Oh and also, make sure your DAC or front end has a full parametric EQ. EQ is the only way some headphones sound good. My beyer dt 880s have an annoying spike in treble but when I reduce the problematic frequencies they sound as good or better than my senn 6xx
4K headphone + headphone amp/dac system recommendations please
I have 4K to spend on a better headphone system and have no expertise in the headphone zone.
Currently using old Grado SR 225 cans with Schiit Jotunheim 2 amp (single ended connection). Source is Jay's CDT2 transport and I'm using the internal DAC in my Hegel H390.
While the Hegel's onboard DAC is pretty good, it is a bit thin in the mids. I'd prefer something a bit more fleshed out in that frequency range.
I'm not finding many headphone amp/DAC combos. I am not interested in Chord or import brands that cannot be serviced in US.
The Teac UD 507 looks like a possibility. Moon Audio sells it and recommends HiFiMan HE100 V4 Stealth Magnet currently on sale for $949 to pair with the Teac.
Please Note: This budget will also need to accomodate a power cable and an AES/EBU cable to connect to transport.
In terms of sonics, I favor musicality over detail. I'm very sensitive to fatiguing highs. At the same time, I prize tight bass.
I listen to 3 types of music: acoustic Jazz, non-classical acoustic (NewGrass, Singer-Songwriter, Folk, etc) and some Classic Rock.
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I’d recommend looking at Sennheiser headphones and Woo headphone amps. I’ve had a top of the line headphone system for decades following the improving technology. Woo offers outstanding sounding tube based amps so you can get the power and warmth of the real thing. Ive used at least a dozen other amps. The key is the electronics you back them up with. You can see my system under my USerID. It is by far the best system I have ever hears. All the electronics mater. As an initial step I would put $1K into headphones and $3K into the amp... consider used. For instance if you were able to get a used WA5 and then some good 300B tubes you will overcome any lack of warmth from your DAC. Then sometime down the road you can invest in a different DAC and Streamer. It is just as difficult to put together a great headphone system as it is a main system. I think my ratio of headphone cost to electronics supporting them is 1 to 8. So eight times more cost in the electronics than the headphones. One of the draws to Violectric is they are very high current amps. I have one... that is good. Many headphones amps do not have the current to drive all headphones. Current from solid state amps is similar to main systems... the more the better. Violectric dones not have a warm fleshed out midrange... which is really where a lot of the power and realism comes from. On the other hand... it is a system and every component counts. |
Given what you’re looking for, my strategy would be to get fairly neutral headphones and pair them with a good tube amp like Quicksilver or Woo Audio where the ‘phones just pass all that tube goodness through. I’ve got the Arya Stealths and they are very neutral with tight/quick bass and very good imaging/soundstage, and although they are quite detailed/airy up top they don’t get harsh using a Class-A solid state amp. My take is the HE1000s might be a little more detailed up top than my Aryas, but with a tube amp this still may not be an issue, and you can buy them on Amazon and return them if they don’t work out. If you really wanna stick with solid state I’d look at something like this Pass HPA… https://tmraudio.com/fresh-arrivals/pass-labs-hpa-1-headphone-amplifier-nzg9/ Just some thoughts FWIW, and best of luck. |
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