[462429]

What headphones are guys going to use with the A16?

I bought HD600 last year. Don't use them - waiting for the Realiser.
Last year everybody described them as 'very natural' and now I can see some find them to be 'veiled'. Which impression would be closer to the truth?

 

[stevez176]

What headphones are guys going to use with the A16?
I am planning to use my SE- PM 1 if i don't sell them before i get the Realiser

Audeze LCD-XC and a HD800S

 

[kaizendave]

What headphones are guys going to use with the A16?

I'm planning to purchase a set of Sony MDRZ1R closed back headphones specifically for use with the Realizer.

 

[illram]

I'm going to try an HD800S, Koss ESP950, and HE-560 and see which I prefer.

I'm most excited about the ESP950 actually. It's a detail monster and responds very well to EQ, is light as a feather so it disappears on my head, and it's just fun using them.

 

[Sordel]

I bought HD600 last year. Don't use them - waiting for the Realiser.
Last year everybody described them as 'very natural' and now I can see some find them to be 'veiled'. Which impression would be closer to the truth?

I don't know the answer to your question, but surely the real question should be “what do they sound like out a properly calibrated A16?”

 

[Erik Garci]

I don't know the answer to your question, but surely the real question should be “what do they sound like out a properly calibrated A16?”

The ideal answer would be "They sound like the speaker system that was measured."

 

[Sordel]

The ideal answer would be "They sound like the speaker system that was measured."

Exactly. Clearly a $10 pair of headphones won't attain that because their frequency response will not be able to cope, but if the A16 compensates for the tuning of the headphones, maybe even Beats will pair well with it.

 

[musicday]

I'm planning to purchase a set of Sony MDRZ1R closed back headphones specifically for use with the Realizer.

Smyth Research recommend open back headphones for best results, but of course you are welcome to try closed back headphones
They may sound really good and you gain privacy that cannot be had with the open ones.

 

[sander99]

What headphones are guys going to use with the A16?

Initially probably the HD650 that I have (for almost 12 years already).
And as a closed option, or for the second user I bought a used AKG K550. I have a few issues with this one concerning fit (I have to put something under the headband to avoid the shells hanging too low, with the headband already in the smallest position of course), headband pressure (much too weak, I have to press the shells on my head a little bit to get a full sound with enough lows and low mids, maybe I can modify the headband to solve this), and ear pad size (barely big enough for my ears). Apparently I have a small head (narrow, not short) and big ears. That probably also caused the Stax to sit too low on my head (at some moment) during my demo in Munich. But it is good to be aware of this when looking for more expensive headphones.
Maybe later I buy something better.

 

[cachi]

I have tried the sennheiser hd598 using the old realiser dropbox share. It performs horribly due to the soundstage character of the headphone. Then i tried the same demos with closed headphon ath esw9 and it worked way better. Granted this wasnt with a personal hrtf but the difference was evident.

The hd598 added a very shrill sound and seemed to ruin the localization of the speakers. I am wondering if the hd800 soundstage would also interfere with the hrtf. I guess i am curious if the realiser can really effectively compensate to headphone signature as drastic as the hd800s

 

[sander99]

I have tried the sennheiser hd598 using the old realiser dropbox share.

How did you try, with a Realiser A8? Or you tried music files processed/output by a Realiser? In the latter case I assume you did not have seperate files processed with HPEQ for the two specific headphones you used respectively, but with no HPEQ or a HPEQ for one specific (probably other) headphone (on someone else's head for sure)? In that case by coincedance the one headphone's signature may have corrected a bit better (or worsened it a bit less) for the not-your-personal HRTF plus unknown HPEQ, compared to the other headphone.
I think you can only draw useful conclusions if you compare the headphones using a personal made PRIR and HPEQ (seperate HPEQ for each headphone).

I am wondering if the hd800 soundstage would also interfere with the hrtf.

Smyth used the HD800 in some of the A16 demo's and it did not seem to be a problem there.

 

[cachi]

How did you try, with a Realiser A8? Or you tried music files processed/output by a Realiser? In the latter case I assume you did not have seperate files processed with HPEQ for the two specific headphones you used respectively, but with no HPEQ or a HPEQ for one specific (probably other) headphone (on someone else's head for sure)? In that case by coincedance the one headphone's signature may have corrected a bit better (or worsened it a bit less) for the not-your-personal HRTF plus unknown HPEQ, compared to the other headphone.
I think you can only draw useful conclusions if you compare the headphones using a personal made PRIR and HPEQ (seperate HPEQ for each headphone).

Smyth used the HD800 in some of the A16 demo's and it did not seem to be a problem there.

