I love my Klipsch HP 3. Don't use them often but they sound great. I had some Grado RS 2e and they were excellent, I ended up giving them to my son in law and he uses them all the time My first pair was over 40 years ago, AKG k240... I still have them. I had some nice Beyerdynamic too. Currently my only pair I use is the HP 3. I'm driving them with the excellent Quicksilver headphone amp. |
You know, it is funny… I keep thinking it would be my Focal Utopia… but it is my Sennheiser HD800’s that I listen to by far the most… 95% of the time. I seldom listen to my Beyerdynamic T2, Audez LCD 2, Ultrasonde Edition 9, Denon 9000 (?)… or my other ones… Grado, ADG, Ultrasonde, etc… wow, I have a lot of headphones.. I think the Focal Utopia bested the Sennheiser until I upgraded the electronics to a tremendously powerful, natural, tube head amp. |
I own and use STAX 009s and Audeze LCD-XC headphones. I recommend both highly. Two of my favorite phones from the early years are STAX Lambda Signatures and Yamaha YHD-1. The Yamahas were made of some cheap plastic and broke easily, but they did sound much better than their modest cost would indicate. I recently sold my vintage Lambdas, along with a tube STAX driver unit. I hated to see them go, but... |
RAAL SR-1b with TI-1b interface, without a doubt. No other headphone gives as true a representation of a live musical event in a performing space, period. So what if they don't have massive bass, perhaps their only drawback, although the bass they do produce sounds much more realistic than closed compression bass found in earcups. Many other phones are good but the SR-1b moves the needle forward like no other. IMO. |
@rlawry You are correct! Listen to the SR1b with the new RAAL Star8 cable (I also have SR728) and the VM-1a tube amp. A Lumin X1 is great as a DAC to this but I still like the Benchmark DAC3B into the VM-1a. That Star8 cable is some genius work. All silver and works so well with what I consider bright gear. Only thing is, make sure you have payment ready to go. No joke. |
@yyzsantabarbara Yes, I do have the Star 8 cable. I bought it from Danny when it first came out and I agree that it adds some needed bass and warmth while still maintaining all the detail. I have a Bricasti M1SE DAC/network streamer and love the SR-1b with it. |
Focal Utopia 2020 - a "Utopian" sound signature. Stll highly accurate, but almost never harsh-sounding. Excellent imaging, layering, detail, and presentation overall. Also non-fatiguing so you can listen for hours.Can help with figuring out problem areas on any track with ease, since it is kinder to the ears than more accurate headphones. |
Grado GS3000x. I spend much more time listening to speakers so I didn't want to invest much more. Still, by far the best I've heard and I can't imagine wanting more. I was able to compare to Audeze LCD-5 in my home and much preferred the Grado phones. I had some non-audiophile friends visiting from out of town at the time and they also preferred the Grado. |
For me the AKG K340... They were the flagship of AKG 40 years ago... Their double new innovative technologies at the times are always new even today... First : Hybridation of dynamic cell with electrostatic... Second: An array of tuned Helmholtz resonators inside creating a dual acoustic chamber... Kennerton cie said to me they tried for years to design a working hybrid without success... That speak volume about the task... Too complex and then too costly to make and too much research to create a good really working design... AKG terminate the K340 not because it was not a good design, it was the best they ever create, patented by Dr. Gorike, one of the founder, but they terminate it because not only they are difficult to drive as the Hifiman He 6 , but they are most picky for their amplification than any headphone...( not surprizing because they are two cells inside and a crossover transformer and a grid of resonators) And without optimization work inside them and around them ( in my case 6 modifications) , they may present an "apparent" mismatch, of variable size, between the two drivers speed dependant of the way you use them...But this apparent mismatch come mostly from our habit of listening to ONLY SINGULAR DRIVER headphone with no resonators inside...We must learn how to listen to a new soundfield experience to understand how to use them and which modification to implement... The soundfield of the K340 is unique and when optimized is SPEAKER-LIKE and natural and dependant of the recording album and give me "OUT OF THE HEAD" complete experience ... All my other headphones sound artificial, always inside my head, and to be frank are used only in my trashbin or for the computer needs now ... Not for music... And i tried 2 Stax, two planar, many dynamics, they all never compare to my speakers/dedicated room at all anyway unlike the K340 ... The K340 alas! is too difficult to understand for " beginners", i will not recommend it bec ause i dont want the responsability of misguiding people, and the K340 will present apparent mismatch, and boominess, that completely DISAPPEAR when optimized with the right source, amplification, pads, cables, equalization for each cell, and some modification for vibrations controls inside and the cut off of the protecting