[Jon L]

Might as well start off by getting a "feel" for what 'phone system we're listening to.  Since my neighbor lady complained about my speakers' "noise," I've been listening a lot more to my headphone rig lately.

Cary CD301 tube CDP modded by Alex Peychev-->EVS ultimate attenuator-->Aural Thrills Force Active gold IC-->VAC Renaissance 30 300B push-pull amp-->DIY K1000 cable-->Modded "Nude" AKG K1000 sitting directly on my earlobes.  

I keep flopping back and forth between my headphone setup and "regular" setup and can't decide which is "better"

[Tonto Yoder]

Cary CD301 tube CDP modded by Alex Peychev-->EVS ultimate attenuator-->Aural Thrills Force Active gold IC-->VAC Renaissance 30 300B push-pull amp-->DIY K1000 cable-->Modded "Nude" AKG K1000 sitting directly on my earlobes.  

Your set-up confused me  (amp hooked to phones),  but a little research clarified the situation. These AKG's don't plug into a headphone jack, but connect to
loudspeaker taps (a la Stax phones).

[Figo]

NEC 602 ---> DIY nonoversampling DAC ----> Fisher 275(soon to be replaced by SDS labs amp) -----> HD600

[JoshK]

main rig front end > ASL MG Head OTL-SE > Clou Red Jaspis cable > HD600

My big rig has no tubes, but is more truthful and realistic IMO, but when I crave a bit of romance I put on my cans.  This ASL, btw, isn't the standard one, it is a special edition made for head-fi members.  Only 8 made I believe.   Fully upgrade parts, no transformer outputs and monster external power supply.

[mgalusha]

My home setup is a heavily modded Marantz CD-67 SE with an LC Audio clock and LC ZapFilter output stage -> modded X-CANS v2 -> DIY cable -> HD-580's. Very relaxing yet detailed. Occasionally I connect it up to my main system if I want to listen to vinyl or SACD using the Cans but not often.

Work rig consists of Stereolink USB DAC -> META-42 -> DIY cable -> HD-580's. I store all the files on a dedicated 160gb disk using Monkeys Audio.

I have been slowly collecting the parts to build a PPA amp. The last parts I needed arrived yesterday, so guess what I'll be working on tonight.

mike

[claud]

My big rig is all tubes. Cary V12R, SLP2002 , 308T CDP, Rega P25. I used to have a Maxed Out Home headphone amp, but sold it after tube rolling the SLP 2002 and trying its tubed headphone output driven by NOS Amperex 7316s. Headphones are Senn 600s w/Cardas cord.

[Thump553]

Computer>Art DI/O>AudioValve Mrk II>Senn 600s, normally.  But right now my AudioValve is on the fritz, so I'm using a basic homebuilt amp and hurting.

[JoshK]

claud,

I use to have the Cary SLP2002 as well.  It had quite a good headphone amp built-in.  That is what I was going for with the ASL after I sold the Cary.  The one thing I found with the Cary's headphone jack is it takes quite some time to warm up to its best potential.  

BTW, if I knew then what I know now about modding, I would have never sold the Cary, I would have modded it out.  It was a great pre and very flexible.

[randytsuch]

Might as well start off by getting a "feel" for what 'phone system we're listening to.  Since my neighbor lady complained about my speakers' "noise," I've been listening a lot more to my headphone rig lately.

Cary CD301 tube CDP modded by Alex Peychev-->EVS ultimate attenuator-->Aural Thrills Force Active gold IC-->VAC Renaissance 30 300B push-pull amp-->DIY K1000 cable-->Modded "Nude" AKG K1000 sitting directly on my earlobes.  

I keep flopping back and forth between my headphone setup and "regular" setup and can't decide which is "better"

I use an sa-14 to tvc to gain clone to AKG-1000.

Wondering what mod's you made to your 1000's?

Randy

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

I use a teac vrds-9 player which has a new analogue stage installed connected via grover reference ic's to an ASL aq1003 el34 tube amp which has been moddified into a headphone amp and I plug grado rs-1's into that.

