[NeoVibe]

hey,

Living where I do it's really hard to listen to stuff before getting it, especially everything headphone related. I have almost no experience with any headphones besides my HD-600's. However, I got the chance to audition a wide range of high-end speakers in a few hi-fi shows and I have kind of decided which I would buy if I were to set up a speaker based system (and had the $$ of course...).

The main thing here is about finding out what sort of sound I like the most. Since I can't figure that out listening to headphones I did so using speakers and now I need your help to 'connect the dots'.

So, if I went for speakers, I'd go for anything from B&W (802D please...) or Sonus Faber Stradivari or Elipsa (with cherry finish if you don't mind...). I like their organic, musical, involving and delicate sound. These are the characteristics I value the most. I listen mostly to jazz (PRAT is everything here) and classical too.
Other high-end stuff just doesn't feel right, like Wilson audio and so on.
Maybe just a small mention to the impact and slam of ProAc's studio 140, I'd like some of that too please.

By the way, I'm not looking for "headphones that sound like speakers". What I'm looking for are headphones with a similar character to these speakers.

Of course, these are all very high-end speakers but then again the price/performance ratio of headphones is in a different scale as we all know, and besides I could be persuaded to go for something pretty close to 1000$, very hardly above that.
If they were closed and with some noticeable isolation that would be nice (not mandatory).
And lets assume I would provide them 'adequate' amplification (with my raptor or something else more or less in the same price range)

So for all of you that have

first-hand experience with 500-1000$ headphones
(preferably more than just a few minutes in a noisy room in a local meet)
and also
first-hand experience with high-end speakers,

which headphones have the most in common with SonusFaber and B&W speakers??



a BIG BIG thanks-in-advance for all the feedback

 

[ricmat]

well.. .. i know those speakers.. .. that's a hell of a question, I would love to see all the answers..

hope you luck and cheers!

 

[captian73]

highend speakers yes, highend headphones no unfortunately.

i have the pleasure of listening (or feeling) the Bang and olufsen beolab 5's on a regular basis, or as regular as my internal organs can take. another friend has a pair of martin logans (don't ask me which model) which are nice enough.

having owned a few pairs of B&W speakers in my lifetime, i can't see why your HD600's won't suffice?

i did listen to a pair of stax many, many moons ago (17/18) for the life of me i can't remember which model.

one guy (one of my fathers clients) had a £50,000 + record system which had 16 watt tube amp. for a domestic system it was one of the loudest systems i've heard, apart form the Beolab 5's.

he placed....... in fact he had a special room built, and kept each component in a different compartment (room if you like) so the components wouldn't interfere with each other.

sorry can't remember the stax model i listened to, but there are enough owners of high end headphones to help you out.

 

[ManAtWork]

For Sonus Faber, for my memory it seems Beyerdyamic's hi-end cans like DT880 etc. sounds close to Sonus Faber.

 

[NeoVibe]

so... anyone else ?

 

[orkney]

I have a set of MartinLogans (Vantages) and have heard most of the B&Ws though not the highest-end SFs (I topped out at the Cremonas). I can't see any HP I've heard approaching these exotica in terms of overall "feel" since they will never load a room and hence interact with it (and you) the way the speakers can. Certainly no mid-price can. In terms of tonal balance I'd say the B&Ws and SFs are quite different, with the SFs sounding to my ears far more textured, fuller in the mid-bass and mids and slightly warmer -- HD-650 territory. The DT-880s might indeed be more B&W-y (correct, accurate, balanced/. I'd say that my D5000s are the closest of the HPs I own in terms of presenting an experience of the music that is closest to the Logans, despite their being dynamic phones. They seem to let me sit surrounded by and also a little bit outside of the musical performance, which of course all good speakers do.

happy hunting,

o

 

[Soundinista]

Can't help much, NeoVibe, but here's something that may be relevant: I had a pair of B&W CDM 7NT (the previous version of the 704), and I also had a pair of HD600's. To my mind, they both had that same pleasing warmth in the midrange, which, in my experience, was particularly noticeable on tenor sax solos. But the similarities ended there. The HD600 wasn't anything like the 7NT at the top of the range. The B&W highs are marvelous, and the closest I've come to that in my headphone experience are the very extended and clean highs of the Denon D5000. There's that kind of soft airiness and non-exaggerated detail in the D5000 -- not to mention the phenomenal bass response of these headphones. No special warmth in the midrange, however. (I've had them for about a month now, and I can't be sure about that characteristic as I write this. I'll have to check it out.) Maybe the warmth is there in the HD650. I haven't tried them, but I hear their highs are rolled-off, not very extended.