obstructing plastic grid between ears and one of the cell which was only there to protect the product not for acoustic... In the scale SOUND QUALITY /PRICE paid, nothing can beat them i paid them 100 bucks... ...And we will wait to see another TRUE hybrid because of complexity of design and cost...The Enigma Dharma was not a true hybrid using only an electrostatic cell at 12,000 hertz as a super tweeter...Not as the K340 at 4000 hertz where the living presence of voices and piano are located ...Here the two cells work together at the same degree... And the Dharma own no internal tuned resonators which make possible not only a 3-D holographical sound but make possible deep and extended bass completely clear under 30 hertz... The K340 is unique and will stay so....i can replace all my other components and upgrade.... Not the K340.... No headphone will beat it on ALL acoustic counts only on some factors separately and the price will be in the many thousand dollars to do so not the 100 bucks i paid for... I even discovered a new acoustic factor listening to them which is nowhere mentionned and used in reviews of headphone , i never experienced this acoustic factor with any other headphone... The thre main acoustic factor are: ---Distortion ---Timbre ---Immersiveness
Immersiveness is made in all reviews by all reviewers of two acoustic factors: ---Imaging differentiation of each sound source ... --- Soundstaging dimensions of ALL sound source together But most reviewers never described this one THIRD factor clearly : --- Holographical 3-D volume associated with each sound sources accordingly to the ORIGINAL RECORDING as it is translated in a VOLUME SPACE for each instruments and chords by the headphone...Not a 2-d surface... Why most reviewers missed this acoustic THIRD important factor of immersiveness ? Because the Hybridation of the K340 with the internal set of 5 tuned Hemlholtz resonators work inside the shell acoustically as the many Helmholtz resonators i used in my dedicated room worked, making me able to feel this holographical volume for each instrument and chords in my room ... In my other headphone this holographical volume of each sound source or instruments is nearly reduced to a surface INSIDE the head...The soundfield of the K340 is never inside the head but around the head at worst or outside it partially or completely, it is recording dependant, a recorded church chorus dont give the same soundstage than a small jazz trio in a studio... Then the immersiveness factor which in a room is determined by the acoustic ratio between the sound source (ASW) and the listener envelopment trade off balance, or ASW/LEV, is, with the shell/drivers of the K340 , translating the recorded album, determined by the acoustic content of the cups to recreate this ASW/LEV ratio ... And the Helmholtz principle of absorption/diffusion/reflection play the same in a room or in a shell... And the dual chamber inside the K340, created by back waves and direct waves ratio differences between the two cell and the action of the passive tuned resonators FOOL the brain and compensate in a way for the lack of crossfeed and time delay we experienced with speakers...The time delay between back waves and direct waves in the shell fool our brain and make us able to recreate an holographical 3-d localization outside the head...Dr. Gorike was a genius... Most reviewers miss it completely... And they perceived mismatch where there is none because they were not able to understand the specific acoustic properties of this marvel... Then immersiveness in headphone listening is related to three factors not two... The complete soundfield dimensions immersiveness are : imaging, soundstage and 3-D holography... I experienced it with the K340... Not with any of my 9 others headphone, all with singular driver in empty acoustic shell as most headphone at any price are mostly ... Dr. Gorike, i learned it reading his patent, is a physicist specialized in acoustic not an electrical engineer... Thats tell the tale... For sure this K340 will not replace a Choueri BACCH filters DAC, but i can live without it , to some degree it approximate speakers listenings in a way any other headphone cannot... :) |
Currently my Hifiman Arya Stealths are my top ‘phones and I love them and love the Hifiman “house sound” and will very likely stick with the brand. As good as the Arya Stealths are, from everything I’ve read the HE1000SE is significantly better in pretty much every way (and actually reportedly knock on the door performance wise of the much dearer and higher-maintenance Susvaras), so I covet them and they’ll likely be my next purchase as I recently upgraded my HP amp to a Linear Tube Audio MZ2 so the headphones are very likely the next upgrade. I’d say possibly the “final” upgrade at least for my HeadFi rig, but we all know here that that’s just a farce. There is no “final upgrade” among audiophiles until the last nail is driven into the coffin — its just how we’re, uh, wired. No? |
Soix please describe for me the improvement over your last amplifier ( which one ) and the linear audio MZ2 because i am interested by Berning design... Thanks very much for the trouble... I dreamed to buy one because i dont think much amplifier inder 5,000 bucks will beat my Sansui alpha...
