Hi from Washington DC Condo

The best I've heard are Dan Clark headphones. I also like Audeze and Hifiman both have models in various price points. Unless something in your system has a headphone amp it is best to get one. You might also look on a site called headfi (I believe .org) Dan Clark has both electrostatic and dynamic driver styles.

If sticker shock I know Hifiman has good cans at a reasonable price that can be driven by a regular headphone jack. You might contact them to see which models.


Dylan said:
HEADPHONES???

Yesterday I was lamenting to my wife that one of my biggest regrets is that for the rest of my life I will never be able to listen to the music I like (electric Dylan, The Band, Allman Brothers, Dead, Stones, BS&T, Hendrix, Steely Dan, CCR, etc.) the way it is supposed to be played- loud.

A little context- six years ago we moved from our house to a high rise condo. It has taken a while, but I have now optimized the performance of my stereo in our small second bedroom, and it sounds excellent. But I simply cannot play my music loud. So I listen to jazz, soft rock, female vocals etc, but playing the music that really moves me at condo volume levels just makes me frustrated.

In her infinite wisdom she turned to me and said- “So why don’t you just get a good set of headphones so you can play your music the way you like to hear it? Just get whatever you want.”

I’m thinking about it, but the first and only pair of headphones I ever owned were Koss Pro-4AA in the early 70’s. . They were horrible, sound and comfort wise.

I’m asking the group for their collective wisdom and advice.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for all the responses to my headphone query. This year at Capital Audiofest I’ll visit the headphone area and try these brands and others. I’ll report back on what I found.
Thanks again,
 
Perfect, that's the way to do it. The great thing the headphones will sound the same on your ears at the show as they will at your home. Pay close attention to comfort, it doesn't matter how good a set will sound if you are uncomfortable with them on


Dylan said:
Thank you for all the responses to my headphone query. This year at Capital Audiofest I’ll visit the headphone area and try these brands and others. I’ll report back on what I found.
Thanks again,
Click to expand...
 
Dylan said:
HEADPHONES???

Yesterday I was lamenting to my wife that one of my biggest regrets is that for the rest of my life I will never be able to listen to the music I like (electric Dylan, The Band, Allman Brothers, Dead, Stones, BS&T, Hendrix, Steely Dan, CCR, etc.) the way it is supposed to be played- loud.

A little context- six years ago we moved from our house to a high rise condo. It has taken a while, but I have now optimized the performance of my stereo in our small second bedroom, and it sounds excellent. But I simply cannot play my music loud. So I listen to jazz, soft rock, female vocals etc, but playing the music that really moves me at condo volume levels just makes me frustrated.

In her infinite wisdom she turned to me and said- “So why don’t you just get a good set of headphones so you can play your music the way you like to hear it? Just get whatever you want.”

I’m thinking about it, but the first and only pair of headphones I ever owned were Koss Pro-4AA in the early 70’s. . They were horrible, sound and comfort wise.

I’m asking the group for their collective wisdom and advice.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Congrats on your retirement and my condolences on moving from a house to a condo that prevents you from listening to your system at the levels you are used to.
 
HEADPHONES AND CAPITAL AUDIO FEST

I went to CAF on Friday to listen to headphones per my previous post. For me, it did not work out well. I listened to headphones priced between $1K-$5K. The first thing that bothered me was the feeling that my head was in a clamp. I wanted to be able to listen for long time periods but after 1/2 hour my head was throbbing. As to the sound, the soundstage is too different from live music or speakers. On a vocal track, the singer is inside your head, and the other instruments are spaced at various distances away from your rears on the sides of your head. Very unnatural. Finally, in order to try recreate the physicality of speakers I tended to play the headphones way too loud and my ears were ringing after 1/2 hour. So, for me, headphones will not do it and I will just have to teach myself to enjoy my music at lower levels in my high rise condo.

CAF was a blast. I’ve probably gone 5-6 times since moving to DC. A few observations. These are all IMO:

1. There was a lot more diversity in the attendees and the manufacturer/dealer reps. Gives me hope that our hobby still has life in it.
2. The usual systems sounded good to me - eg, Kharma and Tidal, although I wonder if they can rock. The Estalon’s sounded good. I heard MBL’s for the first time and they were excellent, but they needed humongous amplifiers to make them sing.
3. Two big surprises for me- Legacy Audio- these speakers should not sound good- a large number of drivers and digital signal processing. Yet they sounded very coherent and organic, very small with small music and very large with large music. Would definitely be high on my list if I ever moved back to a house. Same with Joseph Audio- conventional WATT/Puppy clone but sounded surprisingly good in several rooms.
4. Systems that just don’t do it for me at all- Audio Note, Harbeth, Zu and the whole Danish speaker thing. To each his/her own but I just don’t get it.
5. I think there are just too many brands in our hobby to make it economically sustainable- far too many turntables, and how many slim floorstanders with a small midrange, small tweeter and two small woofers do we need? I guess hope springs eternal.
 
