Headphone demo - Manchester

[early]

Anyone know where I can demo headphones in or around Manchester .

I'm looking for a decent pair ( thinking about beyer dt880's ) , but would like to try
them , and some similar models for comparison .

Any suggestions ?

[Defiant]

early wrote:

Anyone know where I can demo headphones in or around Manchester .

I'm looking for a decent pair ( thinking about beyer dt880's ) , but would like to try
them , and some similar models for comparison .

Any suggestions ?

Well try SuperFi on Bridge Street - nice demo room, usually plenty of headphones to try, and you can have a look at what they have in stock on their web site and see if they have it at that branch.....it's what I did anyway

[early]

Tried Superfi and Audio Counsel , both only seem
to keep "entry level" headphones , though Superfi
have a good ( but expensive ) online shop .

Anymore suggestions .

[Alex A]

Superfi offer excellent discounts on Grado phones online. Well worth buying from them if you want new. Give Practical Hi-Fi a call. Tel: 0161 839 8869. They may not have everything you want in that particular shop, but they have 7 stores which carry varying brands and they're always more than happy to get everything I want to try together in one shop given a few days notice.

[Defiant]

Alex_A wrote:

Superfi offer excellent discounts on Grado phones online. Well worth buying from them if you want new. Give Practical Hi-Fi a call. Tel: 0161 839 8869. They may not have everything you want in that particular shop, but they have 7 stores which carry varying brands and they're always more than happy to get everything I want to try together in one shop given a few days notice.

I'd say similar about Superfi, have you tried giving them notice of things you'd like to demo?

To be honest I was only in the other day and they had Senn' HD600s (£149.95) and Grado SR225s (£179.95) on the shelf ready to test, hardly "entry level" really

[early]

"entry level" sounded a bit snobish , sorry it wasn't meant to .

Grados aren't an option , I've read my amp (earmax)won't drive them .

Asked superfi about Senn hd650 ,dt88o's and akg 701's , they can get hd650's for me to try but not
the others .

Not tried Practical hifi yet but there seems to be a recuring theme with whoever I phone .

Think I'm going to bit the bullet and get the dt880's blind ( or should that be deaf ) .

Anyone tried dt880's ?

[Alex A]

Did earmax say it wouldn't drive Grados, or did you read what someone said somewhere on the web? They aren't particularly insensitive. No more so than most of the competition.

[early]

From what I've read earmax brought out the
earmax pro specially to drive grados and sonys

[Geordie]

I've had two pairs of DT880. They really need a very warm bassy system to sound any good. I found them bright and not much bass overall. They do work well with tubes (i heard them on a tube amp once). With my solid state ant amber amp, they shredded my eardrums. I've now got HD650. They work much better with hard hitting solid state equipment.

[Alex A]

early wrote:

From what I've read earmax brought out the
earmax pro specially to drive grados and sonys

Well that doesn't mean that the non pro version can't drive them. It just means that the pro was designed with those cans in mind.

[Defiant]

early wrote:

"entry level" sounded a bit snobish , sorry it wasn't meant to .

Grados aren't an option , I've read my amp (earmax)won't drive them .

Don't worry about it - it's hard to come across right via text sometimes!

Like Alex I'm a bit dubious as to that info regarding the Grados, yes they can be a bit of a handful, but an Earmax struggle with them....not convinced really, I'd take along your amp and give it a try to be honest, you might like what you hear

[purplepleaser]

Try some Ergo's, fugly but sound sublime.

[early]

Just found some spec on the oiginal earmax , minimum impedience 200 ohms .

Also had a look on grados site and most of their headphones are 32 ohms .

[jer330]

Grado 325i's are excellent headphones and would give the Beyers a run for their money, got mine on eBay for £220

[Alex A]

Spot on. Bargain if you ask me. Almost as cheap as the US :O Got myself a pair a couple of months ago. Much prefer them to the main competition (Senn 650 et al).

[doctorjuggles]

Earmax is best for high impedence cans. Sounded awful with all the lower impedence headphones I had at the time.
Earmax Pro and Earmax Silver Anniversary will be fine with Grado though.