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Headphones for sound control

I'll be moving to an up-scale life-care facility.  The apartments have concrete exterior walls, and I usually listen to small baroque and jazz trios at moderate sound level,   But I think headphones may be the way to go when I want to crank it up for large orchestrations like Aida or Mahler's 2nd.

 I've been impressed with the sound of my cousin's Sennheiser 800S with his McIntosh headphone amp.  I have an Ayer QX-5 Twenty with a headphone driver that Ayer tells me is very good.  I suppose the answer is to try the Ayer before buying the McIntosh.  I've downsized my rack of Ayer gear to a KEF LS60, but I really like the sound of Ayre electronics.  Advice sought.

dbphd

Showing 1 response by yyzsantabarbara

yyzsantabarbara
5,026 posts
 

@dbphd I believe you are in Santa Barbara. Make the 20 minute drive to Ventura, California and listen to the best headphones in the world, the RAAL Immanis, RAAL Magna, RAAL SR1b, and CA-1a. Danny Mckinney at RAAL will help you

Requisite Audio | High-End Audio For Creators & Connosouirs

You could use your Arye amp(s) with these phones. Not the headphone driver, the speaker output.

There is a guy in Santa Barbara selling the CA-1a for about $1100 it is the worse of the RAAL lineup but compared to other non-RAAL headphones very competitive. I had the CA-1a but gave it to a family member. The guy selling is saving up for the Immanis, which I may also get at the end of the year.

I use the SR1a earphones which are like 2-channel speakers, not like headphones. The Immanis, Magna, and CA-1a are like headphones.

 

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