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Post by fault151 on Oct 1, 2007 12:51:35 GMT
Hi all, I'll start by saying i am new to this forum and I'm just after some good advice. I just got my self a set of sennheiser hd595 headphones and i am looking to purchase a good headphone amp to go with them. I am after something that is going to be good quality but i don't want to spend a huge amount. I bought the particular sennheiser headphones mainly to be listen to via my ipod and my mac computer. Having listened to a set of sennheiser hd600 headphones on a friends headphone amp, i can clearly hear the difference in quality of sound. Can anyone point out a few makes that are particularly good or would it be best to look in to buying a handmade amp? As i say, i am new to all the amp technology and have a basic understanding of things, so some sound advice is much appreciated! thanks
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Post by fault151 on Oct 1, 2007 13:55:31 GMT
I have just found a thread discussing imods for ipods. Has anyone had this done? Is it only available in the US or is there anywhere in UK that does it?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2007 14:03:54 GMT
"or would it be best to look in to buying a handmade amp? "
fault151 Have a good read of the thread "Green Solo Impressions" and then if you are suitably impressed by many of the rave reviews , go to "Graham's Bargain Bucket" and check out the special "Members Only" offer. There are also independent reviews available for many of Graham's designs. Graham will point you in the right direction for those.BTW, they are ALL hand made in the U.K.
SandyK
P.S. Welcome to Rock Grotto.
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Post by fault151 on Oct 1, 2007 14:11:42 GMT
Ok thanks, I shall have a look!
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Post by fault151 on Oct 2, 2007 13:49:57 GMT
I contacted red wine audio and apparently they can't do anything with my new ipod, its only the older ones that they do. Bit gutted really. With file types for ipods, is the losless the best encoder to use for highest quality of AIFF or ACC? I can adjust the settings in Itunes but i'm not sure of the best sound. Size of the files does'nt matter to me as i have a hard drive dedicated to music.
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Post by fault151 on Oct 2, 2007 15:26:09 GMT
I dont suppose i can do anything with it to improve it can i? Or is it a matter of time before mods are designed to improve the g6?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 2, 2007 22:47:02 GMT
I dont suppose i can do anything with it to improve it can i? Yeh, you can bin it. Best place for it IMO. Get yourself a decent source. Sorry but I detest this "download" generation. Mike.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2007 23:12:47 GMT
"Sorry but I detest this "download" generation. Mike." ME TOO ! ;D I have nothing against storing your favourite CDs on a PC as insurance against damage, but there is absolutely no comparison with the real thing played through a good headphone amplifier, or quality amplification and good loudspeakers. Anything else should be for convenience only, when you are unable to do either of those. Many of you are buying decent gear from people like Graham Slee. Why not use them to their full potential ? Lossless formats ? Phooey !!! Shame on you Miguel for encouraging people this way WITHOUT telling them how good the headphones etc that you are so knowledgeable about, sound when fed with unadulterated highest quality music sources ! SandyK
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Post by fault151 on Oct 3, 2007 8:42:25 GMT
I don't suppose i can do anything with it to improve it can i? Yeah, you can bin it. Mike. Yeah well that reply was a lot of use to me wasn't it? I understand that its not the best sound quality and it isn't good enough for your listening taste, but, i wanted to know if anything can be done with a 6generation ipod and expected more of a informative answer. I completely understand what your saying, as in the source of the music will only let down the high end equipment trying to play it. I will eventually look in to buying better equipment such as amps, and CD players but unfortunately for now I will have to rely on my mac for storage and ipods. Would it make a difference if i imported at the highest quality for my music files? A mac computer can import AIFF files which are higher quality than the apple lossless encoder. Will this be as good as the CD sound? I also have heard that vinyl sounds much better than Cd's. I guess a lot of it is personal taste?
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Post by fault151 on Oct 3, 2007 8:46:49 GMT
You can get a dock out, and feed the signal to an external amp. This amp should be of sufficient high quality to make the effort worth it. The headphones used should also be of high enough quality, or IEM's if you are traveling. The files should be Apple Lossless. Of course you end up w/ a pretty good size rig! Is that a pic of your gear you use for your ipod? Where did you get your amp and cables from?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2007 9:21:37 GMT
fault151 If you have plenty of Hard Drive space, rip the CDs as .wav files. Then create another folder where you can stave the suitably compressed files for your ipod.Always try to convert to the highest bit rate that your player can handle, otherwise they will sound dull and compressed Later on, as you are able to afford better gear, you will then be able to burn your .wav files to CD for use in your CD player etc. If your MAC has a reasonable audio output , you can also enjoy CD quality files from your PC to a Headphone amplifier. Remember that once converted to another format, you usually won't be able to reconvert to quite as good as the original CD quality. For further info on the best methods to create suitable files for your player, you would be well advised to follow Miguel's suggestions. SandyK
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Post by fault151 on Oct 3, 2007 9:56:48 GMT
OK thanks a lot for your reply. I think the idea of a headphone amp that permanently connects to my mac would be best. It does have a good sound card as far as computers are concerned and its got to be the better than the sound from my ipod. Ideally it would also be nice to buy a portable amp just for my ipod. Theres so much gear i would love to buy! ha ha.
Thanks again.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 3, 2007 12:11:55 GMT
Apologies for my earlier reply, better no reply than one that doesn't help so here goes with something a bit more helpful...... You say you like the sound of the Sennheiser HD-600 (so do I) well..... the ipod's output isn't beefy enough to drive a pair of HD600 to their full potential so why not invest in a Graham Slee Voyager portable amp A similar design to the Graham Slee Solo (which is Sennheisers choice of amp to demo their flagship HD-650) so will be the ideal partner to power the HD-600 from your ipod. I will hopefully be trying a Voyager very shortly with my own ipod (yeh, I have one but seldom use it) and will try it with a varied selection of headphones.
