Goldring RS150 - £70 a good price?

Ezyryder · 21 Jul 2008 at 16:57

H2F Scott said:
I got mine for £130 imported from Japan a year ago, not sure how much they are now. They're miles better than HD555 and HD595.

I've got a 120omh 595's and I think in my opinion they are even better than the 650s, in my opinion those are laid back (some people would say veiled!). The 595's well, remove that veil and are very detailed as well and sound almost real imho.

May be I am being a bit negative about the 650's I tried them with a cheapo amp (my cheapo £100 valve amp

)

About the Denon's... I tried a friends pair of D5000 and hated it, hated the sound, hated the fit ... I think, I don't like closed cans!

craptakular · 21 Jul 2008 at 20:00

Went into local shop tonight and tried the Technica Audia 700 ones and the Goldrings, they weren't amped both sounded quite poor. The Goldring were bassy but didnt have the clarity the K701's, to be expected though at £110 more.

I dunno what to do. Think i'll have to source some K601's as a compromise and get an amp in a couple of months.

Hxc · 21 Jul 2008 at 20:28

Audio Technica Ax00 don't benefit hugely from amping, I've never heard the A700 but my 900s certainly sound very nice unamped and amped

Ezyryder · 22 Jul 2008 at 13:42

Oxy said:
Went into local shop tonight and tried the Technica Audia 700 ones and the Goldrings, they weren't amped both sounded quite poor. The Goldring were bassy but didnt have the clarity the K701's, to be expected though at £110 more.

I dunno what to do. Think i'll have to source some K601's as a compromise and get an amp in a couple of months.

Not a fan of Audio Techs myself. I would stretch and go for the 701's, you will regret it otherwise :cool:

Mansize_tissue · 22 Jul 2008 at 14:42

Oxy said:
I'll have to read up on the "meier" it might be my best option, dont fancy going outside EU from Ebay or USA shops

I was reluctant to getting an amplifier from outside the EU, too. However, if you don't mind second hand stuff, the for sale section on head-fi can be quite the gold mine.

craptakular · 22 Jul 2008 at 18:28

Mansize_tissue said:
I was reluctant to getting an amplifier from outside the EU, too. However, if you don't mind second hand stuff, the for sale section on head-fi can be quite the gold mine.

i think that may be the best bet, it seems like its a US site though. Ill have to see if they will ship worldwide.

craptakular · 22 Jul 2008 at 19:42

Meier Audio Corda Aria - any good? Found one second hand, the guy wants £180 + del.

Should I offer £120? He didnt sell it on avforums in may and is now on head-fi. we are both in uk so maybe that will help.

C64 · 22 Jul 2008 at 19:56

Oxy said:
Went into local shop tonight and tried the Technica Audia 700 ones and the Goldrings, they weren't amped both sounded quite poor. The Goldring were bassy but didnt have the clarity the K701's, to be expected though at £110 more.

I dunno what to do. Think i'll have to source some K601's as a compromise and get an amp in a couple of months.

surprised at that as mine have amazing clarity through my x-fi even more so than grado's you do realize that many headphones need a good burn in right ?
and maybe the source you had them plugged in to sucked ?I don't think there's any way on earth anyone could describe the goldring dr150 as sounding poor.
They are reference quality headphones.

craptakular · 22 Jul 2008 at 20:16

C64 said:
surprised at that as mine have amazing clarity through my x-fi even more so than grado's you do realize that many headphones need a good burn in right ?
and maybe the source you had them plugged in to sucked ?I don't think there's any way on earth anyone could describe the goldring dr150 as sounding poor.
They are reference quality headphones.

I think the problem is i listened to k701's amped.

hohum · 22 Jul 2008 at 20:20

Oxy said:
Meier Audio Corda Aria - any good? Found one second hand, the guy wants £180 + del.

Should I offer £120? He didnt sell it on avforums in may and is now on head-fi. we are both in uk so maybe that will help.

Is it better than the Arietta then? Just that Meier Audio sells the Arietta for about £158 inc postage, brand new.

Edit: oh wait, no DAC

craptakular · 22 Jul 2008 at 21:11

hohum said:
Is it better than the Arietta then? Just that Meier Audio sells the Arietta for about £158 inc postage, brand new.

Edit: oh wait, no DAC

The Aria is the old model to this one:

http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

Its an AMP/DAC, was £275 new. So do you think this is a good deal? Got him down to £150 delivered with paypal fees.

I await for input before I proceed.

james.miller · 22 Jul 2008 at 23:57

id like to hear a pair of k701's

that seems like a good deal to me, Oxy. id still build my own but i wouldnt grumble at that!

incidentally, i found this re: unamped 650's:

Well...amazing pretty much sums them up. And I'm not even using an amp at the time. Just straight out of my iBook. I probably won't be getting one anytime soon. Can't justify spending $100+ on an amp or a DAC.

I am really sensitive to the sibilance that my MS-1 and Goldrings had. Irritated me so much. One day, I snuck a listen to someone's lower end Senns (like the 2XX models). No sibilance=fantastic in my book. I could care less about the slam of the bass or the extension of the highs if the sibilance was there.

