Hey Audiophiles!

JaGWiRE wrote in post #2306254
They are more comfertable.

I am thinking of selling my 600's, PPA amp, preamp, dvd/sacd/dvd-a/cd player, satellite radio, cd player, etc, and downsizing to just an intergrated amp and pair of 595's.

I went simple ... I have a Marantz PM7200. Maybe not the best integrated amp for someone that likes high-end equipment, but I'm pretty pleased with it and it sounds fine to me with my 595's. Another bang for the buck type decision ...

I try to avoid headphones, it's just a thing, but when I need to use them for work related etc. I also recommend the Sennheiser (The best I ever heard were Sennheiser Orpheus tubed electrostatics) and Grado, also Koss is a good choice, and Stax used to make some swell sounding phones too, don't know if there still around.

Bob_A wrote in post #2306300
I went simple ... I have a Marantz PM7200. Maybe not the best integrated amp for someone that likes high-end equipment, but I'm pretty pleased with it and it sounds fine to me with my 595's. Another bang for the buck type decision ...

Yeah, stand alone components are always the best, but it becomes redundant to have so much stuff for a difference I'm not sure I can even hear. Plus, I could probably get some damn nice photo gear for the cost of my audio stuff I could pawn off.

CDS, Stax is still around, they are like legendary for headphones, the Omega's they create in particular from what I remember. The orpheus is a legendary headphone no longer manufactered, you are lucky to have heard one. Both the orpheus and mini oprheus are pricy though, and could get you some sweet camera gear for the $ you pay.

JaGWiRE wrote in post #2306395
Yeah, stand alone components are always the best, but it becomes redundant to have so much stuff for a difference I'm not sure I can even hear. Plus, I could probably get some damn nice photo gear for the cost of my audio stuff I could pawn off.

All my audio equipment is seperate units. Mainly because you get much better quality and better power for each unit. Also I hate integrated units because if the cd player for example breaks you have to bring the whole unit to repair which means you don't have anything to listen on. With seperate units you just bring in the cd and you can still enhoy radio or whatever audio sources you have. I have probably spent close to $10.000 (or more) on my audio and video equipment. Yes that would buy a lot of camera equipment but I enjoy music and video just as much as photography.

tommykjensen wrote in post #2306480
All my audio equipment is seperate units. Mainly because you get much better quality and better power for each unit. Also I hate integrated units because if the cd player for example breaks you have to bring the whole unit to repair which means you don't have anything to listen on. With seperate units you just bring in the cd and you can still enhoy radio or whatever audio sources you have. I have probably spent close to $10.000 (or more) on my audio and video equipment. Yes that would buy a lot of camera equipment but I enjoy music and video just as much as photography.

Heh, not sure what your talking about in your sample.

By stand alone I mean something like:
A power amp and preamp instead of an intergrated amp. There is nothing wrong with an intergrated amp, just that you'll probably get better from a good power amp and preamp. I'm not talking about those units that have cd player, radio, amp, etc, all built in. I'm referring more to a reciever instead of an intergrated amp and seperate tuner / digital processor, and instead of an intergrated amp a power amp and preamp or whatever.

JaGWiRE wrote in post #2306649
Heh, not sure what your talking about in your sample.

By stand alone I mean something like:
A power amp and preamp instead of an intergrated amp. There is nothing wrong with an intergrated amp, just that you'll probably get better from a good power amp and preamp. I'm not talking about those units that have cd player, radio, amp, etc, all built in. I'm referring more to a reciever instead of an intergrated amp and seperate tuner / digital processor, and instead of an intergrated amp a power amp and preamp or whatever.

Ahh ok. I thought you meant the all-in-one boxes.

tommykjensen wrote in post #2306654
Ahh ok. I thought you meant the all-in-one boxes.

Yeah. Sound is subjective too, and after spending all this dough, I realize I have both a) no good taste in music probably because of my age and b) ears that can't hear crap between some gear that a lot of people say they can hear differences in, could be because I have not trained my ears or whatever, but spending so much money to not be able to hear a difference is dissapointing.

