Ben Gramain Posted October 26, 2007 Report Posted October 26, 2007 Probably a question asked many times, but I'll ask it again. My HD650 is toast. I need a new pair of dynamics. And I'm far too profligate for $350 phones. What has a decent chance of being released that doesn't sound like ass (even if you owned it, useless meet impressions notwithstanding)?
Dusty Chalk Posted October 26, 2007 Report Posted October 26, 2007 Whatever the new Stax Omega 2/SR-007's are going to be. The old ones are some of the best sound I've ever heard, properly amped (Blue Hawaii/KGSS/ES-1).
Nanoha Posted October 26, 2007 Report Posted October 26, 2007 Ben has the Orpheus. He doesn't want another electrostatic. He therefore has no desire for the OIIMKII.
Dusty Chalk Posted October 26, 2007 Report Posted October 26, 2007 Oops, he did say dynamics. Open or closed? If you don't mind closed, I'd say go for the new totl Denon - D5000.
postjack Posted October 26, 2007 Report Posted October 26, 2007 Personally I haven't read of any rumours of upcoming products on the horizon. D5000 is FOTM, and reviews make it out to sound kind of like a closed HD650 with better bass and super duper comfort. May be up your alley. boomana hates it though.
Ben Gramain Posted October 26, 2007 Author Report Posted October 26, 2007 Open/closed doesn't really matter for the use right now. Since I've been out of head-fiing in general it's been a K701 for this use which got 'chaired', then the HD650 which suffered a far more inglorious fate. I figured also if I got a more expensive phone, I might be a bit more careful. I don't see anything I want to buy right now is the problem, even used.
Icarium Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 I dunno I'd really suggest the HD600/650 still... headphones still scale like motherfuckers. Nothing else really touches them.
philodox Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 Nothing else really touches them.Nothing else wants to pick up that stank...
granodemostasa Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 i'd get a d5000 and built a rig around it. it's pretty different from the HD650 and rather inoffensive sounding. (i owned it for a while, but sold it after i realized that it wasn't breaking into 10% of my listening time). that being said, I do remember tyll talking about some new cans for the new year... so waiting might be an option. (if you're around, tyll, correct me or add more info please).
Icarium Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 You have/had a 010? Pfft. That should be enough ;p I am becoming more and more convinced (New 010 V3 [AK]Zip cable with the Rhodium Furutech XLRs, cheers Elephas ) that the 010 is my optimal headphone... I sent out my adjustable headband pair to asebastian and guy likes the bass better than the L3000 bass ;p (Though personally I still like the L3000 bass for that closed reverb quality which is nice), but that crazy validates my opinion that 010 bass is nothing to sneeze at. Alan's self-admitted basshead too! He also says with the headband it fits his head better than any other over ear headphone! Need another pair in blue! Looking more and more like the R10s will eventually go on the chopping block... though giving up that midrange (The only weak point in the Qualia) is tough. Geh.
Dusty Chalk Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 boomana hates it though.I thought she hated the 2000?
postjack Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 I thought she hated the 2000? I'm pretty sure she also doesn't like the d5000. Maybe "hates" is a strong word, but she had a big thread over at HF about how she didn't really get the D5K.
Icarium Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 Yeah. I am not overly impressed by those headphones either.. muddled/squashed together sounding and they scale poorly.
purk Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 Well...I would wait for the up and coming replacement for the HD-650. I still think the HD-650 is the best headphone under 1k as long as you don't mind building a good system around them. They never fail to impress me out of moderate rig like the Maxed PPA and out of my SDS. They also scaled up significantly when I heard them balanced out of Tom Hankins's SDS-XLR. I would stay away from the D5000 because they are less refined sounding and place more emphasis on bass than the HD-650.
