what headphones do you own thread - i own dt150's :)

I'm happy with my HD650s and will probably not go further in headphones, though I may pick up a pair of AKG K712s at some point to give me the perfect companion for my Senns.

I've started down the earphone route now, to pair with my X1 and it's astonishing the sound quality available for under £100.
 
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Ryanr1987 said:
I really like the HE400i. I thought it was a good cheaper alternative to the HE500/LCD2 with good bass and mids and good energy at £360. They don't quite have that high end resolution but they are in-between the HD650 and HE500.

The K712 is excellent and easily end game on a budget. The only issue I had was the upper mids which someone else could easily live with.
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Thanks for the comparison with my current can's.
Yes, I did mean the K812 :)

You've turned my head towards the Hifiman HE400i, reading around echo's what you say & not many negative reviews...

I know its not about looks but the older Hifiman's always look very cheap or old looking if you know what I mean, take the older 400's as they looked like they were from the 70's, the build of them never enthralled me but they have stepped up with the 400i...

Just see this review below & they show some cloth/velour on the pad with leather/leatherette on side, first time I've seen this - I like it ! Must help with the sound ?

I don't get on with none breathable materials, that's why I sold my HP200's. Hot ears & sticky head with my skinhead lol...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HiFiMAN/HE-400i/
 
Andi-C said:
Thanks for the comparison with my current can's.
Yes, I did mean the K812 :)

You've turned my head towards the Hifiman HE400i, reading around echo's what you say & not many negative reviews...

I know its not about looks but the older Hifiman's always look very cheap or old looking if you know what I mean, take the older 400's as they looked like they were from the 70's, the build of them never enthralled me but they have stepped up with the 400i...

Just see this review below & they show some cloth/velour on the pad with leather/leatherette on side, first time I've seen this - I like it ! Must help with the sound ?

I don't get on with none breathable materials, that's why I sold my HP200's. Hot ears & sticky head with my skinhead lol...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HiFiMAN/HE-400i/
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I thought the K812's were pretty average (and that's putting it politely) the last time I tried them (the ringing in the treble was pretty bad), even worse than the K7-- range.

As for the new focus pads on the HiFiMan range, they can get a bit stuffy when compared to full velour/cloth pads. The holes on the inside opening of the pad are there for dampening reasons, not for comfort (for comparison, the old velour pads breathed a lot better). I definitely noticed more sweat built up around my ears after a longer listening session compared to say the K702 or HD 800.
 
Ryanr1987 said:
Haha Nah I'm done. To be honest when I got into audio I didn't want to come this far. There isn't anything else I want in a headphone.
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Did you get to try the different pads on the PM-1's? I've found the new alternative lambskin pads to brighten the headphones significantly. They're insanely easy to drive but I do think they sound best on their own amp.

I do prefer the wider soundstage I get from the HD-800's and there's definitely more detail in the HD's than the PM-1's but they're probably not as easy to listen to IMO.
 
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Andi-C said:
Thanks for the comparison with my current can's.
Yes, I did mean the K812 :)

You've turned my head towards the Hifiman HE400i, reading around echo's what you say & not many negative reviews...

I know its not about looks but the older Hifiman's always look very cheap or old looking if you know what I mean, take the older 400's as they looked like they were from the 70's, the build of them never enthralled me but they have stepped up with the 400i...

Just see this review below & they show some cloth/velour on the pad with leather/leatherette on side, first time I've seen this - I like it ! Must help with the sound ?

I don't get on with none breathable materials, that's why I sold my HP200's. Hot ears & sticky head with my skinhead lol...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HiFiMAN/HE-400i/
Click to expand...

The 400i is excellent. I think their current price is a steal for the quality you get. They are very comfortable and light. The pads are much better than straight up leather and pleather but still get hot at times.

What I really enjoyed about the 400i was they sounded better than the graphs. The mids are linear along with the mid bass but it rolls off in the sub bass. The mids are very good, I would say they compete with the HD650 and just below the LCD2/HE500

[ui]ICEMAN;27736238 said:
Did you get to try the different pads on the PM-1's? I've found the new alternative lambskin pads to brighten the headphones significantly. They're insanely easy to drive but I do think they sound best on their own amp.

I do prefer the wider soundstage I get from the HD-800's and there's definitely more detail in the HD's than the PM-1's but they're probably not as easy to listen to IMO.
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Yeah I thought they were very good but I think the 1099 price point is way over the top. If they were say £600-700 then I'd buy them . They are right up my street in sound and I would love to have a longer session with them! I'll without a doubt hear them again.

The HD800's soundstage is top notch. When I used them for gaming they sounded among the best I've heard with the K701/K501 and AD700 when it comes to stage and imaging.

Music wise a bit thin for my taste but really good headphone at what they do. You have the best of both worlds with those two man!
 
[ui]ICEMAN;27746981 said:
They're a little pricey in the UK I agree. Over here they're $1100, about $400 less than the 800's or T1's.
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Yeah the UK pricing is pretty terrible, I mean it's more expensive than the both the HD 800 and T1, and considerably more expensive than the LCD-2 and HiFiMan lineups (including the HE-6 which imo absolutely destroys the PM-1).

Even the US pricing is a bit high for what it delivers, don't get me wrong, I do think it's a nice headphone, just not at the current price point. I think the PM-1 should be priced at $700 where it would actually be a solid option, moving the PM-2 to $500.
 
On the flip side, if the Xs or XCs had that 'Audeze dreamy sound', I wouldn't have bought a pair :D For mixing and audio analysis, I didn't want phones that flattered.

I'm no expert with insider knowledge or anything, but given that the reason for the Fazor tech was to improve imaging clarity, I suspect that it's some other change/addition to earlier LCD-2/3 models that's resulted in the drift towards a more neutral, less warm/euphonic sound.

I'm currently looking at buying some closed-back phones for the office, and the EL-8Cs are still on my shortlist [though not the clear front-runner I expected them to be before the reviews started trickling out]. The only real point of concern for me is the proprietary connector, so to read of Ninja's experience with them, and see reports of the connectors falling out too easily, makes for a good reason to wait and see whether these are anomalies/teething issues or a more fundamental design flaw.
 
The thing is while they added clarity they lost the linearity they had. It's still fairly linear but not like it was before.they sound more dry and more like a headphone for extracting everything from a mix. I thought that was the whole point of the X?! Ahh that dreamy sound is going to be a thing of the past :(
 
While I've not heard any revision of the LCD-2s, it does seem to me that reported differences are being over-stated; as if Audeze utterly ruined a perfect headphone, and the Fazors are the conveniently obvious scapegoat. That's not to say they're not noticable, just that they're more marginal than you'd be expecting after perusing HeadFi etc.

One of the points I was trying to make was that maybe they've also changed some other aspects of construction which have altered the character but don't fall under a convenient name in the way that their Fazor tech does. This is a company that has a track record of silently revising their headphones, after all.

That some people prefer the Fazor'ed 2s suggests that character differences across revisions may not be as clear-cut as is frequently painted. I wouldn't want anyone to be put off from at least trying the latest LCD-2s due to the fact that written words - especially from passionate writers - have a tendency to make things appear more black-and-white than they actually are, that's all :)

Disclaimer: don't work for 'em, just a fan :D
 
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