sphones19
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2015
- Posts
- 30
- Likes
- 31
I've been reading Head-Fi for several years now, and I've learned a lot from the community. I suppose it was time that I joined up and tried to contribute a bit. But then, here I am starting off by asking for advice. Hopefully I can offer something useful in return in good time.
For a long time, my main interest with respect to audio was in traditional two channel loudspeaker-based systems. For a number of reasons, a headphone-based system makes more sense in my life, and I've come to really enjoy the headphone listening experience.
I own some assorted headphones and iems, but the best ones that I own are a pair of Grado RS-1s that I got at a good price. After about six years of using them as my main headphones, I can say that they're really not what I'm after. I have decent amplification in the form of a Benchmark DAC 1 USB for home use and a Pico DAC/TTVJ Slim combo for portable use. I own a fair number of good quality recordings, both in Hi Res and 16/44.
It's not difficult to articulate, at least to a degree, what I'm after, but I have little opportunity to demo headphones. I don't live near a good dealer, and many of the phones that sound interesting to me are in practice difficult to demo at all, unless one can make it to CanJam (I can't, regrettably). Some help with making an educated guess would therefore be greatly appreciated. I may have to buy something sight unheard.
Although I like and listen to many kinds of music, my real interest is in classical music. There I listen to a number of genres, but I have a particular interest in polyphonic early music, a wide variety of baroque music, early to mid 20th century French music (Messiaen, Duruflé, Poulenc, etc), and contemporary classical music. Timbre, instrument separation, correct dynamics at different frequencies (and good full range reproduction), and enough of a sound stage to keep symphonic piece from becoming muddled are what I'm after. Obviously, I'm not going to get all of that. But, I'm able to spend up to $800 (not that I mind spending less) to get closer than I am now.
Open vs. closed isn't very important to me, although I might prefer a closed design all else being equal (I can't completely eliminate background noises). I've though that the Final Audio Design Pandora Hope VI might be a candidate, as might be the Mr Speakers Alpha Primo on its current sale price. I'm 100% open to other options, however – even to the idea of spending the money on iems if there were something that would work better. I own a pair of Etymotic HD5s, which I basically like, but which don't overwhelm me. I at one point owned Shure 500s, but although I could see that they had a number of virtues, they sounded a little artificial somehow to me.
Any thoughts would be very greatly appreciated. It's obviously a lot of money, and I'm likely to be taking something of a risk one way or another, so it may as well be an educated one.
For a long time, my main interest with respect to audio was in traditional two channel loudspeaker-based systems. For a number of reasons, a headphone-based system makes more sense in my life, and I've come to really enjoy the headphone listening experience.
I own some assorted headphones and iems, but the best ones that I own are a pair of Grado RS-1s that I got at a good price. After about six years of using them as my main headphones, I can say that they're really not what I'm after. I have decent amplification in the form of a Benchmark DAC 1 USB for home use and a Pico DAC/TTVJ Slim combo for portable use. I own a fair number of good quality recordings, both in Hi Res and 16/44.
It's not difficult to articulate, at least to a degree, what I'm after, but I have little opportunity to demo headphones. I don't live near a good dealer, and many of the phones that sound interesting to me are in practice difficult to demo at all, unless one can make it to CanJam (I can't, regrettably). Some help with making an educated guess would therefore be greatly appreciated. I may have to buy something sight unheard.
Although I like and listen to many kinds of music, my real interest is in classical music. There I listen to a number of genres, but I have a particular interest in polyphonic early music, a wide variety of baroque music, early to mid 20th century French music (Messiaen, Duruflé, Poulenc, etc), and contemporary classical music. Timbre, instrument separation, correct dynamics at different frequencies (and good full range reproduction), and enough of a sound stage to keep symphonic piece from becoming muddled are what I'm after. Obviously, I'm not going to get all of that. But, I'm able to spend up to $800 (not that I mind spending less) to get closer than I am now.
Open vs. closed isn't very important to me, although I might prefer a closed design all else being equal (I can't completely eliminate background noises). I've though that the Final Audio Design Pandora Hope VI might be a candidate, as might be the Mr Speakers Alpha Primo on its current sale price. I'm 100% open to other options, however – even to the idea of spending the money on iems if there were something that would work better. I own a pair of Etymotic HD5s, which I basically like, but which don't overwhelm me. I at one point owned Shure 500s, but although I could see that they had a number of virtues, they sounded a little artificial somehow to me.
Any thoughts would be very greatly appreciated. It's obviously a lot of money, and I'm likely to be taking something of a risk one way or another, so it may as well be an educated one.
