Headphones

[markbe]

Hi all, I need to buy a top quality CD playing unit with equal quality head phones,
budget say £2000,what do you suggest?

Mark.

[Finlandia]

Sennheiser HD800 gets very good reviews. HD650 and HD600 are very good as well.

[Some Gump]

Try AKG K1000'S for a strange "earphone" experience. Similar to stak electrostatics. You'll look lik a beard, though.

AKG501's used to be good, very comfortable.

I'd also suggest a headphone amp, try graham slee, creek, musical fidelity, rega or naim (there will be others too).

[Maxf]

Graham Slee solo and HD650s have served me very well. I tried the HD800s but they weren't really suited to the kind of music I listen to. Not stupidly expensive either, leaving room for a decent CDP/streamer/Dac.

[markbe]

Thanks for the replies, what Cd player should I get to get the best from the head phones?

Mark.

[Some Gump]

Mark,

Thats a can of worms, because preference is so personal! For example, "everyone" said the Roksan Kandy III is / was a good CD player. I thought it sounded horrid - too thin and detailed, no balls to the sound at all.

So, with that in mind, I'd try Musical Fidelity, Cyrus, Naim, Arcam, Rotel, Creek, Rega. Within that lot, you have a range of different sounding kit - hopefully one witll the the "right" one for you.

[Steve_T]

A point to note is that Sennheisers are awkward to drive as they are high impedance compared to a lot of phones. Defintely factor in an amp into your budget.

[TonyRPH]

Steve_T said:

A point to note is that Sennheisers are awkward to drive as they are high impedance compared to a lot of phones. Defintely factor in an amp into your budget.

High impedance will be easier to drive.

Did you mean low impedance?

[Steve_T]

Nope I didn't. My explanation was not clear. I didn't mean easy to drive in the how much overall current is flowing through the amp, handling the transients and so on sense, where I agree with you a low impedance speaker is more demanding. Rather as the 'phones have high impedence they require a greater voltage across them to produce the necessary current to get decent volume out of them, hence they are awkward to drive. If you listen to them out of a CD player you may end up disappointed. There are loads of threads on the various headphone forums where people are searching for an amp to suit HD650s.

Edited by Steve_T on Monday 1st November 17:03

[Toffer]

Strangely, amongst others, I have both the previously mentioned AKG and Sennheiser HD 650 headphones. The HD 650 have a superb sound, but you need to spend a while listening to them to truly appreciate their quality. In a quick A/B audition, I do not think they immediately impress...they are just not like that! But IMHO they are very, very good.

http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/09...

If you want sound on the move (back of the car, on a bus, or in an aeroplane, I still recommend the Sony MDRXB500...loads of bass and great outside noise isolation. Again IMHO better than very expensive "noise cancelling" types...at a fraction of the price!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDRXB500-Extra-Headph...