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I have an unusual situation. I have a better than 50% chance of having to live on dialysis. That means sitting 3 times a weak for 4 hours at a time. What a great chance to listen to music. I am used to a reference speaker system. Maggie 3.6's powered by two David Berning ZH-270 power amps, a Shindo preamp and Audio Note transport and Dac. I listen to mainly classical and film scores. I do have a laptop with a lot of ripped cds and some high rez files on it. I am looking for a really good quality headphone system that would also be small and compact. Can spend up to $2000 total. What would you guys recommend. Would a dedicated player like HiFIman or Astell&Kern be better than using my laptop? Also the headphones need to be comfortable for wearing 3 to 4 hours at a time
Thanks in advance
Alan
Follow Ups:
In Ear Monitor (IEM)There are some absolutely great options as the IEM market has exploded in the past 5 or 6 years. The sound quality is far better than you would ever expect, as good as many flagship full sized headphones. They are infinitely more portable than the big cans and are great and background noise isolation. Since they are so small they can be used in a wide variety of applications to include everything you would use a full sized cans.
I have personally owned:
JVC FX700
Etymotics HF5
Atrio M8Along with full sized:
Grado SR60 and 80
Sennheiser HD600
Beyerdynamic DT880My order of preference is DT880, followed closely by JVC FX700 followed closely by HD600s followed closely by Etymotics with Atrios and grados lagging behind. The Atrios have great base and I use them for watching movies, they almost reproduce that subwoofer rumble. JVC has a new FX800 for ~$400-$500 which are supposed to be wonderful. Sennheiser has the new IE800 which review like they are the best thing ever made. I think they go for ~$800. Check out the link below for a review of a bunch of IEMs ranging from cheap to thousands of dollars.
I understand the criticism about comfort but IEMs have really come a long way in the past few years. There are great options that employ custom ear molds which are very comfortable. The JVCs aren't custom but are comfortable enough to stay in my ears for hours too even without the custom molds. The etymotics have the best soundstage I have ever heard in an IEM but lack some base. They have a custom ear mold option that is comfortable and completely isolates outside noise. You could not have a conversation with them in your ears. I had a 50 hour trip to afghanistan and kept them in my ears almost the whole time just to isolate background noise. C-17s are not quiet. Anyway, it was very comfortable and never bothered my ears.
IEMs are pretty durable too. The Etymotics, JVCs and Atrios all survived my deployment to Afghanistan. The Atrios were the worse for wear but they are my oldest. I've had them for 6 1/2 years!
As far as source components go, the lowly 5th generation iPods are really very good. Probably not up to reference system quality but far better than you would expect. The advantage is of course the portability and convenience. If you really require the reference quality then you will need a laptop and a DAC/Amp combo. I have the dragonfly version 1.2 and its fabulous. There are a lot of great USB options that are the size of a thumb drive. HRT (high resolution technologies) makes great products too. I've read a lot of quality control issues with the cheaper options such as Fiio but have no direct experience with them. HRT even makes a D/A converter for iPods but it requires an outlet which limits it.
Anyway, a great IEM and a 5th generation iPod will get you 85% there. If you want that extra 15% and its worth lugging around a laptop get a good usb D/A converter. A $2000 budget will definitely get you what you want!
Nate
You can't cheat an honest man, never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump -- W.C. Fields
Edits: 07/11/14
Closed back phones tend to be lower impedance (for any given power requirement) and therefore easier to drive (when the amp is a small portable amp).I can highly recommend Fostex TH-900s. 'Spensive but wonderful (break in required so if you demo, check that it has had some breakin time). Not fatiguing at all (in terms of sound). Somewhat heavy (you know you are wearing them) but I have not found anything I would rather have (and have demoed extensively with my dealer's blessing - and he has basically everything out there).
I use an iPhone with a Seagate Wireless Plus drive. I have the ADL X1 DAC/amp which will take the digital out of an ipod or iphone, has a great ESS DAC chip, and will drive most low impedance cans well enough. Battery life is decent, not stellar, but 4-5hrs should be fine. I have an external battery (10000 mAh) for the 15hr flights. The electronics all fits into a small-ish flattish bag/case (like a portable filo-fax size case) - i.e. smaller (and lighter) than a hardback novel (though the cans are larger).
