Ampilfier and Headphone combo!

[ezzo 0]

Hi,

Im currently looking for a headphone and amplifier with a budget of $1k, hope everyone can give me some insights regarding which headphone/ampilifer to get!

I have a pair of sony ex71sl and grado sr60.

My sources are xmod, a sony vaio player, ipod nano.

I listen to all kind of genres, hip hop, punk, jazz, classical, etc..

 

 

I'll try to describe 'my taste', hope everyone can understand:

 

1) Involving music that is warm and rich, without a great loss in clarity and detail

 

2) I like the deep impact of the bass in many IEMs, which my grado's lack.

 

3) but not the muddy bass that are over prominent.

 

 

 

The sr60 sounds fine to me, lots of detail, tight bass, great clarity, treble is not tt high, but IMO its not tt suited for listening to music loudly. The soundstage is not very wide, its lyk the music is "at your ear". And I find it hard to listen anywhere else other than a quiet room, I can hear the noise around me when Im else where. Maybe things'll change when I change to the bowl pads instead of the comfies Im using now.

 

The ex71sl, the bass's too prominent, muddy, but I still lik the deep impact of the bass. When listening to softer volumes, I get a funny feeling (like how it is when you plug a IEM in yr ears without playing it), and a great lost in details (lyk I cant hear much of the music).

I wonder will the same thing happen with other IEMs?

 

Thank you for reading this long help thread written by a picky user

[nofing 0]

Alright can't address your post directly but here are some things I've noted. Grados are open headphones so changing it to bowls won't really improve isolation. If you wish to reduce the ambient noise, go for closed headphones. AKG, Beyerdynamic and AT just to name a few offer closed headphones.

 

With regards to your ex71sl, I'm not sure but I think I've read somewhere about how at lower volumes, not all notes are played at the same volume hence the loss of details and less "kick". Has it something to do with the efficiency of the IEMs? Perhaps the others would clarify.

 

As I'm more into IEMs, I would recommend the sf5p as they sound fine at low or high volumes. But of course louder sound better. Lol.

 

Headphones, apart from advising you to get closed cans, I gotta admit I don't really know how the different brands sound. Will have to wait for the cans users to advise you there.

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

Or better, just try them.

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

--- Double post ----

Edited August 20, 2007 by Stereo_Electronics

[ezzo 0]

Alright can't address your post directly but here are some things I've noted. Grados are open headphones so changing it to bowls won't really improve isolation. If you wish to reduce the ambient noise, go for closed headphones. AKG, Beyerdynamic and AT just to name a few offer closed headphones.

 

With regards to your ex71sl, I'm not sure but I think I've read somewhere about how at lower volumes, not all notes are played at the same volume hence the loss of details and less "kick". Has it something to do with the efficiency of the IEMs? Perhaps the others would clarify.

 

As I'm more into IEMs, I would recommend the sf5p as they sound fine at low or high volumes. But of course louder sound better. Lol.

 

Headphones, apart from advising you to get closed cans, I gotta admit I don't really know how the different brands sound. Will have to wait for the cans users to advise you there.

 

From what I heard fr auditioning, bowl pads makes the sound stage wider, or rather the comfies muffles it. And IMO, with bowls, I cant tell much difference between SR60, SR80 and MS1, other than MS1 and SR80 needs amp-ing.

 

Yea, agreed, closed cans would have much better isolation.

 

How does a IEM compare against a headphone?

The soundstage i reckon?

 

I heard that the crossroads X3 is a good IEM for its price, I have not tried it yet thou.

Anyone?

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

From what I heard fr auditioning, bowl pads makes the sound stage wider, or rather the comfies muffles it. And IMO, with bowls, I cant tell much difference between SR60, SR80 and MS1, other than MS1 and SR80 needs amp-ing.

 

Yea, agreed, closed cans would have much better isolation.

 

How does a IEM compare against a headphone?

The soundstage i reckon?

 

I heard that the crossroads X3 is a good IEM for its price, I have not tried it yet thou.

Anyone?

 

You should just drop by Jaben and try them yourself, alternatively you can check out jaben's blog Jaben blog

 

[heady 0]

 

You should just drop by Jaben and try them yourself, alternatively you can check out jaben's blog Jaben blog

 

I second that. Sound preference is as individualistic as taste. I like the Mylar3 myself but there may be others who prefer other IEMS but then Jaben has a wide selection to try. And so has Stereo Electronics.

