Headphone Heights

RE: I want to update/improve my headphone rig

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: I want to update/improve my headphone rig posted by Mike K on May 19, 2014 at 08:51:56

That's a pretty nice rig your've got, from the era when I was into headphones. Certainly it's possible (probably even likely) that you could find headphones more suited to your tastes, but it's going to be difficult (and probably expensive) to ascertain what without attending a head-fi meet.
You can increase your chances by taking inventory of what you'd like improved about your current setup. If you want to change headphones, the HD600 are still great but not without flaws. They have a very good overall balance with a good head-stage and airiness. The flaws are that they're not as resolving as the state-of the art. The mids and especially highs are a bit grainy (what folks used to refer to as the Sennheiser veil) -- the HD650 made the highs a bit cleaner (though slightly subdued; the HD650 is a darker headphone) and mids a bit more forward, but there is still a touch of dryness and grain left in the mids (compared to the best headphones). The HD600 bass is good but could stand to be deeper, more powerful, and taut -- the HD650 improved on this significantly. Overall, though, they are sonic siblings. If you want what I've described of the HD650 but with mitigated darkness, the Zu Mobius cable w/ 650 works magic (and that same cable is just awful on the 600).
As far as your amp, those Singlepowers had a sound quality all over the map, but most of them sound shockingly good when paired with the right headphone, despite their build and reputation. Yours sound like a rather early non-SLAM unit (SLAM used 5687 outputs and had lower output impedance i.e. much more drive); using lower impedance headphones may result in significant distortion.
The HD800 sounds totally different than the HD600 & 650 -- much more detailed/faster but very analytical and somewhat bright. So yeah...upgrading from a system that's nice is hard :(

Edits: 05/19/14

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