FWIW, I can also highly recommend the new Sony player, or another player and the new SONY PHA-2 DAC/amp (or both together). I don't understand why they did the looks of the DAC/amp the way they did, but it sounds really, really good. And it is competitively priced. Not sure how tough it is to get the music into the Sony player but once it is in there it really sounds good. And it is easy to use.
Edits: 07/13/14
I second the TH-900's. They are good at everything, imo.
I'm always amazed what these little new USB Dacs abd Dac/headphone amps can do. IFI products stand out in my mind, but there are others. The newest IFI - they come out with so many products, I can't name them - also has other digital connections than USB to a digital source.
To get excellent SQ, you will need to find a portable device with lots of formats (or maybe only WAV or AIFF for an Audio Note lover) that can send a good digital signal to the Dac/amplifier. Plug in a pair of HD650s and you will be in like Flyn. Maybe this set up is not as good as a full size headamp, but you needed portable.
I use a Mac as my source, so I am not up on portable portable music sources that can act as a real transport. My USB Dac is a Wavelength Proton. It's portable, but larger than the other small Dacs or Dac/amplifiers on the market.
I would steer clear of flagships headphones. They are often source pickey and the ones i have heard are good at some things and not others - generally midrange and/or treble. The HD650s are high impedance and a just a bit on the dreamy side; the K-701s are more neutral. They are very good in all departments, and most of all coherent. Nothing is out of proportion, musically. Both will work wonderfully well plugged directly into a small Dac or Dac/amp, plugged into a good portable digital source.
I would check IFI first, because they have so many products and the reviews are always great, even Art Dudley's in Stereophile.
I wish you the very best for in dealing with your illness.
Observe, before you think. Think before you open your yap. Act on the basis of experience.
Thanks, since I have not received a lot of replies I did a bunch of research and ordered the following
Mr. Speakers Alpha Dog planar magnetic closed back headphones
Astell&kerns AK100 player
I did not get the AK100 mkII because it is not yet available and I got a good deal on the AK100
Since I am a planer lover (Maggies) the Alpha Dogs seemed really interesting and also are only $600 compared to the Audeze closed back phones for $1800.
I went ahead and purchased this stuff not noing yet for sure that I will lose my kidney. If my luck holds spending this money will insure that I won't need them. Money well spent. Does anyone here have the Alpha dogs?
Alan
I think that you have made some very exciting choices there. I hope that you will find a little time to tell us how you find them when they arrive.
Best wishes for everything.
Pete
Hi Alan, I have had Alpha Dogs for around a month, and I believe you will be very happy with them... Comfort is good and they are very musically
correct, driven by adequate power and after breakin. I drive mine through
my Van Alstine Transcendance 8+ preamp and love them. Congratulations!
Best of luck with your health...
Best of luck with your treatment.
To start your research, try the following sites for plenty of great reviews;
Inner Fidelity
http://www.innerfidelity.com/
headfi.org
http://www.head-fi.org/
Both also have You Tube channels with reviews, etc.
One way to go initially would be an iPod Classic ($300), with lossless files, along with a nice DAC/amp like FiiO E17 ($130), and a pair of closed over ears. Were I looking for over ears, I'd give serious thought to the Focal Spirit Classic or Senn Momentum. I use a pair of Beyerdynamic DT1350 on-ears, which provide excellent sound and isolation, as well as portability. For IEMs, have a pair Shure 535s, which are very, very good, but as the other poster notes, have a comfort issue with these.
But there's lots of good options out there.
While you are at the inner fidelity site, read the review of Bose QC20 noise cancelling earphones (in-ear type). I have these and completely agree with everything in the review. They are very comfortable and sound very good. The noise cancelling feature gives you a nearly silent background which always makes music sound better because you can notice fainter details that may have otherwise been lost in the background noise.
I wish you all the best with your medical needs. It's uplifting that you can see a benefit in the dialysis giving you listening time.May I suggest a further requirement? That the phones are closed back. I am guessing that the medical facility may not place you on your own in a private room but you may be in a dialysis centre alongside other patients. If so then you won't want to disturb them with sound leakage. I might suggest IEMs but, for my part, I would find 3 hours of wearing them beyond my tolerance.
Some of the upper range Sony cans are both closed back and have good sound. They are also usually low impedence so could be driven directly from your portable player without the need for a portable headphone amp. The latter will be a requirement with many top quality phones.
Edits: 07/08/14
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