Which headphones??

I'm not new to headphones,used them as a musician for years, but not for serious listening.

Mostly because I never had any really good phones and because I ner had a really good headphone output in any of my systems ,except the Cary 300sei.

That was my undoing, and had I tried a few good headphone with it, I would have never let it go and use it just as a headphone unit.

What I can say is that your impression of a pair of headphones depends on what they are pluged into, so I'd suggest when auditioning phones, try out some of the better headphone amps to really get the measure of the phones.

In fact I'd say that the better the headphone amp, the better sound you'll get from even modest phones.

Case in point I have the old Grado SR60's, and they never really impressed until I tried them in the Cary.

Now I'm burning in a pair of AKG K702 in a Yamaha receiver
The sound of the AKG is nowhere near as good as it is when I played them in my Burson HD160 even when they were fresh out of the box.

The better headphone amp lets you hear the difference between the Grado and AKG phones, the Yamaha not so much.

So if you spring for any of the better phones, make sure you factor in a decent headphone amp,if not then stick to a cheap pair of cans.

I'm just tipping my toes into the haedphone waters, but even with what I've got I'm more than impressed with what you can get for so little money.

In the future I may go into the deep end of the pool.

Upgrading the phones and then the amp.

I should probably mention at this point on this thread that Sennheiser 600 headphones sound significantly better, I.e., more open, dynamic and natural, when the metal grills are removed and the foam pads located inside the earphones are removed. I can't speak for other headphones but I have a sneaking suspicion this probably also holds true for other headphones.

I've read that about the foam pads Geoff, but haven't heard that about the metal grills. Interesting.

Soooo, since I'm not shelling out $2,000 for headphones anytime soon, are the 600's better than 650's? And what headphone amp pairs well with the 650's?

B_limo,

Have you contacted The Cable Company to see if the 600s or 650s (or similarly priced models from HiFiMan, Grado, Beyerdynamic, Denon etc.) are available from their lending library?

Find a way to listen to at least a few different cans before pulling the trigger. And hear for yourself the difference between open and closed cans.

Rosco, that's def. good advice but the problem is my only headphone amp right now is my parasound z dac. I'd like to pair the cans up with an amp that is going to have good synergy with the headphones I choose.

What advice to have regarding this?