Headphone Audiophiles - Page 25

I bow out early from combative threads, as distinguished from friendly disagreements.

Combative to you means not agreeing with you.

Hey Jerry, wanted to get a feedback from you regarding the m4u 2, how is the sound leakage? Noise canceling? Is it good for use in planes and office? Sound will surely be pretty good off course.

Well, I have had the PSB's for a couple of weeks now. Let me preface any comments about the headphones by saying that I am not a headphone expert. The last set of audiophile headphones I had was the Koss Pro 4a's, probably twenty years ago. Since then, my headphone experiences have been limited to earbuds listening to MP3 audio on an iPod (although they were good earbuds...). So, I'm not in a position to evaluate the PSB M4U 2's as expertly as you folks in this thread.

Having said that, these are really nice headphones. I have listened to lossless audio files streamed from my Sonos system, plugged into the headphone jack on my Denon AVR. The sound is full, with smooth bass and just the right treble. I have also used the phones on my iPhone and iPad, using the amplifier mode. MP3 files sound great, clearly much better than with my earbuds, as we would expect.

The M4U 2's are well made, with two sets of cables (one with iPhone mic and controls), two sets of ear pads (very comfortable), a nice carrying case, and a jack converter for the AVR headphone jack.

I have not tested out the noise-canceling capabilities yet. Having never used noise-canceling headphones like the Bose before, I'm not in a good position to comment on how effective these ones are. For me, this was not the primary selling point--I don't travel very often.

At $400, the PSB's are not exactly inexpensive. How do they stack up against other headphones in their price class? Unfortunately, I can't say, due to my inexperience. However, I am a big fan of Paul Barton and PSB products (I have PSB speakers in my audio system), and I am not disappointed with the M4U 2's!

You might find this interesting. Biased, of course, but still has good info...

http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/noi...challenge.html

Interesting, thanks for sharing. The most important take-away for me was the fact that the PSB's scored highest in sound quality, which is the most important quality for me.

Just take their subjective comments with a grain of salt.

They recently did a (sighted) comparison of power conditioners. The participants noted significant improvements in picture and sound quality as the price of the conditioners increased.

YMMV...

That's what I was thinking....reviews are sometimes over rated. I have Klipsch Mode 40s and enjoy them. I was wondering if the reviewers when wearing the Klipschs' activated the noise Cancelling feature with the switch that is on the right side. They can be used with or without noise Cancelling engaged and I enjoy them a bit better w/ the noise cancellation activated

Ill add my two cents to this thread FWIW.

I have both the Sennheiser HD-650 and Denon AH-D5000 headphones as I find that the two compliment each other well. The Denons are there for me when Im listening to music that has a lot of bass and the Sennheisers are wonderful for everything else.

I power them both right now with a NuForce Icon HDP amp/DAC and just ordered a Yulong D100 MKII amp/DAC to possible replace the HDP. Havent gotten a chance to compare the two yet though.

My source is a Logitech Squeezebox Touch fed into the amp/DAC via S/PDIF optical.

I enjoy my headphone system(s) very much and am glad I made the investment.

Nice choice of cans.

I've both Sennheiser 600 and 650, but they're too similar. Meaning that I think your choice makes more sense.

i.e. having two cans that are enough different, coz no one can works with all music.

One other, in this thread, did a similar comparison between Sennheiser and Denon cans. I think the Denon 7000 his specific Denon. It was very clear from reading his review that certain stereo music (from CD discs) works far better on one headphone and not the other.


I also have a NuForce Icon HDP amp/DAC and rather like it. Why are you going to the Yulong D100 MKII amp/DAC to replace the HDP?

I recently got a Benchmark DAC1 HDR for headphone use, and while I like it better, I'm going to hang onto the NuForce Icon HDP.

The only negative thing about the NuForce Icon HDP is that in summer when my room temperature gets to 80+ F, then the NuForce Icon HDP metal case gets alarmingly warm/hot.

The metal case of the Benchmark DAC1 HDR also gets warm, so I'll find out how hot it really gets on a warm day in the next 3 months.

For others, physical dimensions of case/feet/knobs:
Benchmark DAC1 HDR is: 9.3" x 8" x 2"
NuForce Icon HDP (no feet) is: 6" x 4.25" x 1.25"


My main source is a decent PC, sending .flac files (high quality 16/44.1 rips from the original CD discs) via digital coax (S\\PDIF) out from the built-in mobo sound circuitry and software driver.

I've found that digital S\\PDIF via a good *coax* digital S\\PDIF cable generally sounds better than either Toslink (optical) or USB digital cables; but haven't revisited that now that I have the Benchmark DAC1 HDR.


Ditto.

