[Todd R]

Title says it all:
I have the Sennheiser 600's with the Cardas Cable, Headroom Maxed out Home.
Source is the Cary 303/100 with Cardas Neutral Reference interconnects.

I'm feeling the need for some more bass and dynamics (which was the cause of my unsucessful detour into Grado's).

Any Ideas?
Different amp maybe?

 

[Guyferd]

yup, you should try a different amp.
I know creek is warm and punchy, but then I don't think it will match hd600 very well.. I am not sure.

Probably you need to buy another pair of cans and listen to them when you need more bass/punch. Grados would br great. Having at least 2 pairs are always better than 1, coz 1 headphone will never be able to satisfy all ur needs. especially if you listen to a wide variety of music. It will be very hard.

 

[markl]

Try a Sony CD3000 if you want to swap phones, or maybe an Emmeline HR-2 if you want to swap amps.

Mark

 

[tom hankins]

I don't know if switching to the Cd-3000 will get you more bass off that amp. I use the MOHR w/stepped attenuator and the HD600/cardas have more bass punch than the CD-3000. The sony's have an allround livlier sound but not as nice in the lower end. This may be due to the reference upgrade or the stepped attn., I don't no for sure on that. What setting do you have your gain on? I don't no about other tube amps but my OTL32 really brings the HD600/cardas to life. Lots of midbass punch.

 

[LarryS]

I use the EMP with my 600's, and the bass is more than fine. However, when I had the opportunity to compare it to the TwinHead (original) at the Dallas meet last summer, I was (unfortunately) highly impressed by the TwinHead's power and transients. I can still remember in one song how a snare drum snapped with almost painful intensity...brought me right back to my orchestra days, and remimded me what a snare drum should *really* sound like.

I honestly *love* my EMP, but I do yearn to own a TwinHead MII.

 

[markl]

tom has a good point. I forgot that many people have not found the CD3000 to be a good mate with Headroom amps. Still might be worth a shot, though. Shoot john_jcb a PM, he uses the Emmeline HR-2 with his HD600s, he can comment more directly about bass.

EMP is also an interesting suggestion too. IMO, its not a versatile amp but makes a very nice partner with the HD600, particularly in bass dept. Good luck!

Mark

 

[MacDEF]

Honestly, if the HD 600/Cardas/MOH combo doesn't give you enough bass (or bass "punch") you either need a different source or a different pair of headphones

You might want to consider the Beyer DT 770, which have significantly more bass punch. You'll lose the great midrange, and a bit of the impressive detail, of the HD 600, though.

 

[Guyferd]

I would suggest the dt880
has almost all the hd600's qualities but better.. to my ears
and the bass goes deeper too!

 

[gerG]

I wasn't missing punch, but my HD600 were deficient in depth. I solved my problem with an equalizer. While I was at it I also fixed the veil. Now I have bass that is both punctual and extended. It is not overblown or boomy, like the DT770s. Very tight and extremely solid. It blends well with the increased treble energy.

My eq curve is a toned down version of this:

HD600 inverse response

Good luck

gerG

 

[wallijonn]

you have a 31 band equaliser?

 

[gerG]

Hi wal.

My Behringer ultracurve is a 31 band (digital) plus 4 or 5 parametrics, plus a whole bunch of other capabilities that I never touched. It also has a mic input and a built in RTA, so it is easy to measure a response, invert the curve, give it a name, and store it in memory. I have pre-defined curves for most of my cans.

My new dbx is a 30 band (also digital), plus digital crossover, plus parametrics for each band downstream of the crossover. It kicks the crap out of the Behringer for sound quality, but it costs 3 times as much.

I also use the Blueparameq on my laptop, and it is free for the downloading. There is other good PC software out there as well. We had a thread on this recently, I think.

I am seriously hooked on equalizers. Now that I have heard what the HD600s are capable of, I can't go back! Now if I could just figure out how to get my custom eq curves loaded into the ipod...


gerG

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by Todd R Title says it all: I have the Sennheiser 600's with the Cardas Cable, Headroom Maxed out Home. Source is the Cary 303/100 with Cardas Neutral Reference interconnects. I'm feeling the need for some more bass and dynamics (which was the cause of my unsucessful detour into Grado's). Any Ideas? Different amp maybe?

Offhand, just from what I can tell of your system without listening to it, I don't see any problems with it. If anything, I would say it's your source, but I doubt it's even that. I have been finding that many CD's don't have the "pluck" of either high-res sources or analog, you might want to look into either high-res or a turntable, and see if you have the same problem with the rest of your system.

gerG -- Yeah, I hate it when bass isn't punctual, LOL!

(Don't have that problem with most headphones, though, just subwoofers and room conditioning.)

 

[jpelg]

The best way to improve the Senn's on the cheap, is to remove the inner pads covering the drivers (not the outer ear cushions), and replace them with as transparent a material as possible.

I recently heard such an HD580, and it was much better than with the stock inner pads.

 

[13DoW]

Do you know whether it is the Cary player that is lacking (I have no experience of it)? As well as looking for different 'phones &/or amp also check out the source. If you do decide on a source change then consider one with a built in volume control that can drive the 'phones directly. I drive HD600's directly from a Wadia 830 in balanced mode - it works very well. It should be very easy to cut the 0.25inch connector off your Cardas cable and solder two XLRs. This way you get an excellant CD player AND balanced headphone drive for less than the cost of the balanced Headroom amp!

Regards
13DoW.

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally posted by 13DoW Do you know whether it is the Cary player that is lacking

No way. The Cary is a bass monster, big improvement over my prior machine (CAL CL-20).

I'm leaning towards a different amp. I have already owned an Earmax Pro, X-Cans, original Home, and Audio Alchemy HPA-1.

I'll try removing the material covering the drivers, but I have a feeling that will just make them brighter.
TR