[GaryJW]

Hi,

a request from any members in Germany. I am considering treating myself to a high end set of headphones (i.e. interested in one of Sennheiser HD-800, Denon AH-D7000, Grado PS1000, Grado GS1000, Audio Technica ATH-W5000 etc). Naturally, if I am considering spending the amount of cash that any one of these cost I would like to have a chance to hear as many of them as possible to make a choice. Can anyone suggest a dealer in Germany within reasonable distance of Darmstadt or Frankfurt who would be likely to have reasonable selection at this end of the market.

Also if anyone can make suggestions I would listen with interest. The highest end phones that I possess at the moment are the Senn. HD-650 and the AKG-K701. Of the two I find (I.e. purely personal, subjective opinion) I enjoy the Sennheisers the most; to my ears I like their general presentation of music (over the full audio range) better. The AKG's have their strengths and do show up the Sennheiser 'veil' quite well but I find them rather strident and fatiguing with many tracks They are certainly analytical. Given these subjective notes if anyone has heard any of the 'phones I mentioned above and can let me know where they think they will stand given my preference.

Cheers,

Gary.

 

[jochen.schell]

Hi Gary,

Last week I have been to a Hifi dealer in Mannheim who at least has Grado.
He had a RS-1 and a RS-2 but no GS1000.
He told me that he probably could order a GS1000 to listen to.

He also had Senn, but I do not know if also the 800

You might give them a call, they are very friendly and helpful:

HIFI3000.de - Willkommen bei HIFI3000.de

If you get a possibility to hear a GS1000 there please drop me a PM, I would also like to compare it to my RS-1

Best wishes Jochen

 

[lord_tris]

Go downtown to the outside mall man, when i was there i found a couple of nice audio stores on those little streets. if you look at the statue in the middle from the front of it. its off to the left down the smaller ally. it carried all sorts of great eqipment (senns,akg,grado,dennon)

 

[mopps]

Hi, Gary,

You there in Darmstadt have IIRC the HiFi-Profis. That's the shop maybe lord_tris means? They are also located in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden.
If you come to Wiesbaden (50 km from Darmstadt) and want to listen to my headphones (among GS1000) you are invited.
I'm also planning to sell the GS1000 someday, depending on the favor of the HD800.

 

[GaryJW]

Hi Mopps,

yep I know HiFi Profi (and believe me, they know me - enough to generally be very pleased when they see me (and for my wallet to shake)). They do go reasonably high end on some of their gear (e.g. speakers with a price tag (new car level) that I am never going to go for (especially once wise to the German practice of pricing them individually )). (I'm also safe from the excessive speaker purchase due to the live in partner (and accompanying WAF requirements) - hence the interest in a headphone setup).

They do tell me that they will stock the HD-800 once it comes out but have little else at that end of the market (I've seen the AH-D2000 in the shop and they have a price for the AH-D5000, but nothing for the AH-D7000). A quick conversation with them confirmed that they do not in general stock above the 400 Euro mark in headphones. I have not yet tried their Frankfurt store and I should try a wander down some of the more remote streets in Frankfurt - especially after a browse through GelbeSeiten.

I would guess too that HiFi profis is where Lord_Tris (thanks BTW) means. There is to my knowledge one remote high end store in Darmstadt that I need to find again - however I was hoping to get some hints to save shoe leather before I trek off.....

Thanks for the generous offer - I might yet take you up on that. A quick question, how does the GS1000 compare w.r.t. the K701 or HD650?

Cheers,

Gary.

 

[Toddy]

Hi Gary,

you could try Musik-Schmidt (.de) in Frankfurt. Not your usual hifi shop, more music instruments and stuff like that, but they have quite a selection of cans. They used to have Grado GS1000 (saw them in the shop two years or so ago), though they don't show up on their web page anymore, you might try your luck.

T

 

[Toddy]

Oh, I forgot: If you want to wander around in Frankfurt, go to Raum Ton Kunst (Passage in Neue Kräme at the Liebfrauenberg), if I remember correctly they got Stax and other expensive stuff.

T