[JLM]

Had Sennheiser 424's in college, worked great in the dorms.  Then went with in-room speakers afterwards.  Started with I. M. Fried Model B, then upgraded to B2, then added Model M woofers (which were too big for any room I could afford (was warned about that).  They sounded great in a 20,000 cu ft chapel.  Death of my first born son, then divorce, then downgraded to Fried Q5's, then Ascend Acoustics CBM-170's with a sub, then discovered the internet and got into single driver speakers, most of which wanted tiny tube amps.

But I love bass (not a basshead, just a believer that bass is foundational).  And nearly every single driver speakers lack deep bass and those tiny amps don't provide sufficient power to produce deep bass.  But found Fostex F208A drivers, not super high efficiency but rated down to 30 Hz and a producer of transmission line floor standing cabinets (like Fried made).  So he made me a pair and I loved them for years. 

Then discovered the value of room acoustics.  Ended up designing/building a dedicated listening room (8ft x 13ft x 21ft - Fibonacci ratios) with well insulated walls/ceiling/door/ductwork.  Added GIK 244 absorption/bass trap panels and three sub woofers to balance out the room (none of those helped the near perfect room much).  Finally discovered active monitors, JBL 305, Dynaudio BM5 3a, JBL 708P, and finally Buchardt A500SE.  But we decided to move and all that came to an end.

The new place is nice, but the listening room is much smaller.  Went from mid-field to near-field, my feet nearly touched the Buchardt's while my listening chair and desk chairs touched each other.  Also had issues with wireless operation and regretfully have had to go to hearing aids.  So off with the in-room set up and back to headphones.  Went with Apple Maxx wireless/noise cancelling headphones.  Work flawlessly with my MacBook Air M2 and Tidal. 

[Tyson]

If you know the response curve for your hearing aids, you might be able to program that into your headphones/computer and forgo the need for hearing aids while using the headphones.

[Mag]

My Samsung A13 has Adaptive sound mode to compensate for aging ears, mine is set to 60+. But for me what puts my ear buds, headphones over the top is being able to adjust EQ to my sound preference, even though the EQ is not that precise I like my highs. Bass could be better on my Huewi buds as it is shy in that area but overall the sound spectrum is balanced and they stay on my ears not falling out or off.

[JLM]

Already dumped $500 into the Maxx's, don't want to complicate further, just telling my story.

[Mag]

Already dumped $500 into the Maxx's, don't want to complicate further, just telling my story.

No problem, I was just suggesting the Adapt feature of Samsung so that you maybe able to listen without hearing aids.
The Maxx's headphones looks like a good product and I would consider purchasing them myself. Though I'm wondering if they connect with an Android device such as Samsung Smartphone or PC Bluetooth?

[Jon L]

Already dumped $500 into the Maxx's, don't want to complicate further, just telling my story.

Appreciate that sentiment.  Without spending more money, I can recommend the value of playing with PEQ using oratory99 measurements and recommended PEQ settings, which you can tweak to please your own hearing.  Doing this has brought tremendous new life and fun to my old headphones such as Sennheiser HD600 and Stax SR009...for Free 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ysyhulmxsg48pxbd86e5c/Apple-AirPods-Max.pdf?rlkey=euamuftznbuj64154j414qgma&e=1&dl=0

[Mariusz Uszynski]

Appreciate that sentiment.  Without spending more money, I can recommend the value of playing with PEQ using oratory99 measurements and recommended PEQ settings, which you can tweak to please your own hearing.  Doing this has brought tremendous new life and fun to my old headphones such as Sennheiser HD600 and Stax SR009...for Free 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ysyhulmxsg48pxbd86e5c/Apple-AirPods-Max.pdf?rlkey=euamuftznbuj64154j414qgma&e=1&dl=0

Hi Jon, I'm 60 year old and I'm using hearing aid.Does this link work for Airpods Pro too?Is it hard to do it?Thank you in advance.
Mariusz.

[Jon L]

Hi Jon, I'm 60 year old and I'm using hearing aid.Does this link work for Airpods Pro too?Is it hard to do it?Thank you in advance.
Mariusz.

