Headphones and Headphone Amp recommendations/advice ...

[admin_exported]

I have a budget of £450 tops and would appreciate some advice. I'm considering a Grado/Graham Slee Novo combination. The amp will be connected to my Cyrus Amp and I will use the Zone 2 function so that I can listen to music whilst anyone else can listen to the TV through the Hifi. My dilemma is, whether I should be spending more on the headphones and less on the amp [within the budget]

Any advice or recommendations will be very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[idc]

Hi MWC. One point regarding how you plan to use the headfi kit. If you are going to be in the same room as the person watching TV Grado is maybe not the best choice. It is open backed and so it leaks sound and lets sound in. So you will hear the TV and vice versa.

There is no doubt that the Novo is highly rated and is a good amp. Your budget leaves £220 for which you will get a good set of headphones. I think your planned budget split is a good one. As to which headphones, well if open backed is not a problem for £220 you should be able to get the AKG K702s. Very comfortable, very detailed, excellent soundstage. I have not heard them but the Grado SR225is are in your budget. They sit on your ear and I prefer my SR80s with the large pads which are another £20 odd. As for closed back, so they don't leak sound and keep most sound out, check out reviews of Sennheisers.

 

[PJPro]

Or you could try making the Novo. See my thread here. This would leave you over £300 for headphones. All of a sudden the Grado SR325is are in reach.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice - much to consider

 

[idc]

Please post back with what you decide to do

 

[Anonymous]

I second PJPro's suggestion - make a Graham Slee Novo yourself, and use this with the Grado SR325is headphones. A great combination, which I am using as I write this. The only thing to keep in mind, as What Hi Fi point out in their review, is that not everyone is likely to find the Grado's comfortable to wear. Another reason to audition kit before you buy it.

 

[PJPro]

PJPro:Or you could try making the Novo. See my thread here. This would leave you over £300 for headphones. All of a sudden the Grado SR325is are in reach.
I've assumed that you have the tools and solder. If you don't, then the cost of these will need to come out of your budget.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally I am EXTREMELY SATISFIED with my setup:

Sennheiser HD650 +Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC and +GRAHAM SLEE SOLO SRG (Studio Reference Green) with its PSU1, connected via USB cable and ATLAS Equator MKII interconnect cables.

DAC MAGIC does a great job with iTunes compressed music but it adds little to my WAV files ripped using EAC and played with Foobar2000 software using ASIO Driver,

In both scenarios Sound is AMAZING, the headphones are really comfortable, open and accurate still warm enough...... if it's your first time you will spend hours and hours discovering details you never heard before in addition to unwanted sounds and noises in the background of the Studio or theatre where the recording took place

A Piece of Advice avoid importing electronics from overseas, because like everything these components might need servicing or may come defective so you will have to send them back for reparation, this happened with an eccentric Audiophile Friend of Mine who refused to buy a Graham SLEE like mine to drive his HD650 instead he went for an American Tube amplifier. Note that this Tube amp ranked N1 on a very respectable Audiophile website whereas my Graham SLEE Solo came in the 6 or 7th place , knowing that the number of amplifier reviewed was above 25 all of them costing more than 400£ and the result.... My Friend had to wait for 6 months for the boutique manufacturer to deliver and then what? One of the Tubes gave up after 24 hours of usage but the package included some spare tubes, however after 2 weeks we noticed a distortion in the left ear, till now we don't know if this is caused by the amplifier or the CD player., hope it's the later otherwise my friend will have to send back his 1000USD amplifier to the states.

By the way after buying my Graham SLEE and the HD650 I read an article stating that Sennheiser used Graham SLEE Solo amplifiers to demonstrate the high performance of what was then there flagship headphones and here I am talking about the wonderful HD650,

It is worth mentioning here that my favourite type of music is JAZZ, both instruments (i.e. Guitars, saxophone, cymbals) and human voices Sound Amazing through the HD650, Bass is tight and accurate and more than enough for my taste, I don't know about other headphones, but while Listening to one of Defected in the House tracks the Base was HUGE and precise even at deafening volume, in addition to my Jazz Library I rediscovered my PINK FLOYD, LED ZEPPELIN and WHITESNAKE CDs.

Hope that was helpful

 

[Anonymous]

I recently went through a similar choice and bought a used Novo for £170 on ebay and a pair of brand new AKG 701s for £170 - It's fed from my cdp via a passive pre and sounds great.

Agree with an earlier post, they leak sound in and out. Having said that it's fine when my other half is watching tv and I'm listening on them in the same room. You just wouldn't want to be sat next to each other.

Going for a diy option next and hoping that will considerably beat the Novo - although I've no complaints about the Novo.