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Post by fault151 on Oct 3, 2007 12:40:33 GMT
It's Ok. I have sent Graham a message asking about portable amps so hopefully he can advise me nd give me some prices to look at. Thanks for your help.
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Post by fault151 on Oct 4, 2007 8:35:21 GMT
'mrarroyo'
OK well thanks for your help, it was useful! I'm torn between getting a portable amp and a headphone amp to sit on my desktop.
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toad
Been here a while!
I am the Super Toad, the Original Toad, the Whole Toad and nothing BUT the toad.... don't forget it!
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Post by toad on Oct 4, 2007 23:00:55 GMT
I have ripped a lot of my CDs to 320 mp3s with EAC and play them on my Sony Clie with built in MP3 player or via MP3 CDs via a Panasonic portable CD player. I run whatever one I'm using into a CMOY my only HP amp until I can save the readies for a green solo. Great as they sound they don't sound anywhere near as good as my Sony DVD player playing the same MP3 CDs and connected to the CMOY. Surprisingly I can hear a difference between the 320 mp3s ripped with EAC and the original CDs when both are played back to back on the Sony. I can only hear the difference on the HD595s all my other cans aren't up to the task. The only thing I can say is the soundstage of the original CDs is much more realistic for want of a better word than the MP3s. Forgive me for my wording I'm newish to Headphones having rediscovered them only recently while on search for musicality from my Brutal Yamaha 5.1 system that although awesome for movies has all the musical capability of a 2 y/o with a casio Keyboard. And the review said it was musically competent If you want to dip your toe in the world of HP amps without chucking out a load of cash then you could do a lot worse than a CMOY although if you do be prepared to lust after a green solo once the amp burns in and gives you a taster for what could be
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2007 23:38:28 GMT
"Surprisingly I can hear a difference between the 320 mp3s ripped with EAC and the original CDs when both are played back to back on the Sony." toad The difference will be even more noticeable when you get past middle age/older . The CDs will sound like the MP3s do now, but the MP3s will sound like shit ! Some people say they sound like that anyway ! Another good reason to also save your CDs as .wav files as well as the converted files SandyK
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2007 23:45:20 GMT
"I have compared my iModded iPod with cd players (NAD C542 and Arcam CD73). The iModded iPod is just as good. Now you can flame me." Miguel I wouldn't dare flame you, as you are the master of a great comeback ! ;D However , you may have now lost a lot of credibility with many members who take your headphone reviews seriously !
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toad
Been here a while!
I am the Super Toad, the Original Toad, the Whole Toad and nothing BUT the toad.... don't forget it!
Posts: 1,223
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Post by toad on Oct 5, 2007 9:03:40 GMT
"I have compared my iModded iPod with cd players (NAD C542 and Arcam CD73). The iModded iPod is just as good. Now you can flame me. " --- mrarroyo, Is this when playing MP3's or when playing FLAC, APE or another lossless format?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 5, 2007 10:52:29 GMT
<Miguel here> l l 0 0 Getting his chesnuts flame grilled
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Post by fault151 on Oct 5, 2007 11:01:16 GMT
I cant believe the effort you put in to making an animated gif. ha ha. I'm getting some very mixed opinions on the whole usage of the mp3 player with amp scenario. Its good to hear both sides of the argument!
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bullpup
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How much is that doggy in the window?
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Post by bullpup on Oct 5, 2007 11:18:59 GMT
Guys, if you are really going to tell the man the best way to get sounds from his headphones why not go the whole hog and say Vinyl with good quality Cartridge, Deck, Tonearm and Phono stage!
Some of us may be anti iIpods and similar but that is what the man has to work with and lets face it we all started with perhaps less than ideal systems!
Fault 151 for what it is worth you obviously need to decide how you do the majority of your listening before you make a choice of amp. However a good portable with either re-chargeable batteries or an external mains feed may be a good compromise. Thats what I did originally using a Go-vibe V5 and although I now use one of Mike's heavily tweaked X-cans for almost all my listening (and love it) it does reduce your options. One of Grahams amps may well be ideal for you and I must confess to lusting after one. Ideally you should try listening before buying - not easy I know unless you go to the Head-fi meet.
You should however definitely follow Miguel's advice regarding a line out dock to feed any amplifier from your Ipod
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2007 11:33:56 GMT
Mike
I can't stop laughing !
SandyK
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Post by fault151 on Oct 5, 2007 11:36:40 GMT
If money was no object i would definitely have all my fav music on vinyl and with the best amps.. Like you said I'm really after learning about how to improve what i already have and also gaining more knowledge of what to look for when the day arrives that i can afford to buy better gear. (I cant wait for that day! ha ha) Its a bit difficult for me as I also spend a lot of money on computers, i recently bought my self the new mac pro for my design job. What a beast! anyway.... Regarding Grahams amps I contacted him the other day and spoke to a colleague of this, I am trying to set up a day to go and have a listen. He only lives 10min away. I can't wait to hear them. I have read a lot of comments on his gear and to finally hear something would be great! Thanks for your help!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2007 11:43:42 GMT
"Guys, if you are really going to tell the man the best way to get sounds from his headphones why not go the whole hog and say Vinyl with good quality Cartridge, Deck, Tonearm and Phono stage!" We will leave that to Graham Slee (In person) !!! SandyK
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