[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenithon I am doing a lot of A/B testing between 650s and 701s now while waiting for the RS1s to arrive for the 3-way shootout. The weight and ancilary warmth of the HD650 is addictive! I will have to wait and see....what happens now is I come across some songs where I have to go to the HD650s for the added bass, and back to 701s for songs I need bloom and dynamic. We'll see if the RS1 can add that bass...only time will tell EDIT: just a few more added comments from what I am noticing now, with the thanks of Diana Krall: -HD650 = warm, weighty (great with the Bass at the beginning of "All or nothing at all"!!), vocals at medium level (on par with instruments) -K701 = brighter, quicker, little more detailed, vocals up front (much more in your face than Senns, take priority above instruments)

one thing to keep in mind is that all those cans change with use. IMHO of course. Just about every K701 owner I have encountered said the cans really do need time to settle. Based on personal experience, the RS1 is TERRIBLE out of the box. Really. Its an unlistenable shouty beast, especially with SS ampplification. Ive been meaning to try an antique sound lab amp with my Grados. Thats an OTL design.. right? IMHO OTL amps are a great price / perfomance match with Grados (Although some of the earmax amps can be a bit pricey).

IMHO the 650 is the warmest of those 3... by a significant amount IMHO.

Looking forward to your impressions

 

[rshdhead]

This is a little bit off topics.

HD650, warm and relax, paired with GS1000, detail but not fatigue, and wide soundstage are better.

 

[F107plus5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rshdhead This is a little bit off topics. HD650, warm and relax, paired with GS1000, detail but not fatigue, and wide soundstage are better.

Not too far off topic at all!

I've been looking at MS2i with Gilmore lite for rock. And HD650, also with Glite(now how convenient is that?)for classical. I have found a surprizing number of good comments on HD650 and Glite!!

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VR6ofpain I don't miss the 650's. I have only heard the 580 and 600. I dislike them both. The 600 is better than the 580, but neither can compete with the reality of my K601. Sure the 600 has a little more punch, but if I wanted punch I would have stuck with Grado. I sold em, because I wanted quality. Live and breath AKG, you will be much happier.

Whoa, that's harsh! Here I am pondering whether I should put up a FT thread to exchange my K601 with a HD-600.

 

[xenithon]

Thanks for those comments guys! All the cans in question have a good 3-400 hours on them, so am pretty sure they are at or near full running in status

Seems like the HD650 is starting to catch up....both in terms of comments and the poll

. I was listening to new age / chilluot music which I really like to listen to - things like Adieumus, Vanglis, Sigur Ros, Cafe Del Mar etc. and the K701's airy, detailed presentation really suited it. Often the thickness of the HD650's made it sound a little muffled and airy. But on things like Diana Krall, the extra weight sounded great.

I keep thinking to myself how good the HD650 does rock for its weight, but then I hear that the RS1 will seriously outperform it for that type of music....and I do not even want to get into the other complicated issue of using an aftermarket cable to get the HD650 nearer to the 701s

....I will hold back on any more judgements until the RS1s arrive which will allow me to test all three.

On another note altogether I asked in another thread (doesn't seem to be getting much reponse

) about an external DAC solution. When I get the HB1 I will not really have a way to use it yet as my source is the PC. I was looking at the Silverstone Ensemble EB01 (which uses the same PC2702 chip as the GCHA) which I can get at a reasonable price. The other alternative I was looking at is the M-Audio Audiophile USB but that is nearly double the price and I am not sure if there is an improvement over the EB01 which warrants that price difference. Any recommendations / suggestions?

Cheers,
X

 

[blessingx]

Well X, you know my choice on headphones.

The M-Audio Audiophile USB use to be my source. The PS can be upgraded which is a nice plus and even its headphone jack is decent, but as it's an end of life product and some DACs (most discussed recently being the Zhaolu) are coming down in price, if you can move up a little your choices increase. I know nothing of the EB01. There are other options like the Firestone Fubar II. Maybe keep an eye on the for sale forum here or on Audiogon.

 

[xenithon]

Hi agian and thanks for that info. Being end of life etc. is not too much of a worry for me - in essence, all I need is something to take the signal from my PC and process it to be sent out to the forthcoming HB1 tube amp. The reason I did not look at the Fubar is that I am looking for something I can get in the UK as I am going there next week (nothing available locally and importing is very expensive). The EB01 has the benefit of having the same DAC chip as the GCHA, but the M-Audio is meant to be superior - it's just a matter of price now

. But overall did you enjoy the M-Audio?

Bear in mind though that there is the requirement of having USB input - so many of the DACs I have seen (at very good prices even) won't work as they do not have USB input, and I do not want to overcomplicate things by needing to buy a soundcard with digital/optical out, then a DAC etc.

Cheers,
X

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx The M-Audio Audiophile USB use to be my source. The PS can be upgraded which is a nice plus and even its headphone jack is decent, but as it's an end of life product and some DACs (most discussed recently being the Zhaolu) are coming down in price, if you can move up a little your choices increase. I know nothing of the EB01. There are other options like the Firestone Fubar II. Maybe keep an eye on the for sale forum here or on Audiogon.

 

[blessingx]

Again I can't compare to your other options. The AP USB was quite decent. I used it as a source (nicely upgraded sound with a Stancor PS - which made its headphone jack compared quite favorably against an old Meta42 amp out the back) and eventually as a feed for a Scott Nixon TubeDAC+ so it is great for future uses. If the current Apple products are any indicator, more computers going forward are going to have optical outputs (and why I eventually had no use for the AP USB), so while there are debates on USB v. TOSLINK (and a lesser extent coaxial), at least there may be greater DAC options for us computer audio people going forward.

With the AP USB, you're partially paying for the headphone jack and the recording capabilities, so if you have no interest in those, there are other, even other M-Audio, products you may want to look at, though I haven't compared the DAC chips.

 

[xenithon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx With the AP USB, you're partially paying for the headphone jack and the recording capabilities, so if you have no interest in those, there are other, even other M-Audio, products you may want to look at, though I haven't compared the DAC chips.

Hi again. The other M-Audio products I can look at is the M-Audio Transit (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main.html) but that does not have RCA output. I also just came across the M-Audio Fast Track USB: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...kUSB-main.html

But I am not sure if that will fulfill the task (I am not sure what to look for

). It doesn't say anything about DACs....but I do see it has USB input and RCA output, and is in-between the Transit and Audiophile USB in terms pricing.

X

 

[nabwong]

Forget the k701 or hd650. Check out the Audio Technica ATH-AD2000. I really don't know why the AT is not getting any attention around here. It's not like it's $800. It's about $500 and it'll be the best $500 you'll spend.

 

[krmathis]

Of those limited choices I would choose the HD-650 with aftermarket cable.

 

[AndyKatz]

IEM a possibility?

To me the IEM+can is equivalent to the traditional audiophile's high-end speakers+headphone.

In which case I go Shure E500 + RS1

Andy

 

[mulveling]

I'd sell the RS1 and get a JVC dx1000, which is now one of my favorites among the under-$1K cans. Also, unlike most of the other contenders (w2002, w11jpn, k1000, k340, w5000), it's actually in production. I loved the RS1 with movies, but they were too harsh with music for me.

I think you can do better for your money than RS1 + K701 or HD650, etc. The w5000 or ad2000 might also be a good option, but I've not heard the latter.

 

[umsowhat]

RS-1s suck...

 

[umsowhat]

grado was a good brand..... but the RS-1s aint ****!!!!