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Wondering which are the best for classical music, especially symphonies, concerti, and solo piano. I have been considering Sennheiser HD800 and Fostex TH900, in addition to Grado 1000i.I will be using them with Bryston BHA-1 amp and Marantz SA7 player, with balanced connectors.
Comfort is also very important, and closed vs. open does not enter into the equation.
I have no way to audition these, so need to rely on those who have used them.
Edits: 02/28/14Follow Ups:
Personally I think the Audeze LCD-3 (or more on a budget, the LCD-X) are way better for classical than the Senn HD800. I think the Audeze do better at differentiating timbres and conveying beauty of timbre. However, they are a bit on the warm side. My Hifiman HE-6 is more neutral and nearly as good for classical.
You may what to consider the Oppo PM-1s. I got a pair yesterday and they sound much better than my Senn DH-650s or my AKG K701s.
If you can find a dealer or helpful local audio society people, maybe make a weekend out of it and drive to go hear some of them. Maybe Vegas or Denver? Or fly to New York for a weekend, take in a couple shows or concerts, and audition them all. B&H has the Grados, Senns, and AKGs, and other dealers here have everything. (Note: B&H is closed Saturdays.)
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Interestingly, no one has yet mentioned the AKG K501 which used to be one of the best recommendation for classical and Jazz.
I know they are no longer produced, but they do come up on the used market.
I used to own those headphones. They were my first serious pair of headphones. I eventually sold them off cheap, a few years before they became the collector's items that they are today. I guess I should have held on to them a little while longer.To my ears, their strong points were clarity and openness and this is why they are most often touted as "jazz headphones". The slightly uptilted frequency response ("clarity") and wide soundstage ("openness") produced a clean and lean feeling that could be very flattering to many types of jazz recordings. They could also sound wonderful with female vocals - almost as good as the superb K1000s in this regard. I never really felt that the K501s were outstanding headphones for classical music mostly because very deep bass notes and rumbling bass lines do exist in symphonic music. The K501s were/are simply too limited in the deep bass department for classical music, IMO.
Also, to my ears, the K501s had other serious flaws which made them too limited in their ability to portray many types of music. I've mentioned that they could be a bit too "lean" sounding overall, but they also had problems when it came to creating a seamless and coherent sonic picture: Certain types of upper-frequency sounds would seem to "pop" out from the rest of the mix and these high-frequency discontinuities always seemed to bubble forth like tiny volcanoes from a single point inside the upper-front portion of the huge round earcups.
Nowadays, I like to think of my K701s as my newer, better "jazz headphones". The two headphones share a number of similarities but improvements over the K501 include a bigger, more seamless sound and slightly better bass - both of which help to make the K701 the more versatile pair of headphones. But it is true that the K501s had a special "crystalline" sonic quality that the K701s could never really replicate.
Some people claim that there are noticeable sonic differences between the "early" and "late" editions of K501 (early = better) but I was never able to tell the two apart.
Edits: 03/11/14 03/11/14 03/11/14 03/11/14 03/11/14
Avoid headphones (or loudspeakers for that matter) that might accentuate the upper frequencies too much. Compared to smaller venues (jazz clubs, etc..,), the sheer size of symphonic halls tend to suppress the higher frequencies a bit. Headphones that image really well or seem to throw a huge soundstage might seem to be the proper choice at first, but unless they have the type of frequency response that allows symphonic music recordings to sound as if I was sitting in a good seat at the symphony hall, I don't want them. Massed strings that sound too steely, horn sections with too much bite, cymbals with too much sizzle, etc.., can make classical music sound both fatiguing and unnatural.So, what I am listening for (in classical music headphones) is not simply a feeling of space between the instruments or performers and a feeling of distance between myself and the orchestra! The recording venue must also seem to be very large and the air within it must seem to be more dense than usual. Overly bright headphones might be OK if I am going to listen to recordings of Mariachi music made in a lively bar somewhere in Tijuana, but they would not be my first choice in headphones for classical music.
Classical chamber music might be better served by a brighter sounding headphone but even then I would not want to be continually distracted by too much high-frequency detail - unless the recording is supposed to sound that way, of course.
Many seem to prefer some of the the "dark sounding", older model headphones from Audeze or Sennheiser for classical music and I would tend to agree with them.
Edits: 03/10/14 03/10/14 03/10/14 03/10/14 03/10/14 03/10/14
Best choice. And most comfortable by a wide margin.
I traded my Stax in when I heard a friends HD800's and no regrets.
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them just are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
I own the TH900 and hd800 and the best is without a doubt in my system the hD800 for classical music. The TH900 does very well also but the layering of the orchestra is excellent on the hd800.
Get on the phone and see if these people can provide some help:
www.thecableco.com
The Cable Company has a lending library for audio cables and recently have started one for headphones. They may be able to help you in your quest.
Also, it's been a few years since I've dealt with either of the following, but they could be helpful:
www.headphone.com
www.audioadvisor.com
Each of the above when I was working with them had liberal return policies and if you are upfront with them about your desire to audition various headphones, they may be willing to work with you to both your and their advantage. It's worth a phone call.
My experience is that headphones vary widely in their characteristics. I would not want to purchase simply on the comments of some stranger on the internet.
Hi,
Re auditioning, find out when the next Head-Fi meeting or Can-Jam is somewhere near you.
Personally I would say best Headphones for classical are electrostatics, there is of course Stax and even their antique Headsets at 2nd hand prices are quite good (Recently heard SR-X/SRM-12 again nothing wrong with them).
Then there are others, mostly discontinued, like the Sennheiser's, plus there is Koss, which I owned in the 1980. Some other 'stat's are starting to become available, I have one of these at home.
Ciao T
Sometimes I'd like to be the water
sometimes shallow, sometimes wild.
Born high in the mountains,
even the seas would be mine.
(Translated from the song "Aus der ferne" by City)
So, you have no access to amazon.com? You know, where they have a 30 day return policy with no questions.
Thought I would ask.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
I considered that approach, Travis, but decided not to for several reasons. The biggest ones were having to shell out around $4K to compare just the phones I listed, and knowing I would be returning all but one, and the others then would have to sold as used.
Another issue would be break-in time.
Very different from being able to go to a shop and try out their demos.
The Senn HD600 is the "classic" for classical. Grado house sound probably isn't right for classical.
HD600 is used by recording engineers all over and has a very neutral and natural tonality.
I have the predecessor (HD580) which is supposed to sound almost the same, and even though it's my oldest headphone, I still like it the best.
I haven't heard HD800 or any of the super expensive ones, but not everybody prefers them to the 600.
Another option that's well reviewed and has neutral tonality is Hifiman He-500.
Also consider weight and comfort---HD600 will win on this.
I second the emotion... I have a pair of HD600s that I use with classical music. I didn't know how good they were (the bass sounded muddy with a Headroom MicroAmp) until I got an adequate amp (Burden HD160) to power them. I don't know the Bryston amp, so no comment about that.
My other good headphones are AKG-K702s, which are not as airy in the midrange and have less bass output than the HD-600s. So I use them for watching TV.
To address your original post, I only know the Grado. They're very comfortable and have a big soundstage requiring less fuss with an amplifier than some cans. They're not particularly good for sub-bass, as in, orchestral bass drum, organ pedal, contra bassoon. Those notes are for the Audeze and HiFiMan phones but I've never warmed to planar highs. Trade offs.
IMO, open vs closed is an issue, especially with classical music. I want a big soundstage for symphonic works and closed cans tend to have narrow soundstages. I only use closed when sound leakage in and out is a problem. Otherwise, it's open all the way for me.
Cheers.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
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