[ColtMrFire]

Anyone use the T1 with a SS amp? Can you describe the sound sig?  
 
EDIT:  I guess I am trying to avoid "analytical" in terms of overall sound sig, which is what I didn't like about the DT880s... I wasn't enjoying music with them, more studying it.  Are the T1's musical or analytical?

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Anyone use the T1 with a SS amp? Can you describe the sound sig?  
 
EDIT:  I guess I am trying to avoid "analytical" in terms of overall sound sig, which is what I didn't like about the DT880s... I wasn't enjoying music with them, more studying it.  Are the T1's musical or analytical?

I use the T1 with an Oppo HA-1 (ss) and with a Bottlehead Crack (tube). They sound great with both. 
 
There are so many factors that come into play that no one can answer your question. Conversely everyone can answer it, but the answer is only good for them. It all depends on the sound you like, the equipment and source you have, and your brain's willingness to adjust to the sound. For example, when I first put on my Ether C headphones, the bass seems very controlled and tight, but after a hour, the bass is overwhelming to me, and I switch to the T1. Sometimes the T1 sound a little to bright for me, so I switch to the PMx2. At work I switch between a TH600 and a Grado RS2e. Sure, I'm blessed to be able to afford all this gear, but the point is mood, gear, earring, music choice all play a part int he decision.
 
The only way you will know if you like them is to try them.

 

[calaf]

  Anyone use the T1 with a SS amp? Can you describe the sound sig?  
 
EDIT:  I guess I am trying to avoid "analytical" in terms of overall sound sig, which is what I didn't like about the DT880s... I wasn't enjoying music with them, more studying it.  Are the T1's musical or analytical?

I have posted earlier in this thread about the Cavalli Liquid Carbon as a SS amp for the T1. I doubt you can find a significantly better sounding combination below $2000. 
 
The thing I like best about the T1, particularly when driven by the LC, is that you can play anything "from Beethoven to Jay-z" to quote my favourite review of the T1 and it will sound just right. Not "great", not "wow!", just right.

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

  Anyone use the T1 with a SS amp? Can you describe the sound sig?  
 
EDIT:  I guess I am trying to avoid "analytical" in terms of overall sound sig, which is what I didn't like about the DT880s... I wasn't enjoying music with them, more studying it.  Are the T1's musical or analytical?

I have posted earlier in this thread about the Cavalli Liquid Carbon as a SS amp for the T1. I doubt you can find a significantly better sounding combination below $2000. 
 
The thing I like best about the T1, particularly when driven by the LC, is that you can play anything "from Beethoven to Jay-z" to quote my favourite review of the T1 and it will sound just right. Not "great", not "wow!", just right.

Jay-Z doesn't sound right on anything!
 
My LC will arrive Tuesday. I loaned it to my son before I could hear it, and he shipped it to me last week. I thought I could hold my enthusiasm down, but tomorrow is SOOOOO LOOOONG from now!
 
Also, I reinstalled the stock pads (DT990 pads) on my T1. I also stuffed the round foam that came with the pads over the drivers. I haven't really A/B tested them yet, but I think I still prefer the DT770 pads on the T1. I will take them to a meet in early May and hopefully get some second opinions. 

 

[Me x3]

  Anyone use the T1 with a SS amp? Can you describe the sound sig?  
 
EDIT:  I guess I am trying to avoid "analytical" in terms of overall sound sig, which is what I didn't like about the DT880s... I wasn't enjoying music with them, more studying it.  Are the T1's musical or analytical?

Hard to tell because "musical" and "analytical" are not completely objective terms.
 
Just as a reference, from left to right here:
 
Analytical-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not analytical
HD800 --------- K702 --- DT880 ----- T1 --------------- HD600 -- HD650 ----------------- Fidelio X1

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

  Anyone use the T1 with a SS amp? Can you describe the sound sig?  
 
EDIT:  I guess I am trying to avoid "analytical" in terms of overall sound sig, which is what I didn't like about the DT880s... I wasn't enjoying music with them, more studying it.  Are the T1's musical or analytical?

Hard to tell because "musical" and "analytical" are not completely objective terms.
 
Just as a reference, from left to right here:
 
Analytical-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not analytical
HD800 --------- K702 --- DT880 ----- T1 --------------- HD600 -- HD650 ----------------- Fidelio X1

I have to analyze that continuum!
 
Some would argue that with the right amp, the HD800 is very musical, so it all depends. 

