[BIgsurprise]

I am looking for a new set of cans which I will use for 70% gaming and 30% music.  My favorite bands are Muse and Daft Punk, but I also enjoy Electro, Hip Hop and classical.


I currently use my HD650 with a Little Dot MK III and Little Dot DAC I.  


I enjoy my current setup but I am looking for a wider soundstage, greater bass impact and perhaps a more airy, open sound.  I used to have Audio Technica AD700s and I really liked the wide open soundstage they had.  My HD650s aren't as good on that regard.

Headphones that caught my eye so far are:
Fostex TH900
Audeze LCD 2.2
Beyerdynamic T1

I always admired the Denon D7000 but I never had the chance to try them and now it looks like they are discontinued. It seems that the TH900 are just an upgraded version of them anyways. The design looks almost identical.

I am not too picky if they are open or closed. From what I have gathered so far, the Fostex would be great for me, but I don't know if they have the openness and airy sound that I like from the AD700. The T1 gets great reviews, but I don't know if they have the bass I am looking for. Lastly, the LCD 2.2 seem like a direct upgrade from my HD650s but is the soundstage really that wide?

My budget is right around $1500. I would have a hard time spending much more than that. I am open to just about anything.

 

[Sorrodje]

Upgrade your amp and dac. Your HD650 can improve  

 

[bigfatpaulie]

  Upgrade your amp and dac. Your HD650 can improve  

 
Agreed.  
 
If it were me I would go for a BH Crack and either a Matrix X-Saber or Bifrist/Gungnir.  I would also consider (given your budget) an Audio-GD NFB-27H.  But that's IMMO and YMMV, ETC, AND-SO-ON.

 

[earthpeople]

I love the TH900 precisely for its powerful bass and wide, open sound. I haven't heard the AD700, but I think the Fostex keep up pretty well with my T1 and HD800, especially for being closed. 
 
Also please keep in mind that your transducers are going to be the most important part of the chain so while recommendations to improve your other components may be fair, putting more of your budget towards the headphones is going to make the biggest difference.

 

[BIgsurprise]

This is the exact kind of advice I am looking for!  This is why I love this forum!
 
I do remember reading that the HD650 scales very nicely with improved Amps/DACs, so upgrading my setup has been on my mind.  It does make me a little sad to upgrade my components though because they are not that old and they work great and are in excellent condition.  Also, like earthpeople mentioned I will see the biggest difference from upgrading my headphones rather than my gear.  On top of that, I have read that some of these top tier headphones are rather easy to drive, such as the TH900s.
 
With that said, I am not opposed to upgrading my amp/DAC because I would be interested to see the full potential of the HD650s.  Plus when I do get new cans, they will sound that much better.
 
If I do decide to upgrade my Amp/DAC I wouldn't want to get something else that I would need to upgrade again later on; I want this to be "end game".  However, I still don't want to spend more than my original budget.  The Schiit gear(Gungnir, Mjolnir 2, etc.) looks good, but so does the Burson Conductor Virtuoso.  The only solid state amp I have heard is my little Fiio E7, so I don't really know if I am after a solid state or tube amp.  I guess I need to start reading up on more amps.
 
Any more amp/DAC suggestions for roughly $1500 or less?
 
OH!  I almost forgot.  Would it be worth my while to recable my HD650 with a balanced cable, and at the same time get a balanced amp?  I think this might be a good time before I delve deeper into the headphone whole.  Thoughts?

 

[Sorrodje]

IMO the HD6x0 are the one the few headphones that need proper amping to shine at its best.. then , they compete easily with a lot of TOTL headphones.  When I say "proper" it does not mean "expensive".  Schiit Vali for the cheapest , Valhalla 2 and Bottlehead crack + speedball upgrade are often considered as extremely good value. SS options are Magni 2,  Meier Corda Jazz for example. Project ember is an hybrid and offers extremely good value as well. There're other examples.  Just Spend 500$ or less on the amp for youe HD650 and save 1000$  for something else. For example, a used HD800 should offer you more bass impact , more open sound , more resolution and pin point imaging and should be driven very well with the same amp than you HD650. 
 
Forget recabling and balanced cable. that could worth some experiment later to make your own opinion but not now IMO.  
 
My 2 cents. 

 

[TMRaven]

The Sony Z7 has the best combination of 'big' bass and large soundstage I've heard.  I don't particularly like that headphone when it comes to sound, but it does give you that.
 
I've not heard the TH900, but it's probably the ideal headphone for what you're looking for if you can spring the money.
 
