[Miguellacorte]

Let me start by saying that i worked my ass off. I'm a 19 year old boy who always was very intrested in this topic. My setup till today has been the senn momentum, and the ath m50 by audio technicha. I got a full scholarship for college, and summer breaks in hear are really long, so i worked for 12 staright weeks every single fraking day 12 hours a day to make about 15000. I'll spent all.
This is what i'll spent it on:
- Senn's hd800 for audio monitoring and hearing sessions. 1500.
- audeze lcd 3 for ore long audio sessions. 1800.
- audio techincha ath-m70x for on the go mixing. 300
- genelec m040 studio monitors. 1800 the pair
- hi res player i haven't chosen yet for around 500.
- woo audio wa7 for hearing sessions 1600
- power condtioners and better cables and extras 1000
- samsung 34 inch surved monitor 4k 1200.

The only thing that is still in doubt is a solid state headphone amp/audio interface that i can use for audio monitoring and in which i can also connect my monitors. 
Any thoughts on better monitors, or another headphone combination are more than welcome. 

 

[inthere]

If on PC go RME Fireface UFX, if on Mac go Metric Halo ULN-8 for audio interface. HD 800 and most high end headphones are bad for mixing because the highs are enhanced for better soundstage/imagery, consequently if you use them as a mixing monitor you'll get muddy closed in mixes. 
 
By all means get high end stuff for listening, but after you've already mixed the songs. 
 
The Genelec studio monitors or any other monitors are worthless without room treatment. Your mixes will be all over the place. 
 
If you're serious about getting a recording setup go to Gearslutz.com and register, then ask around pretty much the same way you would do here. 
 
Head-Fi for home audio, Gearslutz for pro recording. 

 

[Miguellacorte]

Thanks for the reply. About the senns hd 800. I didn't knew they were boosted in the high frequencies, what transparent headphone would you recommend? i was thinking about the sennheisers hd 650. 

 

[cel4145]

With that kind of budget, take a few hundred and travel somewhere that you can listen to headphones and speakers. No substitute for hearing equipment yourself

 

[inthere]

I wouldn't recommend the HD 650 either-I found out the hard way. What I heard in the headphones wasn't translating to my mixes. In fact, if you go to Gearslutz and tell them you want to mix in headphones they'll burn you at the stake. As one of many monitor sources yes, but as the main monitor source? No way.
 
 I find most of the graphs misleading on high end headphones; for instance, the graphs for Beats Solo 2 look eerily similar to Sennheiser HD 800's, however, when I listen to the Beats I hear nothing but muddy sound and when I listen to the HD800's I hear crystal clear clarity and an unbelievably wide soundstage. So recessed highs are extremely thin on high end headphones but much thicker on low end cans. 
 
 In my personal experience, the best cans for pro recording that I've used so far are ATH-M50's (which you already have) and Marshall Monitors. Both are pretty cheap and I actually hate M-50's with a passion because they have a really boring sound plus they're uncomfortable. But there was a listening test on Gearslutz where ATH-M50's were the only cans that had accurate bass reproduction. Of course everything else sounds like crap on them but they've become the pro standard since that test about 5 years ago. Marshall Monitors are also very accurate and actually sound great. Both are pretty cheap. 
 
Marshall monitors are also sensational if you're recording live instruments or vocals because they have almost no leakage. 

 

[Miguellacorte]

That's certainly really intresting. The thing is that i can't simply skip on buying the senn hd 800. I'm already in love with them. I'll do some research on the marshalls. BTW what do you think about the Grace Design m920 because i think this would suit the best for me as i do very little recording in my productions. 

 

[inthere]

I'm not saying don't buy the HD 800's, I'm saying if you do use them for pleasure, not pro work. Use the M50's for your monitoring. I don't have a Grace m920 so I can't tell you about it. 
 
 I personally stay away from products that say "Amazingly clear playback with excellent stereo imaging and deep sound staging" for my own music production and mixing. Why? Because 99% of the people I sell my music to are not going to have that kind of playback quality and it's going to sound crappy on every other system except my own. 
 
 Now for fun I'll listen to HD800's or LCDX or Alpha Prime, but when I'm on the clock I have to go industry standard, which is Yamaha NS 10 speakers (the WORST sounding monitors ever) and a treated room. Flat speakers, flat acoustics. But if it sounds good on that setup, it will sound good everywhere. 
 
If I got top audiophile speakers in, the mix will most likely only sound good in that room on that setup. 

