Help me decide

A lot lol! I have put a lot of time and effort into headphones which is a good or a bad thing! bad for my wallet but good in a sense that I can see through the BS that plagues a lot of the forums.

My collection is down to 4 and 1 of those will go up for sale. I'm more focused on tube rolling at the moment. It's amazing what I can get out of these HD650's with playing with different tubes.
 
Ryanr1987 said:
A lot lol! I have put a lot of time and effort into headphones which is a good or a bad thing! bad for my wallet but good in a sense that I can see through the BS that plagues a lot of the forums.

My collection is down to 4 and 1 of those will go up for sale. I'm more focused on tube rolling at the moment. It's amazing what I can get out of these HD650's with playing with different tubes.
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What have you got and what are you going to get rid of? Genuinely interested, I have this nagging feeling this headphone thing might start costing me a lot of money. :D
 
I dabbled in tube rolling with my Aune T1 and it's amazing how much you can alter the sound signature by changing glass. Only real downside is that it can get as expensive as buying headphones if you go for legendary NOS tubes. :D
 
HD650 for music
Q701 for gaming
NAD HP50 for closed listening
Audio Technica ES700(Being sold, good headphone for mids but so uncomfortable and lacking low bass)

It will get expensive if you fall into the trap. The trick is to save up and get a headphone that just agrees with your ears. I hate bright, lean headphones that are quick. I like a slow decay with a fleshed out mid range and gentle treble.

Yeah tube rolling can get annoying but it's fun. I think the Vali is still ideal, it doesn't change the headphone too much and it is on the smooth side. The Little Dot MKIII is just gorgois with M8161 tubes! It sounds like it's made for the 650.
 
So by buying HD650s and K702s in the first place I avoided an expensive journey it would seem :D

Little Dot MkIII? You said you used a Valhalla II in another thread - you don't change around that often do you ? :eek:
 
Have the Val2 on the lone. Have the Little Dot MKIII. Both are great, the Schiit is a little more cleaner with the stock tubes but also less euphoric. Vali is the sweet spot. That little amp still surprises me! Makes me wonder if it didn't have ringing issues and a high noise floor with low impedance would it be priced a lot higher.
 
Yeah I use an Aune T1 as a DAC feeding into my Vali which is a nice setup. The T1 allows me to add variable amounts of cream to the sound just by rolling the buffer tube - sounds great with the HD650s :)

I got a FiiO E10K for use with my IEMs and just having a very low output impedance has made the bass sound a lot crisper on all of them. The Vali was hopeless with IEMs, noise floor was too high and just not enough volume control range though the T1 was a lot better as I had it set to unity gain but it still had a 10 ohm output impedance so the bass was a little mushy.
 
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I've always debated about getting the T1 and use a Mullard tube. Does it accept EF92 tubes? You'd love the M8161 I'm sure of it. It's so dead silent that it highlights the singer. If your T1 accepts EF92 tubes, I'll send one your way to try.
 
I don't think it does, at least not officially - I have a couple of old Mullard 6DJ8s that are verging on double cream though :D
 
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Well they are here. Initial impressions are that the build quality is far and above any other headphones I have held. Real quality build. Sound straight out of the box is very pleasing, though judgement will not be made for a few hours. Carry case is a nice addition. Detail is good, maybe not just quite as good as the (now being returned Q701's) but they sound richer, which is what I wanted. They will no doubt improve over time.

Negative point is that the supplied cable is a little short and I would,rather not have to use the supplied extension. I will go on the hunt for a new cable that will fit in with the other negative, the propriety locking mechanism at the phones' end as it will inhibit cable choice.

At the moment for the £130.00 I paid I could not be happier. Delivered in 10 days from the PRC as well.
 
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