Hi Richard, hope you are still active on this forum.
I always really enjoyed your informative and lucid reviews in Hi Fi Choice. Glad to see you now also exist on the internet!
I really wanted to pick your brains for your personal headphone recommendations (up to £100).
I have a pair of Grado SR-60s that sound great but are bloody uncomfortable after a couple of hours. My priorities are comfort and good detail retrieval.
Thanks for the support. Completely agree about Grado - they sound OK but are gruesomely uncomfortable in the long run. Bending the headband, as someone suggested, helps but doesn't really solve the problem - and then they fall off every time you turn your head! From recent experience I'd recommend Beyerdynamic DTX900 (about £80) or, if you can stretch the budget, Beyerdynamic DT990 (£150) - watch out for secondhand DT990s, because BD used the same part no. for an earlier model that was nowhere near as good. Someone suggested the Philips HP890 which, perhaps surprisingly, is actually pretty good. I haven't personally used it for very longterm listening, though, while the BD models I've used for editing, 3-4 hours at a stretch between tea breaks.
Big coincidence but I actually received a pair of Beyer DTX 900s this morning and my first impression is that they sound extremely good. I paid £60 inc next day delivery, which represents excellent value for money < Quick personal recommendation for www.veronica.co.uk >.
Whilst you're still here, let me ask your opinion on headphone amps - are these a waste of money for most low-mid-fi sources/cans? Also, how would you say DIY kits (seen many hobbyists selling these in the USA) compare to off-the-shelf units like from Creek/Rega/Musical Fidelity?
SR60s and STX900 level cans seem very easy for most sources (portables/pc soundcards) to drive, so I wonder what benefit an amp would bring at this level.
<<headphone amps - are these a waste of money for most low-mid-fi sources/cans?>>
Hard to answer definitively, but I'd say if you can only afford a ton or so spend the lot on cans. If you can afford a couple of hundred a headphone amp _might_ be worth considering, but they're really only easily justifiable if either your budget is at least £500 or, like me, you build your own for about £20! (don't know about DIY kits, but having once been a professional electronics bod I don't have too much difficulty cooking up my own). Most equipment has a pretty good headphone output. What are you using to drive them?
It's a Videologic Sonic Fury PC soundcard. I use this for gaming and music.
I'm pretty content with the sound quality of the DTX 900; I was just wondering what an amp would bring.
Seems there is a big jump in total outlay to get the best out of cans > £100, where a decent amp and decent source seem to be recommended. As you point out, this can mean that to properly upgrade (from unamped sub-£100 headphones) requires AT LEAST £500! Somewhat perverse!
Re: DIY, well I know zero about electronics but I'd love to have a go at building my own headphone amp. Thing is, with a large outlay for tools and parts, and then the learning curve, it looks a better deal to pay for an assembled version from someone who knows what they're doing (from a cicuit-design and soldering skillz point of view).
Do you have any recommended resources on such a project? Would you build me one for £20? :)
<<Do you have any recommended resources on such a project? Would you build me one for £20? :)>>
No, and no, I'm afraid! Never used that sound card: a while ago I would have been disparaging on principle but I just bought myself a modern sound card (M-Audio 'Audiophile 2496', since you ask) and am quite amazed at how they've come on since I last checked. Tend to go in and out of the PC digitally, y'see, so hadn't needed to check out soundcard sonics.
If you're using something like a CD player or even an integrated amp (with speakers turned off) to drive headphones there's plenty of sense in buying £200 cans. That's basically what I do. Sound cards may perhaps benefit more from a headphone amp. But I'm kinda flanneling here....
Yes, Laurence, 'tis I, the mad scary etc. etc. in person. Surveys have shown that over 90% of mad scary blah blahs prefer Beyer headphones to a clip round the ear with a frozen fish.
Just wanted to clarify, though, the DTX900s (£60, from the Trendline range) aren't the DT990s (£120, from the Premium range) you mentioned in your review.
Still sound great, though.
P.S. Let me know if you have any Xmas sales; I'm already saving up for the DT880s :)