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@soix - I've had both HE1000SE and Susvara (which I still have), and if they knock on Susvara's door, Susvara's not answering on my system, at any rate, as they sound a good bit better than the HE1000 SE's, which are certainly no slouches, either. By 'high-maintenance', you mean finding an amp that will have enough current and wattage? Yes, there is that. $6000 is a lot of dough, but you can find them for less than that; I got a demo pair for about half that. |
@larsman Exactly correct. You need a bonafide 2-channel amp that can drive home speakers to drive the Susvaras, and that’s an expensive and tough ask in a HeadFi setup and brings things to a much higher level in expense whereas I can easily power the HE1000SEs with my LTA or even my Singxer Class-A solid state amp. @mahgister I really wish I could help answer your excellent question, but alas I’m going through a divorce and haven’t had the chance yet to hear my MZ2 with my Arya Stealths yet, which gives me huge amount of frustration. The amp I’ve been using up to this point is the fully-balanced, Class-A Singxer SA-6 that, frankly, sounds pretty damn good through excellent balanced silver LavriCable headphone cables. I’m thinking I can get my MZ2 up and running within the next month and will definitely share my impressions, but I’m highly impressed with the Singxer SA-6 with my Arya Stealths FWIW. |
Thanks very much for your kind answer... I hope all will be better for you at the end of this hard time...Sorry for you... I dont want to miss your compared impressions... Feel free to remind me about it here... I will wait... Berning ZOTL is my dreamed amplifier.... My very best to you...
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@mahgister I promise I will let you know as soon as I can, and thank u so much for ur kind thoughts. The sad truth is I’m using the MZ2 not only as my HeadFi amp but also as the pre in my 2-channel rig and I screwed up because I’m an idiot. I got over zealous and impatient and hooked my new MZ2 up to my big rig while I had my amp powered on and fried the MZ2. I’m hoping I just blew a fuse in my MZ2 by doing something insanely stupid, but it could be worse. Ironically I also now have a recently highly-upgraded McCormack DNA-0.5 amp that SMcAudio incorporates a lot of their mega-dollar consulting work from Berning’s top mega-$$$ projects that eventually trickle down to their SMcAudio upgrades. I’m dying to hear what this combo of several Berning technologies will yield and will let you know not only what I hear in my HeadFi rig but also in my 2-channel system for whatever that might be worth. Berning is a damn genius in our audio world, and we’re just living in it.