 

[SunTanScanMan]

  Anyone use the T1 with a SS amp? Can you describe the sound sig?  
 
EDIT:  I guess I am trying to avoid "analytical" in terms of overall sound sig, which is what I didn't like about the DT880s... I wasn't enjoying music with them, more studying it.  Are the T1's musical or analytical?

Just to add to what has been said. I would say that the T1 (1st gen owned for 1.5yrs and sold last year) and the DT880 are pretty close in terms of their sound signature.
 
Having purchased the DT880/600 premium a little while ago here are some observations I made:

1. T1 gave more detail but not a huge leap from the DT880
2. T1's treble ended up bothering me too much. I don't experience this effect with the DT880 - which is strange because the FR charts seemed to indicate relative similarity in that area (My T1 serial no. was 164** FWIW)
3. The T1's clamp was noticeably looser, also heavier. I found myself constantly adjusting the headphone on my head. DT880 premium has an ever so slightly stronger clamp and definitely lighter. It sits on my head more securely and comfortably.
 
Without the issue with the treble, I would still have kept hold of it. I liked the other aspects of its sound. It is versatile with any music/movies/spoken word/gaming etc... It is the reason I purchased the DT880 because essentially I wanted a generally balanced sounding open headphone to go with the HD 650
 
But I would say again that IMO the T1 sounds pretty similar to the DT880, if the latter was not to your liking I would urge caution or an audition prior to purchasing the T1 1st gen.
 
[The above run through an SS amp]

 

[ColtMrFire]

I appreciate all the amazing advice so far!
 
Just to clarify even further...
 
When I first got the Dt880s, I had a Schiit stack (Magni2/Modi2), and the cans were WAY too bright for that setup.  I ended up trading the Magni for a Schiit Vali, but I did not like the sound of tubes (was my first tube amp), or at least that particular tube amp.  So I took a gamble and bought a Denon AV Receiver, which turned out to have an amazing headphone out (way better than my old crappy Onkyo receiver).  The Denon actually tamed the brightness extremely well, and made them much more neutral.  BUT, I was now stuck with the "analytical" sound sig, which did not change.  
 
So what I'm getting at is, I don't mind the T1 being close to the DT880 as long as they don't sound analytical, and I use that term to mean that you study the music rather than just sitting back and enjoying it, like I do with my HD600.  I have done some reading around, and heard the T1 is a "musical" headphone, even more than the HD800.  Would anyone agree with that?

 

[TexasBuck]

I hear what you are saying:  I couldn't resist the value of the used T1 Gen1.  I've had mine for a few months and don't regret pulling the trigger at all.  The T1's have amazing detail and imaging.  I owned the HD600's for a while and in my opinion, the T1 is FAR superior.  If your system can tame the highs a bit, I think they are worth the risk.  If you don't like them, just sell them.  You might lose a few bucks but it's worth a few bucks to try a new phone.  
 
"Musical" is very subjective term so it's hard to answer that definitively for you.  Music is very enjoyable to me on the T1's so in my mind, the T1's are musical.  FYI - I have a solid state amp.  Yulong A18, which is a bit on the warm side and seems to be good match.

 

[Me x3]

  I have done some reading around, and heard the T1 is a "musical" headphone, even more than the HD800.  Would anyone agree with that?

That's because HD800 is one of the most analytical, less fun, less forgiving headphones on Earth. 
 
T1 is not 100% 'musical' in the sense that it's still a very detailed, neutralish, sharp sounding headphone.
But next to the T1, the HD800 sounds like a tool. HD800 is brighter, cooler and drier.
 
What I mean is, don't think the T1 is musical because it's more musical than HD800.
Most headphones are more musical than HD800.
 

 
I have to analyze that continuum!
 
Some would argue that with the right amp, the HD800 is very musical, so it all depends. 

It's a simplification for sure, take it with a grain of salt.
 
The musical term is one of the most infamous around. The thing is that HD800 is almost too light in the bass, extremely neutral in the midrange, soft upper midrange, definitely bright 6kHz, airy top and extremely wide soundstage. That's its nature, if you like that kind of sound and use it mostly with top class recordings, then you can find it musical for sure. (I'm in that boat most of the times, listening to those recordings where analytical an musical can coexist). But in the big scheme of things, it's definitely an analytical headphone, so anaytical that plenty of people keep modding it, so much that they (sort of) forced Sennheiser to bring the HD800S (less analytical, more musical version of the exact same headphone).
 
