Tricks of the trade.
Original, high DR, recording … easily 6 dB (double) the needed volume for equal level replay,
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You talk great sense as usual @TylersEclectic (Tyler). There’s a lot of great advice there. We may not all be able to afford the same levels of gear but as I have said great advice.
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Am I the only one around here that wants to actually be @Torq. 
Seriously though you have some fantastic gear and have great levels of knowledge. Enjoy and what a view.
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That would explain the need for higher volume level, but the fact that you maxed the Phonitor out…
But how did it sound?
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This was with the Dip Switches 1 and 2 underneath the unit OFF, right? If yes, do you mind switching them ON (I think there are 3 options available 1 On = 22 dBu, 2 On = 12 dBu and both 1&2 On = 24 dBu of gain) and report back the results with the HEDDphone?
Thanks in advance.
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Be careful! I believe the HEDDphone has such a smooth sound on some source material that I had to tell myself to stop turning the volume up! I left the volume pot where it was, stopped for a few minutes, and when I came back to listen, it was too loud.
Did you turn it up that loud right off the bat or did it happen the longer you listened? Because Brothers in Arms is one of my favorite albums of all time and I didn’t even max out my volume on the title track with the Ifi Micro BL! And I can’t think of very many songs recorded at a lower volume level than Brothers in Arms.
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thank you for the reminder - as we watched the movie, we loved the sound and totally forgot about it
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It was more to do with how the RME ADI-2DAC handles volume out… @ProfFalkinjust did a great review of the ADI-2DAC Here
That explains it pretty damn well actually!
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I’ll come to that here in a few …
Yes, that’s right … no boost engaged, nor needed - you’re not going to need to turn the boost options on here at all.
–
To be clear, here, I did not mean to suggest that the HEDDphone needed the Phonitor X turned up to full. I was just pushing limits a bit and wanted to see how both pieces handled that, and that happened to coincide with playing a recording that has somewhat more headroom than most.
And even then, I only did it for the intro of the track. It was way too loud to safely listen to for longer … but it was clean, crisp, and totally controlled while I did listen, with no audible distortion.
Put another way, in normal listening, at 85 dB or so, I’m not even at the half-way point on the Phonitor’s dial. There’s plenty of power and gain here for the HEDDphone. Even the Hugo 2 was driving them well to levels I would not care (nor dare) to listen at for long, though it certainly doesn’t have the headroom that the Phonitor X does.
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I understood what you were saying, but had experienced it myself lol so that is kind of cheating lol
Edit: man between my fat fingers and auto correct on my phone I can’t get my responses to look right lol ugh!
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Awesome, thanks for clarifying. I was a bit “worried” that the Phonitor would need a boost to drive the HEDDphone. I’ve pulled trigger a week ago or so and I’m eagerly waiting for them, I hope they suit well as a replacement for my recently sold Utopia. ZMF Verite Closed and SR1a combo killed the need for having the Utopia in my collection. In addition to that, the resell value is coming down significantly (<$2k) and there could be (maybe?) a potential Utopia 2 in the works (this is my assumption without any basis at all)…Utopia has been around for over 3-4 years now, I wish Focal comes up with an improved version of the Utopia - keep most of everything the same, just reduce the treble energy and widen the sound stage!
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Does anyone know what new HEDDphone owners need to do in order to receive the larger headband? Is there a list somewhere that we need to sign up for? Contact Hedd directly? Contact headphones.com???
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Hmmm… have they officially announced it yet? I would think you could reach out to them directly once announced…
Maybe we could convince one of their reps to join our conversation?
But, I think both options would work for figuring out the path forward! Personally I like going straight to the source then working out what needs to be done from there 
Edit2: I emailed the contact me asking about the rumor I’ll let you know if they get back to me… or hopefully they have a PR person jump into the conversation 
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So I just listened to, “River of Deceit”, by Mad Season, and the HEDDphone made it sound different from any other headphones I’ve ever used. I wouldn’t call its portrayal as better or worse but just different. It picked it apart like a surgeon with a scalpel. Everything sounded so parceled out, it reminded me of the old binaural recordings from the 60’s and 70’s.
Anyone here familiar with that track and owns a HEDDphone? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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I’ll give it a go but I’m not familiar with the track…as far as I can recall…
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I’ll be posting some impressions a bit later today, but in the mean time I am thinking about doing a micro-meet (3-4 people max) at my place in Seattle during the week next week.
This would be principally focused on the HEDDphone, SR1a and MySphere and would not be a “bring your own gear” sort of deal.
First thought is a week today (1/29), around late-morning/middle of the day or so. Or possibly early evening. PM me if you’re interested, rather than derailing this thread.
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WOW !!! This is huge news … impossible to come from Europe, but hoping people will join you and I am waiting for results of this meeting !!!
How to use properly around 4500$ in a newgen headphones… big program !
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Listening to River of deceit out of the HEDDPhone now…
hmm…imaging and separation is really good… I think I hear what you are talking about…it is almost like all the sounds have separate lanes… kind of sounds like each part was recorded separetly in studio then mixed together for final production? lol it sounds really good to me… I’ll go throw on the ZMF Verite Closed and see how it sounds with that…
VC listen time…
It still has really good imaging and separation… but yeah it has more of a cohesion to it with the VCs…once again I also agree it isn’t bad with either headphone… that is pretty cool experience. I would say the VC is more of a relaxed presentation and feels more 3D to me… wait you know what… I think it is the bass… it bleeds more into the mids with the VC and is generally more “impactful” at least that is my take on it… but I am not the greatest at deciphering these types of things yet 
all in all, I actually like this track more on the HEDDPhone… so take that for what its worth… (I am a ZMF fanboy through and through )
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