Know what you mean.
I'll give it a shot and take some hours with the velours again.
But mostly i don't do critical listening, just listening to music and enjoy the staging and space of the leather ones.
Leather pads are great for relaxing on music anyway
Try to focus on vocals and instruments and see if the velour pads sound any better to you or not... For me I would say the Quad in this configuration sounds more refined than the HD600... and is a credible alternative to Stax. It took me some time to come to this conclusion because of pads switching and break in period
Did a brief comparison the last hours. ( Yeah, i got nothing else to do. ^^)
I've to say that the openings of the velour pads are a bit to small for my auricles.
So my ears are heating up faster. Plus i don't like my auricles touching the inner side of the pads on my main rig.
But i take the challenge.
You're right.
There is more presence in the highs which force higher transparency.
This comes from the drivers are closer to my ears.
Just physics/ acoustics, i think. Like it for some reasons.
But as mentioned above, i like the leather ones more by a hugh margin, which firstly belongs to more space for my ears, i guess.
Even the headstage is wider with a better sense of spatial separation.
Another noteworthy advantage is the cooler ear climate and the better fit of the headphone itself.
I need it to be cool to be comfortable.
Tested it back and forth with
Teddy Swims - Tennessee Whisky/ I can't make you love me
Foy Vance - She burns
Soulpersona & Princess Freesia - Analog/ Ride in Time
Soulperfreesia - Underwater Love
Medina - Jalousi
Ivan Torrent feat. Roger Berrueco - Remember Me
Amramsolar & Redie - Karavan Sarai
Ken Howard - Depth over Distance ( live at KCRW )
Nightwish - Kiss, while your lips are still red
Mark Ranson, Miley Cyrus - No tears left to cry ( BBC Live Lounge )
and my personal evergreen
Evanescence - Synthesis ( the whole album )
especially Lost in Paradies / Your Star / My heart is broken
I heartly recommend this masterpiece from Evanescence.
Keep in mind that i've take the comparison with my Audio GD R28, which doesn't sound like an ordinary dac/amp.
With a BB or ESS dac you'll get a (slightly) different presentation, i know it for sure.
Thanks for pointing me to this comparison. I've enjoyed every minute.
Edit:
For critical listening, i got my Monitor 5, which also sounds great.
Did a brief comparison the last hours. ( Yeah, i got nothing else to do. ^^)
I've to say that the openings of the velour pads are a bit to small for my auricles.
So my ears are heating up faster. Plus i don't like my auricles touching the inner side of the pads on my main rig.
But i take the challenge.
You're right.
There is more presence in the highs which force higher transparency.
This comes from the drivers are closer to my ears.
Just physics/ acoustics, i think. Like it for some reasons.
But as mentioned above, i like the leather ones more by a hugh margin, which firstly belongs to more space for my ears, i guess.
Even the headstage is wider with a better sense of spatial separation.
Another noteworthy advantage is the cooler ear climate and the better fit of the headphone itself.
I need it to be cool to be comfortable.
Tested it back and forth with
Teddy Swims - Tennessee Whisky/ I can't make you love me
Foy Vance - She burns
Soulpersona & Princess Freesia - Analog/ Ride in Time
Soulperfreesia - Underwater Love
Medina - Jalousi
Ivan Torrent feat. Roger Berrueco - Remember Me
Amramsolar & Redie - Karavan Sarai
Ken Howard - Depth over Distance ( live at KCRW )
Nightwish - Kiss, while your lips are still red
Mark Ranson, Miley Cyrus - No tears left to cry ( BBC Live Lounge )
and my personal evergreen
Evanescence - Synthesis ( the whole album )
especially Lost in Paradies / Your Star / My heart is broken
I heartly recommend this masterpiece from Evanescence.
Keep in mind that i've take the comparison with my Audio GD R28, which doesn't sound like an ordinary dac/amp.
With a BB or ESS dac you'll get a (slightly) different presentation, i know it for sure.
Thanks for pointing me to this comparison. I've enjoyed every minute.
Edit:
For critical listening, i got my Monitor 5, which also sounds great.
It seems like you really enjoy the soundstage with the leather pads. It's hard to say why but yeah the velour pads make the sound clearer, but not really aggressive either, just more mid/treble-centric I believe. I have a AKM DAC inside my Fiio which is pretty smooth.
PS: Evanescence lead singer's voice sounds really nice on the Quad by the way
Right.
But even with the velour pads it sounds great.
Wished they were a bit larger, just a tad.
So i could switch them for different genres.
One big thing is, with the velour pads i can't get a proper fit bc the headband is too large for my head.
Thinking about some third party sennheiser or dekoni pads to stick on the bottom.
Right.
But even with the velour pads it sounds great.
Wished they were a bit larger, just a tad.
So i could switch them for different genres.
One big thing is, with the velour pads i can't get a proper fit bc the headband is too large for my head.
Thinking about some third party sennheiser or dekoni pads to stick on the bottom.
The headband is really large yes. I need to flip the cups slightly backwards to secure the fit (I actually like how this makes the soundstage more open/airy).
Compared the Era-1 with the HD650. Total waste of time, a more accentuated (but less controlled) bass is the Sennheisers only adavantage if this suits your taste. Otherwise this classic pretty much fares as you would expect considering the prices, which is to say the HD 650 has no chance at all. I'll probably get my Heddphone tomorrow, this should be a lot more interesting...
Compared the Era-1 with the HD650. Total waste of time, a more accentuated (but less controlled) bass is the Sennheisers only adavantage if this suits your taste. Otherwise this classic pretty much fares as you would expect considering the prices, which is to say the HD 650 has no chance at all. I'll probably get my Heddphone tomorrow, this should be a lot more interesting...
Agreed, the Quad is in a different league technically compared to my HD600 on the setup I'm using. The only thing I like more about the HD600 is the overall balance which is smoother. But the Quad has this uncanny transparency which makes your brain wonder if what you hear is real sometimes.
Compared the Era-1 with the HD650. Total waste of time, a more accentuated (but less controlled) bass is the Sennheisers only adavantage if this suits your taste. Otherwise this classic pretty much fares as you would expect considering the prices, which is to say the HD 650 has no chance at all. I'll probably get my Heddphone tomorrow, this should be a lot more interesting...
the Quad is in a different league technically compared to my HD600 on the setup I'm using. The only thing I like more about the HD600 is the overall balance which is smoother. .
Yes, one could definitely be happy with the HD650, too, if this is the limit of one's budget, it doesn't have big flaws and produces overall a well rounded sound without obvious annoying flaws. But as you said, no chance on a technical level.
Hello, does anyone know of a nice good quality cable that won't break the bank? I need it to terminate to a 2.5 balanced connection and works with the Era-1. I was looking at NewFantasia cables but am open to other options. If the cable can be under $50 would be most appreciated
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