Some would still argue, sure, but sometimes the 'right amp' is a very coloured one, or one with really high output impedance (which means coloured as well), or an amp with high levels of some paticular types of distortion. I'm not against those amplifiers if the person ends up enjoying the result and I'm not against EQing with a quality parametric equalizer, but I normally prefer to jugde headphones using neutral solidstate amplifier and no EQ.

 

[networkn]

Yes.


(But don't pay that seller's price. It should be about $300.)

 
Thank you. Sorry for the dumb question, but would the iCan be better than the Ifi Micro? If the Ifi Micro is better, is it $200 better?

 

[technobear]

Yes.



(But don't pay that seller's price. It should be about $300.)

Thank you. Sorry for the dumb question, but would the iCan be better than the Ifi Micro? If the Ifi Micro is better, is it $200 better?

Not sure what you mean.

'micro' is a range of components from iFi Audio.

The 'micro iCAN' does sound a notch better than the 'micro iDSD' from its headphone output. This is partly because the micro iCAN runs in class A all the time and partly because of the iFi 'TubeState' technology found within.

The micro iDSD is a portable product and contains a battery. It runs in class A from its RCA outputs but class A/B from its headphone output. It also doesn't feature 'TubeState'.


I should perhaps add as you seem a little confused, that the micro iDSD is a portable DAC and headphone amp whereas the micro iCAN is just a headphone amp.

If you are looking at solely desktop/home use, the micro iDAC2 paired with micro iCAN might be a better options as it is cheaper than micro iDSD plus micro iCAN but sounds as good.

More here: http://ifi-audio.com/

 

[networkn]

Not sure what you mean.

'micro' is a range of components from iFi Audio.

The 'micro iCAN' does sound a notch better than the 'micro iDSD' from its headphone output. This is partly because the micro iCAN runs in class A all the time and partly because of the iFi 'TubeState' technology found within.

The micro iDSD is a portable product and contains a battery. It runs in class A from its RCA outputs but class A/B from its headphone output. It also doesn't feature 'TubeState'.


I should perhaps add as you seem a little confused, that the micro iDSD is a portable DAC and headphone amp whereas the micro iCAN is just a headphone amp.

If you are looking at solely desktop/home use, the micro iDAC2 paired with micro iCAN might be a better options as it is cheaper than micro iDSD plus micro iCAN but sounds as good.

More here: http://ifi-audio.com/

 
Thanks, that was useful. I already have a dedicated DAC (Schiit Bifrost) with a Crack Amp (No speedball installed yet as I haven't had time). 
 
If the differences between the iDSD and iCAN are very minor, for the fact it's portable, I might opt to go that way.
 
The crack isn't at all portable (or even really transportable), and I was looking to find an excellent alternative to the Liquid Carbon as I can't seem to find one second hand

 

[Solarium]

Thanks, that was useful. I already have a dedicated DAC (Schiit Bifrost) with a Crack Amp (No speedball installed yet as I haven't had time). 

If the differences between the iDSD and iCAN are very minor, for the fact it's portable, I might opt to go that way.

The crack isn't at all portable (or even really transportable), and I was looking to find an excellent alternative to the Liquid Carbon as I can't seem to find one second hand

The iDSD has one of the most powerful amps in a portable DAC/amp ever. I bought it for that reason after finding out that the m9XX can't power my T1 sufficiently. It is, however, bright. I would say as bright as the Modi/Magni (although the DAC is probably on the same level as the Bifrost). For that reason many people also get the iCAN, which sound more lush especially with the new special edition, which has something called Tubestate that is trickled down from their higher end iCAN Pro. That being said, the iDSD amp is supremely capable and if you're looking for the best bang for the buck get just the iDSD. The amp is rated as powerful as the iCAN.

 

[Magiv9]

If I were to pick between the T1 and Hd800, I'd pick the T1.
The separations are too far apart on the Hd800 and if unlucky, all the vocals will be only on the left ear with instruments on the right etc... Also the treble is way too high and some songs are practically unlistenable... Backstreet boys - all I have to give, is one example.

T1 also has treble problems too but not as bad as hd800, depending on the amp. Some tracks wernt listenable on the stx cause treble was too high, whereas all tracks sound good on the lehmannaudio and it's bright, but in a good way.

Not dissing the Hd800, just doesn't sound as good as the T1 on a solid state amp, too picky with tracks.