THE WATERCOOLER HEADPHONE EDITION – Headphones, Amps, DACs, and desktop/home audio related – a freewheeling discussion of gear, impressions, music, and musings.

[Aetherhole]

My son lives Newport Beach. I was just there. Views are breathtaking. Great restuarants, too.

That’s awesome! Certainly a wonderful, wonderful place to live. Probably about 20 minutes from Newport, but certainly the appeal of So Cal, in general, is the melting pot of food we get! Have every type of food I could ask for within maybe a 2 mile radius of me.

Probably felt downright dry to you while you were here, too…

 

[goldwerger]

With all family members scattered across the city/country/globe, I have a rare couple of evenings entirely to myself. And after a few days on the road, I'm enjoying reconnecting with my music on my home system.

This evening I've been listening with the Susvara OG and Riviera AIC10.

This combo still reigns supreme for me in producing some the most natural, clear, and beautiful mids. The deeply resonant male vocal and acoustic guitar playing of German musician Peter Fessler are exquisite on his cover of "You are so beautiful":

I hope everyone has had a good week. And now, here is to a great weekend.. with lots of music and joy!

 

[jinxy245]

This new arrangement to an old song isn't new, just new to me. Very cool..

I've always had a soft spot for Walk Off the Earth, they do great covers.

One of the 1st I saw:

 

[G8torbyte]

I've always had a soft spot for Walk Off the Earth, they do great covers.

One of the 1st I saw:

They are fun to see in concert! I saw them open for Lindsey Stirling last summer.

 

[Sajid Amit]

With all family members scattered across the city/country/globe, I have a rare couple of evenings entirely to myself. And after a few days on the road, I'm enjoying reconnecting with my music on my home system.

This evening I've been listening with the Susvara OG and Riviera AIC10.



This combo still reigns supreme for me in producing some the most natural, clear, and beautiful mids. The deeply resonant male vocal and acoustic guitar playing of German musician Peter Fessler are exquisite on his cover of "You are so beautiful":



I hope everyone has had a good week. And now, here is to a great weekend.. with lots of music and joy!

What tube you using bro

 

[goldwerger]

What tube you using bro

The Mullard M8136. It's is a warmer and more textured sounding which works really well with the Susvara OG for me.

I have a bunch of tubes on loan from a fellow head-fier friend that I plaan to try in the next couple of weeks, so I'm re-establishing a mental baseline for comparison..

 

[oneguy]

I know it can be done well and compete with digital when done right, but I think it creates a headache in trying to get right. It's headache getting right even with 2 channel, which is a bit more forgiving of poorer recordings imo.

But tagging in @oneguy who I believe has listened to vinyl on a high end headphone setup (forgive me if I have that wrong!)

I’m just curious, does anyone here listen to either a vinyl or reel to reel setup with their headphones? If yes would you mind sharing the plus and minuses? How would one deal with the pops and noises from a vinyl playback? I would imagine they would be more pronounced when listening through headphones.

I’m contemplating to have an analog setup (either vinyl or reel to reel) for my headphones in the future, but not sure whether it’s something worth exploring.

The plus for me is I have a large selection of music that I own a physical copy of (the record) that I can play back regardless of subscriptions or things like that. Kind of a nostalgia feeling but it’s like owning a piece of history.

The cons of the pops are challenging as the pops can get very annoying on headphones. Much more so than speakers. For me, I get around that by limiting the which ones I use for headphones. Essentially, some of my records are headphone quality due to the lack of pops, and some are headphone and speaker quality.

 

[normie610]

With all family members scattered across the city/country/globe, I have a rare couple of evenings entirely to myself. And after a few days on the road, I'm enjoying reconnecting with my music on my home system.

This evening I've been listening with the Susvara OG and Riviera AIC10.



This combo still reigns supreme for me in producing some the most natural, clear, and beautiful mids. The deeply resonant male vocal and acoustic guitar playing of German musician Peter Fessler are exquisite on his cover of "You are so beautiful":



I hope everyone has had a good week. And now, here is to a great weekend.. with lots of music and joy!

Are you not using the speaker taps with Susvara?

