[Nikos]

How Do I do it? As of now I only have $35 Panasonic HT-R335 Headphones and I use a $200 Optimus Amp/Receiver to listen to music from my computer, MD deck, and CD deck...

Anyone see a problem with this in terms of quality?

What can I do to improve my quality of music?? I like listening through headphones mostly, but also a little outloud too as well..

Also I am fairly new to this audiophile world, what is the difference between listening to music my way through an AMP/Receiver as opposed to a TUBE Reciever Amp or whatevr?

Just curious...I really want to know, because quality is becoming more and more of an issue for me.....

 

[Budgie]

Those are the kind of questions a book could be written about. I think your question is "What is the path I should take to upgrade my listening?" That question really is very difficult. How much money do you want to spend? I think you could gain the most from a new set of headphones, but we are dealing in opinions and others may have other opinions. I would strongly recommend you find out what is avaliable in your local area for audio equipment, such as small audio shops and such, and visit them, to start to develop some ideas as to what sounds good to you and what price the equipment costs. From there you may develope some idea as to what you want. Don't trust waht you read, do trust what you hear. I hope that helps.

 

[Nikos]

Which headphones would you reccomend for my setup? I am willing to spend at most $100, somewhere beteween $50-80 preferably that will make a huge difference in audio quality in comparison with my Panasonic HPT355 Headphones that were $30....

Any suggestions in this headphones area??

Also what is the difference between listening to music through a TUBE amp as opposed to me Optimus Amp/Receiver??

 

[Nezer]

The first thing I would do is get a good pair of headphones. Your's might be just fine but I have a feeling you could do better.

The next thing I would do is get a good headphone amp to drive em. Tape into the tape-out loop from the amp you have to feed the headamp.

Without knowing what your willing to spend it's soo hard to recommend anything.

On the cheap you could do a pair of Koss KSC-35's for about $20 and add-n a CMoy for about $70ish.

On the expensive end you could get a nice Wadia CD transport and connect it to a Wadia 27ix DAC and use that to drive a pair of Sennheiser Orpheus. Total cost here is around $27,000.

See, there's a WHOLE lot of room to play with!

It's good advice to not believe what you read but do believe what you hear but it can be difficult to hear everything you want. My approach is that if I am hearing the same thing about a particular item over and over from multiple sources with first-hand knowledge, they must be onto something. If I like what I hear I might be inclined to try it out for myself.

For example, I've never tried to listen to a pair of MDR-V700DJs based on all the negative feedback it gets from all over! I have no doubt I would just be wasting my time.

OTOH, I have heard from several sources that the Cary 306/200 is one great sounding CDP and well worht it's price. WIth that in-mind I plan on auditioning one and if I like what my ears tell me, I could cough-up the $5000 needed to purchase this player.

Give us some idea of what your willing to spend to upgrade and you'll get a bunch of ideas from us, some of which will be conflicting, but you can use that to better set your direction.

 

[Calanctus]

My humble suggestion: audition some gear that costs more than what you have--preferably several different setups, at friends' places/stores/shows/anywhere else. That way you'll learn whether you really want to spend more, or whether you're fairly happy with what you have.

My headphone journey really began when, just for the heck of it, I decided to audition a pair of electrostats at J&R Music World. I had to persuade the salesman to take them out of the display case...but after 5 seconds of listening, I knew I had to have them. Since then my tastes have moved on ... but it began with really hearing a difference.

 

[Nikos]

As of now I am willing to spend $100 at most on headphones....and maybe $100 at most for a headphone amp I guess....

What would you reccomend for now in terms of a common headphone that would be significantly better than my $30 Panasonics on my Optimus Amp/Reciver....

My issue FIRST before doing too much research on tube amps...etc.....and spending $1000's......is to get a nice pair of headphones for about $100 in hopes that it will improve my quality of listening to music big time with my current setup (with my $30 Panasonic headphones)


Any reccomddations for now?

 

[Nezer]

Cans under $100:

Beyerdynamic 250-80s(?)
Sony MDR-V6 (7506 for a bit more, same can)
Koss KSC50/KSC-25/PortaPro/Sportapro/KSC-55 (cheap and damned good)
Some of the Grados (SR-65s?)

On the amp front for around $100...

Several DIY options
Have JMT or Tangent or someone else build you a DIY jobbie
these could include a CMoy or some variant (Meta42, CHA47).
The Headroom Airhead is $119 and a pretty decent amp.

These are going to be the answers you get here...

 

[sapphiremodena]

Quote:

Originally posted by Nezer Cans under $100: Beyerdynamic 250-80s(?) Sony MDR-V6 (7506 for a bit more, same can) Koss KSC50/KSC-25/PortaPro/Sportapro/KSC-55 (cheap and damned good) Some of the Grados (SR-65s?)

Sorry to correct you, I'm sure you just hit the wrong keys, but:
KSC-25 should be: KSC-35 (lots of people here swear by these as the best headphone under $100 US, but you can find them for as low as $20 or $30)
SR-65s should be: SR-60 (also I think the SR-80 should probably be mentioned here too, at $95)

 

[Nezer]

Quote:

Originally posted by sapphiremodena Sorry to correct you, I'm sure you just hit the wrong keys, but: KSC-25 should be: KSC-35 (lots of people here swear by these as the best headphone under $100 US, but you can find them for as low as $20 or $30) SR-65s should be: SR-60 (also I think the SR-80 should probably be mentioned here too, at $95)

I hit the wrong keys a lot...

 

[matthewd5]

i would definitely get an airhead amp for $119

then see if you can find the headphones that someone just listed.

listen to those (preferably with the airhead amp and your own source) at a store.

or buy them online from someone who lets you return them if you are unhappy.

you might want to get the airhead amp, enjoy that for a while and then save a while and get a better set of headphones!

matthew

 

[darkclouds]

Best bet would be for you to get a pair of Grado SR-80. Then contact JMT or Tangent to build an amp for you. This way, you can keep the total price a bit under $200 total. Or you can look for some used gear at the for sale/trade forum.