Yup. Sighted evaluations *prove* that coax sounds better than Toslink. ;-)

In fact since Toslink often solves or avoids creating grounding problems, it sounds better unless you think that a low hum is euphonic. Of course the popularity of tubes suggests that some audiophiles do like the warm friendly sound of a low hum...

Thing about opinions is that they are like @$$holes - everybody has at least one! If you want facts, there's always Science. Point being that sighted evaluations ain't Science.

That line of Denon phones is being discontinued.

Responded to your stuff in your quote in BOLD.

I do tend to agree. The coax connection does seem to sound a bit better, however how I have my setup run, the coax is a long run (35ft) to the receiver and the optical is a short run (3ft) to the headphone amp/DAC.

That hasnt been officially announced yet.

Concerning the reported discontinuation of the D7000 phones:

Perhaps not. But here are some pics of the alleged replacement:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/603426/denon-d7100

For the moment who cares?

I see that amazon still offers both the Denon 7000 and 5000 headphones at discount via their own "Prime" service (free 2 day shipping, and a great return policy).

To my mind the more useful thing is that amazon's very useful owner reviews show the Denon 7000 gets 4.5 stars and the less expensive 5000 gets 5 stars.

Likely due to the Denon 7000 being more expensive and not offering that much more SQ over the 5000?

IMO required reading for anyone looking to buy a top quality headphone.

^^^
None of the amazon dealers selling the d7000 phones for under 999.99 are Denon authorized online dealers, and only one of the 999.99 sellers (J&R) is. Buy the phones from a non authorized seller and Denon won't honor the warranty.

I got my AH-D7000 a year ago for $650 from J&R (authorized) and my friend got them almost 2 years ago for even less at $550 from J&R.

I hear they might now be making them anymore so we'll see...

I can tell you the 7K are better than the 5K. It's just people don't like paying the difference in price. Both are in a different league than the 2K tho.

Senn HD800 with Cardas cable upgrade, Woo Audio WA6SE and arriving soon, W4S DAC2 to replace my EE DAC Plus. Source is a Sony SCD-XA5400ES.

I have the JH16 that I use when on stage and tried them in my Ipod and wow, then I tried them in Benchmark DAC1 and again wow. Of course having JH lab in my home town was kinda nice for assistance

Good to see that there's a phone community here, as I've just pulled the trigger on the forthcoming Burson Soloist headamp, hopefully it'll ship soon 

 

I'll be using the line-out from my "Stello Eximus DP-1" via a whole bunch of vastly inefficient vintage orthos: Wharfedale ID1, Yamaha YH-1 and so 

The Soloist looks interesting. Three power level settings for all types of headphones from in ear, to the highest setting which I"m assuming is for Burson Audio to get in the business of driving electrostatics. I have Senn 650HDs so I"d still like to have their basic HA-160.

Electrostatics don't require any real power to drive them, but they need very high voltage swings. The SR507 for example has a sensitivity of: 100dB / input 100Vr.m.s.(280Vpk-pk) / 1kHz and at 1kHz are a load of 1.45MΩ and 7mW at 100Vrms.

I have the HA-160--Beautifully builty, produces great sound from my AKG K702s

The Burson gear cannot drive electrostatics AFAIK, the Soloist is using an improved layout over the HA-160 with less components in the signal path("less is more") in order to provide a clearer SQ and they've also beefed up the output ratings to make even the most inefficient orthodynamics happy(Hifiman/Wharfedale ID1/etc)

I'll post a quick review when I get it if anyone's interested 

Edited by leeperry - 6/17/12 at 6:13pm

Anyone looking for a Lavry Da11? I'm selling mine.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/612640/lavryda11-great-condition

I tried the Lcd-2 rev2 for gaming. But I needed another cable because the cable I was using didn't sound right. Sound just ended as if it hit a wall and stopped. I got the Q-audio cable and it opened up the sound stage at the cost of the bass not being as prominent.

For gaming I use the Mix amp with the AKG Q701. The sound stage is enormous and clear. Bass isn't very prominent but when playing FPS or watching movies they sound good.

 

Finally got my Soloist, OMG clarity and deep bass response are SO amazing! I will create a separate thread because this one is a bit cluttered indeed.

I have an HA160 now; if you had one before, have you tried comparing it to the results you're getting from the Soloist?

BTW, I had a pair of Sennheiser HD600 phones that sounded muddy in the bass and muffled on top with a Headroom MicroAmp, so I sold them to a friend several years ago. Meanwhile, I replaced the Headroom amp with a Burson HA-160 that I have been using with AKG K702s. Out of curiosity, I borrowed the Senns back from my friend, and all of the muddy bass and muffled top that I had with the Headroom amp are gone completely. So I bought back the Senns and might sell the AKGs because the Senns have a better bass extension.