[Zuriel]

Hello, Head-Fi! This is my first post here. Well, I'll get to the point. I'm wondering how these high-end cans will sound with the source as a LAME-encoded MP3 (-V 2 setting)
 
Sennheiser HD600
Alessandro MS Pro/Grado RS1i/Grado HF2
Sony MDR-V6
Beyerdynamic DT770 PRO
 
Will they be forgiving of the lossy formats (musical) or will they reveal the flaws (analytical)?

 

[TMRaven]

Lossy files will all sound good on even the most revealing headphones.  It's the recording and mastering you have to be careful of.

 

[Sound Quest]

V2 will sound "ok" on these headphones, although you may feel like you're missing out on something.
 
If you can, re-rip all of your CD's to V0 using the latest LAME encoder. (3.99.5).
 
If you have really well mastered CD's, then you'd be best storing them losslessly to either FLAC or APE.

 

[ThinkAwesome]

(quite impressed that the MDR-V6 is listed as high-end next to headphones 3x+ times as expensive)
 
Lossy encoding doesn't really make a difference. What does make a difference is the audio itself. 

 

[FrequencyBlue]

forget about high-end gears, if you listen to music long enough, even low prices headphones can still show you how bad a bad recording can be

 

[SunshineReggae]

Quote:

Lossy files will all sound good on even the most revealing headphones.  It's the recording and mastering you have to be careful of.

Was going to say this, plus quality of the rip

 

[Dubstep Girl]

in my experiences, hd 600/650 are the most forgiving of mp3 and poor recordings. they make even youtube tube songs and 160kbps sound decent. though of course, lossless is ideal whenever possible.

 

[Jasper9395]

Quote:

in my experiences, hd 600/650 are the most forgiving of mp3 and poor recordings. they make even youtube tube songs and 160kbps sound decent. though of course, lossless is ideal whenever possible.

Yes, I have the same experience. I used to have a DT880 but they were ultimately a little too revealing in terms of making low bitrate files and badly mastered pieces sound bad. I like to enjoy the music I am listening to so having a more forgiving can is important to me. The HD650 is great for this reason.