Gorthon
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2005
- Posts
- 263
- Likes
- 15
Sorry in advance for the length. But I feel that it is necessary to understand where my question is coming from.
I received my HF-1 and immediately gave them a 50 hour burn in. I then began my journey of HF-1's. In the beginning I felt like there was something missing. When a song I was very familiar with came along, I realized what it was. There was no depth, richness, or impact in bass and lower midranges. The highs sounded perfect. I had been reading a lot about different pads and mods. The one that came to mind immediately was the reverse bowl mod. So I applied a little pressure to bring the drivers closer to my ears, taking care not to obstruct the open screen. This gave me what I was looking for. I tried the reverse bowl mod and was pretty happy with the sound, but not the comfort factor. I still wished I could get just a little more depth and richness. For Christmas I received a gift of Grado flat pads. With these the depth, richness, and impact I was looking for was there. I also find them much more comfortable then the bowls. I was very happy with these. I then had and opportunity to compare a stock set of HF-1’s with my friend’s woody HF-1 from Headphile. The test bed was an iRiver iHP-140, Headsave Go-Vibe amp, with 6” Cardas mini to mini IC. I was able to spend about an hour with them. I gave the woody HF-1 a quick listen with flats and did not like this at all. I then listened to a variety of tracks comparing the woody HF-1 (w/ bowls) to the stock HF-1 (w/ bowls, reversed bowls, and flats). Although not exactly what I desired, the woody mod of the HF-1 brought more depth, richness and impact without losing any soundstage or clarity. At the same time I realized how wooly the flats on the stock set sounded compared to the woody set with the bowls. One last test revealed that if I increased the volume of the woody set a little, that nirvana was reached. I had found the depth, richness and impact I wanted without any loss in soundstage or clarity. Now the problem is that at that volume, I feel you risk hearing damage.
In regards to volume, I generally find that that I listen in the 1/8 to 1/3 volume range of the Go-vibe. What I would classify as pretty low. To put it another way, I can lay in bed with them on and my wife can fall asleep with no complaints. She has said that she can hear the music.
For whatever reason, the day I was doing this test we did not use his SR-71 amp. I have had opportunities to listen to his SR-71 with stock HF-1’s. With this amp, you barely have to turn the volume knob and it’s as loud as the Go-vibe levels. The little I know about portable amps, I would consider the SR-71 one of the elite.
With my background in electronics, my gut tells me that to achieve this nirvana again, it would be best to have an amp that would run in the middle of the volume range, or slightly above. This would allow for adequate power to run the circuitry efficiently and drive the headphone adequately. For this reason, something like a Hornet or Xin amp would seem like a logical choice since they offer switches to more closely match your rig.
This leads me to my question(s). Keep in mind I am interested in portable. Preferably about the size of a Go-vibe, SR-71, or smaller.
I received my HF-1 and immediately gave them a 50 hour burn in. I then began my journey of HF-1's. In the beginning I felt like there was something missing. When a song I was very familiar with came along, I realized what it was. There was no depth, richness, or impact in bass and lower midranges. The highs sounded perfect. I had been reading a lot about different pads and mods. The one that came to mind immediately was the reverse bowl mod. So I applied a little pressure to bring the drivers closer to my ears, taking care not to obstruct the open screen. This gave me what I was looking for. I tried the reverse bowl mod and was pretty happy with the sound, but not the comfort factor. I still wished I could get just a little more depth and richness. For Christmas I received a gift of Grado flat pads. With these the depth, richness, and impact I was looking for was there. I also find them much more comfortable then the bowls. I was very happy with these. I then had and opportunity to compare a stock set of HF-1’s with my friend’s woody HF-1 from Headphile. The test bed was an iRiver iHP-140, Headsave Go-Vibe amp, with 6” Cardas mini to mini IC. I was able to spend about an hour with them. I gave the woody HF-1 a quick listen with flats and did not like this at all. I then listened to a variety of tracks comparing the woody HF-1 (w/ bowls) to the stock HF-1 (w/ bowls, reversed bowls, and flats). Although not exactly what I desired, the woody mod of the HF-1 brought more depth, richness and impact without losing any soundstage or clarity. At the same time I realized how wooly the flats on the stock set sounded compared to the woody set with the bowls. One last test revealed that if I increased the volume of the woody set a little, that nirvana was reached. I had found the depth, richness and impact I wanted without any loss in soundstage or clarity. Now the problem is that at that volume, I feel you risk hearing damage.
In regards to volume, I generally find that that I listen in the 1/8 to 1/3 volume range of the Go-vibe. What I would classify as pretty low. To put it another way, I can lay in bed with them on and my wife can fall asleep with no complaints. She has said that she can hear the music.
For whatever reason, the day I was doing this test we did not use his SR-71 amp. I have had opportunities to listen to his SR-71 with stock HF-1’s. With this amp, you barely have to turn the volume knob and it’s as loud as the Go-vibe levels. The little I know about portable amps, I would consider the SR-71 one of the elite.
With my background in electronics, my gut tells me that to achieve this nirvana again, it would be best to have an amp that would run in the middle of the volume range, or slightly above. This would allow for adequate power to run the circuitry efficiently and drive the headphone adequately. For this reason, something like a Hornet or Xin amp would seem like a logical choice since they offer switches to more closely match your rig.
This leads me to my question(s). Keep in mind I am interested in portable. Preferably about the size of a Go-vibe, SR-71, or smaller.
- If I had “better” amp, would I be able to reach nirvana again without having to turn the volume up and risk the hearing damage?
- If so, what would you recommend?
- Am I nuts and should go back to taking meds?
