Headphones Newbie; Senheisser HD 800s or Focal MG Clear


Hi

I'm currently down to one pair of speakers, Quad 2905's. And because these speakers are with the repair technician on a continual basis, I need a backup. While another pair of Quads or another brand of speakers would be ideal, I don't  have that kind of money at the moment. So I've been thinking about buying a pair of headphones that punch above their weight class. My local Senheisser dealer says the HD800s and my Focal dealer says the MG Clear. I really like the looks of the Focal's and am leaning in that direction. I'll just use the headphone input on my ASR Emitter Exclusive II. All suggestions are appreciated, thank you!

goofyfoot

I think the main issue here is the output impedance of the headphone socket from your amp. If it's high, you're better off with headphones that have a flat impedance curve so that the overall tonal balance isn't affected. Usually this means a planar headphone from the likes of Audeze or Dan Clark Audio.

I just sent my Focal Clear MG back to Music Direct. I tried for 2 month to break them in and they did not sound that great!!

@viablex1 Could you explain what sounded objectionable. Were you using a preamp, headphone amp, etc...?

@yage I wanted to get away from planar headphones as I have Quad Electrostatic Speakers and wanted something different.

Headphones are very sensitive to the quality of the input. Less than great electronics and great headphones and you are going to hear it.

 

I now have about $15K of incredibly naturally sounding electronics behind my headphones… they all sound fantastic… Focal Utopia, Sennheiser HD800, Beyerdynamic T1, Audiez LCD, Ultrasond Edition 9, and Denon 5000 (?)… etc. You can see my headphone system under my user ID.