How do you listen to HiRez music through your headphones?

[GregBe]

This is probably a dumb question, but I am new to this. I have a pretty nice M&K surround sound sysystem, and have enjoyed DVD-A and SACD for some time now, and have compiled a pretty nice collection of Hirez disccs.

I just ordered a pair of Senn HD595's and will be running them from the headphone out of my H/K DPR-2005 receiver which is fed by my Denon 2200 Universal player.

My questions are do I have to play the stereo track to hear everything through the headphones? Can I play the multichannel track and would the receiver/player convert everything for me so I am not missing anything? Does it sound the same either way? Is bass management an issue at all with headphones?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Greg

 

[soundboy]

My headphone system concise of a Sony SCD-CE595 SACD/CD player and a Technics receiver, which I use as a headphone amp. I set the Sony's default setting to 2 channel SACD, so whenever it senses a SACD is loaded, it will play back the stereo SACD mix. I don't even access the multi-channel mix with this setup. It sounds very good and the Technics is quite a good sounding headphone output.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

If a stereo track is available (as is the case with 99.999...% of all SACD's), yes, you should listen to the stereo track.

Otherwise, you'll have to find some way to mix it down to two channels.

 

[GregBe]

Thanks guys,

So if for some reason a particular disc is only in multichannel, the receiver won't transmit all of the information to the headphones if I am using the headphone out jack? How does it do it when you watch a movie in DTS or DD?

Greg

 

[grawk]

Some receivers have dolby headphone, which apparently does a good job of translating multi-channel to stereo. Otherwises, you're pretty limited...

 

[GregBe]

My receiver does have Dolby Headphone, which sounds like it will be a good starting point. I would guess that it is more optimized to movie enjoyment, but if it is a disc that I can't get to play in 2 channel, it may be a good option as a fall back. Is Dolby Headphone generally frowned upon for music listening?