 

[nofing 0]

Yea bowls will widen soundstage cos the drivers are further apart. Grados/Alessandros are one of the few cans that change quite abit in terms of SQ with different pads on. For comfies being muffled, try cutting a hole in the middle to expose the driver.

 

IEM and headphones serve different purposes hence the different designs which inadvertently affect its sonic qualities. I do find IEMs to have the edge in terms of details but headphones have my vote for soundstage.

 

Yes, the Mylar3s are very nice IEMs at its price. There's also the Mylar2s which has more bass. And like the others said, do go and try it for yourself . There's SE at Causeway Point and Jaben at Adelphi. Both are good places to audition the various IEMs and headphones and also to seek advice.

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

Yea bowls will widen soundstage cos the drivers are further apart. Grados/Alessandros are one of the few cans that change quite abit in terms of SQ with different pads on. For comfies being muffled, try cutting a hole in the middle to expose the driver.

 

IEM and headphones serve different purposes hence the different designs which inadvertently affect its sonic qualities. I do find IEMs to have the edge in terms of details but headphones have my vote for soundstage.

 

Yes, the Mylar3s are very nice IEMs at its price. There's also the Mylar2s which has more bass. And like the others said, do go and try it for yourself . There's SE at Causeway Point and Jaben at Adelphi. Both are good places to audition the various IEMs and headphones and also to seek advice.

 

Just want to make clear that Stereo don't carry Crossroad mylars, dun want you guys to come all the way here and "HUH?! you don't sell crossroad?!!"

 

[nofing 0]

Lol. Yea, only Jaben carries the Crossroad Mylar series.

[Singapura 0]

With a 1k budget you'll have plenty of choice. I use an Cardas cabled HD650 with a Cayin HA-1A at home, which gives exactly the kind of sound that you describe. My portable rig are the Crossroads Mylar ONe X3 and the iBasso T1 (which I'm going to replace pretty soon).

[warsurferX 0]

I think a DT880 plus iCute's pretty good

[ezzo 0]

The performance of iCute IMO is not that good from what I heard the last time. The price's cheap thou

 

With a 1k budget you'll have plenty of choice. I use an Cardas cabled HD650 with a Cayin HA-1A at home, which gives exactly the kind of sound that you describe. My portable rig are the Crossroads Mylar ONe X3 and the iBasso T1 (which I'm going to replace pretty soon).

 

HMMM. After sometime, Im thinking not spending 1k on the combo, more of $500. Based on my sources, I doubt I can reach the full potential of a system of that price

I recently heard a BeyerD DT440, its.....well, bad.

It cant even compare to a grado60/80. The bass's covers the mids (I dont exactly know how to decribe), but its sure not worthed the price IMO.

[ezzo 0]

I think It will be much more worthed building a DIY amplifier such as B22 with Sigma22 PSU. Then I can spend more on a pair of hphones

 

Looking around, everyone seems have built PIMETA, PPAv2 or SOHA.

DIY tube' too complex for me if any problems crop up( HIGHLY POSSIBLE FOR ME).

B22 seems relatively easier to build, giving much less problems compared to a diy tube amp(if any).

Does anyone know how does a M^3 compared against CK^2 III and PPAv2.

And a B22 against the all of them?

 

If Im not wrong, M^3 has a similar design as PPA.

CK^2 III only has a 2channel design but its cheappp.

 

If B22's sound is good, I might as well go for it, instead of going for M^3, PPAv2 etc.

The price isnt much compared to paying for a commercial amp - still WAY CHEAPER

What do you guys think!

[zhang_junyang 0]

I think It will be much more worthed building a DIY amplifier such as B22 with Sigma22 PSU. Then I can spend more on a pair of hphones

 

Looking around, everyone seems have built PIMETA, PPAv2 or SOHA.

DIY tube' too complex for me if any problems crop up( HIGHLY POSSIBLE FOR ME).

B22 seems relatively easier to build, giving much less problems compared to a diy tube amp(if any).

Does anyone know how does a M^3 compared against CK^2 III and PPAv2.

And a B22 against the all of them?

 

If Im not wrong, M^3 has a similar design as PPA.

CK^2 III only has a 2channel design but its cheappp.

 

If B22's sound is good, I might as well go for it, instead of going for M^3, PPAv2 etc.

The price isnt much compared to paying for a commercial amp - still WAY CHEAPER

What do you guys think!

 

 

 

price of building a beta22 is much higher than the other amps listed and there are much more parts involved which leads to higher possibility of problems arising. if u have never built any amps before, u shld start with other simpler ones