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Thanks Soix... Three geniuses interest me in audio now... I know only one by his product... The three are physicist loving music, and in two cases two acoustician... Dr. Gorike is an underestimated genius who designed the best of AKG because he founded the company after the second world war... His K340 is the most advanced design since Stax... He patented his acoustic specifically tuned resonators grid creating a dual acoustic chamber making the headphone Speaker like in sound... I even read his patent... He used Helmholtz principle of resonators as i did my way with 100 in my room... :) Dr. Gorike located them at a specific location around the dynamic driver behind the electro-acoustic cell... so with this dual chamber he fooled the brain with the back wave incoming in differential timing with the direct wave of the two drivers helping the brain to recreate a 3-D speaker like impression in a room... And it was way better than even my two Stax or my planar experience or better than any dynamics i owned ... No comparison...But this K340 was terminated because too costly to made and too complex to figure out right by most consumers and very picky to drive, more hard than the HE 6 and hard to optimize at an era where headphone amplifier for portable headphone emerged ... It takes me 6 months to figure out how to optimize them .. Dr. Choueri created virtual room acoustic with his patented BACCH filters ... it is a revolution which make headphone or speakers optimal for localization without loss in timbre quality...He works in plasma physics but listen too much music all his life... Acoustic bein g his hobby...His dac is the ultimate dac... Dr. Berning a physicist who revolutionized tube amplification completely... I dont understand why people stick to hot tubes with short life in the old tube technology... He worked as physicist but also loved too much music and coupled it with his physics knowledge to redesign amplification from ground zero...
Thats the main revolutionary things in audio for me ... I dont know if i will be able to afford a Berning ZOTL before dying and a Choueri dac but the K340 help me to be happy so much good it is ... Then all is ok... But true audiophile always dream even happy... ;) i dream but with no frustration thanks to Dr. Gorike... My very best to you with a silent prayer for your next months...
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@soix - I can drive my Susvaras perfectly fine with my Eddie Current Studio B and my Donald North Audio Stratus tube headphone amps and they are delightful to rock out to. Sure, you can scale up and get even more, no question, but you can say that about just about anything; my speakers would sound better with a pair of Boulder monoblocs, but ya gotta stop somewhere! 😀 |
@mahgister Yes!!! YESS!!! U nailed it there man. The BACCH system is THE most interesting thing I’ve heard about or would like to hear either in headphones or in a stereo system, period. I’m right there with ya. I’m just afraid that once I hear a BACCH setup I’m totally busted for life. In a good way, but totally busted. I’m totally with ya dude and thanks for bringing it up. You wonderful bastard. Yet another audio rabbit hole I know I will inevitably need to crawl down and be wrecked forever. Thanks for bringing this up my friend. NOT!!! I think I hate u, but in the most beautiful way possible. Thank u for u being u, and keep bringing it!!! |
I posted earlier in this thread about the RAAL SR1a and the VM-1a tube amp as being the very best I have heard. That is still the case, but I was flipping a coin this weekend as to whether to sell the VM-1a tube amp. I am not selling it. The reason being that I burrowed the RAAL Tl-1b box ($800). I plugged that into my CODA #16 amp and wow, it was ALMOST as good as my $7K VM-1a amp. In the past, nothing came close to the SR1a and VM-1a combo. However, now for 2-channel people with great amps, you have a solution to drive the SR1a. I am getting a Peachtree GAN400 amp this week on a home trial and I will use it for both 2-channel with my office Magnepan LRS+ and the RAAL SR1a via the Tl-1b interface box. I think it will also be excellent. Another great thing wit this Tl-1b box is that I am able to use a 25-foot cable from the amp to the TL-1b and then use the expensive RAAL Star 8 headphone cable to the SR1a. I am able to listen in my guest bedroom while connected to the 2-channel system in my office. The long cable does not degrade the sound. BTW - a few years ago there was a thread on the BACCH system. I posted something about getting that system setup for about $5K if you are able to install the software yourself on a MacMini.
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I went to CANJAM 2022 in NYC and listened to ALL of the TOTL headphones and ended up buying the RAAL SR1b with their VM-1a Tube amp, For me the only other headphone even remotely close was the Abyss AB-1266 |
Try to compare your impression of the Raal with other headphones you listened too , qwhat are the differences... It is not simple to put in words... What past headphone3s you owned and the RAAL beat and why ? Thanks for your time...
