[Miori]

Hey. I was watching that auction too but forgot to bid on it. Glad to see one headfier getting it. Please do report on condition and impressions. I'm curious!

I bought a NOS, boxed 250 II from a former hifi guy out of the Ukraine. My own adventure I guess. Can't wait to get them .

Continuing on the experiments I still somehow prefer my 540 II to the 540 1 (600 Ohm) I bought recently. I did an extensive listening comparison over the weekend. Can't quiet put my finger at it but most noticeable is probably the highs that seem just a tad to bright for my ears in comparison.

YESS I Will for sure, and I'd like to give them time to be compared with Ref1 and Ref2. My experience seems a bit different from yours, I was really in love with Ref2 300Ohm but when I got my Ref1 600Ohm I realized myself spending much more time with them. The timbre Is more dark in my pair and bass more present, not huge difference, with Mogami cable both. Both are clear, not really for genres with bass dry and fast but for acoustic instruments and voices are really able to capture your attention and keep you in the flow of music.

 

[sennsay]

Hey. I was watching that auction too but forgot to bid on it. Glad to see one headfier getting it. Please do report on condition and impressions. I'm curious!

I bought a NOS, boxed 250 II from a former hifi guy out of the Ukraine. My own adventure I guess. Can't wait to get them .

Continuing on the experiments I still somehow prefer my 540 II to the 540 1 (600 Ohm) I bought recently. I did an extensive listening comparison over the weekend. Can't quiet put my finger at it but most noticeable is probably the highs that seem just a tad to bright for my ears in comparison.

May I ask if you might be using stock cables/pads with these h/phones? If your HD540 Ref1s are bright on top then this is not natural, at least not to my ears Smooth and even and quite superior to my HifiMAN HE400S!

 

[RogueWolfe]

It's interesting that you guys have so different experiences with the ref 1. Yes I use the stock cable, I do have another cable that Jon recommended to me - i really like it on my ref II. Mhm. Maybe I should give the ref 1 another more thorough listening session with that cable.... I'll give it a try.

 

[RogueWolfe]

Also: what amps are you using it with? My chain is mx-dac/aries mini / vali 2.

 

[jon parker]

I think the stock, steel series cable with an un-flattering pad could certainly make them sound harsh-ish
I use them 'raw' with iBasso DX80 or A Littledot 1+ tube amp - 1 with old grey soft velour pads and the other with sheepskin pads

 

[Miori]

I drive 'em from Foobar2000, Odac, and a Burson Buffer AB-160 that helps Burson Soloist SL with impedence. I find the stock velour pads a good compromise in sound, Wang helps making bass more prominent and timbre more in the dark side but in my case I feel them a bit boomy (not really a lot) but making my listening session more fatiguin while with original velour Is possible to go on for hours. One pair of velour are filled with original material, another with a white sponge material suggested from Cosmomemory an old forumer that worked so hard to find It and the result Is the same.

 

[sennsay]

It's interesting that you guys have so different experiences with the ref 1. Yes I use the stock cable, I do have another cable that Jon recommended to me - i really like it on my ref II. Mhm. Maybe I should give the ref 1 another more thorough listening session with that cable.... I'll give it a try.

I'm not sure how I lasted so long with the stock cable! I had used the stock HD650 briefly for a while before leaving NZ for OZ and it was an improvement, but nothing like the revelations the Mogami cable has allowed to blossom forth from the Ref1s ... and all my other h/phones. Fairly recently, I popped the stock original cable into the Ref1s and found out instantly why it is relegated to the spares box In saying that, I lived with it for 15-20 years, while knowing that it exposed the upper mids (hot recordings beware!) and lessened bass impact and density. Bass response still went remarkably deep (I often thought I had left speakers connected), yet lacked real dimensional impact and focus. Mogami and 'wang' pleather pads righted all that wasn't quite in balance and provides natural image density that evades so many other cans. I can imagine some might find that combo ever so slightly dark, I prefer to call it a black background free of extraneous noise, so that images are suspended in a silent background, tiny details floating rock solid in space.