Nice to see a headphone circle.

Biggie.

[mcrespo71]

Parasound B/D 2000 into ACK dAck/Rega P25 with Dynavector 20XH/Rotel RT 940AX tuner/Conrad Johnson PV12A/Rega EAR headphone amp/Senheiser HD580.

It's an extremely satisfying headphone setup.

Michael

[mcrespo71]

This ASL, btw, isn't the standard one, it is a special edition made for head-fi members. Only 8 made I believe. Fully upgrade parts, no transformer outputs and monster external power supply.

You always get the rare stuff, Josh!  It would be interesting to hear that set up once you get settled into your new pad.

Michael

[BradJudy]

I mainly use a Pioneer DV-563a -> META42 amp -> Senn HD-600s

I also have a pair of Grado SR-80s I use.  For a lot of stuff I think I like the Grado sound better and have thought about grabbing a used pair of SR-225s.  If the Grados were more comfortable I would probably use them more, although I do like that they are much lighter than the HD-600s.

[mcrespo71]

Oh, I forgot to mention I use a pair of Grado SR 60's with my Panasonic walkmen.  I've had them for 7 years- great phones for getting around the city, but they are BIG.

Michael

[Tyson]

I've got 5 headphone setups, and 3 headphones I switch between the 5 setups.

2 channel - norh tubed CDP to my AVA T7 preamp with headphone jack

HT - Toshiba DVD player to Radii/Boulder OTL/transformer dual output tube headphone amp

Home Office - StereoLink USB DAC to heavily modded Xcans V1 amp

Work Office - StereoLink USB DAC to PPA amp

Portable - Sony PCDP to Xin SuperMini headphone amp


Headphones:

Sennheiser HD600's with customer aftermarket cable (big improvement)

BeyerDynamic DT250-250 - best closed headphones I've heard yet

Shure E5 in-ear monitors - in many ways on par with the 600's, but way, way more portable.

[duff138]

Headphone:

Grados sr80
Sennheiser 650

amp:

getting a PPA built by Voodoochile from Head-fi.  Still deciding on the last few upgrades before I have him build it.

[Smeggy]

Sennheiser HD 580
Shure E5
Etymotic ER4s

Griffin Powerwave (heavily modded)
NAD Preamp

Toshiba 3960 CDP
Old Arcam CDP
Rio Karma MP3 player

[Tyson]

nevermind.

[nathanm]

I have the stock version of what JoshK has, it seems.  ASL MG HeadDT, stock cable, Sennheiser HD600s.  I read the hype about the aftermarket cables and I really really really want to believe they would Do Something™ but I just can't fathom how it could be so.  (some sort of impedance mismatch in the original cables???)  The cans sound really great, but there's just not much bottom end to speak of (headphones almost require an unrealistically phat bass response to subjectively compensate for the lack of tactile feel from speakers) and unless there was a compelling frequency response graph showing the fancy cable to shelve up the bottom end I can't see spending the money.  Granted, I do wonder how Josh's rig sounds with the Clou.  I can certainly see how the fancy cable would be more robust physically but I am doubtful they would be able to give me +3db or so on the bass.  Hmmm.

I guess it's a tradeoff; the Senns seem to sacrifice bass for being so clean and clear in the rest of the spectrum.  One tweak I liked was a Tung Sol input tube, it really thickened up after that.

I really notice a difference using the tube amp vs. using the regular headphone jacks on my mixer when playing music.  The ASL amp makes things sound extra warm and less fatiguing, especially guitar.

[brucegel]

This setup is for monitoring my live recordings of classical and jazz groups.Grace 901 headphone amp/24-96 converter into hd600 w cardas cable.The 1300 dollar tag on the headamp might seem stiff but it is as good as 30,000 dollars worth of stereo amps in a home system.This is real high end not hype and the cardas cable allows far more bass to come through.