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The Hifiman HE1000v2s are the best sounding phones I have ever used/owned and they were not the most expensive ones either, once you put them on you just listen to music. They are fairly easy to drive, drove mine with a Dennis Had Inspire tube headphone amp as well as other tube amps in the same league as it, my draw back with the HE1000v2s are they did not weather well, the tan leather head band got limp and stained quickly as well as other issues with build came up so I moved on as I did not or could not spend $3,000.00 again on a headphone with a short life span. I have settled in with the Hifiman Edition Xv2s and my original planners Audeze LCD2s which are both best buys in my opinion. Enjoy the music |
I agree with Mahgister, the AKG 340 simply does it for me. I keep reading that it is so hard to drive, but mine's plugged into my McIntosh C15 preamp and works great. Not sure what all the fuss is about on that issue. Mine is the "gray" model meaning it is the "neutral" version; it has plenty of bass also. |
By "hard to drive" i refer to not only amplification qualities, but also to the source... The right pad is mandatory....I tried 5 types of pads before the right one... Right thickness and one with the hole vented for me... Right amplification , not only powerful but with a very low noise floor ... I must have changed my beloved sansui Au 7700 to use a very more refined Sansui Alpha with a more clean less tube-like sound... Right source : i must change my beloved tube-like NOS french dac tda 1543 , for a cleaner less noisy more cold Hidizs ap 80 pro dac ( not connecded to the grid and with battery too ) .. i throw off the internal plastic grid.... I put two kind of vibrations control materials inside and outside... I used equalization to go nearer the Harman curve and increase the Db level around 1,200 hertz...And at the two extreme point of the scale... After all that i can say that all my 9 others headphone sound as unnatural , with an "inside the head sound" impression , and like "plastic" artificial sound so much i NEVER used them again... And will never do...There is even 2 Stax models ... After the optimization the K 340 is unbeatable on all acoustic factors...I discovered tuning my room at the times 4 factors of the soundfield , not two, i did not count "timbre" as a factor of the soundfield ,it is the fifth factor timbre is the fundamental tree and the soil at the same time , the other 4 factors are like the ground...We test a fertile ground by observing the tree growth and varying the ground composition ... 1) Imaging differentiation of each sound sources... 2) Soundstaging VARYING dimensions according to each recording encompassing all sound sources ... 3) Holographic volume of each sound sources... 4) Listener envelopment born from the right ratio between sound sources and the imaginary listener position in the soundfield "outside the head" most of the time to varying degree accordingly to each recording trade-off ... These 4 aspects of the soundfield were there in my speakers/room acoustic control relation , and they were there with the K340... No other headphone gave me that... Perhaps top omega Stax i listened long time ago but never own...The "timbre" experience of the K340 is so natural , that the only adjective i can use is realistic...Not one of any other adjective used by reviewers about voices... Realistic , not gorgeous, not beautiful, not the " most extraordinary mids voices ever" etc Only natural... 😊 For example my Stax sr5 -gold seems to gave the most beautiful timbre of voice possible , but not so natural and evident as the K340... Realism is the most important quality for a timbre the most difficult and only necessary one ... I cannot fault the AKG K340 on any acoustic count... If something beat it it must be costly and because it is an hybrid with 5 tuned passive internal resonators , his soundfield is so unique , nothing will crush it to pieces... But "right of the box" i could have faulted it as some reviewers did , unable to understand how to optimize it... There is NO MISMATCH between the drivers for example, this impression may come because of all the necessary modifications that must be implemented i listed above.... This is a very hard headphone to figure out... I even read his patent and ittakes me 6 months of experiments to optimize it to this point... I will never upgrade it... Why ? It is the stronger link of my system and his back bone... I consider my system now top high-fi because of the K340... I could not say this with my acoustic room /Mission Cyrus 781, because of the limitations of the frequency response of the Mission Cyrus speakers so good they were, they were not top high fi product... AQcoustic control of the room so important it is does not change a component quality but just put it at his highest potential working level ...
