anyone have reference headphones?

[DearS]

I like the clarity of the vocals in my new sony headphones. also the privacy I have from those around me. also I hear details in the $50 headphones I might not have ever heard till now.

I have a question for those who have heard both the diy speakers mentioned here and headphones that sound similarly capable of reproducing sound.


any of you have headphones that come close or equal to matching speakers like the modula, arvo, or wilson-audish speakers?

what cant the headphones reproduce? openness?

[joecarrow]

What can't they reproduce? For me, it's BASS. Yes, you can get accurate bass sounds from a set of headphones- and it can go quite deep and loud... but there's just something about the physical sensation of real slamming thumping bone jarring bass :twisted:

I haven't built or heard the speakers you mention, but I've heard systems I thought were "good enough" to fool me for certain sounds, at low to moderate volume, and some of the best headphones can get you most of the way there for a lot less money. One such system was the top flight Newton line in the Cambridge Soundworks store in Berkeley, CA.

The best headphones I have heard to date were made by (I believe) a german company called Quart. The bass could be quite good, and everything seemed quite accurate.

I can't say I'm one of the gurus who has listened to everything under the sun with a highly polished golden ear- but if one shows up, it would be interesting to hear what they think.

[NeutralMAN]

Hi DearS,

I think the published distortion level out of a pair of Sennheiser HD650 is about the 0.05% THD. (They are not even top of the line) Many speakers can't beat them.

NeutralMAN

[ThomasW]

I have a pair of Stax SRX and Koss ESP-950. Both of these are electrostatic designs and pretty much define a state-of-the-art. They easily reproduce 20Hz. There few speakers that can reproduce what these phones do in terms of clarity, definition, accuracy, etc.

The ear/transducer interface is so much more efficient with phones, that even relatively low cost phones give speakers costing hundreds of times more money some stiff competition.

When I want the ultimate listening experience, I use a pair of phones with a subwoofer ....:wink:

[wildfire99]

I was about to say, I've done that before... (sub+headphones). My AKG's are getting trashed... and I wanted some closed cans for better monitoring work, anything bad to say about the Koss? I can't find the Stax for sale anywhere, so I assume that's an oldie.

[ThomasW]

Patrick,

My particular pair of SRX phones are 20+ yrs old. They need to be rebuilt since they have pin-holes in the diaphragms due to plate arcing at high SPL.

The Koss aren't exactly new either ~10 yrs old. Originally they had a MSRP of $1K. I bought them new for $500 when Koss realized that the $1K price was just a bit too outrageous.

The Koss are of course open air, they're stunning to hear, lush, detailed, basically wonderful. They're so revealing one can hear 'edits' in recordings. If you ever get a change to hear a pair of SoundLab A-1 speakers, that's what the Koss sound like...:wink:

[mikeg]

Check out headwize.com. This a forum similar to this one but for headphones. Lots of good info.

[tktran]

In my previous life, (ie. before getting into DIY amplifier and speakerbuilding) I was regular over at headwize. 5 years ago it was a great forum, with really knowledgable people, but I don't know what the S/N ratio is like nowadays. Head-fi used to be good, but IMHO is now filled with tweakazoids.

My reference headphones are the Sennheiser HD25, but for everyday listening I use the Koss KSC-35. I think good headphones are really helpful way of getting to know your recordings better. It removes the room and speaker-room interface effects.

I would imagine that they would be really helpful in DIY speaker design. I think many of the top of the line AKG, Shure and Sennheisers would do the trick.

[DearS]

I been at head-fi.org lately. tried the sony 71sl, senn hd497, and px100. now I know what people mean when they say different headphones have unique sounds. one has detail but is bright. one has nice channel seperation, thats mostly it. one has good detail, is not bright, but has bad channel seperation IMO.

well I wonder what the $100+ headphones sound like :boohoo: :boohoo: :boohoo: :boohoo: :boohoo: :boohoo:

[mikeg]

I do mostly audio DIY stuff and am just now getting into HT. I use Grado cans and a couple different models of Sony and Senn that I borrow from a friend.

I use them for testing source and line stage amps. A set of phones will make "stuff" show up real fast. The other thing that they are good for is to connect the phone amp up the the supply rails via a cap. Then turn up the volume. It's amazing what you can hear on the supplies that's pure noise.