[Nik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjf I don't know it, but in http://headphonereviews.org/top10.php you can see that the R10 gets to be the 8th; the SA5000 runs for the second.

Yes! And the number one is?

I had the R10 and the Qualia, the Omega and the HE60... I prefer the ATH L3000 for the most envolving and musical sound.

Best!
Nicola

 

[MikeDogg]

I must say that the R10 is indeed one of the finest phones ever made. The sound is superb and the headstage is great. The bass is a tad lacking when compared to the elctrostats, but paired with the right amp and the R10s shine. However, to be fair headphones are suited to taste so don't go out and buy one based on our comments alone.

 

[Nik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller I have not heard any electrostatic, and not that I care too much about them neither, I do not have the funds to build an electrostatic system at the same level of a good dynamic one, but other than that, I may say: YES!!!!! I have not heard any other headphone that comes even close to the R-10, and that includes mostly the best out there (but a few exceptions....)

Hi Al,

what about your experience with the L3000?

Best!
Nicola

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

I'd rather have a $4k speaker system than the R10.

I know which one would win...

-Matt

 

[Vertigo-1]

The R10s are good...very good...but if you think about how much you need to spend to wake up their bass, they become ridiculously expensive. I'd much rather have an Omega II...for what the R10s cost nowdays, you can buy an entire Omega II system for a little more than half what the R10 costs. Or for what the R10 costs nowdays, you could most likely go and get an Omega II and still have enough leftover to get an electrostat Gilmore with the Blue Hawaii tube output.

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nik I prefer the ATH L3000 for the most envolving and musical sound.

Yup, that's another one I'd put up there at the top of the headphone pantheon.

 

[jagorev]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nik Yes! And the number one is? I had the R10 and the Qualia, the Omega and the HE60... I prefer the ATH L3000 for the most envolving and musical sound. Best! Nicola

I wouldn't pay much attention to a score or ranking based on just one or two reviews, as seems to be the case at headphonereviews.org

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nik Hi Al, what about your experience with the L3000? Best! Nicola

This is another of the "few exceptions", that I ahve not heard yet, along with the wooden JVC, hope to listen them anytime soon......But among the ones I have heard....R-10 no doubts.....


Quote:

Originally Posted by fjf I don't know it, but in http://headphonereviews.org/top10.php you can see that the R10 gets to be the 8th; the SA5000 runs for the second.

This list is IMO not very accurate...Don't pay too much attention to those magazines, how many reviews we have there for each headpohone, if you do a search here you will find a lot more information and a lot more useful....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vertigo-1 The R10s are good...very good...but if you think about how much you need to spend to wake up their bass, they become ridiculously expensive.

Really, well the R-10 is ridiculously expensive by themselves, we are not discussing the price here, but I have not heard them in any setup that I have not felt the bass absolutelly right and lovely, not sure what setups have you heard that have not made them justice....But if you spend $3500+ on a headphone don't expect it to sound its best out of a $200.00 amp...

 

[tkam]

I've never been that big a fan of the R10, sure they have a huge soundstange and a really nice midrange but other than that bleh. Save yourself the money and get the L3000 or the Omega2 IMO both are better and you'll still be able to afford food

.

 

[Trogdor]

The L3000 had more bass than the R10. But the R10 had a bigger soundstage and sweeter mids. I did a side by side with raisin's L3000 and Hirsch's R10 and both had their strengths and weaknesses. Again, I think the midrange on the R10 is its real strong suit: Very very warm and seductive. The L3000 had punchy bass, not the tightest I've heard, but very deep.

I believe we were listening to Natalie Merchant and Floyd (DSOTM) out of raisin's Eastsound->Raptor for our side-by-side.

The R10 is definitely in the top echelon of headphones. I actually think these are the ultimate Sennheiser-lover cans. But like all head-end Sony cans (R-10, Qualia, even the 5000), they need a powerful amp to drive them or you just don't get the full impact (unlike the L3000 which seem more forgiving). When I did the side-by-side, I remember looking up and going, "Damn, these R10's have NO BASS" and then we switched to a more powerful amp (I think it was a PPX3 SLAM, Singlepower?) and the R10's went deeper.

