The All Purpose Advice Thread

through an unfortunate series of events involving air travel I no longer have my HD800s. kind of stuck thinking about what to replace them with. I really like the soundstage on them but I'd like to try something a bit darker sounding, preferably open back, budget ~1000$, being driven from a bottlehead mainline (considering selling this and trying out a monoprice liquid plat also)

anyone have any recommendations?
edit: a small tick above the posted budget, but currently considering the ZMF aeolus

 

@yvv TOTL tube amps vary a lot. Some are thick, slow, romantic and syrupy. Others are clear, transparent, quick, agile and with great soundstage.

It think maybe before you go down the road of buying very expensive amps maybe you should consider some more headphones. The HD600, or a modded HD800, are IMHO more suitable for classical than the HD650 or Atticus. Unless you enjoy a pretty warm tilt with midbass hump with your classical, and you might so who knows. That's where preferences come into play.

There are some very experienced ears around here who are currently using HD600 + tube amp for classical, so maybe that says something.

 

Makes a lot of sense, thank you. At the moment I've got 3 HD580s (2G,3G,4G) scattered around the house, 2 HD650 (2013 and 2018 vintages) but no HD600s. I sold the HD800SDR recently because no amount of EQ would get the tonality and timbre right. The mids were always off. The Atticus is just for the late night listening and chosen on the basis of being relatively similar to the HD650 so I wouldn't have to adapt when switching between the headphones and the Harbeth M30 speakers.

I do prefer a slightly warm sound because that's how I hear it in the concert halls I go to (they all sound differently and one ,the Royal Festival Hall, has actually a neutral to bright sound but in general they have a warm tilt with a mid-bass hump)

 

Very interesting. Which ones are neutral and transparent? The ZDS, which category you would put it in?

 

@yvv The HD580 is essentially the same headphone as the HD600, so if you prefer the HD650 over the HD580 you might just a be HD650 guy. Most would argue that the HD580/600 is more neutral, but some do prefer the HD650.

I'd put the ZDS towards the more clear, dynamic, soundstage side of things. It's somewhat colored and mid-centric but very good. I wouldn't put it toward the overly romantic camp.

So if you really want to buy a ZDS.... well, it's one hell of amp. I will warn you though that it's not overly practical and does get pretty hot. So if you want to keep it on for a whole day it might heat up the room and make a dent in your electricity bill. One of the reasons I've stuck with my humble DNA Sonett, it's so easy to live with.

 

No doubt the HD580 more neutral but the 2.5-3K peak and slightly elevated and uneven presence region makes mid-strings and ,most important, operatic vocals uneven and shouty, especially sopranos. EQ-ing that region IMO is a fool's errand: it sucks the life out of music and makes it sound neutral, but somewhat dead.

I'm very much into historical recordings which are often shouty by default, on the HD580 they are often unlistenable. I actualy preferred the HD800SD to the HD580 for operas. The HD650 is almost perfect for classical especially the 2013 vintage. The latest revision, slightly worse, but good also

The words "colored", "romantic" and "big soundstage" are the ones I'm most scared of. For me they are equal to non-transparent. The recordings (binaural aside) are never made for headphones, so unusually big or deep or wide or whatever soundstage is IMO a coloration, a sin of commission. I never pay any attention to soundstage myself unless it's really claustrophobic and feels like mono (Oppo PM-3)

I've never heard live orchestra having any soundstage with depth, height, width and so on. During tuttis and crescendos it's more like a wall of sound with no particular separation or localisation of different instruments etc. You can still tell where the strings or the brass etc. coming from (left, right or center) depending on the seat. At least that is the way I've heard it at more than a 100 concerts and operas per year I've been to in the last 20-25 years. It's all audiophilia IMO. Apologies for the rambling.

 

If you don't care about instrument separation or soundstage you may as well stick with the Jotunheim. It is fairly neutral as well which seems to be what you're looking for. It is hard beat for the price and you could put the extra money toward a better DAC. Yggdrasil is excellent with room acoustics.

Haven't heard the ZDS so can't comment about it.

FWIW, every piece of gear is going to be "colored" in one way or another vs. real life.

 

So true. The live sound is also colored.

 

Depending on how old your Jot is, and the tubes you run, the Jot might be more warmly colored than the ZDS.

I haven't heard my Af add staging to my operas, if that counts, except in more modern recordings which actually have some to start with. The staging is kind of a thing across EC amps, so it should translate.

Admittedly I don't like analysing what I'm listening to ...

 

@yvv

Hmm, well it's hard to tell if the ZDS would be for you or if you would benefit from it. I should also probably say that I think amps make the least difference overall to the sound. Transducer > DAC > AMP > cables and accessories would be my order of things.

So if you want to optimize your system first find a headphone/speaker you really love. Then find a source which you think is fantastic, then add the last 5-10% with a great amp and cables.

Out of curiosity: have you heard the LCD-3?

 

You could always buy the ZDS as an extended trial... You may end up liking it. Or just sell it if you don't. They're usually very in demand on the used market.

 

Yeah I have to agree with @ColtMrFire here, don't pass the chance to listen to it.

They're easy to sell on, especially now they're OOP, and it's easily one of the best OTLs around.

If you don't like it at least you can cross OTL off your list.

 

Last Saturday at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show I spent an hour listening to the LCD-3 and the LCD-4 . Luckily they had Tidal available so I did the @Muse Wanderer's Bruckner test on them. They both failed miserably. Totally screwed FR for classical.

 

@yvv lol, harsh words regarding the LCD's. Well, it seems you know fairly well what you want from a pair of headphones so maybe just get that EC amp and try it. It's a fantastic piece of gear.

You might also like the Utopias or a STAX rig, but now we're really getting up there price wise. The HD6X0 driven by a really good amp/dac is end game for many, and rightly so.

 

I mean, personally I rather like organ music, so to me the 6s can't even do the whole of "classical", but YMMV.

 

What headphones do you use for organ music? It's incredibly demanding and difficult even for speakers.

 

Hey everyone, hope this is the appropriate thread to ask this question as I'm a bit baffled by what I'm hearing.

I've changed the chain in my sig a bit to go from PC -> USB -> Bifrost Multibit (Gen 5) -> Valhalla 2 -> Sennheiser HD650. My music player is the foobar2000 with WASAPI (push). Files I use are either in .wav or FLAC format. I still have my Onkyo C-7030 CD transport connected to the Bifrost via digital coax.

Here's my problem. I find that the same tracks on my foobar2000 sound less congested and muddy compared to my CD transport. I can also hear clearer instrument separation from the foobar. To my ears, these aren't marginal differences. I haven't done ABX testing yet, only switching between both sources from the DAC to compare.

I have a suspicion the Onkyo transport is the source of the problem. It's no Marantz, I know, but is there a good CD transport under $200? I don't care to have SACD compatibility, I only have redbook CDs. Or is the Onkyo I have not the issue?

Sorry if this is an embarrassing question to ask here.

 

I would expect improvements in the areas you mentioned from the S/PDIF output of the Onkyo player versus Gen 5 USB, not the other way around. What interconnect are you using between the player and the Bifrost? S/PDIF transmission is very particular about uniform impedance and square wave rise time and a poor cable can result in disappointing sound.

 

Exactly, that's why I'm scratching my head.

A 1ft Blue Jeans digital coax cable, this one to be exact:

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/pages/technicaldocs/1694tech.htm

 

Auteur is the best I've got for that atm.

It's not perfect, Auteur pads give it magic but also a mini hd800 peak.

I've got Aeolus coming in, we'll see how that goes.