New headphones day. Love, hate or on the fence? Any experiences? Or not even looking because you're happy with.....

[eddie-baby 1,675]

4 hours ago, Lawrence001 said:

I've got my own little Can Jam set up here, about 5 pairs of headphones and 5 amps. Did have more last year so could have held our own without going into town!

Speaking of high-end headphone shows there is a shop which does quite a good job in London on its own as a small shop. Just wondering have you ever been Lawrence? I would be there like a shot if I was nearer, kick some tyres and that   

https://spiritland.com/news/the-spiritland-headphone-bar-now-open-in-mayfair-london/

[Lawrence001 449]

Speaking of high-end headphone shows there is a shop which does quite a good job in London on its own as a small shop. Just wondering have you ever been Lawrence? I would be there like a shot if I was nearer, kick some tyres and that   
https://spiritland.com/news/the-spiritland-headphone-bar-now-open-in-mayfair-london/

Sorry just saw this have been busy recently with school shut. I've been meaning to go for ages, and their bar with the Tannoys, but never seem to have the time. New year's resolution sorted I think

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[Beyond you 2,480]

Enjoying my new B&W PX7 Carbon Editions

[griffo104 39]

New Planars on the left

[Lawrence001 449]

New Planars on the left

What are they? Are those Denon/Foster on the right?

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[griffo104 39]

4 minutes ago, Lawrence001 said:

What are they? Are those Denon/Foster on the right?

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
 

The Planars are Monoprice M1570

The ones on the right are Denon D5200

Edited December 30, 2020 by griffo104

[Lawrence001 449]

Nice. Had the Denon 2000s and 5000s a while ago. Have read mixed reviews on the Monoprice planars so haven't tried them yet. How do you find them?

[griffo104 39]

1 hour ago, Lawrence001 said:

Nice. Had the Denon 2000s and 5000s a while ago. Have read mixed reviews on the Monoprice planars so haven't tried them yet. How do you find them?

Interesting, very interesting.

I also read loads of reviews but a black Friday deal made me take a gamble. 

At times I have found them quite amazing, jazz and classical in particular, are sublime, the sense of musicians in a space, their interaction, the timbre and tone of an instrument, a bow going across strings, the breathing of a sax player, that kind of thing is so noticable but makes the intimacy so good but musically really excellent.

Then I listen to a bit of Megadeth, the drums sound amazing, really feel each stroke, but the rest sounds a little messy, but there's something that keeps you listening. The Denon are great all rounders with stunning bass and balance so it's like listening to something going down the middle of a road and then going to something that can't decide what side of the road to travel on.

[ProJules 76]

On 11/12/2020 at 18:19, eddie-baby said:

Speaking of high-end headphone shows there is a shop which does quite a good job in London on its own as a small shop. Just wondering have you ever been Lawrence? I would be there like a shot if I was nearer, kick some tyres and that   

https://spiritland.com/news/the-spiritland-headphone-bar-now-open-in-mayfair-london/

I’ve been there but ages ago a friend of mine worked there (Andy) 

Another chum is part of the management of the club / bar / restaurant of the same name in Kings Cross  it’s nice and has a very fancy hifi system in it worth over 100K allegedly! 

I have been Mezzing around with some Meze Empyrean’s lately. They are very revealing. 

Edited December 31, 2020 by ProJules

[eddie-baby 1,675]

41 minutes ago, ProJules said:

I’ve been there but ages ago a friend of mine worked there (Andy) 

Another chum is part of the management of the club / bar / restaurant of the same name in Kings Cross  it’s nice and has a very fancy hifi system in it worth over 100K allegedly! 

I have been Mezzing around with some Meze Empyrean’s lately. They are very revealing. 

Oh, nice one. If I was living nearer I would have checked all these places out. Kj West One is another and there's a few more also, and that's just London. I was planning a hifi shop safari along side a trip to the Can Jam but had to cancel due to some other things Getting around London and locations seems a lot more straightforward (dare I say easy) now with smartphones. 

And oh wow those Mez look great. I tried the lower cost ones a while back with the wooden cups. Those weren't bad actually and had a nice tonal balance. For me though I just never thought they were anything special. Would like to try others though. 

The trouble is with me, I want to try everything. And then make an assessment
 

Edited December 31, 2020 by eddie-baby

[ProJules 76]

These are supplied with alternate ear-cups. the shiny leather ones keep the sub bass in - the suede ones let it escape too much. 

[eddie-baby 1,675]

1 hour ago, ProJules said:

These are supplied with alternate ear-cups. the shiny leather ones keep the sub bass in - the suede ones let it escape too much. 

Trade offs, leather gets warm/hot I find for long term listening. 

[ProJules 76]

Actually your comment made me pause for thought. 
 

I always use eq (for speakers and headphones) as I have some hearing loss and know what I am missing. I use a handful of reference  tracks and tweak them to how I expect them to sound. I am always looking for: large sub bass size on kick drums, lack of low mid boom and plenty of upper mid / high frequency "tinsel" / sparkle. 

I have three bands of parametric dsp to play with in my DAC. 

For the leather pads I had one eq band set to get the treble uplift I need then and other two to reveal sub bass 'thunk'  (boosting in the 40-60 hz range and using the last eq band to cut “Boom” in the 100-200 range above. 

My eq work on the leather ear pads got me close. 

but I have just redone the eq for the seude ear pads and am much happier. 

The kick drums on my benchmark tracks now all have that “pillow hit to the chest” heft I expect but the frequencies above now have a better, “dry” & boom free accuracy. (less flab)

So thanks. 

(leather ear pads - now back in the box)

EQ settings attached below for your interest. 
 

Edited December 31, 2020 by ProJules

[eddie-baby 1,675]

48 minutes ago, ProJules said:

Actually your comment made me pause for thought. 
 

I always use eq (for speakers and headphones) as I have some hearing loss and know what I am missing. I use a handful of reference  tracks and tweak them to how I expect them to sound. I am always looking for: large sub bass size on kick drums, lack of low mid boom and plenty of upper mid / high frequency "tinsel" / sparkle. 

I have three bands of parametric dsp to play with in my DAC. 

For the leather pads I had one eq band set to get the treble uplift I need then and other two to reveal sub bass 'thunk'  (boosting in the 40-60 hz range and using the last eq band to cut “Boom” in the 100-200 range above. 

My eq work on the leather ear pads got me close. 

but I have just redone the eq for the seude ear pads and am much happier. 

The kick drums on my benchmark tracks now all have that “pillow hit to the chest” heft I expect but the frequencies above now have a better, “dry” & boom free accuracy. (less flab)

So thanks. 

(leather ear pads - now back in the box)

EQ settings attached below for your interest. 
 

Nice DAC and handy feature.

[ProJules 76]

It has 4 extra bands of 'room' eq possible in speaker mode. I actually miss the extra bands on headphone mode. But musn't grumble.