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I'm considering re-cabling my Sennheiser HD 650s and buying a balanced amp.
Has anyone here made the switch to balanced? Was it worth it? For example did you get clearer or more dynamic sound?
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I thought it might be helpful to post a link to an interesting and informative 6 Moons review. Enjoy...
"He was one of those men who live in poverty so that their lines of questioning may continue." - John Steinbeck
I agree with genungo that the ping-pong effect intensifies with balanced operation. And the better the amp and phones, the more intense the effect. As I mentioned in the AH-D7000 thread above (link below) having one of the Headroom headphone amps with their 'Crossfeed' feature, pretty much eliminate the problem and makes balanced operation everything it can be. I just wish that Headroom would make a TUBE headphone amp . . .
I use balanced drive and even though superior channel seperation can exacerbate the "ping pong effect" at times, I would not be without it. I also keep an external, defeatable crossfeed switchbox on hand for those times when a recording sounds too "ping pong". It's a good tool to have on hand. That said, the effects of crossfeed can seem subtle or even negligible with many recordings. A good tube headphone amp tends to make the soundstage explode. For the most part, this makes it easier to get lost in the music - and in the illusion of stereo space.
"He was one of those men who live in poverty so that their lines of questioning may continue." - John Steinbeck
Edits: 05/18/12 05/18/12
genungo, regarding the 'defeatable crossfeed switchbox' you mentiioned: is this something you made? or bought? I'd like to find (or make) an upstream device that would add this function to any headphone amp (regardless of whether it's driving the headphones single ended or balanced.)
This is the one feature that, for me anyway, finally makes headphones just as viable as loudspeakers (for a primary listening device.)
Thanks
Do a search on ebay for "sharpywarpy", who sells inline crossfeed units for portable Cmoy headphone amps. He uses good quality parts and does not charge much for his work. I asked him to make me a special version with RCA inputs and outputs, and a bypass switch so that I could turn the crossfeed on and off while listening. He did it for only $25 plus shipping. Mine is housed in an Altoids tin, but I'm sure he would make you a more substantial unit using even better parts if you requested it. My unit seems to be sonically transparent when it's in bypass mode so I don't worry about it degrading the signal in normal use.
"He was one of those men who live in poverty so that their lines of questioning may continue." - John Steinbeck
Edits: 05/18/12 05/18/12 05/18/12
Once channel separation and noise floor improves, EVERYTHING becomes clearer. Notably, the unnaturally strong left ear/right ear ("ping-pong effect") sensation that some recordings produce will become more evident than ever before. This is considered by some to be one of the major drawbacks to headphone listening, and it only gets worse with balanced drive. In order to make certain recording sound more natural, I am considering the use of an external crossfeed processor for listening with my balanced amp and headphones.
I made the switch to balanced. It was worth it to me: better bass, better channel separation, and wider soundstage. This was with HD-650s, a Cardas balanced cable, and a HeadRoom balanced amp. I'm currently using HD-800s with a Cardas balanced cable and the same amp -- I am very, very pleased with the sound. No comment on the cost/benefit ratio, and YMMV.
How do you know if the improvement was due to balanced drive, to a different amp, or to the new cable?
I hope you don't mind if I chime in here... Having tried the same headphones (Sennheiser HD600) with the same type of cable (Cardas, both balanced and unbalanced) on two versions of the same model amplifier (DNA Sonett, balanced and unbalanced versions) - I think I can say that balanced drive alone can make a noticeable difference. Read the linked review (posted by me) at the top of this thread for an accurate description of the improvements wrought by balanced headphone drive.
"He was one of those men who live in poverty so that their lines of questioning may continue." - John Steinbeck
Edits: 06/01/12 06/02/12
Ah glad you have experience with this on the HD 650s. Makes me more interested in trying it out. And yes, I hear what you're saying about cost/benefit ratio. It's one of those things, isn't it, where even a subtle change is sometimes worthwhile -- because it is a change you care about?
Thanks!
Well, my headphone setup is my primary audio setup, so it was worth it to me to spend the money on squeezing as much as I could out of it. But, you know, going balanced can be pricey. And I hate to say it, but once you've heard the HD-800s on a balanced setup, there's no going back. :)!
Much better bass was the biggest surprise for me when I tried balanced amplification. All of a sudden, it was as if the headphone drivers became turbo-charged and I could really feel the impact upon my ears in music. Actually, everything became much cleaner and clearer - the "soundstage" exploded out of it's normal boundaries within the earcups and, of course, channel seperation became much better too.
Edits: 09/21/13
Thanks. It's especially in the bass where I'm hoping for something cleaner than I have now. I do like the idea of improved separation -- but I'm especially keen to get more distinct sound.
These are nice responses and give me several things to think about.
While my HD 650's are not my daily listening choice, there are certain things I like very well. This makes me hope for something (cables, balanced operation, etc.) that might make it just right.
With a true balanced drive amplifier, you completely eliminate shared conductors between channels. In this way audible channel imbalances might be eliminated and clearer, more dynamic sound with blacker backgrounds could be the result. However, some non-balanced amps might be a bit better than others in this regard. Meier-Audio (for example) uses "Active Balanced" grounding and discrete volume controls in all of their amps and it is said that this "... offers most of the advantages of a true balanced headphone setup without the need for balanced connections." However, the most important thing to achieve (as far as overall listening satisfaction is concerned) might be the "voicing" of your headphone system. For me, the first and most important things to get right are things like tonal balance and dynamics - which are the results of good amp/headphone synergy. Once you've got satisfactory voicing, balanced drive might be considered as the "frosting on the cake"...
Edits: 03/16/12 03/16/12
Headphone cables can pick up ambient interference or have channel crosstalk, since many are at least several feet long and the signal is low voltage. So balanced cables can result in an improvement. But so can switching to unbalanced headphone cables with different electrical characteristics.
That being said, if you really like your HD 650's then recabling and buying a balanced amp could be a good investment. But for the same money, you might consider switching to different headphones that might sound better to you.
I haven't done this, and I also don't understand what possible difference this could make, since the cable runs for headphones aren't particularly long.
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