Airpod Pro, unfortunately, is an exception, because it adapts itself to specific user's ear canal shape and frequency response, so no general PEQ setting can be used for everybody.  You can still use a good PEQ software to boost and cut various frequencies with yours ears to come up with more preferable frequency curve for your own use!  For those with other headphones, this is a full list of existing Oratory1990 PEQ curves:

https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets/?rdt=56959#wiki_full_list_of_eq_settings.3A

[Mariusz Uszynski]

Airpod Pro, unfortunately, is an exception, because it adapts itself to specific user's ear canal shape and frequency response, so no general PEQ setting can be used for everybody.  You can still use a good PEQ software to boost and cut various frequencies with yours ears to come up with more preferable frequency curve for your own use!  For those with other headphones, this is a full list of existing Oratory1990 PEQ curves:

https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets/?rdt=56959#wiki_full_list_of_eq_settings.3A

Thanks Jon.

[Letitroll98]

I feel sad that you lost that marvelous listening room.  I had that happen some years ago, not your costume built space, but very nice nonetheless, hosted some audio gtg's, etc.  But them I acquired a nice stable of headphones and had a lot of fun in that world, nowadays a bit of a hybrid.  Hoping you find a good balance in your new digs.

[AllanS]

Full circle.  I’m also bummed to hear your space constraints are moving you back to cans.  I hope you can rediscover some of what was probably magic in the day.
I remember my first pair of headphones was a couple of plastic margarine tubs with foam padding over drivers salvaged from transistor radios joined with a clothes hanger headband    I definitely don’t want to return to those daze but am seeing a not so distant future where cans replace speakers for critical listening.  Or I’m just going to learn to enjoy what I can hear from the speaker rig and quit using cans to hear what I’m missing.

[FullRangeMan]

I also suffer with a small room and try to remain headphones, but the Audeze dealer in my area refuse to reply my emails asking a LCD2C price quote, I even contacted Audeze and they also refuse to contact this dealer. Unbelievable
To worse there is no HifiMan dealer in my area

[Early B.]

That's an interesting story.

I've wanted to set up a headphone rig (I've never had one before), but the prices for a compatible system to my main rig appear astronomical. A high-end tube headphone amp, for example, costs several grand. I think a budget of $1,000 for a used pair of headphones is a good place to start. Then there's the cables. Geez. My concern is if I start with cheaper gear I won't be satisfied with the sound quality, so I don't want to waste time and money on incremental steps. On the other hand, perhaps I should start with a cheap system to see if I like it and will use it.     

[Jon L]

A high-end tube headphone amp, for example, costs several grand.

I think the difference between "high-end" tube amp for speakers and headphones is that it does not require nearly as much resources to drive reasonable headphones.  I've listened to numerous $$$$ headphones and headphone amps, and the little FU-19 (FM30) tube amp driving something as humble as Sennheiser HD600 with proper EQ will compete with many of them on sound quality basis. 

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=190741.new#new

[FullRangeMan]

A nice preamp HP amp is the Decware CSP3 under two grand new.

[toocool4]

In the UK the LCD-2 is £799 and I think in the US it's $799, so you guys are getting a better deal than us in the UK.
https://www.audeze.co.uk/products/lcd-2-classic?srsltid=AfmBOopEL3Y5Q8z1Eec5-ZgT4b63aBeRsePcbkHLneGp7c7ipWM9qQ6T

[AllanS]

 

On the other hand, perhaps I should start with a cheap system to see if I like it and will use it.   

I think that makes a lot of sense.  You don’t need to spend big money to learn if you’d embrace headphones.

[JLM]

My Tidal/MacBook Air M2/Apple Max (wireless/noise cancelling) sounds pretty good to me.  No room issues.  No wire/gear/power issues.  Just music. 

[Rocket_Ronny]

Very unique choice JLM. If anyone could produce a top headphone you would think Apple could since they could hire the best people to design it. Looking at Apple's website they certainly look very interesting.

The concern I would have is placing a bluetooth device right on my head. It's certainly better than having a bluetooth in ear phone, which is a total no go for me. I always go for a corded solution.

Rocket Ronny