 

[hallojef]

The Mullard M8136. It's is a warmer and more textured sounding which works really well with the Susvara OG for me.

I have a bunch of tubes on loan from a fellow head-fier friend that I plaan to try in the next couple of weeks, so I'm re-establishing a mental baseline for comparison..

 

[Sajid Amit]

I asked ChatGPT the following question:

Can the sound of a track be exhaustively captured or represented by a frequency response graph alone?

This is what she said.

No, the sound of a track cannot be exhaustively captured or represented by a frequency response graph alone. Here's why:


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What a Frequency Response Graph Shows:

It typically shows how a system (like a microphone, speaker, headphone, or cable) responds to various frequencies, usually plotted as amplitude (in dB) vs. frequency (Hz).

It tells you which frequencies are boosted or attenuated.

It gives a static, linear snapshot of tonal balance over the frequency range (usually 20 Hz–20 kHz).



---

What It Doesn’t Capture:

1. Time Domain Behavior:

Attack, decay, sustain, release (ADSR).

Transient response (how quickly a system reacts to a sound).

Smearing or ringing.



2. Phase Response:

How different frequencies are delayed differently.

This affects imaging and clarity.

Some systems have a “flat” frequency response but suffer from poor phase coherence.



3. Distortion Characteristics:

Harmonic distortion (adds musically or unmusically related overtones).

Intermodulation distortion.

Nonlinearities.



4. Dynamics and Compression Effects:

How loud or soft passages are handled.

A track with a flat frequency spectrum could still sound “squashed” or “lifeless” due to heavy compression.



5. Spatial and Psychoacoustic Elements:

Stereo width and imaging.

Room reflections and reverb tails.

Localization cues.

Perceptual masking effects.



6. Timbre and Texture:

Complexity of overtones and noise components.

The unique sonic signature of real instruments or voices.



7. Subjective Perception:

Our ears and brain perceive sound in non-linear ways (e.g., Fletcher-Munson curves).

Loudness, context, and expectation shape interpretation.





---

Analogy:

A frequency response graph is like reading a nutrition label to understand a dish—it gives you some essential information, but it doesn’t tell you how it tastes or feels when you eat it.


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For a More Complete Picture:

Waterfall plots / Spectrograms (show time + frequency + amplitude).

Impulse and step response (reveal time-domain behavior).

Phase response and group delay.

Distortion spectra.

Listening tests or psychoacoustic models.



---

Summary:

> A frequency response graph is necessary but not sufficient for capturing the full sound of a track. It's just one piece of a much larger sonic puzzle.



Would you like help visualizing other audio representations (e.g., spectrogram, waveform, phase plot)?

 

[ThanatosVI]

This gem doesn't receive enough Attention.
HEDDphone Two GT Review

 

[Sajid Amit]

I changed up a couple of things in my system.

First, the cable I am using with the TC, a custom Norne copper:

Second, all my interconnects, just on a trial basis. I recently bought some Triode Labs cables.

The change is subtle but decisive on my system which is a relatively high-end and revealing system.

The 1266 sounds warmer and richer but I feel I may have swung too far in that direction.

I do have some silver interconnects and a silver cable for the TC coming in. Finishing touches and all. But love it when such minute differences end up making such a big difference to my satisfaction. A big part of the hobby for me at this point, as must be the case for most of you.

 

[Rollnrock]

Analogy:

A frequency response graph is like reading a nutrition label to understand a dish—it gives you some essential information, but it doesn’t tell you how it tastes or feels when you eat it.

I love this analogy. So true IMO

 

[Sajid Amit]

I love this analogy. So true IMO

Totally agree

 

[michael2v]

My first open Friday night in quite some time without much life interference. I've set the evening aside to listen the album Shadow Work by Mammal Hands. It's a sonic journey with an impeccable order of song that tells an amazing story.

Also a wonderful way to start a Saturday while sipping coffee; I knew I had to warm up the Bigger Ben after reading your notes, and as a big Go Go Penguin and Ambient Jazz Ensemble fan, this album did not disappoint.

The tabla showing up half-way through “Three Good Things” was such a pleasant surprise (instant frisson), and a very nice touch!