System synergy...or how to deal with tinnitus?

[DigiPete]

Well,

After upgrading my Denon 3910 with the SACDmod + adding few extra blackgates around the dac for good measure,

and recabling my K701s with mogami quad, now my system is quite a bit brighter, mostly due to the recable.

909 thought something was off with the recabled K701s which are now fatiguing. Iron_Dreamer and I also

thought the high freqs sounded fatiguing when listening to Tylls recabled (cardas) K701s at the So Cal meet.

I dismissed it as bad cable (cardas), but now that my K701s have the same problem with the mogami, I think AKG

used the cheap-ass wire they did, to tame the highs and cover up the deficiency in that area.

Now my tinnitus is flairing up (high pitch in the right ear), when I listen for a short time (1-2 hours)

After spending some time at 909's place this weekend and listening to his HD650s through my rig,

I realized that my ear can go much much longer with his cans than with mine with no fatigue.

So I dutifully ordered some HD650s

Now, I understand that I can tame the very high frequencies in my system 2-4 db by upping the 33pf caps in my Dynamight to 50-75 pf.

This might allow me to possibly keep the K701s.

Any thoughts on whether this is a good solution? Would there be a downside audio wise?

Or I can keep the HD650s, leave my amp alone, reterminate the 650s to balanced, and be done with it -- is one ever done

Thoughts?

Pete

[TheSloth]

Well,

After upgrading my Denon 3910 with the SACDmod + adding few extra blackgates around the dac for good measure,

and recabling my K701s with mogami quad, now my system is quite a bit brighter, mostly due to the recable.

909 thought something was off with the recabled K701s which are now fatiguing. Iron_Dreamer and I also

thought the high freqs sounded fatiguing when listening to Tylls recabled (cardas) K701s at the So Cal meet.

I dismissed it as bad cable (cardas), but now that my K701s have the same problem with the mogami, I think AKG

used the cheap-ass wire they did, to tame the highs and cover up the deficiency in that area.

Now my tinnitus is flairing up (high pitch in the right ear), when I listen for a short time (1-2 hours)

After spending some time at 909's place this weekend and listening to his HD650s through my rig,

I realized that my ear can go much much longer with his cans than with mine with no fatigue.

So I dutifully ordered some HD650s

Now, I understand that I can tame the very high frequencies in my system 2-4 db by upping the 33pf caps in my Dynamight to 50-75 pf.

This might allow me to possibly keep the K701s.

Any thoughts on whether this is a good solution? Would there be a downside audio wise?

Or I can keep the HD650s, leave my amp alone, reterminate the 650s to balanced, and be done with it -- is one ever done

Thoughts?

Pete

The 650 is indeed to my ears the most tinnitus-friendly headphone that still maintains some grip on 'reality'. The 701's problem is in the upper midrange, where it has a few extra dB, possible more beacuse of the cable. I seem to remember it was around 7 or 8k.

The 650's will indeed improve greatly with a balanced system, without becoming less tinnitus-friendly. I've had the exact same dilemma that you have, and have gone through countless headphones and keep returning to the 650 for safety and lack of fatigue. I also try to listen to speakers more often, which is inherently also less dangerous.

EQ'ing the 701 with your amp isn't likely to work because it only has quite a narrow peak, so you might take care of that but you will be throwing away the frequencies that are at a neutral level. The 701 is actually severely rolled off in parts of the treble region above 10k, so the last thing you would want to do is reduce everything up there by 2dB. Going with a phone that is voiced just a bit lower than the 701 to me seems to be the smart choice.

[tkam]

The 650's improve much more when balanced than the 701's do so you might as well reterm the 650's and see how you like them.

[DigiPete]

I got a little too zealous when I got my system backup after the source and headphone mods and now the tinnitus has flaired.

I will definitely reterminate the 650s to balanced.

In the mean time I am listening to nothing for a week or two, hoping the tinnitus will calm down again... crap... the errors of my youth :'(

[tiberian]

one of the possible factors are dirty power, have you tried power conditioning of anykind?

when i had the k701s i found them slightly harsh, just slightly...

[909]

I look forward to hearing your balanced HD650s and the Dynamite.

Curious to hear how much better it can sound because I was floored by how good it sounded single-ended.

[DigiPete]

one of the possible factors are dirty power, have you tried power conditioning of anykind?

when i had the k701s i found them slightly harsh, just slightly...

Yeah, I'm running my system through a monster HTS2000 MKII power strip.

Actually the power in my area is fairly clean...

but the ever present threat of a power spike makes me use a surge suppressor.