I tried processed files. There was a way to get the hrtf to filter all computer audio kind of similar to the "Out Of Your Head" app. I understand exactly what your saying but I tried multiple different peoples hrtf's and all of them sounded better through the closed cans. So even if it was like you said, I would expect some hrtf would have worked better with the hd598, but that was not the case.

 

[dsperber]

Watching in the dark of my bedroom on my calibrated Panny 65VT50, as Rafa Nadal battles with Diego Schwartzman at Rod Laver Arena for nearly four hours, both sweating furiously until Rafa emerges victorious (of course he did). It's like being there at Melbourne Park watching.

Listening through my primary (but second) HDMI-A8 as I have ever since 2013 when I also bought the Panny to be my primary HDTV. Using the very same original 5.1 PRIR fortunate enough to be captured back in 2009 (when I got my [first] original #0001 analog-only-A8) at the original wonderful sounding B&W-equipped AIX Studio mixing room here in Los Angeles. When it's time for DTS-MA 7.1 sound (e.g. "Wonder Woman"), it's the same original 7.1 PRIR from AIX, also captured that same day back in 2009 after moving the side speakers forward from their 5.1 positions and then activating the rear surrounds.

Also ever since 2013 when new headphone equipment was also bought in support of the new Panny and the new HDMI-A8, I'm using an open-backed Stax SR-009 and Stax SRM-007tii, fed via Audioquest XLR cables from an Audio-GD NFB9 DAC, which is fed via optical cable output from the A8, which is fed already-decoded discrete multi-channel LPCM-via-HDMI DD5.1 from the second [audio-only] HDMI output of my Oppo BDP-103 player, which is fed through its front external HDMI input with HDTV source content coming from ESPN through my cable provider.

Looks through my Panny plasma screen like I'm in Melbourne, and sounds through the HPEQ for my Stax SR-009 and PRIR measured personally at AIX just like I'm at AIX studios again and listening to the match through their wonderful sounding B&W speakers.

The magnificent SR-009/SRM-007tii through the Audio-GD NFB9 DAC is simply invisible, as provided by the A8 and AIX PRIR. I only hear the AIX speakers around me in that AIX room, where they actually lived. Thanks to the multi-mic placement at Laver arena, listening to the action "through the AIX speaker system" facilitated by the A8/Stax etc. system is the next best thing to actually being there... i.e. to actually being in the actual AIX studio listening to the ESPN live broadcast from Melbourne, through the actual AIX B&W speakers.

Can't say enough positive about the SR-009/SRM-007tii.

 

[jgazal]

Watching in the dark of my bedroom on my calibrated Panny 65VT50, (...).
(...) Using the very same original 5.1 PRIR fortunate enough to be captured back in 2009 (when I got my [first] original #0001 analog-only-A8) at the original wonderful sounding B&W-equipped AIX Studio mixing room here in Los Angeles. When it's time for DTS-MA 7.1 sound (e.g. "Wonder Woman"), it's the same original 7.1 PRIR from AIX, also captured that same day back in 2009 after moving the side speakers forward from their 5.1 positions and then activating the rear surrounds.
(...)
(...), and sounds through the HPEQ for my Stax SR-009 and PRIR measured personally at AIX just like I'm at AIX studios again and listening to the match through their wonderful sounding B&W speakers.
(...) I only hear the AIX speakers around me in that AIX room, where they actually lived. (...)
(...)

Thank you very much for that description!

Have you ever had the impression that the virtual speakers sound closer than real speakers were in the AIX studio?

 

[dsperber]

Have you ever had the impression that the virtual speakers sound closer than real speakers were in the AIX studio?

Couldn't possibly say, honestly.

All I know is that once the SR-009 is on my head and I'm listening to HDTV or a BluRay or Netflix or whatever (all decoded to LPCM by the Oppo, for feeding via HDMI2-out to the A8), I have no sensation that I'm listening through headphones. They really are [weightless and] gone, and I'm just hearing speakers in a virtual-3D room with speakers arrayed around me, that seems real.

Through the magic of the A8 coupled with the transparency of the magically comfortable SR-009 fed from SRM-007tii/NFB9 I can tell where sound is coming from around me positionally, front/back/side, left/right/center. The sound mix can move sound origin all around, so it's the overall sound field and directions that you really hear... not a sound specifically coming from a particular speaker, which is really only important during A/B solo-testing during PRIR measurement.

And that is what is so enjoyable. In real playback use it's certainly close enough to "AIX B&W multi-speaker reality" that I absolutely got my money's worth. I can watch/listen for many hours and just think I'm in the AIX room listening for real through speakers, not in my bed with headphones on. Can't tell the difference, as best as my brain can recall 9 years later.