[jopi]

I think at this high level a lot has to do with personal preference rather than what is better.

Is a Ferrari better than a Rolls Royce?

My personal preference at the tour was:
Orpheus --> AKG/HP4 --> Stax --> Senn/Blockhead --> Grado/Holmes

The AKG and Stax was pretty close though.

Too bad I hadn't had a chance to listen to the Sony.

 

[kelly]

I agree with jopi. None of these amp/headphone combinations achieve perfection to me so what's best for you depends entirely on where your budget and priorities lay. There are currently several amp/headphone combinations I like better than HD600/Max and yet despite this, the Max has some qualities that I can't seem to quite attain with any of the other amps. It's all about trade-offs.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by bifcake I found the Orpheus to be about 20% better than the blockhead/600 combo. To me, that's very significant. The improvements were primarily in airiness and sparkle of the reproduction.

In my auditions, the "airiness" was definitely better on the Orpheus than on the BlockHead and Max. On the other hand, the BlockHead and Max both had much better bass, and I agree with Todd that they are "faster" than the Orpheus.

I wouldn't throw any of them away

Quote:

I thought the differences between the Max and blockhead were negligible. I couldn't hear much of a difference between them. I also couldn't hear any difference between the 580's and the 600's with upgraded cables. I have very good ears, so I'm comfortable that if there were differences to be heard, I would have heard them.

I, and almost everyone else who has heard these setups, will disagree with you on that one. There are easily audible differences between the Max and BlockHead, and, given a good source and amp, between the HD 600 and HD 580. Check out the various reports from the HeadRoom tour for impressions from people besides me. As you suggested, perhaps the problem was the setup at the Home Theater Expo.

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by bifcake I thought the differences between the Max and blockhead were negligible. I couldn't hear much of a difference between them. I also couldn't hear any difference between the 580's and the 600's with upgraded cables. I have very good ears, so I'm comfortable that if there were differences to be heard, I would have heard them.

if you had very good ears, the difference between the max and blockhead would be SCREAMING AT YOU. you could probably also tell the difference between the stepped attenuator and the standard potentiometer..

 

[andrzejpw]

I agree. I was at first worried that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between ANY amps.

BUt I was proved wrong. The blockhead is noticeably better than the max. The O vs the blockhead, however, was much tougher to call. In the end though, I prefered the blockhead.

 

[grinch]

to bring this thread back to the original point, i thought of a quote that rather reminded me of a round-about answer to this rather round-about question:

"Sex without love is a meaningless act, but as far as meaningless acts go, it's pretty damned good."


my point: there's a lot of ways to spend $2k-3k-4k on a headphone system and buying the max/hd600/cardas is a pretty good route to go.

 

[TimSchirmer]

Eh...I'll never be at this level, since I almost always spend about three times as much on source as I do amplification. And to tell the truth, it sounds better that way.

 

[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by TimSchirmer Eh...I'll never be at this level, since I almost always spend about three times as much on source as I do amplification. And to tell the truth, it sounds better that way.

Tim
Although I have not heard it, I suspect your amplifier beats the cost/performance average.

 

[bifcake]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch my point: there's a lot of ways to spend $2k-3k-4k on a headphone system and buying the max/hd600/cardas is a pretty good route to go.

Without a doubt! I found the Max/600 combo VERY enjoyable. I could definitely live with it. However, the original post inquired whether that was the ULTIMATE combo. My vote would still go to the Orpheus as the Ultimate ultimate.

Someone mentioned that the 600/max combo has better bass than the Orpheus. That's true. However, the Orpheus' bass is deep enough where you don't feel you're missing much and the airiness and sweetness are soooooo satisfying. This is the one that I'm going to get once I get some money together.