Sometimes I do make the comparison of my headphone system to my speaker system, and of course it leads to confusion. They arent the same thing, each having their own merits and complications. By fact, my headphone system is more immediate and resolute than my, er, big rig. It is a better system for that. However, lacking as my main system is, it is fun to annoy my neighbors, and it does take my friends and I all the way when the occation arrives that we can all gather together to listen to music. I am fortunate in that I tend to be the only one amongst my friends who are as neurotic as I tend to be. If the sound is really getting to me,someone will undoubtibly reach over and hold my hand. It occurs to me that when I finally did come around to attempting to put together a speaker system(I listened to headphones exclusively before this) it was because I had arrived at a point where I wanted to share the music I listened to with others.To annoy my nieghbors perhaps(there is this aspect to my personality), but to create a place to meet with friends that might pull us away from our peripherals as well. Whatever degree of sucess I have had with that I am more than satisfied with the results, and it is something my headphone system cannot do regardless of my esteem for it.
Listening to my HD650's, a sobering experience...
My fellow audiophiles, I'm a bit depressed. Please let me take a moment & jump up on my soap box and vent a little..
A couple months a go I picked up a pair of the excellent Sennheiser HD650's, to replace my venerable HD600's.
While I primarily listen to my "big rig", during the evening hours I am relegated to listening to the cans to keep the peace around the house.
So, I'm listening to a couple discs recently re-processed and re-transformed by the Reality Check CD-R process (more to come, see www.positivefeedback.com, Clark Johnson's report for details -- EVERYONE should check into this, but I digress...) when it dawns on me how much more detailed, relaxed, natural, musical, REAL -- well you pick your adjective, EVERYTHING sounds through the headphones.
It just really makes me realize that even as good as I think my big, honkin' EXPENSIVE main system is, there's STILL a helluva lot of information that's in those little pits that I'm just not hearing.
Just HOW friggin' high up on the scale do you have to go to get this "HD650" type of reproduction in your listening room anyway???
Is it even POSSIBLE????
Since I'm using my CD player as the same source for both the 'phones and the main speakers, I guess I can rule it out as the culprit. Must be in the speakers, amp, room acoustics, or a combination of all.
Not like my system is a "lightweight" by any means, and I'm generally happy listening to it, but...
I know, I know, SELL MY HD650's, right?!
My main system; MArtin Logan Prodigys, Halo JC-1 amps, Audio Aero Capitole 24/192, Analysis Plus cables, PS Audio P300, SoundString cables, Acoustic Zen AC cords, dedicated AC lines, dedicated soundroom, and one slightly depressed and frustrated audio-dude.
Headphone System: A. Aero Capitole, Wheatfield OTL tube headphone amp, Sennheiser HD650 (with STOCK cord, how good are they gonna sound when I get that Silver Moon replacement cord???).
Oh well, thanks for lending an ear (or eye, in this case) and Happy Holidays everyone. I've been pretty good this year, so maybe Santa will leave a set of Lamm's in my stocking and a pair of DALI Magelines under the tree.
A couple months a go I picked up a pair of the excellent Sennheiser HD650's, to replace my venerable HD600's.
While I primarily listen to my "big rig", during the evening hours I am relegated to listening to the cans to keep the peace around the house.
So, I'm listening to a couple discs recently re-processed and re-transformed by the Reality Check CD-R process (more to come, see www.positivefeedback.com, Clark Johnson's report for details -- EVERYONE should check into this, but I digress...) when it dawns on me how much more detailed, relaxed, natural, musical, REAL -- well you pick your adjective, EVERYTHING sounds through the headphones.
It just really makes me realize that even as good as I think my big, honkin' EXPENSIVE main system is, there's STILL a helluva lot of information that's in those little pits that I'm just not hearing.
Just HOW friggin' high up on the scale do you have to go to get this "HD650" type of reproduction in your listening room anyway???
Is it even POSSIBLE????
Since I'm using my CD player as the same source for both the 'phones and the main speakers, I guess I can rule it out as the culprit. Must be in the speakers, amp, room acoustics, or a combination of all.
Not like my system is a "lightweight" by any means, and I'm generally happy listening to it, but...
I know, I know, SELL MY HD650's, right?!
My main system; MArtin Logan Prodigys, Halo JC-1 amps, Audio Aero Capitole 24/192, Analysis Plus cables, PS Audio P300, SoundString cables, Acoustic Zen AC cords, dedicated AC lines, dedicated soundroom, and one slightly depressed and frustrated audio-dude.
Headphone System: A. Aero Capitole, Wheatfield OTL tube headphone amp, Sennheiser HD650 (with STOCK cord, how good are they gonna sound when I get that Silver Moon replacement cord???).
Oh well, thanks for lending an ear (or eye, in this case) and Happy Holidays everyone. I've been pretty good this year, so maybe Santa will leave a set of Lamm's in my stocking and a pair of DALI Magelines under the tree.