[Malky1422]

As I am in the process of selling up my High End Hi Fi amps and speakers due to a move to a smaller dwelling where I cant house the system I used to have, I am going full out Head Phone system.
Firstly I have my Amp, which is built for me by John Wood here in the UK , it is valve, has all the best components and his best design experience has gone into it, and no Chinese sourced components are in there, as I have had problems with amps before due to this, it his Dogs Bolx Amp for headphones, I am using Sens HD800 with it and it sounds fantastic...much more detail and depth than anything I have ever heard.
I am now wanting a second pair of phones , something a little different and not really better than the HD800.
I have considered Audeze LCD2 or even LCD3 and also the Beyer T1 which I think would give me a smoother performance on certain music when required. The sens can be a touch bright on some material, such as Marilion Misplaced Childhood.
Anyone had experience with all of these headphones or others you may wish to mention.
Malc

 

[imawesom674]

By second headphones I thought you meant something like VModas or maybe Mad Dogs. 

 But Sennheiser HD800 is pretty nice for first headphones

 

[autoteleology]

The Beyerdynamic T1 sounds like a vaguely (and according to popular opinion, inferior) tweaked version of the HD800.

 

[Leliana]

If you already have a speaker amp maybe you could also consider the Hifman HE-6 as it sounds fantastic on a speaker amp.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

I've tried the he6, hd800, audeze lcd2/3, w5000, beyer t1/t5p, etc, and nothing really quite matches the experience from a nice electrostat setup.

 

[Malky1422]

I wont be going electro stat as I have just bought this amp. It is capable of 10 watts, so plenty of headroom, so maybe the HE 6 would be a good choice.I was looking at this forum this morning about them. Are they readily available in the UK.???

 

[Xovoeto]

About w5000,I have had these for just a few days now, and I have to say they are beautiful. They are the perfect closed compliment to my open AD2000, and I really can't wait to get my RA5000 amplifier back from servicing but they sound quite good out of my hybrid HiFiMAN EF5 as well.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

I wont be going electro stat as I have just bought this amp. It is capable of 10 watts, so plenty of headroom, so maybe the HE 6 would be a good choice.I was looking at this forum this morning about them. Are they readily available in the UK.???

Honestly your best bet is to demo. Once you get into these top end headphones, it's more about actual preference than technically better.

Coming from someone that really enjoyed the space and detail in the hd800, the audeze and hifimans fell short while headphones like the beyer t1/t5p didn't even sound natural to my ears. In the end the hd800 was my goto pair until I went all in for my stax.

As for amps, if your amp has speaker taps you could easily hook up an srd7 to it to drive a pair of stax so you'd avoid having to get a completely different amp.

 

[blueangel2323]

Forget the T1, it won't be different enough from your HD800 to be worth it. I'd go for the LCD2 or LCD3 for a warmer sound, or a planar like the HE-6 or even HE-500 which is at least 90% of the HE-6 for much less money.

 

[autoteleology]

If you have the amp to power it and the money to buy it, you really can't go wrong with the HE-6.

Other good recommendations are, again, the HE-500, LCD-2, LCD-3, and TH-900. All of them are beautiful headphones that I've heard and would love to own myself if I was in your position. All of them have different strengths, though;
 

1. LCD-3: Similar to HE-6, but a little darker and more tilted towards the bass. Also more comfortable than the HE-6 to most people.
2. LCD-2: Very similar sound signature to the LCD-3, much better price/performance, but not quite as good.
3. HE-500: 95% of the performance of the HE-6, much easier to drive, and much less expensive. However, again, not quite as TOTL as the HE-6.
4. TH-900: Closed-back with a similar sound signature to the LCD-3 or Denon D7000, with decent isolation, easy to drive, but not quite as airy or open sounding as an open headphone.

 
All of them are excellent compliments to the HD800, but they differ in the small details. That being said, you will probably be happy with any of them, and you could likely always just trade for another model later down the line and get most of your money back.

 

[Malky1422]

From the advice here I am going to forget the T1 as I think maybe that would be a bit of an underdog to the HD 800 rather than just different. I think it will be the HE-6 or Audeze LCD 2 maybe for the difference with the LCD 3 which is £2000 here in the UK is a bit too much outlay, where as the LCD 2 are £1025. The HE-6 £950. £to $ the HE-6 comes out best and is also possibly a safe bet on performance aw well.
Also quite interesting is the option for Stax which is still open for me.
Which Stax model are you using Glitch ?

 

[autoteleology]

If you want a Stax energizer, I will have plenty of them for sale soon.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

From the advice here I am going to forget the T1 as I think maybe that would be a bit of an underdog to the HD 800 rather than just different. I think it will be the HE-6 or Audeze LCD 2 maybe for the difference with the LCD 3 which is £2000 here in the UK is a bit too much outlay, where as the LCD 2 are £1025. The HE-6 £950. £to $ the HE-6 comes out best and is also possibly a safe bet on performance aw well.
Also quite interesting is the option for Stax which is still open for me.
Which Stax model are you using Glitch ?

The he6 is different enough. I honestly don't know exactly what you're looking for. The LCD2 is IMO the "most different" from the list you had. I've never tried the TH600/900
I have the sr007mk2 and my friend has the nova lambda sig which also sounds quite nice. He ran it out of an energizer.

 

[Malky1422]

I find the Senn HD 800 very spacious sounding and detailed. In some areas and on some older recordings, as I have a vast collection of analog records, the top end can be a bit harsh, not uncontrolled, but it overtakes the rest of the music, sits too much up front if you like, where as on a lot of other material such as Jethro Tull, especially his early 70s recordings, the Senns retrieve his acoustic guitar playing and flute wonderfully, and just opens everything up.
So I am looking for a second pair of headphones, that will be better in the former situations.
I think it is always difficult to find a one type to suit all recordings, and lets face it , some of the recordings over the years have been rather bad, a classic one being the Original Eagles Desperado..well know of in the Hi fi circles.
From the advise here I am leaning toward the HE 6