 

[sennsay]

I have been restoring a number of amplifiers in recent months, most of them older home theatre amps from 1994 to 2008 and nearly all of them perform a treat with the 600 ohm Ref1s. The best of them is a Yamaha RX-V480 60W receiver that is a sheer joy to listen to! Talk about musical! Eye-widening surprise, actually. I rocked out a couple of nights ago to various musical styles until quite late and again for some time yesterday. This amp kicks butt, with a rock steady focused bass with weight and rhythm, a midrange that remains clear and dimensional (amazing, really) and refuses to sharpen up into edge even the biggest dynamic highs from Ricki Lee Jones. That in itself is seriously impressive and far better than many other amplifiers of that ilk, even some current dedicated amps. What a cracker of an amp, missing out only on the very finest of refined detail and utmost silent background, though there is not a trace of hum or basic noise, speaker outputs included. And this amp is 25 years old! It has now replaced a Technics amp of slightly younger vintage in the main lounge system - not as a home theatre/movie amp, I use a Pioneer receiver for that job, 2.1 channel only. The Yam receiver brings very similar results to the Mimby/Magni 3 combo, just a more powerful, punchier and slightly less refined version, that's with the Mimby acting as DAC from the QP1R. Brilliant! The amp is a perfect reflection of the organic rhythmic flow of the Ref1s and together they sing.
I use the Ref1s as a reference for all amps that come into my home and they are much easier to drive than the HE400S, though those cans also sound particularly excellent with the Yam amp, punchy with great drive. Still, the Ref1s are more refined in the top end.

 

[RogueWolfe]

nothing like the revelations the Mogami cable has allowed to blossom forth from the Ref1s ...

Do you make the cables yourself? I did look for mogami cables but couldn't find any premade. I suck with a soldering iron...

 

[RogueWolfe]

And this amp is 25 years old!

Isn't that one of the best things - when you discover a vintage with such a sound?

 

[RogueWolfe]

another with a white sponge material suggested from Cosmomemory an old forumer that worked so hard to find It and the result Is the same.

,
Could you point me to the according post? Stocking up on options once my mint original pads go toast... Thanks!

 

[RogueWolfe]

I think the stock, steel series cable with an un-flattering pad could certainly make them sound harsh-ish

Two of my reference pieces for this are Halleluja by Jeff Buckley and a couple of songs from the Songbird Album by Eva Cassidy. With my DT-770 those are really unbearable at proper listening volumes- they are ok with the Ref I and absolutely shine with my Ref II. Actually they tend to even clip a little with the Ref I. Maybe the vali2 isn't a good match for the 600 Ohms? Idk I'll give it more listening time...

 

[sennsay]

Do you make the cables yourself? I did look for mogami cables but couldn't find any premade. I suck with a soldering iron...

Yes I did, but I've been making stuff for decades, lots of practice Yes, you can buy Mogami cable from Venus Audio on eBay, contact them and ask for the #2893 version, it's thinner than the standard version in the pics. Same fabulous quality, just a bit lighter. You would need to slightly modify the edges of the connectors with a craft knife to sit in the capsule sockets correctly (they go in anyway, but can pull out with a gentle tug). It's easy done and there are a number of us who have gone through that within these pages. Worth the effort!

 

[sennsay]

Isn't that one of the best things - when you discover a vintage with such a sound?

Absolutely! I popped on Yes' Hold On from the 90125 album and gadzooks! Knock out! 9 o'clock on the dial and the sheer taut punch is rather thrilling
I reckon a cleaning out of the old capacitors will remove the (very) slight haze that old caps bring to the party. I have done that recently with a 40 year old Akai AM2600 amplifier that transformed the whole sound into clarity and presence. Sold it to a willing vintage buff instantly who totally loves the thing.

 

[Miori]

,
Could you point me to the according post? Stocking up on options once my mint original pads go toast... Thanks!

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/wow...ence-are-so-good.670255/page-47#post-10850397

This was the guy making such a long trip into hd540... I bought the round foams from him sent to me from UK (I was Crazy) then I found a similar one in a tools shop near home to make a backup. Is interesting to read since the first pages of the thread.