[Stillhart]

  I'm hitting a brick wall right where I suspected I would:  High Frequency Extension.  I have minor tinnitus too (played drums in a band, went to many loud concerts, rode a motorcycle without earplugs for a while, etc) and this is my weakest area.  I literally can't hear the difference between the original and the most drastic difference on that section.  They say it's most noticeable in the cymbals and then they play a song with no cymbals.  :-/
 
I'm not even going to bother trying the test part if I can't hear the difference in the demo section.
 
But I am going to try again when I get home with my HE-4, which have crazy treble.  That might help...

 
Okay, tried at home with the Q701 and the better DAC and it was much easier!  lol

 

[Evshrug]

Okay, tried at home with the Q701 and the better DAC and it was much easier!  lol

Better DAC cured tinnitus, what? What are we talking about?

 

[Stillhart]

Better DAC cured tinnitus, what? What are we talking about?

I could hear the treble differences much better.

 

[kman1211]

I could hear the treble differences much better.

A better DAC definitely will help with grain and roughness in the treble, I found cleaner power helps as well. Though I personally had to go with the HD 650 on top of a better dac, cleaner power, and smoother tubes to sate my extra sensitive ears. I don't have tinnitus but I felt if I kept listening to rough treble I may of developed it. 

 

[mrs1986]

I won't bother with the tests, surroundings too noisy and some tinnitus - kind of reassuring I'm not alone in that - really irks me , I have only had it a relatively short time (I blame it on listening to Q701 , oops just noticed this is the Q701 impressions { ex appreciaton } thread. h34r:

But I have no problem telling the difference between HD650, Q701, mod T50RP, mod SHP9500, Momentums,  PX100 and other peoples Beats studios , can even tell some differences in DAC settings, so don't limit yourself to apple-standard earbuds :bigsmile_face:

Haha, I got it in a stupid disco I guess you call it...
There was this young boy being the "DJ" I can't for the sake of god tell you how stupid loud and awful that sounded... If the grados are fatiguing, imagine that sound multiplied for 150 at least... Horrible...
Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that even existed tinnitus, and about the consequences of being there... And that leave me a good scar...

 

[Solrighal]

For the challenge? I use a Mac and did it chrome...

That's strange. I do have Chrome installed - although I never use it - but it only allowed me the option of Safari. Apple & Google ganging up on Firefox eh, it was ever thus.

 

[Danpyre]

 
I feel as if that ~18khz+ range it's just giving high hats that extra feely emotion extension. Otherwise it's just a nitpick when I see there's no measurements on Foobar2k spectrograms
I know american indie producers that like to abuse the extreme highs and it's really fatiguing...

Not that I know many songs that are well recorded and don't have the extra 2khz though 

 
but then again, 18kh... yeah whatever.

Dbpony.  I love him, but he's hard to listen to.
EDIT: By that, I mean he aggravates my tinnitus.

 

[Danpyre]

I was born with tinnitus :'(

 

[Danpyre]

OK, so I think I'm first going to upgrade my DAC.  Because I'm a Schiit fanboy, I'm leaning toward the Bitfrost.  Then I'm going to upgrade my amp.  Because I'm a Schiit fanboy, I'm leaning toward the Asgard 2.  And finally, I'll upgrade my headphone.  I'm listening to suggestions, so I'm leaning toward the HD 650.
Is this the right path?

 

[ThurstonX]

  OK, so I think I'm first going to upgrade my DAC.  Because I'm a Schiit fanboy, I'm leaning toward the Bitfrost.  Then I'm going to upgrade my amp.  Because I'm a Schiit fanboy, I'm leaning toward the Asgard 2.  And finally, I'll upgrade my headphone.  I'm listening to suggestions, so I'm leaning toward the HD 650.
Is this the right path?

 
There is no "right path."  An esp. apt quote for Head-Fi and the pursuit of audiophilic bliss comes from J. Krishnamurti:
 
Truth is a pathless land.
 
That said, as a fellow Schiit fanboy, it sounds like a good plan, if you like the HD 650s.  If you haven't heard them, I strongly advise you to demo a pair.  I had them briefly, and they didn't cut it for me.  I drove them with my Lyr, fed by my Bifrost Uber.  But that's me.  With the HE-560s, I won't be looking back.  Yes, they're more expensive, but IMO they're worth it.  There are often excellent deals in the For Sale forum, and Razor Dog often has open box deals.  But those may not be for you.
 
Hard to go wrong with a Schiit Stack comprised of the Asgard 2 and Bifrost Uber.  And you can always hang on to your Q701s.  They play nicely with my Stack o' Schiit.

 

[Danpyre]

 
There is no "right path."  An esp. apt quote for Head-Fi and the pursuit of audiophilic bliss comes from J. Krishnamurti:
 
Truth is a pathless land.
 
That said, as a fellow Schiit fanboy, it sounds like a good plan, if you like the HD 650s.  If you haven't heard them, I strongly advise you to demo a pair.  I had them briefly, and they didn't cut it for me.  I drove them with my Lyr, fed by my Bifrost Uber.  But that's me.  With the HE-560s, I won't be looking back.  Yes, they're more expensive, but IMO they're worth it.  There are often excellent deals in the For Sale forum, and Razor Dog often has open box deals.  But those may not be for you.
 
Hard to go wrong with a Schiit Stack comprised of the Asgard 2 and Bifrost Uber.  And you can always hang on to your Q701s.  They play nicely with my Stack o' Schiit.

If I demo the HD 650s, decide I like them more, and buy them, what would be the point of keeping the Q701s?  I hear about people keeping their mid-fi stuff after they move to hi-fi, and I never really got it.  You could sell your mid-fi stuff to get some extra money, or even an upgrade in your system.

 

[ThurstonX]

  If I demo the HD 650s, decide I like them more, and buy them, what would be the point of keeping the Q701s?  I hear about people keeping their mid-fi stuff after they move to hi-fi, and I never really got it.  You could sell your mid-fi stuff to get some extra money, or even an upgrade in your system.

 
As you'll hear, they are very different cans.  Keeping them is up to you, of course.

 

[Chris J]

As you'll hear, they are very different cans.  Keeping them is up to you, of course.

Yep, defintely worth keeping both cans, they are like night and day.

 

[Stillhart]

  If I demo the HD 650s, decide I like them more, and buy them, what would be the point of keeping the Q701s?  I hear about people keeping their mid-fi stuff after they move to hi-fi, and I never really got it.  You could sell your mid-fi stuff to get some extra money, or even an upgrade in your system.

 
The HD650 isn't mid-fi?
 
In all seriousness, I didn't like the HD650 until I heard it with a tube amp.  Actually, the tube amp worked well with the Q701 as well.  You might consider that path rather than the Asgard.  
 
Also, you're limiting yourself like crazy by your blind devotion to a single brand.  There are a lot of alternatives out there that are comparably priced and that might suit your needs better.

 

[Solrighal]

Lol at anyone who would describe themselves as a 'fanboy'.