HD800 has the largest soundstage of any headphone I've heard, and with some minimal EQ, it will give you quite a lot of bass, though nothing like the closed, resonant, and distorted bass you'll get out of the Z7.
 
The Audeze line has really poor soundstage width, which can't be EQ'd.  Their bass prowess is overstated as well, but it is quite linear and clean down to at least 30hz.  LCD-X being the best combination of bass prowess and soundstage within that lineup, followed by XC (moar bass, less soundstage.)  Then comes LCD-2 then 3 (very clean, linear bass, not so much soundstage.)
 
The Hifiman HE-400 has the most powerful bass of any planar I've heard (including the entire Audeze lineup), and has a rather spacious soundstage, that isn't quite as wide as deep.

 

[up late]

I love the TH900 precisely for its powerful bass and wide, open sound. I haven't heard the AD700, but I think the Fostex keep up pretty well with my T1 and HD800, especially for being closed. 

Also please keep in mind that your transducers are going to be the most important part of the chain so while recommendations to improve your other components may be fair, putting more of your budget towards the headphones is going to make the biggest difference.

x2. you don't have to upgrade your dac and amp to enjoy what the th900 has to offer.

 

[dreamwhisper]

I'd put all of your money into a DAC lol.
 
You can get way awesome amounts of tight bass in a good DAC.

 

[BIgsurprise]

I'd put all of your money into a DAC lol.

You can get way awesome amounts of tight bass in a good DAC.

I am thinking upgrading my DAC/Amp is a good thing right now. I want to hear everything that my HD650 can do before they get replaced. I might not even want to buy new cans if they sound much better.

I am not in a rush to upgrade, but I would like to make a purchase in the next couple months. Right now I am eyeballing a few different products:
Audio-GD NFB-27H (es9018 combo)
Audio-GD Master 11 (pcm1704uk combo)
Audio-GD Master 9 (amp)
Audio-GD Master 7 (pcm1704uk dac)
Audio-GD NFB-7 (es9018 dac)
Schiit Yggdrasil
Matrix x-sabre

The Master 9/7 looks like a great choice but it is 4 freakin' K. I wonder how much quality you lose by going with the Master 11 instead? I ponder the same thing with regards to the NFB-27H vs Master9/NFB-7.

Schiit Yggy seems like a great new DAC but I feel it is just the FOTM right now. The x-sabre gets great reviews, that one temps me for the price. On the other hand, everything I have read about the Master 7 is my cup of tea: warm, smooth, lush with a great low end.

I'll keep surfing the forum for the next couple months and see if I can learn some more.

 

[jcx]

normally it makes sense to change headphones for different "sound" (or just EQ) but the Little Dot is a tube amp and a very basic one so it could easily add audible color - do compare with a competent SS amp with adequate V output (not DAP, or single 9V portable)

 

[dreamwhisper]

Are you attached to 24/96?
There's some killer vintage DAC's.
 
If HD650's are veiled (I thought so) and es9018 are bright, that's prbly decent.
 
IMO there's sometimes some deals to be had at around 1.5k on the used market. 
Having not heard it at all if I were on the used market, I'd consider the Berkeley Audio Design one possibly.
 
Or if I found a nice vintage DAC that wasn't too worn out.
There was a nice Assemblage DAC1 on ebay for like $100 last week. I'd snatch that up in a second.
That's basically a Sonic Frontiers TransDAC.

 

[davisman]

I recently added the TH900 to my collection and all I can say is WOW. The bass is absolutely amazing, and imaging/soundstage is pretty spectacular as well. As an added bonus the th900's are fantastic with virtual surround dsp's for movies/games. From what you described, I would safely say the th900s would be an endgame headphone for you.

 

[davisman]

Also, if you want to save some money the Akg 712s with some schiit gear will definitely work well. Before I upgraded I used my Asus sound card for when I wanted Dolby surround, else used biifrost>Asgard2>Akg Annie's and it is a pretty decent setup. I used that for gaming/movies, and used my LCD2s for music. Instead of an asgard I would go with a Valhalla in your situation. 
 
Since I got the Th900 and my woo audio WA7 I'm considering selling my other phones and my Asgard because that setup is so versatile. I used to believe that I needed 2 headphones because most that have a decently large soundstage are too bright for my taste. That was until I got the th900s anyway 

 

[cskippy]

A good dac and amp can do wonders for the HD650.  I'll be using mine with Schiit Gungnir Multibit and Cavalli Liquid Carbon.  Also, if you are interested there is a pretty easy mod that you can do to the HD650 if you search for "the amazing hd650" and follow the mods described on that page.