[GeoffW]

Quote:

Originally posted by wallijonn Geoff, congratulations on a fine purchase. may it give you many years of faithful service. and yes, you're about to go over the slippery slope of upgrades. there is no hope. a nice cd player followed by a nice amp, then the interconnects (i suggest you make your own to start) and then topped off with a DAC. kiss $2150 goodbye right now.

Thanks for the warning. I know, it's probably inevitable. I'm just trying to see I long I can last before the next new toy...

 

[GeoffW]

Quote:

Originally posted by FCJ GeoffW, Nice review. I received my Sony 3000s today and have been listening to them for a couple of hours (after a brief 5-6 hour burn in). Your comments are spot on--great soundstage, amazing detail, great placement of instruments in their "space." I guess that these qualities will improve with additional burn in. I too think you need to upgrade your source and pick up an amp to get the most out of the 3Ks.

Thanks, you're right about the upgrades, of course. It's going to take a good deal more research, though. And cash.

Regarding the burn-in, I noticed things improving up until about 48 hours, with most improvements occuring in the first 24. It just seemed tighter and more coherent after a day's burn-in. Some of it might be due to my own mental adjustments, but not all of it.

 

[FCJ]

Quote:

Originally posted by GeoffW It's going to take a good deal more research, though. And cash.

And how. . . .

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by GeoffW The CD3k's are excellent with home theater. My toshiba laptop is just about the best multimedia laptop currently available (hi res 1600x1200 screen, great sound etc), and I use it to watch DVD's with the CD3k's. The sound is incredible, arguably better in some ways than my real home theater setup. The soundstage of the CD3k almost makes it sound like dolby prologic.

I had the same response when first hearing my CD3Ks. My usual 'phone was the W2002 and the Sony's bass seemed slightly exaggerated by comparison. Within a few days they settled down (or I adapted) and they became and remain the best balanced headphone I've encountered.

Since you like movies on your computer, have you tried the Dolby Headphone plug-in with your laptop? I think you'll find it a revelation!

 

[Cherokee Mist]

Congratulations GeoffW on your headphone purchase. A great choice! I am using my CD3k's hooked up to the Philips DVD 963SA via a JMT built Maxed Out Meta42 and the combination is quite involving and excellent! I also have the HD600/Cardas combination and I just tried it with the aforementioned setup a few minutes ago. I removed the HD600's after just one song! I've done this several times over the last several months and the result is always the same no matter what source setup that I have tried. The CD3k's are so much more enjoyable and listenable to me. They just have more of everything compared to the Senn's. More detail, more treble, tighter bass, more neutrality, etc. Sometimes I listen to the TV with the CD3k's via a Denon 3802 HT receiver/digital cable box and I'm constantly stunned at how good it sounds. It certainly makes commercials almost tolerable and it takes sporting events to the next level as well. SACD's DVD's and DVD-A's sound friggin' amazing! I guess I'll one day, in the distant future, upgrade to the R10's, but right now I'm loving my CD3k's and have since day one. I know that it is only a matter of preference, but the HD600's come a distant second in my opinion. So much so that the Senn's may need a new home where they won't be so neglected.


regards

 

[GeoffW]

Quote:

Originally posted by Spad I had the same response when first hearing my CD3Ks. My usual 'phone was the W2002 and the Sony's bass seemed slightly exaggerated by comparison. Within a few days they settled down (or I adapted) and they became and remain the best balanced headphone I've encountered. Since you like movies on your computer, have you tried the Dolby Headphone plug-in with your laptop? I think you'll find it a revelation!

Yes, I agree. At this point, I'm pretty sure the bass problems are in the recording and not in the headphone. Not sure why some songs are recorded with excessive bass. Maybe because there's a lot of bass-heads out there, or more likely so that the music sounds better on radios with small speakers or other low-end equipment.

I'm not sure what you mean by the dolby headpone plug-in. There's a mini-plug output that doubles as a headphone output and an S/PDIF digital optical out. This is where I plug in the CD3k's. There's also a video/audio analog line out (which I've used to play dvds on a tv), a mic in, and a line in.

 

[GeoffW]

Quote:

Originally posted by Cherokee Mist Congratulations GeoffW on your headphone purchase. A great choice! I am using my CD3k's hooked up to the Philips DVD 963SA via a JMT built Maxed Out Meta42 and the combination is quite involving and excellent! I also have the HD600/Cardas combination and I just tried it with the aforementioned setup a few minutes ago. I removed the HD600's after just one song! I've done this several times over the last several months and the result is always the same no matter what source setup that I have tried. The CD3k's are so much more enjoyable and listenable to me. They just have more of everything compared to the Senn's. More detail, more treble, tighter bass, more neutrality, etc. Sometimes I listen to the TV with the CD3k's via a Denon 3802 HT receiver/digital cable box and I'm constantly stunned at how good it sounds. It certainly makes commercials almost tolerable and it takes sporting events to the next level as well. SACD's DVD's and DVD-A's sound friggin' amazing! I guess I'll one day, in the distant future, upgrade to the R10's, but right now I'm loving my CD3k's and have since day one. I know that it is only a matter of preference, but the HD600's come a distant second in my opinion. So much so that the Senn's may need a new home where they won't be so neglected. regards

Thanks! I'm very happy with them so far, and I think I made the right choice.

I wonder though, if there are any dedicated headphone amps with a digital audio input (with a builtin DAC)? Then I could use my laptop as my source and not worry about any degradation in audio quality.

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by GeoffW I'm not sure what you mean by the dolby headpone plug-in. There's a mini-plug output that doubles as a headphone output and an S/PDIF digital optical out. This is where I plug in the CD3k's. There's also a video/audio analog line out (which I've used to play dvds on a tv), a mic in, and a line in.

GeoffW, check this out:

http://www.timefordvd.com/tutorial/DolbyHeadphone.shtml

 

[Jackangel]

I like the fact that the CD3Ks are so much better than the 7506s, even coming out of a laptop. Were you listening to CDs on the lappy, or mp3s too?

thanks,
rp:AUM

 

[GeoffW]

Quote:

Originally posted by Spad GeoffW, check this out: http://www.timefordvd.com/tutorial/DolbyHeadphone.shtml

Very cool. I tried it with WinDVD. It really improves the soundstage, but (unfortunately), at the expense of detail. I assume that's because it's a software DSP. Maybe a hardware implementation of Dolby Headphone, such as in the Denon receiver, would be better.

 

[GeoffW]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jackangel I like the fact that the CD3Ks are so much better than the 7506s, even coming out of a laptop. Were you listening to CDs on the lappy, or mp3s too? thanks, rp:AUM

Both. MP3's sound great too. However, I'm noticing what I assume are compression artifacts (tiny squeaks and squeals) in mp3's under 192bps.