Headphones Newbie; Senheisser HD 800s or Focal MG Clear


Hi

I'm currently down to one pair of speakers, Quad 2905's. And because these speakers are with the repair technician on a continual basis, I need a backup. While another pair of Quads or another brand of speakers would be ideal, I don't  have that kind of money at the moment. So I've been thinking about buying a pair of headphones that punch above their weight class. My local Senheisser dealer says the HD800s and my Focal dealer says the MG Clear. I really like the looks of the Focal's and am leaning in that direction. I'll just use the headphone input on my ASR Emitter Exclusive II. All suggestions are appreciated, thank you!

128x128goofyfoot

I was using a Quicksilver Audio Headphone Amp with the focals. Initially they sounded really muddy etc. I asked a few people on a head phone forum about that.

 

"I was surprised it took about 75 hours before they settled in.

I even went to Dealer compared my new with Demo version and there was a big difference. They need time to breath out. 75-150 hours."

After this response I just let them play for about a month strait not super high volume but loud enough without clipping. I would check in on them and sometimes they would sound pretty good and then muffled. It might be that I didnt burn them in enough. Not really sure. They sounded muddy and undifferentiated to me. I am still a little in disbelief because I think I am in the minority a lot of people cant say enough good about thses.

Many good tubes require 150 hours or more to sound their best; that's down to the tubes more than the amp. 

Maybe it probably wasnt enough time I did try other solid state sources and got the same result. It was frustrating but definitely a first world problem.

@viablex1 Yeah, when the time comes, I'm going to make a request that my dealer have a demo pair to listen to before I purchase them.