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Improving Headphone Sound

Hi; We’ve recently moved to a MUCH smaller house and I now find myself pretty well restricted to the use of headphones for most listening. I use a PC source out to a Benchmark DAC1 USB and directly from the DAC to a pair of Sennheiser 650’s equipped with a 10’ Cardas cable.

Given that I have no alternative to using the ‘phones, can anyone suggest ways that the sound might be improved. It’s already “pretty darn good” (at least to these 63 year old ears), but I’m guessing that there might be room for improvement.

As a start, I’m considering replacing the Cardas cable with a Moon Silver Dragon (Version 2), but any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks & Regards,

Bob Holmes
steerpike

Showing 3 responses by kublakhan

kublakhan
718 posts
 
I have a PC based system now with an empirical audio modified Benchmark Dac-1 (full mods) and have compared it to many setups. Empirical Audio does a headphone mod to the DAC-1 that you may want to look into. It is excellent.

However, even without that headphone mod the empirical audio modified DAC-1 w/ sen 650s sounded excellent. A melos sha-1 headphone amp beat it a bit but it didn't beat the dac 1 with the headphone mod. I tried a cary 300sei with great NOS tubes with the AKG 1000 and the 650 and still the DAC-1 (EA modified with also the EA headphone mod) and the 650 was close.

The rig that really beat it was a Stax Omega 007TII amp and cans and then that amp with a pair of Sennheiser HE60 beat that by a small margin but you are talking about a $3000-4000 rig to get only a bit more resolution and depth. It may be worth it depending on your financial situation. It was worth it for me.

I think i would first do the empirical audio dac 1 headphone mod and try it with the 650 and maybe the ultrasone 9 which i haven't heard but have read that others are abandoning big rigs for that dynamic can.

Also, i got the stephan audioart 650 headphone cable and it was a small but certain improvement. I think this is the replacement cable of choice right now.

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kublakhan
718 posts
 
by the way, how much are you prepared to spend? I can answer your question better if i knew. i've been down your road with the benchmark..seriously. i haven't even mentioned half the options i explored. For me, anything over $3k is a waste on headphones. I was prepared to buy the sennheiser HE90 and singlepower es-1 fully modded (total of around $12k used) until I heard it. NO WAY. The Stax Omega rig for $3k was in some ways better and the HE90/ES-1 was in no way worth the extra money.
kublakhan
718 posts
 
Is She Who Must Be Obeyed possibly going to be listening with you? In that case you should keep an eye out for amps with two jacks...although even with an external headphone amp connected to your DAC1 you can listen from the DAC1 and from the headphone amp at the same time (which, btw, is a great way to decide whether the amp is better than your dac1 jacks.)

If you budget is that high I can recommend w/o hesitation the Stax Omega II system for around $3k new. Very satisfying for audiophiles relegated to cans.
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