Hello To All!
I’m new here but, not new to Hi-Fi. I got hooked on stereo in the early-1960s when I first heard Jazz music playing on my aunt’s Magnavox home theatre. I think it was either Miles Davis or Nat King Cole. I was just blown away by how real it all sounded. As time went on, I started reading High Fidelity Magazine and teaching myself what the terminology meant, THD, Crosstalk, Channel Separation, etc. Next was how a record worked. Hills & Valleys in the grooves and all the little subtleties about how the cartridge worked and what the stylus did. Ultimately, I purchased my first turntable - an AR manual turntable with a Stanton 681EE cartridge hooked up to an Eico integrated amp I built from a kit and feeding a pair of AR 3a acoustic suspension speakers. Later, I got my first set of headphones: a pair of Koss Pro 4AA. I was bitten by the Hi-Fi bug ever since. Nowadays, I have a set of HifiMan HE-400i Magnetic Planer cans fed from an iFi Zen DAC with an iFi iPurifier3 plugged in to clean up the USB signal. The sound doesn’t get much better then this. Thanks for letting me ramble.
Ha! My first table was exactly what you got, and with the same cart. After a few months I ditched the Stanton and put in a Shure V-15 type III (improved). A couple of years ago my wife upgraded me (she says she married me for my stereo, and finds it easier to upgrade the hardware than my personal habits) to a VPI Prime Scout.
@TylersEclectic didn’t have a turntable at the time, so I donated my beloved AR/SHURE to him (by then it had an unobtanium Shibata stylus replacement in the SHURE). He’s perpetually refurbishing it – he claims – and owes a report on it here sometime. I’m expecting him to have stained the walnut plinth purple.
Anyway, I couldn’t resist. when you wrote that. I almost went for the AR 3a’s also but found an alternate opportunity.
Hello and welcome @nounours18200, @breckstar, @closed_minded, @fr3akX and @GracieW.
Hello all. I started getting into headphones around whenever HD6XX came out on massdrop. A buddy of mine told me I should get them as an upgrade to my hd280 that I had been previously using. Started the journey because my background is playing music. Started off playing piano as my first instrument. I later moved onto drums, bass, and guitar. Drums is my main instrument or at least most proficient at. So instrument accuracy has been what I have been after into this hobby. Like I said I started out with HD6XX which was great start. Listened to HD800S, LCD-2,3,X, HD660s, and Focal Elex before getting into ZMFs. After hearing about ZMFs being praised for natural timbre I decided to get an aeolus in Dec-2019 from the november sale and only recently started looking into upgrading after having some conversations with Zach about some wood types available. So got a VC on order and the aeolus left to help fund it. I’ve only used SS stuff for listening besides tubes on guitar amps, but I’m starting to take a good look at tube amps now for headphones. Audio is always exciting.
Welcome! Thanks for your great introduction, it was a pleasure to read.
As you’re a musician, which of your headphones would you recommend for listening to drums? I ask because I’ve found that one of the most apparent improvements I’ve had when upgrading my gear has been with percussion instruments. At the same time, I find that a lot of headphones - or recordings - struggle in reproducing the sound of cymbals and hi-hats accurately. I also find myself wincing at snare drums with far too many recordings and headphones.
Any suggestions or recommendations? Thanks!
A lot of recording studios really struggle with micing drums and cymbals well.
I think the detail capabilities of the headphone drive it’s ability to reproduce what the recording has to offer percussion wise. The sound of the cymbal for example (attack, sustain, overtones, tone light/dark) need to be captured correctly in studio/live.
That said from headphones I’ve heard which is not that extensive of a list compared to others and some of them have been short listen sessions, I’d give hd6x0, hd800s, zmf aeolus, auteur, verite for natural and good detail. I can’t remember too much of the focal elex but it was good for the price and from what everyone says the utopia level of detail is top tier so I would say it would do well.
I’m sure more seasoned listeners could chime in even if they aren’t a musician.
Thank you for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it! It’s good to hear the HD 6XX is on your list - it’s this headphone, in particular, that I most readily appreciated the improvement in drums when upgrading gear. It’s a headphone that’s famous for scaling with better gear but I’d wondered if it was a specifically good headphone for drums. I’m looking forward to a time when I’ll get chance to listen some more to the ZMF lineup - thanks again!
Hello and welcome @Ibycus, @Yogi_K and @Shaun_Beauvais.
To this weeks new members, Enjoy !
Thank you. But, I like to think of myself as “any man” when it comes to the projects (personal or professional) and hobbies I’m involved with. Categories become transcendent when we all bypass the titles and get into the meat of the thing.
This! This right here! We are all humans let’s start thinking of it this way.
Thanks, im halppy to join this great community and learn from you guys
This stuff was before my time, but interesting to read. Hills and valleys in records – my older sister left some records out and they ended up absolutely packed with dust. No more hills or valleys. Don’t try to play them that way…on a Radio Shack Realistic record player…I learned…
Welcome to the forum.
Hello everyone i’m from canada, novice audiophile here! My setup so far is
Audioquest dragon fly red
Sony xm4
Koss portapro x
Also i just ordered today a hd58x and a he4xx
Quick question is my dragonfly red enough to drive the 4xx?
Hello and welcome @MAXgicker.
Hello and welcome @AudioMark and @Zithras.
Welcome to all this weeks new members.
Thank you! This seems like a very useful place to get information on audio equipment.
Hey Boys!
Hopefully you have an idea of who I am based on my picture. If not, that’s ok! I’m Ms.Piggy (real name is Lisa) and I am @Animal 's girlfriend. I hope my profile and picture are okay. I wanted to start things off with a little humor. I do love music though and I really like these new Utopia kind of headphone that I got recently too, but I signed up here because I need a lot of help. I will try and find the right area where I can do that. Talk to you later.