 

[AudioMan612]

I have an m920, and I've been very happy with it.  It's one of the best DACs that I've heard myself, it has a very good feature set that's laid out well, and the built-in amp was designed around HD 600's, 650's, 700's, and 800's, and is supposed to pair very well with all of them (I have HD 700's, and have heard HD 800's on the m920, and they both worked very well).  I would describe its sound as very detailed and neutral, but in a way that remains pleasant and not fatiguing.  If I had to nitpick on the product, there are a few very small things.  It has a jumper to turn L1 into an exclusive DAC output, bypassing the volume attenuator.  I wouldn't mind seeing this option on the balanced line-outs as well, not to mention an internal jumper isn't the most convenient thing in the world (but I don't mind, as it's not a setting you're going to really change much if at all, and it gives you an excuse to see how well-made the insides are).  Also, the Grace remote isn't included, and it's expensive, but you can use a cheap Apple remote, so this also isn't a big deal.
 
Grace has been really cool about answering questions on the m920 as well:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/709617/new-grace-design-m920-dac-amp-with-dsd-decoding

 

[Beyakusenn]

I do not have experience with many planar magnetics (T50RP and HE-560), but with that kind of budget: why not get a HE-1000. I've read it has electrostatic-like speed, while retaining the bottomless, visceral bass of orthodynamic headphones.
 
Electrostatics have their own unique characteristics. I own a Stax SRS-4040 Signature system myself and I like it better than the HE-560 I have on my head or the Beyer T1 I used to own. It's got some bright spots and bass roll-off , so I equalize the sound for  a more relaxed and accurate listening experience.
 
With your budget, there is still enough money left for the HE-1000 and maybe one of the more 'budget-friendly' electrostatic systems.
 
For your Hi-res player: does it need to be portable? If it has to be, I think the Fiio X5 is a good option.

 

[maeveth]

With that kind of budget, take a few hundred and travel somewhere that you can listen to headphones and speakers. No substitute for hearing equipment yourself

 
Listening to gear at a local or localish canjam is invaluable. You can talk to a lot of people and listen to a lot of gear to help you decide.
 
 

  I do not have experience with many planar magnetics (T50RP and HE-560), but with that kind of budget: why not get a HE-1000. I've read it has electrostatic-like speed, while retaining the bottomless, visceral bass of orthodynamic headphones.
 
Electrostatics have their own unique characteristics. I own a Stax SRS-4040 Signature system myself and I like it better than the HE-560 I have on my head or the Beyer T1 I used to own. It's got some bright spots and bass roll-off , so I equalize the sound for  a more relaxed and accurate listening experience.
 
With your budget, there is still enough money left for the HE-1000 and maybe one of the more 'budget-friendly' electrostatic systems.
 
For your Hi-res player: does it need to be portable? If it has to be, I think the Fiio X5 is a good option.

 
The HE-1000s will not be generally available for a bit still.  That being said even with the praise surrounding them you should really listen to them - I personally didnt actually pull the trigger on the beta until after I heard them in person at a local Can Jam with the Yggdrasil/Rag stack.
 
 
Overall your stack looks good but you MAY want to invest in a high quality DAC such as old used Theta or a Yggdrasil if you can spare the cash - it brings the source quality up to keep up with your TOTL headphones.
 
You should also consider the Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon headphone amp.

 

[cel4145]

Listening to gear at a local or localish canjam is invaluable. You can talk to a lot of people and listen to a lot of gear to help you decide.

+1

If you have to spend $500 to fly to the nearest head-fi meetup with lots of participants, it would be worth it with your budget.

 

[Miguellacorte]

+1

If you have to spend $500 to fly to the nearest head-fi meetup with lots of participants, it would be worth it with your budget.

That's certainly a very good idea. Which headphone conference would your guys recommend? 
I've been also re-concidering the woo audio wa-7. do you have any alternatives of something that is very soft (i love soft tube type sound) to the wa7 fireflies duo? 

 

[maeveth]

  That's certainly a very good idea. Which headphone conference would your guys recommend? 
I've been also re-concidering the woo audio wa-7. do you have any alternatives of something that is very soft (i love soft tube type sound) to the wa7 fireflies duo? 

Really depends on where you are for what meet up you can get to.  There is a big one coming up in the SF Bay Area soon.
 
I have not personally listened to the WA7s so I cannot comment on them yet.

 

[cel4145]

Like maeveth said, really depends on where you are. We had a big meetup here near me this past spring. Check out the list of all the equipment in the third post: http://www.head-fi.org/t/744205/southeastern-michigan-spring-meet-03-14-2015-hosted-by-overture-audio-ann-arbor-mi

So if you see a decent sized meetup fairly local to you happening soon, you could try all kinds of stuff. Check this area of the forum: http://www.head-fi.org/f/24/local-regional-head-fi-meets-parties-get-togethers

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I've saved enough money to buy all i ever wanted in audiophilia, thoughts?

 
All you've ever wanted up until now. At some point you might get to listen through, for example, the Sonus Faber Stradivari Homage or at least the Dynaudio Contour S5.4 in a large room, and you'll likely start wishing you had a big house with a big, acoustically treated (isolated and minimized reflections) audio room just to listen through these bad boys.