[tan.phan.vt]

If LCD-2C are your reference for treble harshness, not much from HFM, Senn, AKG, and more are going to sound good.

Umm i dont think the LCD 2C sound harsh at all... I think u misread my post. Actually I think the 2C have heavier bass with normalish soundstage. I feel the impact on bass heavy electronic songs.

I was talking about the treble harshness of the 560 on certain amps. And i do enjoy my Q701.

 

[SilverEars]

Umm i dont think the LCD 2C sound harsh at all... I think u misread my post. Actually I think the 2C have heavier bass with normalish soundstage. I feel the impact on bass heavy electronic songs.

I was talking about the treble harshness of the 560 on certain amps. And i do enjoy my Q701.

I didn't find either ones to impact hard in bass, but I think for HE560 it was the pads. I didn't think 2C was impactful like a bass reflex effect that HE500 has, like a bouncing ball (this is with better pads seal better though). I think it was an effect of the nice pads (of the 2C, really like those pads in feel) that creates lots of room inside the cups that creates more of a diffused bass impact (wouldn't call it slamming), that wasn't really balled up impact like the HE500. I just found HE560 pads just not sealing well, and probably effects the bass due to this. Mine was v1.5 with the fragile yoke and fake wood lookin finish.

Maybe closer up pads with best seal would create a greater impact. 2C doesn't have that (pads create more room inside) and probably bass is more diffused due to this. Interesting thing about 3F pads was that it's not as stiff as 2C pads, and compresses easily and the ear gets very close to the surface of the drivers (didn't like that, and one side created a suction like effect, effecting the sound due to the pressure). I think there are variations to sound arising from amount of room the pads create (includes how close your ears are to the surface of the driver) and the material of the pads.

But yeah, I know you meant 560 sounded harsh in comparison, as they are opposites in treble energy (not that one can be considered a reference). 2C is weak in the presence area (recessed like I mentioned about Audeze planars), which doesn't give it that fullness in the vocals.

 

[jimbop54]

I want to revisit my earlier comment about the Focus-A pads.

Previous to the 560’s I was using the HE-400S. Many people recommend the Focus-A pads for those, but I thought they made the 400S to dark, especially since they don’t have the treble extension of the 560.

After more extended listening to the 560 with the Focus-A pads, I’m feeling the same way. Yes, they have helped to tame the treble peaks, but now the bass is too predominant.

Any recommendations for a pad (or other mod) that will tame the treble without affecting the lower frequencies?

There may be a new dac and/or amp in my future, but not right now.


Currently using an Odac/O2

 

[DavidA]

I want to revisit my earlier comment about the Focus-A pads.

Previous to the 560’s I was using the HE-400S. Many people recommend the Focus-A pads for those, but I thought they made the 400S to dark, especially since they don’t have the treble extension of the 560.

After more extended listening to the 560 with the Focus-A pads, I’m feeling the same way. Yes, they have helped to tame the treble peaks, but now the bass is too predominant.

Any recommendations for a pad (or other mod) that will tame the treble without affecting the lower frequencies?

There may be a new dac and/or amp in my future, but not right now.


Currently using an Odac/O2

Having owned the ODAC/O2 and borrowed another from a friend a few times its one amp that IMO is a bit bright / harsh with most headphones that I've tried it with and not a good match for the HE560 IMO but decent for something a little warmer sounding like the HD650.

@SilverEars, have you tried the EL-8? While it was blasted a bit for poor QC when they first came out its tuned a bit different from the LCD line since the mids are not recessed and the bass has a bit more impact than my HE560 with some tracks. Its also quite easy to drive since I can use my low power Galaxy S8 to drive them quite well.

 

[sworder84]

Is there a big difference between balance and non balance connection? I remember that classic Hi-Fi setup responds to that connection but difference is not huge! I was personally listened this setup and we re-connect balance/non balance on the same tracks.

 

[Joong]

Is there a big difference between balance and non balance connection? I remember that classic Hi-Fi setup responds to that connection but difference is not huge! I was personally listened this setup and we re-connect balance/non balance on the same tracks.

