tube rolling with Lyr on Head-Fi. So I'd venture to guess your experience with it was probably less than conclusive.

 
Good point. I didn't bother paying attention to which tubes were mentioned. How would you say the Valhalla 2 and Lyr 2 compare in stock form when used with headphones like the HD 600 and DT 880?

 

[Hansotek]

The Lyr's sound changes DRAMATICALLY based on the tubes. As of this comment, there are literally 15,777 posts on tube rolling with Lyr on Head-Fi. So I'd venture to guess your experience with it was probably less than conclusive.

Good point. I didn't bother paying attention to which tubes were mentioned. How would you say the Valhalla 2 and Lyr 2 compare in stock form when used with headphones like the HD 600 and DT 880?

The first thing you have to understand about Lyr is that the tubes that come with it are trash. Roll in some vintage Telefunkens, Dario Miniwatts or some of the hallowed "Holy Grail" '74 Reflektors with Lyr, and the story changes quite a bit. It's a ticket to the wonderful world of 6922 type tubes. Of course, there's an additional investment there, but when you consider Lyr 2 can run high impedance, orthos and sensitive IEMs, the investment makes sense.

In short, if you just want to run a single pair of high impedance cans, then Valhalla. If you want to run anything and tweak the sound to your exact preference, Lyr is going to be better for that.

 

[Music Alchemist]

The first thing you have to understand about Lyr is that the tubes that come with it are trash. Roll in some vintage Telefunkens, Dario Miniwatts or some of the hallowed "Holy Grail" '74 Reflektors with Lyr, and the story changes quite a bit. It's a ticket to the wonderful world of 6922 type tubes. Of course, there's an additional investment there, but when you consider Lyr 2 can run high impedance, orthos and sensitive IEMs, the investment makes sense.

In short, if you just want to run a single pair of high impedance cans, then Valhalla. If you want to run anything and tweak the sound to your exact preference, Lyr is going to be better for that.

 
I was originally planning on just getting a Ragnarok (eventually) to use with non-electrostatic headphones. Does anyone have direct experience comparing the Ragnarok, Valhalla 2, and Lyr 2 with the HD 600 and DT 880? Obviously I would use many other headphones with the Ragnarok, but just curious about this.

 

[drez]

   
Although when I heard it, it was painfully bright in the upper frequencies with most music, I'm sure I would like it a lot with mods, EQ, different amps, etc. I may end up buying it eventually...but it's on the back burner for now, since I want to save up for the SR-009, then expand my collection from there.

 
Hmm yeah 009's would be pretty sweet, for me I don't think they lose anything that matters to the HD800, but I haven't lived with them long term, only listened on my friend's system (actually he chose to pair Abyss as alternate headphone, and I tend to agree as for me I can't see too much point to owning HD800 and 009)
 
I just fear the 009 driver breaking and having to fork out thousands for new driver.  I could afford 009... just... if I saved, but it's a lot of money, but for me it was that much more realistic.  I secretly hope that Audez'e next flagship will be STAX beater so I can avoid investing in STAX  amp.  Still, maybe HD800 are just my pricepoint anyway.

 

[prot]

Hmm.

Depends how lazy I am over the next few months. Back in the day, I made up to over $3,000 in a single day, and up to nearly $8,000 in a month. (That wasn't consistently, though. On some days I lost hundreds of dollars instead of making profit.) But that was when I was foolish with finances and blew it on fancy stuff I didn't need. Really kicking myself for not being serious about quality audio equipment back then. My lifestyle has changed somewhat over the years. So basically...it could be anywhere from a few weeks to many months from now. At least all my living expenses are covered for a few months, so I have more leeway. But...I still owe over $5,000 in taxes, and have some debt on top of that, so maybe I should get some of that taken care of beforehand as well. Since I am planning on importing the SR-009 from Japan, then buying a STAX SRM-323S (which has been modified to work for US voltage) for a great price from someone I know, it shouldn't cost much more than $3,000 to start with. Then I can get a better DAC (I want the Yggdrasil) and go from there.

since you seem to like gambling, here's a sure bet for you ... one year for now we'll 'meet' again here and none of us will have a 009 ... if you wish, I can even make you a 3-years-from-now "sweet deal"

 

[walbum4262]

Just got me a pair of alpha primes as I'm limited to closed back, and I love the signature and sound of thise with heavy metal

 

[Music Alchemist]

since you seem to like gambling, here's a sure bet for you ... one year for now we'll 'meet' again here and none of us will have a 009 ... if you wish, I can even make you a 3-years-from-now "sweet deal"

 
Ha! I only bet when I know I will win. In this case, I know I will lose, because I am confident in my abilities and know I will "win". lol. I don't even need to make the type of money I used to to easily afford the 009, probably within a month or three. Just gotta stop being lazy. Right now, I could literally play video games all day and my expenses would still be covered for months.

 

[socks mk2]

[redacted]

 

[heart banger-97]

I liked the HE-6 when I heard it right next to the HD 800, HE1000, and Abyss. It was only slightly bright, which is not a problem at all since the HD 800 was painfully bright for me. But I'm surprised you did not think the cymbals were aggressive enough on the HD 800. The cymbals I heard were many times brighter and harsher than cymbals ever are in real life. I used to own the beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (aka Premium) 600 Ω. It was a good headphone, but too gentle and polite, in my opinion. Never heard the higher-end ones.

My main complain was about their mid. I describe mid of w4r as their magic part. So, maybe the problem is that I accustomed too much too w4r's mid.

 

[henkie196]

The price gap from a second hand (~$160) DT990/600 to something 'significantly better' is astounding. Anything above that is different flavors of equal performance depending on what you're looking for (or so it seems). I replaced my DAC/AMP before my headphones because I didn't think a more expensive headphone would sound proper on a lesser setup (I was right). Even lesser headphones can sound better through a better source and amplification.

The diminishing returns hit hard above a certain point, yes. If I compare a HD600 (€290) to a HE-560 (€900), the biggest difference is that the HE-560 has better bass extension and definitely has more bass. But in terms of mid and high detail, they're more or less the same. To me, a HE-560 is more or less a more bass oriented HD600, with somewhat recessed mids. I think even from something like the HD600, it's already mostly different flavours, not so much a significant improvement.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  The diminishing returns hit hard above a certain point, yes. If I compare a HD600 (€290) to a HE-560 (€900), the biggest difference is that the HE-560 has better bass extension and definitely has more bass. But in terms of mid and high detail, they're more or less the same. To me, a HE-560 is more or less a more bass oriented HD600, with somewhat recessed mids. I think even from something like the HD600, it's already mostly different flavours, not so much a significant improvement.

 
As far as personal preference goes, it can even be negative returns, as in liking certain cheaper headphones more.