Headphone set up for my Dad....please help!

[amarocknrollstar]

Hi all.

Can anyone advise me as to a good headphone set-up for predominent classical music listening?
Looking to buy for my Dad as an alternative to his current speaker set up.
It doesn't have to be new - spotted a nice 2nd hand creek headphone amp on-line.
Open to all suggestions...for example does he need a headphone amp and/or a dac (currently has an ORIGINAL dacmagic with Denon CD player and Arcam Alpha 3).
Budget of around £200.
Cheers

(Sorry - pleaser move to headphone section..thanks)

 

[idc]

Is that £200 for amp and headphones? As a general bit of advice I would say go for open backed headphones for classical. The sound stage will be wider and there will be a greater sense of scale, important for an orchestra.

 

[John Duncan]

I'd suggest he keep the DACMagic and add that Creek amp to it and a pair of Grado SR60is (or whatever Grados you can afford left out of your budget after the Creek). The 60s are great (if he - or those around him - can deal with the leakage, which is quite pronounced). If the leakage is a no-no, I'd be looking at closed-back Sennheisers in budget.

An alternative is to sell the DM (100 quid is about the going rate on the 'Bay) and put it towards a Beresford and the aforementioned Grados - will cut down on box count and give you a better DAC and a reasonable headphone amp...

 

[amarocknrollstar]

Thanks for the advice guys.
With regards the Dacmagic - wouldn't sell as it gets the best out of his CD player IMO and besides it's mine! (LOL)
So what's the deal with the 'leakage' please?
Any other suggestions for headphone auditions?

Cheers

 

[John Duncan]

Re: leakage - the outside world can hear you and you can hear the outside world. If you want to prevent either, you need 'closed back' headphones. Open-backed (leaky) are reputed to give a better sound (though I don't know any closed-back ones of a similar standard to my 325is, so can't comment objectively).

 

[amarocknrollstar]

Thanks John.
He's just about mastered the zoning out effect so open backed should be fine.
Cheers guys.

 

[cse]

Are the SR125's much of an upgrade onthe SR 60's. I'm not sure whether it's worth spending the extra cash. Also, which is better - the old SR125 or the new SR60i as a direct comparison as I can get both for the same price.,

 

[Audiofoolius]

For classical music I would recommend AKG or Sennheiser. Grado are rock cans imo.