Headphones

I own Seinheiser 580 and have listened to the 600 (which are much better than the 580). I do not have any experience with the Grado. As to a headphone amp, either headroom amps or melos tube. I really like tubes with headphones. However, I would recommend something a little different. Stax headphones, preferably with the tube option. On the used market you can find them near what you would spend on the 600s and a good amp. I recently bought a pair of Lambdas with the solid state amp for $450. If you plan to do a lot of listening with headphones, the Stax are really the most enjoyable over a long period of time. Great clarity and detail and not so "headphone" sounding. One thing to keep in mind they are "free air" headphones--so others in your vacinity will hear some music from them.

Sorry to stay off the subject, but Whatjd, I still have the AT electret headphones. I have not used them in years, but once upon a time I was very very smitten. Very engaging headphone. The problem at the moment is that they almost require that you have a balance control, since the manual tells you that one channel will likely be louder than the other, and mine do this to a certain degree. Bought them around 1980, but never a problem. Just thought you might be interested.

I have the 580s which I use with my portable audio with the entry level headroom amp. Definitely better than the 500 I used previously. I tried the 600s in the recent NY show with several amplifiers and despite the reviews I was not sufficiently impressed to buy them. In my bedrroom I use the Beyerdynamic 931 which are excellent and so far not reviewed in USA. Amp is Wheatfield HA2 but the much cheaper Antique sounded good also. I find that the 931s reproduce very well the extremes of the audio spectrum while having an accurate midrange.

I have and really enjoy the HD-600's. Excellent for Jazz and Classical as well as accoustical music. Very comfortable. If you like aggressive sounding (forward placement) sound (especially rock) and can stand the way the Grado fits on your head (I find it very uncomfortable), that may be a better fit for you.

The typical comparison between the two is generally as follows:

Listening to the Senns is like listening in the 10th row center of an auditorium. Listening to Grado's is like being on stage with the band/orchestra. Grado's are very dynamic but I find them a bit fatiquing and a bit colored. Others find them exciting and the Senns too layed back.

As for electronics, I greatly prefer tube Amps with my headphones. The MG-Head by Antique Sound Labs is a very good buy at about $275.

Good luck.

The best thing you can do is to audition as much stuff as possible.

The HD600 is really nice but I prefer the Grado RS-1. I don't like way the HD600 smoothes over all recordings good or bad. When the album has bite, I don't want a filtered out kind of distant rendition. You can get a very comfortable fit by bending the headband and tossing the earpads in the washing machine with some hair conditioner.

As for headphone amps, they range from $99 to $5000. Poor to astounding. I didn't really find anything to my liking until I broke the $700 barrier. Lower priced tube amps were seriously flawed in one way or the other.