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I was a soldier all my life & now retired so I've never had deep pockets for audio gear & being a firm believer in trickle down tech I have always looked to the manufacture's for the best value in their product lines.After extensive demos of the TOTL from Audeze,HiFiMan,Focal,Sennheiser,Grado & AKG I discovered I like the HiFiMan house sound,settling on the Sundara for exotic driver tech & the absolutely amazing iBasso SR-1 limited editions(500 pair)for dynamics... |
@freediver Sounds like you found a great match, and I’m obviously with you on the Hifiman sound. Congrats and enjoy! Oh yeah, and most importantly, thank you so much for your service!!! |
State of the art sound for a relatively low cost is one of my headphone systems:
This above setup is so good that I threw out all the shipping boxes. I live close by to RAAL and Schitt if service is needed. I cannot easily sell this gear now. I also use the more expensive RAAL SR1a phones with the above setup. |
😊State of the art sound for a relatively low cost is one of my headphone systems:
Hidizs dac+equalizer+battery= 200 bucks...( low noise floor) Sansui alpha 607i = 300 bucks ( one of the best amplifier ever designed by Sansui) AKG K340 the only really hybrid headphone ever made ( the electrostatic cell is not a super tweeter as in the Dharma case) = 100 bucks ... The K340 optimized( it takes me 6 month to figure out his working) can give an out of the head speaker like experience with natural timbre perception and deep bass ...
At 600 bucks i beat everyone ... It is my main audiophile system ... Even if i like the small speakers system i own ( low cost) which modified beat all headphones i ever listened to save the K340 .. I apologize to yyzsantabarbara for my irresistible urge to bragg about my own low cost high end system ...😊 I am sure he will laugh and forgive me , thanks to him ... I am certainly curious to listen to the Raal ... I will be afraid to buy one without listening before so astounding are my K340 the best headphone in the world in 1978 even better than Stax because of deep bass and out of the head experience with more natural timbre thanks to the passive internal resonators of Dr, Gorike and his complex dual acoustic chamber accomodating the two cells dynamic and electrostatic one behind the other ......
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I also had VM-1a + RAAL SR1a + Lumin X1 = fantastic. I sold the VM-1a + Lumin X1 to buy speakers and a 2-channel amp. Today, to run my RAAL SR1a, I use the following: RAAL TL-1b amp interface box | Schitt Mjolnir amp | Schitt Aegir amp This gets me to about 90% of the VM-1a. This weekend someone is going to bring a VM-1a to my place to do a head-to-head with the following (for the SR1a):
vs the VM-1a. The VM-1a should win but that CODA setup code steal the win. I have a feeling I will buy the VM-1a the guy brings over. My Schitt YGGI+ LIM DAC has 3 outputs so it will be easy to add the VM-1a to my office setup (which uses 2 outputs already). BTW - I am going to be selling my RAAL CA-1a soon.
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I just read a review about the Raal: timbre, bass, highs, imaging and soundstage everything as usual... The reviewer mention anything save the only thing that matter to me... For classical recording because i listen them most, Is the soundfield or soundstage of the Raal stay in the head ? Or have you the impression to be projected in the recording acoustic as if you were there... Or have you the impression that the recorded atmosphetre fill your room and do you keep the eyes open to see the instruments? All headphones soundfield soundstage stay in the head, i want one with a soundstage "out of my head" ? I want to have the impression to listen to speakers with deep bass ? Is the RAAL able to deliver that?
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In my experience, in my system....it will give you what is on the recording. If it's a closely miked recording, it will be upfront and personal...yet still in front and away from the circumference of your physical head. With recordings that show the depth, and breadth of the performance, you get it all.....and with exquisite detail. Also, I want to add something here....I know some dismiss the bass on these as unsatisfactory. Unless it's ones goal to overemphasize the low end above what's on the recording, and rattle ones fillings, this headphone does bass RIGHT. You can easily....and even eerily, hear the pitch changes on instruments such as an upright bass, a cello....and details of drum kits you'd only hear from properly setup system, in a well-treated dedicated room. This is what I hear. |
