2. headphones
  3. 176430-135759

Headphone suggestions needed

I'm building my first high-end headphone system and need some headphone and dac suggestions based on my current setup.

I went about this backwards....I bought the amp first (a good deal fell into my lap).  I bought a Cary HH-1, a tube hybrid that uses 6922 input tubes.   What headphones would pair well with this amp?  What DAC would you recommend?  I would like to have a few options to put on a short list to either demo or research in further detail.  My budget for now would be up to around $1000 for the dac/headphones, new or used gear.  Right now I'm listening to sennheiser momentum 2 wired overear, and for the most part...I like them.  I also have a bottlehead foreplay tube preamp that can be used.  I just don't want flabby bass or shrill highs, something with accurate bass, great mids, and airy highs that aren't fatiguing.  Grado? Sennheiser? Audeze?  I will be using my laptop/tablet as a source with tidal and roon.

Thanks

youngerd
ghdprentice
6,354 posts
 

I would look for a Focal headphone in you price range and look to Schiit for a DAC. Focal are really efficient and well balanced and Schiit is great budget gear. I have several pieces of both. You can see my primary headphone system under my user ID.

youngerd OP
2 posts
 

Thanks,

I'll add those to the list.  How do the Focals sound vs hd600's?

ghdprentice
6,354 posts
 

Sennheiser tend to be a bit more trebly and less full bass unless you can provide enormous power to them. I swap my Focal Utopia and Sennheiser HD800s all the time. I used to listen to my Focal much more than my Sennheiser until I got my big Woo 300B amp (~$7K)… finally the Sennheiser have perfect tonal balance and airy er… but the Focal still have better bass.

emailists
923 posts
 

@ghdprentice Since you mentioned the HD800’s I’ll jump in and tell you about how I run mine.

I got a custom wired Cardas clear to a pair of XLR females so I can plug them directly into my Atma-sphere pre amp since Ralph stated it can drive headphones well. I’ve never had a dedicated headphone amp to compare, but I’m pretty happy with the results. I have done the felt/foam ring mod, and have removed the dust covers, all to good effect.

 

 

 

More to discover