Ben Gramain Posted October 27, 2007 Author Report Posted October 27, 2007 Ben, what happened to your 010? I thought hard about keeping it, but I sold it. Designwise in terms of looks it's the best thing out there. But of course you don't buy headphones for looks, and biomechanically I found it quite deeply flawed. I only kept it as long as I did because I was aware of it's technical potential, but it took the damnest long time to work out a reliable position for it on my head. I also ultimately didn't like the character of the sound, which also was married very closely to that biomechanical flaw. I don't miss it. In terms of selling, the only thing I've regretted getting rid of so far as the brand-new HE90. The complete system I have now was,despite the previous owner's claims, a little less than 'absolutely mint'.
spritzer Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 In terms of selling, the only thing I've regretted getting rid of so far as the brand-new HE90. The complete system I have now was,despite the previous owner's claims, a little less than 'absolutely mint'. I think you can have Sennheiser replace any of the pieces that show any wear so the set will be almost mint. Don't know what they will charge though but I am having the distributor here check out a few things for me.
Dusty Chalk Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 Yeah. I am not overly impressed by those headphones either.. muddled/squashed together sounding and they scale poorly.I would stay away from the D5000 because they are less refined sounding and place more emphasis on bass than the HD-650. I swear, it sounds like you guys are hearing different headphones than I. I agree that it has better bass than most headphones, but "...less refined..."? "...muddled..."? Nope, didn't hear it that way at all. But then, I heard them from the beginning on some pretty high end gear, so...there ya go. Are you sure you're not just hearing FOTM backlash? You know, just because it's a FOTM, doesn't mean it's bad. Ben -- at least take the opportunity to hear a pair if you can. I'm not going to say buy a pair outright, because obviously they may not be for you, but don't discount them outright, neither.
Icarium Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 I heard out of my Rudistor RP010 and the Yamamoto HA-02 and Mikhail's gigantor (The Maestro chassises are like 2x bigger than normal Maestro chassises) SDS-XLR and it sounded practically the same out of all 3 amps. It didn't scale up at alllll. Squashed together. It might not have been fully burned in since it was probably the first appearance of the d5000 at a meet (The national in Cali), but even if it unmuddled I doubt it would have been amazing.
Icarium Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 I thought hard about keeping it, but I sold it. Designwise in terms of looks it's the best thing out there. But of course you don't buy headphones for looks, and biomechanically I found it quite deeply flawed. I only kept it as long as I did because I was aware of it's technical potential, but it took the damnest long time to work out a reliable position for it on my head. I also ultimately didn't like the character of the sound, which also was married very closely to that biomechanical flaw. I don't miss it. In terms of selling, the only thing I've regretted getting rid of so far as the brand-new HE90. The complete system I have now was,despite the previous owner's claims, a little less than 'absolutely mint'. It's too bad about the fit. Mikhail of Singlepower now offers an adjustable headband for the Qualias which is pretty nice though very expensive (Probably more than 99.5 percent of all people would want to pay, but I essentially got paid 300 dollars to take it off someone's hands so I did even though medium size fits me perfectly) at $1500 dollars. My friend is using it right now and he says it fits his head better than any other full sized headphone he's ever tried.
Ben Gramain Posted October 27, 2007 Author Report Posted October 27, 2007 Fascinating. I was working on an adjustable headband, but lost interest. Got a link?
Icarium Posted October 27, 2007 Report Posted October 27, 2007 Yeah. I've had an ES-1/HE90 rig. A decent L3000 set up. My w5000 rig at work is decent. I've heard what I consider to be the best K1000 rig. Lots of other stuff. But I do love my Qualia rig. There isn't much information about the headband itself. It is somewhat of a custom product... I have a lot of pics/discuss it in my rig thread here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=260609&highlight=qualia+rig My only major complaint is while the solid milled aluminum is nice... it is kind of heavy and drags the headphone off your head if you try and listen to it in a supine position. I'd suggest Carbon Fiber or something else instead. I mentioned this to Mikhail. The weight I suspect also prevents optimal clamping on your ears. Mind you it does clamp and grips your head. But it isn't quite the perfect grip I get with my Medium Sized stock headbanded Qualias that fit me perfectly. The clamp job you get from the headband is as perfect as one can get though (Unless one goes with Carbon Fiber perhaps) if they can't get a perfect fit with any of the stock headbands. Only other worry is the aluminum rods seem to get gripped less and less by the springs over time. Very slowly, but noticeable I believe. I think this can be recalibrated and Mikhail will show me how next time we meet. Overall its a very sick design. $1500 dollars sick? I don't know. But getting paid 300 dollars essentially to take ownership of it is fine by me.
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