There is no obvious difference between them, but one thing is clear in that the balanced output is double in power so that it will be easy to drive inefficient phones like planar or high impedance phone.
Other than than I am not so sure to insist on either side.
Technically balanced output is more reliable for long cable, but in our concerned cases of headphone 2 meter long is long enough to justify the balanced one?
I think 2 meter cable is short cable.... tooo short to be justified.

 

[Joong]

I like the speed of he-560, which makes realistic and more sense of presence of immediacy.
No other dynamic phones is near hyper thin membrane of planar, which seems more speedy than any dynamic phone including hd800.
In the culmination, there is stax phone but it is clumsy for us to change everything except dac. No no no I am not brave enough to pass through this route of uncertainties to get the surreal experience of electrostatics whose definition itself is surreal.

 

[phthora]

I like the speed of he-560, which makes realistic and more sense of presence of immediacy.
No other dynamic phones is near hyper thin membrane of planar, which seems more speedy than any dynamic phone including hd800.
In the culmination, there is stax phone but it is clumsy for us to change everything except dac. No no no I am not brave enough to pass through this route of uncertainties to get the surreal experience of electrostatics whose definition itself is surreal.

Electrostatics are great for some things, particularly vocals and acoustic instruments. But, I find that the weight of sound, the visceral impact, and the fullness and body really suffer. Dynamics, in my experience, are the best at this, but trail behind in detail and resolution. Planars, I think, offer the best of both worlds and a nice middle ground between the other two transducer types. That is why I own mostly planars. That, and the fact that e-stats fail to deliver the sort of bass that I like (extended, detailed, layered, controlled, but also impactful and rich), while planars tend to do it much better. Not that I dislike e-stats, they just have not been worth the price so far.

Personally, I think the 560 does everything I want an electrostat to do, plus it has wonderful bass.

 

[bagwell359]

Umm i dont think the LCD 2C sound harsh at all... I think u misread my post. Actually I think the 2C have heavier bass with normalish soundstage. I feel the impact on bass heavy electronic songs.

I got what you wrote. The LCD 2C is not only not harsh, it is deficient in treble (10-20KHz), and deficient in upper midrange/lower treble. So, I agree it's not harsh, I am however not sure if you think it is correct. It's not IMO.

I was talking about the treble harshness of the 560 on certain amps. And i do enjoy my Q701.

Interesting. Most AKG's are like Senn's with a treble gone crazy, yet I agree that the 560 can sound unusually peaky in a way other HFM cans do not.

 

[bagwell359]

There is no obvious difference between them, but one thing is clear in that the balanced output is double in power so that it will be easy to drive inefficient phones like planar or high impedance phone.
Other than than I am not so sure to insist on either side.
Technically balanced output is more reliable for long cable, but in our concerned cases of headphone 2 meter long is long enough to justify the balanced one?
I think 2 meter cable is short cable.... tooo short to be justified.

If the amp is double the power, there is the answer alone. Then there is the lower noise floor.

 

[DavidA]

Is there a big difference between balance and non balance connection? I remember that classic Hi-Fi setup responds to that connection but difference is not huge! I was personally listened this setup and we re-connect balance/non balance on the same tracks.

The differences between balanced and SE is dependent on the amp, some amps are designed as balanced and so there might be some cost cutting on the SE output and then there are amps that it really doesn't matter which output you go with since the design is great on both outputs.

Electrostatics are great for some things, particularly vocals and acoustic instruments. But, I find that the weight of sound, the visceral impact, and the fullness and body really suffer. Dynamics, in my experience, are the best at this, but trail behind in detail and resolution. Planars, I think, offer the best of both worlds and a nice middle ground between the other two transducer types. That is why I own mostly planars. That, and the fact that e-stats fail to deliver the sort of bass that I like (extended, detailed, layered, controlled, but also impactful and rich), while planars tend to do it much better. Not that I dislike e-stats, they just have not been worth the price so far.

Personally, I think the 560 does everything I want an electrostat to do, plus it has wonderful bass.

agree that most e-stats are a bit thin sounding but there are a few that can match a planar or dynamic at times but I also agree that the cost is not worth it at this time, its one reason I traded my SR009 but still have my SRD-34 (highly modded).