Dylan, thanks for the update. I came away with a similar feeling re. Joesph Audio, definitely a winner in my book !
 
ONE DOOR CLOSES AND ANOTHER DOOR OPENS

I thought I’d provide an update on the state of my stereo.

After several years buying, selling and optimizing, I finally had the equipment I wanted (Lumin P1, Boulder 866, Fyne F1-10) and had it perfectly dialed in to the small second bedroom of our high rise condo.

But as much as I loved the sound of the system, I couldn’t listen to the music I loved at the appropriate volume for fear of disturbing our neighbors adjacent, above and below. Over time I gravitated to listening to soft rock and jazz. Whenever I put on my 60’s rock it was frustrating to listen at low volumes and it made me anxious if I turned the volume up. It was torture- like having a sports car but not being able to drive it, or having a freezer full of ice cream and not being able to eat it. I listened to the stereo less and less and it just stood there taking up the whole second bedroom like a monument of frustration for me.

One day our daughter asked me to listen to a Dylan playlist on her Apple AirPods. I was surprised- I could turn up the volume, the music was all in my head and listening was pleasurable and stress free. Not the same as a great stereo, but pleasurable nonetheless. I bought AirPods, thought about it for a long time, and decided to sell my beloved stereo and listen critically through earbuds.

I sold the system through The Music Room in Boulder, CO. They were great to deal with in every way. I eventually settled on a pair of Questyle NHB-12 wired earbuds, which I can power directly from my iPhone for hi-res music. I can spend hours listening to the music I love.

For background/soft listening I bought a pair of KEF LS60W’s for the living room. They sound surprisingly good and fill the living room/kitchen with low volume music. My wife has turned our second bedroom back into a lovely guest room. And life goes on.

Do I miss the stereo? Tremendously- and one day if we ever move to a detached home I will assemble a new big rig. But for now, I’m listening to more music and enjoying it.
 

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Dylan said:
ONE DOOR CLOSES AND ANOTHER DOOR OPENS

I thought I’d provide an update on the state of my stereo.

After several years buying, selling and optimizing, I finally had the equipment I wanted (Lumin P1, Boulder 866, Fyne F1-10) and had it perfectly dialed in to the small second bedroom of our high rise condo.

But as much as I loved the sound of the system, I couldn’t listen to the music I loved at the appropriate volume for fear of disturbing our neighbors adjacent, above and below. Over time I gravitated to listening to soft rock and jazz. Whenever I put on my 60’s rock it was frustrating to listen at low volumes and it made me anxious if I turned the volume up. It was torture- like having a sports car but not being able to drive it, or having a freezer full of ice cream and not being able to eat it. I listened to the stereo less and less and it just stood there taking up the whole second bedroom like a monument of frustration for me.

One day our daughter asked me to listen to a Dylan playlist on her Apple AirPods. I was surprised- I could turn up the volume, the music was all in my head and listening was pleasurable and stress free. Not the same as a great stereo, but pleasurable nonetheless. I bought AirPods, thought about it for a long time, and decided to sell my beloved stereo and listen critically through earbuds.

I sold the system through The Music Room in Boulder, CO. They were great to deal with in every way. I eventually settled on a pair of Questyle NHB-12 wired earbuds, which I can power directly from my iPhone for hi-res music. I can spend hours listening to the music I love.

For background/soft listening I bought a pair of KEF LS60W’s for the living room. They sound surprisingly good and fill the living room/kitchen with low volume music. My wife has turned our second bedroom back into a lovely guest room. And life goes on.

Do I miss the stereo? Tremendously- and one day if we ever move to a detached home I will assemble a new big rig. But for now, I’m listening to more music and enjoying it.
Click to expand...

As long as you can enjoy the music. If portability isn't an issue you could have kept the Lumin and ran it into a headphone amp and quality cans. That may have gotten you closer to what you had in the "big rig".
 
Mr. Peabody, thanks for your thoughts. In my case, portability is an issue because I like to listen in various rooms of the condo. And I tried many headphones (at CAF) and every one made my head throb after 20 minutes. I also don’t like the soundstage- from inside your head and extending to outside your head on the side. For whatever reasons earbuds don’t bother me for long listening sessions and I prefer the soundstage all inside my head. The earbuds I bought come with an inline amplifier/DAC and sound pretty good. So that’s the best for me right now. Thanks again, Dylan.
 
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