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkam I've never been that big a fan of the R10, sure they have a huge soundstange and a really nice midrange but other than that bleh. Save yourself the money and get the L3000 or the Omega2 IMO both are better and you'll still be able to afford food .

Food is overrated anyway

 

[bangraman]

From what I've heard of it, I like the R10 a lot. Overall, capable but quite a low-key sound that doesn't encourage hyper-critical listening (a good thing IMO). If I didn't have the HE90, I would have considered moving to the R10 as an upgrade as far as I was concerned over the Q010 and the Omega II.


Quote:

Originally Posted by fjf I don't know it, but in http://headphonereviews.org/top10.php you can see that the R10 gets to be the 8th; the SA5000 runs for the second.

That is a peer group masquerading as a review site.

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jagorev I wouldn't pay much attention to a score or ranking based on just one or two reviews, as seems to be the case at headphonereviews.org

Ditto, ludicrous to have the HE90 as third imho. I've heard the R10, also the L3000 (iirc there were L3000's at some of the FL meets I went to), and the Orpheus. To my ears the Orpheus (powered by Sennheiser's own amp for it) is clearly a better sounding headphone. And I really hate to use those superlatives like night and day etc. when talking about high-end stuff where the differences are supposedly very minor. Well no, with the Orpheus the differences with everything else are NOT very minor, you just have to listen to it to realize.

 

[Trogdor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsaavedra Ditto, ludicrous to have the HE90 as third imho. I've heard the R10, also the L3000 (iirc there were L3000's at some of the FL meets I went to), and the Orpheus. To my ears the Orpheus (powered by Sennheiser's own amp for it) is clearly a better sounding headphone. And I really hate to use those superlatives like night and day etc. when talking about high-end stuff where the differences are supposedly very minor. Well no, with the Orpheus the differences with everything else are NOT very minor, you just have to listen to it to realize.

Well I did a side by side with the L3000 and Orpheus and it was NOT night and day for me. Sure, the Orpheus overall sounded bigger, the bass was as extended as the L3000 but tighter. However, in the mids section I thought both were pretty close as I would suspect with most of the high-end headphones (the majority of music is in this area).

What strikes me as the most amazing quality of the Orpheus is its hyper active response time. No matter what I listened to, nothing phased it; the attack and decay were amazing (I suspect this is very dependent on the amp as well).

Again, to really judge and rate these cans one needs weeks to enjoy them and then come up with their top 5 list. The cans mentioned in this thread are all I would think esoteric. What amazes most about high-end headphones is their ability to put some of the small subtieties one finds in analytical listening right in the forefront. With that said, as Hirsch said in another thread, one can not really just rate headphones without looking at the whole system (amp, source, etc.). The wrong combo can create a skewed view of what a certain pair of headphones are capable especially some of the high-end headphones which are typically more depending due to their market segment.

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trogdor Well I did a side by side with the L3000 and Orpheus and it was NOT night and day for me. Sure, the Orpheus overall sounded bigger, the bass was as extended as the L3000 but tighter. However, in the mids section I thought both were pretty close as I would suspect with most of the high-end headphones (the majority of music is in this area).

Granted, you did a side by side comparison which I haven't. I compared from memory, which is or can be misleading.

I've heard the Tico Tico track (first one in one of Chesky records Jazz sample CDs) several times, before and after the Orpheus, including through a few high-end and well calibrated speaker systems. True soundtage aside, most fluid and simply beautiful I've ever heard it was through the Orpheus.

Here's my newbie impressions on the Orpheus, right after I heard it at the "Headroom's World of Headphones Tour" in New Orleans a few years back. I still feel the same way about it:

My personal impression of the Orpheus: that moment watching a movie or a presentation when the focus is suddenly (and finally) perfectly adjusted by somebody operating the projector, and your eyes feel that "Ah! no wonder, we've been slightly out of perfect focus all this time, that's what wasn't feeling right", the Orpheus gave me that feeling compared to everything else on display.
http://dev.headphone.com/layout.php?...subTopicID=145