JaGWiRE wrote in post #2306144
Man, I used to be a head-fi freak. If this was head-fi and you didn't name a budget, I'de be hooking you with a pair of Sennheiser hd-595's (probably the best you'll get unamped, or the cheaper 555's as the 580's 600's and 650's are all pretty high impedance), they are deadly comfertable. Also depending on the laptop, a external soundcard / dac could be in place too.

I have a www.head-fi.org account with a few thousand posts I think, but I got over it. If anyone wants to buy a PPA headphone amp with a diamond buffer and a built in DAC I have one for sale.

I had to be a little sane with my purchases...I know you can go nuts with any kind of hobby/profession/addic​tion but all I wanted was good headphones for my laptop. Considering my untrained ears, I think the HD-280 Pros will be more than enough. I'll probably be in heaven with 'em.

I love my AKG K81DJs.

I'm in love with AKG though, K501 are my favourite by far.

tim wrote in post #2306784
I have a www.head-fi.org account with a few thousand posts I think, but I got over it. If anyone wants to buy a PPA headphone amp with a diamond buffer and a built in DAC I have one for sale.

Haha, you and I. I have a MisterX PPA too with diamond buffer maxed out, steps, etc, no built in dac though. Probably could get somewhere around $200 USD for it.

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2307058
I had to be a little sane with my purchases...I know you can go nuts with any kind of hobby/profession/addic​tion but all I wanted was good headphones for my laptop. Considering my untrained ears, I think the HD-280 Pros will be more than enough. I'll probably be in heaven with 'em.

Make sure you have a decent EQ before you decide on these. The Sony V6 are in the same class and are meant to be very robust.

JaGWiRE wrote in post #2307919
Haha, you and I. I have a MisterX PPA too with diamond buffer maxed out, steps, etc, no built in dac though. Probably could get somewhere around $200 USD for it.

Mine's a MisterX PPA as well, Marshall's a nice guy. You think yours is only worth US$200? Damn, hoping to get more than that for mine.

tim wrote in post #2308130
Make sure you have a decent EQ before you decide on these. The Sony V6 are in the same class and are meant to be very robust.

Mine's a MisterX PPA as well, Marshall's a nice guy. You think yours is only worth US$200? Damn, hoping to get more than that for mine.

Maybe $250. Mine is like maxxed out, but I can't remember half the crap in it . My hd-600's have a fancy $200 upgrade cable on them that can be used either balanced or 1/4" too, so maybe for the amp headphones and upgrade cable I can get $500. The amps rca jacks need to be tightened and the headphones need new pads and are nicked up a bit / not in the greatest condition. I have a Esound CD-E5 player I am trying to get rid of too, I paid around $600 + $50 shipping, a guy near me is willing to pay $400 so I might take him up on it.
My wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers right now are connected to a old school marantz reciever my friend loaned me. It is failing I think though, so I am going to replace it probably with this http://nadelectronics.​com …ereo-Integrated-Amplifier and somehow use this subwoofer with the setup http://www.av123.com …n=subwoofers&pr​oduct=12.1 and then just hook up a pair of 595's to the Nad amp. It would be a much simpler setup then I have now, and probably sound good enough for me. Would save me some $ too to put into some photography stuff.
BTW, I think the a900's are considered one of the best phones without a headphone amp.

get a pair of these,
http://www.justplaymus​ic.com …nfo.php?product​s_id=14452

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2306352
I try to avoid headphones, it's just a thing, but when I need to use them for work related etc. I also recommend the Sennheiser (The best I ever heard were Sennheiser Orpheus tubed electrostatics) and Grado, also Koss is a good choice, and Stax used to make some swell sounding phones too, don't know if there still around.

I listened to a pair of STAX Electrostatics on a STAX Tube amp and they were the best headphones I ever listened to. The phones and amp were around $5K if I remember correctly about 16 years ago.