[lkmich]

When building my home system, I've always worked from the idea that the point of a good audio system is to produce music that is enjoyable, no matter what kind of music it is.

You hear a lot of people, whether they are talking headphones or speakers, say that "Headphone X is no good for Y music" or "Don't buy X speakers unless you only listen to jazz." Of course, most people don't keep a rotating stock of speakers at home like people here keep headphones, but the issue still comes up a lot on this board.

I'd like to think that it's not necessary to have 3 pairs or more of headphones in order to make all music types sound good. So what do people think-can you acheive musical enjoyment with one headphone and one amp with all source material? From jazz to rock to hip-hop to classical? What are those "magic combinations" of equipment for people who listen to a full spectrum of music?

lkmich

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by lkmich When building my home system, I've always worked from the idea that the point of a good audio system is to produce music that is enjoyable, no matter what kind of music it is. I'd like to think that it's not necessary to have 3 pairs or more of headphones in order to make all music types sound good. So what do people think-can you acheive musical enjoyment with one headphone and one amp with all source material? lkmich

Given that NOTHING is perfect, no ONE system is going to be perfect for every kind of music. That said, the more you are willing to spend, the more suitable a phone will be for everything.

Got deep pockets? Stax Omega II. (Several thousand dollars.)

 

[blr]

I use HD600 fed from Marantz CD6000OSE via X-Can v2 amp.
To me this combo works fine for any type of music I tried it with.
Good sound is always a good sound.
Some say HD600 lack agressiveness for rock...bla, bla, bla,...
Trust your ears.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by lkmich lkmich

http://www.innerear.on.ca/reviews/vo...viewsstax.html

Omega review.

 

[grinch]

for a while now i've thought that this phenomenon was really stupid. either a headphone is good or it sucks. just as adding dark amps to tame a bright headphone is silly, changing headphones for a genre of music is silly.

i think that some of the hardcore head-fiers with tons of headphones will post a preference for their listeneing and it gets blown out of proportion. example: a head-fier posts "i own both grado and hd600's and i find that when i'm listening to rock, more often i'll grab for the grados than for the hd600's as i like a really aggressive sound with my kick-drum-based rock." someone else reads this post and says "wow, hd600 must suck for rock" and then posts this, without having heard the headphone before.

in my opinion a headphone just sucks or is great. there's a reason why there are plenty of people on this board with only grado hp-1's and a melos amp. it just sounds good. i really don't see how the genre of music being enjoyed on a system dictates how good a system sounds.

hd600 is a pretty good headphone so pick a pair up and enjoy. anyway, i hope that answers your question.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch I really don't see how the genre of music being enjoyed on a system dictates how good a system sounds.

Classical, for instance, has a much wider dynamic range (RANGE!) than does most popular, as well as considerably different distribtion of frequencies. Vocals are frequently recorded differently in popular. Imperfect headphones will obviously slight one or the other, depending on the nature of their perfections.

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch i really don't see how the genre of music being enjoyed on a system dictates how good a system sounds.

I'm in complete agreement on this one. A good system should be equally comfortable in all musical genres. The limits should be set by the preferences of the listener, not the fidelity of the setup.

 

[JaZZ]

For once I'm with Mike...

...but at the same time I think you can be happy with just one very accurate headphone – which nevertheless is by nature imperfect in different degrees in different criteria (which accordingly suit different music styles worse or better, given that different music styles make different criteria more or less important) than any other one within the same class, so you can just as well choose another one or even both or all three... If you're a fan, nothing's really silly (...this to grinch).

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by JaZZ For once I'm with Mike... ...but at the same time I think you can be happy with just one very accurate headphone – which nevertheless is by nature imperfect in different degrees in different criteria (which accordingly suit different music styles worse or better, given that different music styles make different criteria more or less important) than any other one within the same class, so you can just as well choose another one or even both or all three... If you're a fan, nothing's really silly (...this to grinch).

It then boils down to what you will ACCEPT for one genre of music on the one hand, as oppose to what you will PREFER in another. If a phone dips below the acceptable level in one genre, it doesn't matter how good it is in another, for if you insist on listening to more than one genre, you will be dissatisfied with the phones. That's why I'm saying that you had better have deep pockets, because such performance ain't cheap!

 

[Guyferd]

Like Mike said.
I personally believe there is no 1 headphone/amp which can excel in all the genres...
you choose what you listen to..
for me, I listen to ballad, pop, rock and alternative, so dt770pro and warm creek obh-11se for me.

But I would expect an entirely different setup for classical lovers. Basically, ok, my setup can do fine for classical too.. but it's not fantastic. The performance is alright.. not too bad. But when you are more into a particular genre, you can find fault with that setup. Like.. maybe not enough separation.. lacks imaging.

 

[JaZZ]

I forgot to mention that I for one usually listen with one and the same headphone for all music categories – once I'm accustomed to its sound, it's very easy to percieve it as virtually perfect (on a certain level, of course). I've never changed headphones for this purpose, but this doesn't have to be valid for everybody, and I can understand such motivation.

 

[lkmich]

Grinch-
Excellent taste! So do your phones do equal justice to Glenn and other genres? It's hard to get a lot of useful musical information out of those Misfits recordings, though.

lkmich

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by Guyferd Like Mike said. I personally believe there is no 1 headphone/amp which can excel in all the genres...

Unless it's VERY expensive. Sennheiser Orpheus, Stax Omega II, etc. So, if you want it all, ya gotta have da dough...

There will ALWAYS be compromises at the level of a $200 phone, even a $500 phone. The compromises start diminishing once you hit the $1000–2000 mark or so.

 

[lkmich]

Quote:

Originally posted by Guyferd Like Mike said. I personally believe there is no 1 headphone/amp which can excel in all the genres... you choose what you listen to.. for me, I listen to ballad, pop, rock and alternative, so dt770pro and warm creek obh-11se for me. But I would expect an entirely different setup for classical lovers. Basically, ok, my setup can do fine for classical too.. but it's not fantastic. The performance is alright.. not too bad. But when you are more into a particular genre, you can find fault with that setup. Like.. maybe not enough separation.. lacks imaging.

I think this is the problem I'm getting at. If we accept that all headphones are flawed to varying degrees, and these flaws color the music, should we 1) Choose a system that amplifies certain flaws because it sounds the way we like it to on some music or 2) Choose a system that minimizes all flaws as much as possible so it sounds accurate on all types of music.

I can see advantages, in terms of musical enjoyment, to both approaches.

 

[Guyferd]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike Scarpitti Unless it's VERY expensive. Sennheiser Orpheus, Stax Omega II, etc. So, if you want it all, ya gotta have da dough... There will ALWAYS be compromises at the level of a $200 phone, even a $500 phone. The compromises start diminishing once you hit the $1000–2000 mark or so.

yeap.. of course at ard 2k.. you would better expect something good from those cans, right

Anyway, even the mdr-r10.. costing 2-3 k, doesn't have as much bass impact, according to some people. So that might be the foodfor thought esp for rockers.. even the best headphone has some flaws.. unless you can live with it..