Long time lurker wanting some advice/suggestions on new "over ear" headphones.

[Monsterzero]

I will keep an eye out for the Sextetts and the 400i then. Have both in "my watching" page at the moment. Think it is actually a 400s I have in there actually not "i". Is there much difference?

HiFiMan in their infinite wisdom created three different headphones sharing the HE-400 moniker.

HE-400-big bass,a bit peaky in the highs
HE-400i
HE-400s-meant to be more mobile friendly,dunno,never heard it before.

 

[squee116]

Low ohm dynamic headphones+vintage receivers is not a good match.Planars on the other hand are less prone to sounding bad to the whole impedance matching thing.
Squee suggested the X2 amongst others and I can tell you from first hand experience you wont like the results.

I can't speak to the x2 out of the Rotel, but I can say safely that they run perfectly off mobile devices. I don't know if the Rotel steps down the headphone output, but I would expect them to. X2's out of an old MAC 1900 sounded fine to me, but they see little improvement with amping because of their efficiency. In that sense, other headphones would scale better with an amp.

 

[Monsterzero]

I can't speak to the x2 out of the Rotel, but I can say safely that they run perfectly off mobile devices. I don't know if the Rotel steps down the headphone output, but I would expect them to. X2's out of an old MAC 1900 sounded fine to me, but they see little improvement with amping because of their efficiency. In that sense, other headphones would scale better with an amp.

Yup.
Its hard to say from one receiver to the next as to which will cause what issue with headphones designed to be driven by potatoes.
I have the X1,Grado 80e and have had other mobile friendly HPs in the past and none danced well with my dinosaur era receivers,some worse than others.

Back in the 70s there werent any mobile devices,so no IEMs to speak of,no 32ohm HPs to speak of,no dedicated HP amps,etc. The safe bet is to match vintage and 250 ohm and higher headphones with the old receivers,as its what they were designed to drive.

On a side note Ive been on the lookout for a Mac 4100 for awhile now and the prices are out of control....must have patience I keep telling myself.

 

[GreenNeedle]

I can't speak to the x2 out of the Rotel, but I can say safely that they run perfectly off mobile devices. I don't know if the Rotel steps down the headphone output, but I would expect them to. X2's out of an old MAC 1900 sounded fine to me, but they see little improvement with amping because of their efficiency. In that sense, other headphones would scale better with an amp.

The X2 was at the top of the list until Saturday. Still have some in my watch list. The research on receiver compatibility put me off a bit + they seem to be very popular used and UK pricing is way above the US at the moment. People here just bid on impulse. There must be too much monney around.

I think the Rotel comes straight from the speaker outputs. It has a setup for 2 sets of speakers on the rear and a switch so you can use it as 2 channel or 4 channel. I assume quadrophonic or just so you can choose 2 different sets of speakers. On the front you can turn on/off speakers 1 or 2.

I looked at the service manual schematic for the electronics inside but I am not electrician. It shows a 330 resistor on the + and - going to the jack plug. The schematic in the service manual is a printed version of a hand drawing. Proper old school. lol. I have no idea if this means it is a 330hz impedence input or what the calculations are nor if these resistors are just 2 of many along the line.

 

[Monsterzero]

I think the Rotel comes straight from the speaker outputs.

Yup again.

Old receivers tapped into the main amp with nothing more than in-line resistor to keep the HPs from going up in acrid blue smoke.
Modern gear for the most part puts a simple separate amp in to drive HPs,and it sounds crappy.

 

[GreenNeedle]

Right. I just bought a sextet that "looks" from photos supplied to be an MP. The photos supplied are through the grill and the seller says they are cream. I looked at the guide you have up and the LP has a greyish disc in the centre of the radiators where the MP one has just a black ring. The photos supplied to me showed clearly the light coloured radiators but the centre was dark so I assume it didn't have the grey disc in the centre. We shall see when they come which will be a wait. lol. I bought them from ebay from an Italian seller for £94 inc shipping.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263465560886



This is the headphone/speakers part from the Rotel schematic. the resistor numbers say 330 on each side:

 

[Monsterzero]

That does look to be an MP sextett.Please report back and let us know how it works for you.

 

[GreenNeedle]

Will do. Probably take up to 2 weeks to get here though. Not very quick deliveries from Italy. Germany and France are quick 2-3 days. Italy 7-10 days and with the snow problems at the moment no doubt that will probably slow things down even more.

 

[squee116]

Yup.
Its hard to say from one receiver to the next as to which will cause what issue with headphones designed to be driven by potatoes.
I have the X1,Grado 80e and have had other mobile friendly HPs in the past and none danced well with my dinosaur era receivers,some worse than others.

Back in the 70s there werent any mobile devices,so no IEMs to speak of,no 32ohm HPs to speak of,no dedicated HP amps,etc. The safe bet is to match vintage and 250 ohm and higher headphones with the old receivers,as its what they were designed to drive.

On a side note Ive been on the lookout for a Mac 4100 for awhile now and the prices are out of control....must have patience I keep telling myself.

I'm running a MAC 1900 with incredible results across the board.

 

[squee116]

Will do. Probably take up to 2 weeks to get here though. Not very quick deliveries from Italy. Germany and France are quick 2-3 days. Italy 7-10 days and with the snow problems at the moment no doubt that will probably slow things down even more.

Hope they work out for you.

 

[GreenNeedle]

Hope they work out for you.

So do I I'm still watching X2s and HE400s though. Seeing if one eventually goes for less than it should. Maybe dreamworld on the HE400 (s/i.)

 

[GreenNeedle]

Amazingly they have already arrived from Italy. I think they are the LP white version, just the white has aged. Can't see any orange around them. Quick listen through the Rotel left me thinking WOW but that may be placebo/novelty/adrenalin so I will compare against the Sennheiser 438 later. Bass is plenty for me and they are louder if I am recalling properly. volume turned up to 10 o clock was fine for me.

Headphone jack needs a wiggle though or you get zero channels or 1 channel. Will take a look at that later. Elastics are shot so am researching that repair now.

Initial listens were the first section of Marillion - "the leavers" off their new album and then Rage against the machine "know your enemy" and I left that running into "Wake up." Both on CD so not listened to vinyl through them yet.

Will post up a proper opinion after I have time to have a proper listen and compare session.

 

[Monsterzero]

Elastics are shot so am researching that repair now.

Keep us posted.the sextett is a legend!

 

[GreenNeedle]

Keep us posted.the sextett is a legend!

Are you sure you don't have a camera in my house? That looks exactly like what I have done (almost) while I sort out a full time replacement. I found some elastic in the wife's sewing tub and tied a knot.

 

[GreenNeedle]

Should I continue on in the "Grado'd" thread rather than in this newcomer one?

I am reading through it currently on page 49. Am listening to Marillion - screw everyone and run (their latest album) and these headphones seem to struggle with the flooded middle. The bass is lovely, the snares, toms and cymbals are delightful and the whole sound is really good for a traditional "live" sound but once the middle is filled up with a couple of guitar tracks, sound effects, 2 keyboards, heavy reverbed singing etc it takes over and can sound quite blended rather than separated if that makes sense. The clarity in there disappears when the middle is overloaded.

I have taken a break from the "Grado'd" thread just to check out images of other people's headphones to try and gauge their pad thicknesses. Maybe these pads are far too soft. the pleather is fine, no cracks but they are very soft sponges compared to the HD438 velours which are much less "squishy."

I'm going to try some 70s Rush or similar next where there are much fewer tracks and not such a "wall of sound" going on.

p.s. LPs or not, I've turned the bass down. lol. It is centred on 12 o clock) with treble at 2 o clock.