The Headphone Thread

[Speed King]

This is a thread to talk about your headphone system, which to me, is completely different than a speaker stereo system, which we have a sticky for in this forum. I listen to music though headphones a lot, probably more often than speakers. Anyway, tell us about your headphones/headphone amp/DAC setup.

 

[Sharp Dressed Man]

Good idea for a thread.

I mostly prefer to listen to music through my stereo, especially my vinyl, but I do spend a lot of time listening to music and watching movies on my computer. For that, I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 439. I've had those for about 6-7 years now. They sound great.

When I'm out, I tend to listen to music on my iPod and for that, I have a pair of AKG Earbuds. They sound better than you'd expect, but obviously not amazing.

 

[SanguineRemedy]

For the most part, I'm listening to music off of my computer or phone. Pa keeps the records and best stereo system in his room, but I've got my own stereo system, if need be. I've got quite a few CD albums at my disposal and leisure. If there's a party or my girlfriend wants some tunes on, I'll get the stereo system pumping.

I also play Spotify radio off of my PS4 through the stereo and it works well. The stereo is acutely tweaked for such a thing.

On the go, I've got a pair of Apple earbuds that are a beastly little duo. Sound quality is decent. Aside from that, I use some Logitech G430s. It's my gaming headset, but it is very good for music.

 

[Speed King]

I knew I wasn't the only one here listening through headphones. Thanks for the replies!

 

[Speed King]

Ok, I'll go next,...

My go to headphones are AKG K701s. They're open back, over ear (circumaurial), 62omhs, very flat with an open airy sound (nice sound stage) I use them at home with both my desktop computer and my tablet. I also use them to record and mix my own original music. Some of you might question why I would mix with headphones instead of studio monitors, well, I don't have a good acoustic space in to monitor my mixes. I'm actually able to get decent mixes using these, monitors in a good acoustic space would be better, but these work better than most people would think. They look like something out of a 50s Sci-Fi movie, but they sound so good, it really doesn't matter to me. They do like to be driven by an amp, which I'll mention further down this post, and they need about 400hrs. of burn in time to sound their best (so I've read, mine have maybe 100hrs. and they do sound better than when I first took them out of the box, so maybe there's something to the whole burn in controversy)



My travel cans are Oppo PM-3s. I did a lot research prior to popping for these bad boys. They sell for around $400.00 US so they're Mid-Fi if you going strictly by asking price, but they're much nicer than the $400.00 price tag would suggest. The PM in OPPO PM-3 stands for Planar Magnetic, and Oppo is one of the first (if not THE first company) to offer planar magnetic driver headphones for under $1000.00 US. The build quality is very nice, as the pic below shows. These are closed back, over ear, circumaural, 32ohms. and don't need an amp to be driven, although I can speak from experience that they do sound better through an amp/DAC. I use these cans anywhere I need sound isolation, such as airline flights (I travel frequently for work). I've taken these to my neighborhood pub so that when someone plays some God-Awful Rap/Hip-Hop tripe, I can plug into my tablet/portable amp/DAC and clense my brain of all the cacaphonic, audio doo-doo that's playing on the juke box.



Portable headphone amp/DAC: I liked the Oppo PM-3s so much, I bought the matching portable amp/DAC as well. The Oppo HA-2 SE drives 32ohm PM-3s very nicely. I'm able to use my tablets "USB on the go" feature to bypass my tablets internal amp/DAC, a very noticeable improvement in sound quality. Just like the Oppo cans, the HA-2 is built very well, downright sexy looking, kind of James Bond-ish. This amp will drive to Oppos nicely, but just barely has the power to drive the AKGs, which is ok, because I have a desktop amp with more than enough power to drive them.



My desktop Amp: I have a Schiit Audio Asgard 2 (it's pronounced exactly the way you think it is). Schiit Audio's claim to fame is building very nice amps and DACs that normal people can afford. All their products are American made, and as menioned previously, priced affordably. My Asgard 2 set me back $250.00 US., try and find a better amp for that price.




Last and probably least, I have an old pair of AKG K171s (on ear, 55ohms.). Not at all a bad set of cans considering they were purchased in the 1990s.

I have couple sets of ear buds that aren't worth mentioning, but other that, that's it.

I have plans to buy a Schiit Bifrost DAC, but haven't yet pulled trigger.