Ever since I bought my Bose IEs I’ve been revisiting my desire to have a really nice headphones set-up, and I’ve been working out my possible preferences. My budget is, ahem, not yet in place, but I’ve drawn some conclusions and would like some advice please.
I’m planning to buy the Headroom Micro Amp and DAC. Portability is not a massive consideration for me, but I like to have it as an option and can justify paying that much for a headphone amp. The DAC is a sheer luxury, but I have several possible sources (including the PC) that could make use of it and, well, they look cute as a pair! I’d rather have the stack than a better Headroom amp, because it gives me the opportunity simply to ditch the DAC when I’m travelling and lose a lot of weight without the inconvenience of dieting.
Once I have the DAC, my main home source will be PC and CD player. My main travel source will be a 3rd generation iPod.
Once I’ve got the stack (and paid UK customs their thirty pieces of silver) I should have about £400 to divide between IEMs and a decent pair of full-size headphones. Why split the budget? Well, IEMs will be my travel pair and I’ll use the headphones at home. I don’t travel a great deal, but given the discomfort of full-sized headphones am anticipating switching in the IEMs for home listening as well. Nevertheless, I want a pair of full-sized in order to get the maximum benefit from the amp.
For sure, I could buy the HD 650s at £219, although I plain refuse to recable them. That said, HD 600s at £149 look like much better value for money, and the HD 595s are only £119 … for the price, I suppose I could recable the HD 600s for the cost of the 650s. The problem is, I hate Sennheiser: I had a very cheap pair when I was young and then foolishly bought HD 320s which were fantastically uncomfortable and kept falling off my head. They always seem to have ghastly ergonomics and an overly polite sound.
On comfort grounds, I’m nixing Grados (and Alessandros) although I love the look of them and they appeal to the “inner snob”. AKG 701s would cost me £225, Beyerdynamics 880s a mere £180. I haven’t auditioned any of these headphones, and am looking for a forward, clear sound with plenty of detail. Because I listen to virtually every type of music, I don’t particularly need heightened bass or anything like that; probably a clear top end is more important, although at these prices I’ll certainly be expecting plenty of bass extension as well. It seems from what I’ve read that any of these phones is plenty good enough to take full advantage of the Micro stack, though I suppose the HD 650s would actually like better amplification still … another count against them!
Or I could get the Bose QC3s.
[size=xx-small](Just kidding.)[/size]
For the IEMs, the standard choices would be the ER-4Ps (£170), the E4Cs (£146), the UM2s (about £175) or the Super-fi.5s (£162). With a cheaper full-sized ‘phone I could push up to the triple-fi 10 Pros but I think that the E500s (a staggering £400!) are well into “rip-off” territory. I’m guessing that the Westones are the best compromise of comfort, isolation and sound quality for me, but would welcome further comments. I sort of assume that amplification isn’t a big deal for the IEMs, but it would be nice to think that the Micro Stack was adding something when I used it with them.
For my headphones and IEMs I really don’t need to walk around with the confidence that I’ve got the best. I just want something that is going to send me back to my CD collection to hear the stuff I missed the first thirty times around.
If there’s a complementary approach (e.g. get the 880s for reference transparency and the Super.fi 5s for colour and punch) I’d consider that as well.
I’m planning to buy the Headroom Micro Amp and DAC. Portability is not a massive consideration for me, but I like to have it as an option and can justify paying that much for a headphone amp. The DAC is a sheer luxury, but I have several possible sources (including the PC) that could make use of it and, well, they look cute as a pair! I’d rather have the stack than a better Headroom amp, because it gives me the opportunity simply to ditch the DAC when I’m travelling and lose a lot of weight without the inconvenience of dieting.
Once I have the DAC, my main home source will be PC and CD player. My main travel source will be a 3rd generation iPod.
Once I’ve got the stack (and paid UK customs their thirty pieces of silver) I should have about £400 to divide between IEMs and a decent pair of full-size headphones. Why split the budget? Well, IEMs will be my travel pair and I’ll use the headphones at home. I don’t travel a great deal, but given the discomfort of full-sized headphones am anticipating switching in the IEMs for home listening as well. Nevertheless, I want a pair of full-sized in order to get the maximum benefit from the amp.
For sure, I could buy the HD 650s at £219, although I plain refuse to recable them. That said, HD 600s at £149 look like much better value for money, and the HD 595s are only £119 … for the price, I suppose I could recable the HD 600s for the cost of the 650s. The problem is, I hate Sennheiser: I had a very cheap pair when I was young and then foolishly bought HD 320s which were fantastically uncomfortable and kept falling off my head. They always seem to have ghastly ergonomics and an overly polite sound.
On comfort grounds, I’m nixing Grados (and Alessandros) although I love the look of them and they appeal to the “inner snob”. AKG 701s would cost me £225, Beyerdynamics 880s a mere £180. I haven’t auditioned any of these headphones, and am looking for a forward, clear sound with plenty of detail. Because I listen to virtually every type of music, I don’t particularly need heightened bass or anything like that; probably a clear top end is more important, although at these prices I’ll certainly be expecting plenty of bass extension as well. It seems from what I’ve read that any of these phones is plenty good enough to take full advantage of the Micro stack, though I suppose the HD 650s would actually like better amplification still … another count against them!
Or I could get the Bose QC3s.
[size=xx-small](Just kidding.)[/size]
For the IEMs, the standard choices would be the ER-4Ps (£170), the E4Cs (£146), the UM2s (about £175) or the Super-fi.5s (£162). With a cheaper full-sized ‘phone I could push up to the triple-fi 10 Pros but I think that the E500s (a staggering £400!) are well into “rip-off” territory. I’m guessing that the Westones are the best compromise of comfort, isolation and sound quality for me, but would welcome further comments. I sort of assume that amplification isn’t a big deal for the IEMs, but it would be nice to think that the Micro Stack was adding something when I used it with them.
For my headphones and IEMs I really don’t need to walk around with the confidence that I’ve got the best. I just want something that is going to send me back to my CD collection to hear the stuff I missed the first thirty times around.
If there’s a complementary approach (e.g. get the 880s for reference transparency and the Super.fi 5s for colour and punch) I’d consider that as well.