I listen to a lot of mainstream music (pop, r&b, rap, rock), audiophile stuff my dad finds, and just random stuff from everywhere else. The bass totally rocks on these headphones...excellent extension and slam. Probably not as tight as they could be, but considering that I don't have to deal with placement and calibrating a subwoofer for speakers, it sounds pretty darn good to me. No noticeable peaks as the Goldrings have in the upper bass. Highs are a bit rolled off but I don't listen to enough of classical/stringed instruments to notice. Mids are lovely: smooth, detailed, NO SIBILANCE!!!, full bodied and rich. Instrument separation is excellent. I can pick out ANY instrument in the song and just follow the panning and melody. Soundstage is not 3D yet as I've heard some speakers do, but better than any other headphone I've heard.

moon man · 23 Jul 2008 at 14:00

As regards NO SIBILANCE in headphones isnt it a case that if the sibilance is there in the recording then with an accurate phone there will be sibilance ?, i.e the headphone would have to colour the sound to lessen the problem
ps this is a question, i aint no expert

james.miller · 23 Jul 2008 at 14:04

yeah thats it. what he means is that they didnt add any extra sibilance, but of course if its in the recording it'll still be there in playback

Leporello · 26 Jul 2008 at 14:01

How on Earth does a discussion on the relative virtues of headphones degenerate into a brand loyalty dispute? I have a set of Audio Technica W5000s, a set of HD650s and a Graham Slee Green Solo amplifier. I've tried Grado SR80s and owned a set of HD580s. My current set up with the W5000s and the Solo pleases me most. This is an expensive set up, but I wouldn't say its the "best." It's merely the equipment which suits my tastes and budget best.

For what it's worth I preferred my old Sennheiser HD580s over the HD650s which I now own. I disliked the Grado SR80s boomy sound and found them extremely uncomfortable. Since I bought the ATH W5000s, I've fallen out of love with the Sennheiser HD650s as I find their rendition of bass distracting rather than engaging. I intend to sell off the HD650s and to try some AKG 701s because I've read many very positive comments from informed users about their comfort and sound. However if and when I get the AKG 701s I shan't decide whether they're for me until they've been burned in for about 700 hours. I know that the AKG 701s will sound pretty poor new straight out of the box. If you're buying 'phones plus an amp and a DAC all this equipment will require burn in before their characteristics are fully revealed.

Buying expensive headphone equipment is always a bit of a shot in the dark, I bought the HD650s on line without auditioning them on the assumption that they would be an improvement over the much less expensive HD580s but to my mind and taste they were not.

I've seen a lot the posters on this thread from people who state baldly that their choice of cans represents the "best." I would advise people who are just beginning their journey in hi fi headphones to take these "best" assertions for what they are. The utterances of the opinionated and uninformed. What's best for me is not necessarily best for anyone else.

All of the headphones referred to in this thread are decent products. The Goldring 150s are regarded as a very decent set of cans within their price range, So are the Sennheisers, the Grados, the Beyerdynamics etc. But none will sound at their best until you've owned them for a while.

One other observation, many low impedance cans will sound great from a reasonable source without a seperate headphone amp., but they'll reveal more with one. In my opinion and to my taste the Sennheiser HD650s require an amp, otherwise they're an expensive luxury.

Enjoy you music friends.

Flibster · 26 Jul 2008 at 14:27

Leporello said:
Buying expensive headphone equipment is always a bit of a shot in the dark, I bought the HD650s on line without auditioning them on the assumption that they would be an improvement over the much less expensive HD580s but to my mind and taste they were not.
Enjoy you music friends.

I prefered the 580's over my new 650's too. They do definately need amping though. Both the 580's and the 650's should be amped imho.

My 650's haven't burn in yet though. Only got a couple of hundred hours on them so far.

DavidQ · 27 Jul 2008 at 00:43

Just ordered a set of Goldring DR150's.. looking forward to them!

james.miller · 28 Jul 2008 at 01:38

Flibster said:
I prefered the 580's over my new 650's too. They do definately need amping though. Both the 580's and the 650's should be amped imho.

My 650's haven't burn in yet though. Only got a couple of hundred hours on them so far.

just out of interest, are they 'old' 650's or 'new' 650's? im only asking because the newer 650's are supposed to have a sound signature very similar to that of the 580/595, whereas the old 650's were very dark. i bought my 650's expecting them to be dark but i wouldnt describe them as such at all.

How on Earth does a discussion on the relative virtues of headphones degenerate into a brand loyalty dispute? I have a set of Audio Technica W5000s, a set of HD650s and a Graham Slee Green Solo amplifier. I've tried Grado SR80s and owned a set of HD580s. My current set up with the W5000s and the Solo pleases me most. This is an expensive set up, but I wouldn't say its the "best." It's merely the equipment which suits my tastes and budget best.

you'll get that wherever you go im afraid lol.

Leporello · 28 Jul 2008 at 13:04

james.miller said:
just out of interest, are they 'old' 650's or 'new' 650's? im only asking because the newer 650's are supposed to have a sound signature very similar to that of the 580/595, whereas the old 650's were very dark. i bought my 650's expecting them to be dark but i wouldnt describe them as such at all.

you'll get that wherever you go im afraid lol.

Yes I know

, but we don't have to encourage these nitwits whose posts spoil these threads for those seeking informed comments or advice.

As far as I'm there is no major discernable difference between the sound of the "old" and the more recent versions of the HD650s. As you probably are aware there are a few longish threads on this topic on headfi and elsewhere, as far as I am able to judge, the consensus seems to point toward a minimal, if any difference between the HD650s with the older black silk screens and the more recent white screens.

C64 · 28 Jul 2008 at 13:15

To answer the OP question no £70 is not a good price they can be got for £60.