Question Sound per pound

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Deleted member 160668

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I have a reasonably decent hifi setup, imo. It certainly makes me smile and cumulatively has cost me quite a few thousand quid....

However, I've recently picked up some Senn IE800 in ear headphones and an OPPO HA2 portable DAC/Amp.... I spent a fraction of the price of my whole system on these, but whoa!!! I mean seriously, ridiculously, good!! Night club for one... **he bends down to collect his jaw off the floor**

I already own Senn HD700 and thought these were really good, but they are not even near the same league. IE800 and OPPO is some combo, which is unbelievably epic sounding. Particularly considering that it's possible to pick up both, for relative peanuts (compared to my whole setup).

My eyes are opened. I'm so surprised.

You can spend thousands on hifi, or a tiny fraction on a decent headphone setup and get max sound for pound spend.

Ps - there's many fakes about, but if you get a chance, get a listen to a legit set of IE800 Just wow! Easily best headphones I've ever heard, by a very long way.

EDIT: I'm not saying the IE800 are better than my whole setup. But they are bloody good, and not all that far off, but at a fraction of the cost. That was my convoluted point 🤣
 
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Think this just proves, with some homework, that a system doesn't have to be expensive to be impressive.

I've often banged on about how good my set-up is, and I'm not saying it's anywhere near as good as yours, but the price I paid for every component, except for the turntable, was purchased at a heavily reduced price. In VFM terms it's very hard to better.

What you have in terms of the Sugden, PMCs etc etc should be cherished, therefore you need to keep everything in perspective: Headphones (earphones in your case) will be impressive given the proximity to your ears.

*EDIT* If you want sound-per-pound amp, I'll throw down a challenge to you: Don't spend £600 or £400. Look on the auction sites for a Arcam A65+. These can be had between £140-£200. Your jaw would not just hit the floor but bounce back up like a bungee cord and drop again -- it'll be tugging on the shirt tails of your old A39, as it does on the Leema. For a 40 watt £390 amp it's staggering VFM.
 
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abacus

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It’s easy to design a headphone & amp combo so R & D is significantly less, and the parts needed are also way cheaper, combine this with psychoacoustic processing and they can sound like you are listening to a live performance in front of you, (This is what makes the Apple Air Pods Max so good) but they do isolate you from the outside world which makes it pretty lonely.

Like always you buy whatever suits you as everyone is different.

Bill
 
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Deleted member 116933

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Well just think what can be done if you spent the same of the headphones and dac/amp as you did your hifi
which can easily be done. Though I actually find it very hard to listen to headphones for any extended period of time.

I'm not condoning a change or suggesting but if you get a chance to listen! I'd argue that if you swapped out your speakers for something far more dynamic like some Klipsch Heritage series speakers, oh I don't something like the forte 4's/ Cornwall I think your mouth would hit the floor and fly out the window. It certainly did mine
 

AJM1981

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Technology follows science, but the experience of a listener is subjective as hell.

I heard many great systems but I recently listened to the most cheap 75 euro priced Madison bookshelf speakers and they really sound amazing in their own right. Bit bright but with clear resolution, good controlled bass and definitely bang for buck.
 
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Deleted member 108165

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Easiest formula to get the best sound per pound is to improve your room acoustics. Much cheaper than the next component upgrade and much, much more meaningful. Most importantly impacting on every future upgrade.
Hence why my room still sounds sh*te, but the upgrade was still worth it :)
 
True but for me it's never the same. And I'm not talking about soundstage or any of the "magic" properties of 2 channel setup. But the physical experience when you're surrounded and pounded (even at lower volumes) with sound

Me too - you are never going to 'feel' bass on headphones - and they don't work for background listening for all, or for when there's a party - remember those? I think I do...
 
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Deleted member 160668

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I can concur with you on the quality of that Oppo HA2.
Having now owned this for a while. Many others like me, may be on a budget. This is IMO, one of the utter bargains of the hifi (actually headphone / portable) world. For sub 140 squids this is absolutely amazing. Perhaps I'm late to the hi-end travelling audiophile game. But holy damn, if you have good cans or IEM's this is a true bargain.

Obvs 2nd hand only. But gosh try one. Utterly excellent IMo.
 

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