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Improving Headphone Sound

Hi; We’ve recently moved to a MUCH smaller house and I now find myself pretty well restricted to the use of headphones for most listening. I use a PC source out to a Benchmark DAC1 USB and directly from the DAC to a pair of Sennheiser 650’s equipped with a 10’ Cardas cable.

Given that I have no alternative to using the ‘phones, can anyone suggest ways that the sound might be improved. It’s already “pretty darn good” (at least to these 63 year old ears), but I’m guessing that there might be room for improvement.

As a start, I’m considering replacing the Cardas cable with a Moon Silver Dragon (Version 2), but any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks & Regards,

Bob Holmes
steerpike
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
How about a dedicated headphone amplifier connected to some decent source gear.

If you can find a used Anthem Pre2L tube preamp, it has a decent headphone amplifier built in. It is the real thing, not just a headphone jack.

Here is a review of the new Blue Circle headphone amplifier.

http://www.soundstage.com/allinyourhead/allinyourhead.htm

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kublakhan
717 posts
 
I have a PC based system now with an empirical audio modified Benchmark Dac-1 (full mods) and have compared it to many setups. Empirical Audio does a headphone mod to the DAC-1 that you may want to look into. It is excellent.

However, even without that headphone mod the empirical audio modified DAC-1 w/ sen 650s sounded excellent. A melos sha-1 headphone amp beat it a bit but it didn't beat the dac 1 with the headphone mod. I tried a cary 300sei with great NOS tubes with the AKG 1000 and the 650 and still the DAC-1 (EA modified with also the EA headphone mod) and the 650 was close.

The rig that really beat it was a Stax Omega 007TII amp and cans and then that amp with a pair of Sennheiser HE60 beat that by a small margin but you are talking about a $3000-4000 rig to get only a bit more resolution and depth. It may be worth it depending on your financial situation. It was worth it for me.

I think i would first do the empirical audio dac 1 headphone mod and try it with the 650 and maybe the ultrasone 9 which i haven't heard but have read that others are abandoning big rigs for that dynamic can.

Also, i got the stephan audioart 650 headphone cable and it was a small but certain improvement. I think this is the replacement cable of choice right now.

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getheleadout
144 posts
 
Upgrade to AKG 701s and a headroom max amp.
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