 

[tan.phan.vt]

I'll chime in to say that I am loving the 560 with the Topping D30/A30 stack. Sounds fantastic across genres. Another friend of mine has the same setup and feels the same.

I've read about sth similar recently, with the d30 paired with the magni 3 instead, looks promising!
Too bad Topping price and product variety is really bad in my place. Cannot find the d30 anywhere, and the D3 is being sold for around 200USD.
Thx for u recommendation.

 

[tan.phan.vt]

I got what you wrote. The LCD 2C is not only not harsh, it is deficient in treble (10-20KHz), and deficient in upper midrange/lower treble. So, I agree it's not harsh, I am however not sure if you think it is correct. It's not IMO.



Interesting. Most AKG's are like Senn's with a treble gone crazy, yet I agree that the 560 can sound unusually peaky in a way other HFM cans do not.

May be the treble deficiency is the reason why it sounds somewhat weird to my ears, idk how to describe it but it feels unnatural for me.
As for the treble peak on he560, I find it weird becuz its actually more unpleasant to my ears than the Q701, which has a bright sound signature.

 

[raoultrifan]

There is no obvious difference between them, but one thing is clear in that the balanced output is double in power so that it will be easy to drive inefficient phones like planar or high impedance phone.[...]

Single-ended amps are having 2 amplifiers internally (one for each channel), active-ground amps are using 3 amplifiers and balanced amps are using 4 amplifiers, so balanced amplifiers will get twice more juice vs. the single-ended. However, given the fact that in fully-balanced.operation the DAC-output will have at least 4V RMS instead of 2V RMS as in single-ended operation, then the output power of a balanced headphones amplifier will actually be 4 times higher; this was actually tested at my Matrix HPA-3B balanced headamp and it's correct indeed.

 

[Asahi Templar]

One of the reasons you might notice treble peakiness more on the 560 on certain amps is that their sensitivity is pretty low, so you need to turn up the volume more which can lead to an amplifier distorting causing it to sound bright and harsh. Way too many supposedly high end amps distort like crazy when pushed at all.

I got the V2 from Adorama recently as I couldnt resist the 250 dollar deal and I have to say I thought they sounded very bad out of the box especially off the Magni 3. They are the first headphones I have ever tried that have zero bass impact and I do mean zero. The bass notes are all there but sound totally limp and powerless. The sub-bass was there but pathetic. I naddtion to this, they have a large dip in the 2k region that makes vocals sound really distant. These two things together made it sound like a huge portion of music was simply missing and gave it a rather hollow strange sound. A very unfortunate thing because the treble was basically perfect, some sparkle, no major peaks, just smooth and real sounding.

I switched to my Burson Fun and things improved quite a bit, the subbass and deep bass were more present but still very little impact. The presence dip was still too much for me.

So I decided to try to equalize them and am glad I did because once I found some good EQ settings, the 560 are pretty darn amazing. I took Headphones Reddit Oratory1990s EQ settings from the HE4xx and the Edition XX headphones and tried to adapt them using DIY audioheavens measurements of the 560, and did testing with it.

I came up with the following EQ

Preamp -6DB

Lowshelf Filter at 112khz with +6DB at Q .6
Peak Filter at 2000hz with +5DB at Q 3

This solved my major complaints with the 560 v2, now the vocals have the stronger presence as they should and it has some impact in the bass, not super strong but good enough.

But I still found that male voices sounded a bit weak so I also added

Peak filter at 600hz with 2.8db at Q 1.3

With these settings together the 560 v 2 is a wonderful headphone. Fast decay, nice crisp transients and really excellently done treble with a very nice sounding midrange.

I think the Magni 3 is barely sufficient for these if you want to EQ them though, even with just a -6db preamp I have to go into high gain and keep it around 9 oclock for general pc use and low dr music, but have to crank it to 1-3 o clock range for higher dr music which is not ideal as its getting very close to its distortion point. I really think more EQ in the bass region would improve these further but dont think the Magni can handle it.