This is my 2 cents for what its worth.
I am a very satisfied owner of Grado RS-2's and have tried many other headphones. I directly compared the Sennheiser HD600's to the Grado's in a dealer's showroom and have compared the HD580's to the Grado's extensively at home. The Sennheiser's seem to have a little more fine detail and slightly more extended bass. The Grado wins easily for overall enjoyment and relaxation. I am using the earpads from the Grado SR 60 (eg the comfy pads) on the Grado's which I find comfortable. In fact, I find the Sennheisers to be less comfortable (they feel like they clamp your head after about an hour or so).
I am not using an exotic headphone amp. I am using a lowly NAD receiver which so far has beaten out an Audio Alchemy, MF X-Can's (V1) and Earmax headphone amps. I paid $200 new for the receiver 8 years ago and it has a radio and drives speakers, something a dedicated headphone amp can't do. I have heard the Headroom amps at a hifi show and did not find them better than what I have. This is primarily because the tone controls on the NAD let me tune the sound to fit the 'phones, while the headphone amps tend to sound leaner. The output of the NAD has no trouble with high impedence 'phones like the Sennheiser.
My approach has been that everytime I get the urge to try another headphone amp, I take the money and upgrade my cd front end. If I were to try another tube headphone amp, it would probably be either the MG Head (the build quality, or lack of, scares me a little) or a used Melos SHA, if I could find one.
I am a very satisfied owner of Grado RS-2's and have tried many other headphones. I directly compared the Sennheiser HD600's to the Grado's in a dealer's showroom and have compared the HD580's to the Grado's extensively at home. The Sennheiser's seem to have a little more fine detail and slightly more extended bass. The Grado wins easily for overall enjoyment and relaxation. I am using the earpads from the Grado SR 60 (eg the comfy pads) on the Grado's which I find comfortable. In fact, I find the Sennheisers to be less comfortable (they feel like they clamp your head after about an hour or so).
I am not using an exotic headphone amp. I am using a lowly NAD receiver which so far has beaten out an Audio Alchemy, MF X-Can's (V1) and Earmax headphone amps. I paid $200 new for the receiver 8 years ago and it has a radio and drives speakers, something a dedicated headphone amp can't do. I have heard the Headroom amps at a hifi show and did not find them better than what I have. This is primarily because the tone controls on the NAD let me tune the sound to fit the 'phones, while the headphone amps tend to sound leaner. The output of the NAD has no trouble with high impedence 'phones like the Sennheiser.
My approach has been that everytime I get the urge to try another headphone amp, I take the money and upgrade my cd front end. If I were to try another tube headphone amp, it would probably be either the MG Head (the build quality, or lack of, scares me a little) or a used Melos SHA, if I could find one.