Hope that's not entirely useless to you.
Cheers,

 

[boomana]

I'm answering your question with the truth (imo) as to "organic, musical, involving and delicate sound," but I'll admit to not having heard those specific speakers and I don't know if my answer will be of any help to you. With that said, those qualities are the description of Sony MDR-R10s. If you have patience, bucks, and luck, you'll never ask that question again. As far as Senns go, I love my HD650s, but they are entirely different headphones with difference systems. That veil you hear about exists with the wrong source/amp (there are many close but no cigar set ups), and I think you might be disappointed unless you do some research. Outside of those, I really don't have a headphone answer for you and I've been lucky enough to hear many good headphones. I think you need to pay attention to entire set-ups and synergy to get the sound you're looking for and you'll find it. Other than the R10s (and the very specific woodied Lambda Pros that just totally floored me at the recent Fl meet), you need to think that way rather than think one pair of headphones will give you what you want.

EDIT: Apologies for not sticking in your price range with any of my ideas.

 

[Lamprologus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by orkney /img/forum/go_quote.gif The DT-880s might indeed be more B&W-y (correct, accurate, balanced/.

I've had the DT-880 and tonally it was very different from my B&W 803S. Of the cans I've heard, the closest is probably Sennheiser 650. HD600 is too bright by comparison.

 

[TomH]

IMHO, somewhere between HD580/600 and HD650 depending upon room acoustics and source material, for overall tonal balance relative to B&W midrange stuff (up through lower end of 8XX line). Coherency is easy with the cans, takes some optimization with the speakers in a given room, which is a big part of the fun of speakers. And oh yeah, imaging and impact.

I find HD580/600 a little more forward and less sophisticated in the highs, HD650s a little rich on the lows but closer to the speakers in the highs and a little more polite in the mids.

The Stax are a lot brighter and more immediate, IMO, not really like a dynamic speaker, but detail like nothing else I have heard, lots of threads on this great technology.

K701s are not even close, a totally different experience, unique and enjoyable but not B&W speaker-like.

Sorry, limited listening experience with Sonus Faber.

As a long time B&W afficiando I can say that the various Senn high end offerings have been a close compliment and the Stax a slightly further distant compliment - but to my ears and musical taste different flavors of the same taste.

Best of luck.

 

[donunus]

beyers sort of like b&ws(nautilus series) yes(similar in its cold and bright tonality). Are they like sonus fabers? nope. I prefer sonus fabers myself BTW

 

[4N6]

Sennheiser HD650, preferably balanced, with good amplification. Ray Samuels Apache or, better yet, the B-52 make a wonderful match. I have not heard Woo Audio with these cans (they look awful nice). Perhaps someone can shead some light. SinglePower also makes some fantastic amps, as does Headroom.

I am also a big fan of B&W (802D) and Sonus Faber (Guarneri Memento, Cremona), but am most partial to ProAc (Response 2s) and have a soft spot for Spendor.

Good luck!

 

[NeoVibe]

hey everyone.

I'm reallyyyyy sorry I haven't replied before but I've been away from the forums for a few days.

first of all, thank you for your feedback and let me clarify that all opinions are welcome: maybe I was a bit too 'rigorous' in the first post about who I wanted to listen to. I want to listen to what everyone has to say but after years of reading these boards I feel it is very important to know if a certain opinion comes from someone who owned a certain equipment or someone who just got a quick listen.

Some very interesting answers there and there are some headphones I wouldn't have thought of that I might want to try - Beyers and that Denon D5000.

The Senn's question is always very hard to answer. As we all know, amplification makes them totally different. Right now I can't even decide between the MG Head OTL and the Raptor, and that should be an easy question to answer. I love somethings about each of them and hate others. Maybe something between both is what I'm looking for (singlepower perhaps?)
So maybe the real question is how can I achieve these goals by feeding my Senn's with other amps. As always, synergy is everything, and that's probably one of the most important lessons we can learn from trying several equipments.

Who else wants to share some experiences?

 

[Leopold]

I'm also a big fan of what B&W's larger gear can bring forth. It is like listening to large horns without the coloration if you know what I mean. Their super-clean sound somehow makes things resonate throuhgout the sound spectrum, a quality that is hard to describe.

All I can say is that I try to approach this standard in my choice of equipment. Good luck in finding a match that is good enough in your ears!

 

[theBigD]

well i own b&w speakers. they arent as far up the line as 801s. i have the 601s. i like them because they have great detail, dont sound at all muddy and i am not a basshead. i think my akg 701s sound the most like my b&w speakers, with a very wide soundstage, maybe a little more punch in the percusion section. my stax 2050 basic system also sounds very much like my speakers only a little less bass response but a similiar very neutral response. you say you like jazz. i never really much cared for jazz, until i got my akgs and started queing up different genres to see how they sounded. i was completely floored. these things are phenomenal. the firse time i listened to patricia barbers companion album i was in audio orgasmic heaven! every time i listen to 701s they really do blow me away, never heard anything quite so interesting out out of my head with a headphone.