Hi all,
Had to share a story.
I have a little homestudio in the attic. More like a nice cpu, tons of software (was a salesman/reviewer once, loads of NFR's on the shelf), a good amp, nice speakers, a Kurzweil midiboard and a good main interface (RME).
My headphone was wearing out. It was a Sennheiser 5-something, too lean on the bass, too much mids, no more depth. Had to buy a new one.
I bought a Sennheiser 650. I'm a bit of a pro, I make money with this stuff, so I deserved one. I thought.
Around that time I had a livegig, had to do a FOHmix of Steve Adler (Adler's appetite). Great band, but they were as loud as they were deaf. And stupid me, I forgot my earplugs. So after a very miserable week with a constant sizzle in my poor ears, I accepted the Grand HF Canyon that Steve had ploughed through my inner ear. I learned at school that damaged frequencies are gone forever, so I prepared myself for a life without overtones.
At that time I switched Audio'interfaces, my old Digi 001 became a shelfsitter and the RME and an ADA8000 became my main source of output.
I hooked the ADA8000 to a Sony Extwemely Standawd Pweamp, folks around the net called this nice looking amp 'HiEnd', so it should be more than adequate to drive my dual mono class-A amps, Technics SB-RX50 monitors (they are good) and ofcourse my brand new Sennheiser 650.
Boy, had I gone deaf. With this beautifull new headphone, top-of-the-line and pwetty expensive I couldn't hear details anymore. Ridebells, hihats, snarecracks, all gone. Wooly bass, and dynamics like wet farts. I accepted this situation for a while, it was my own stupid fault, mixing livegigs with imploded rockstars is never worth the money.
Then I read the servicemanual of my last Sony preamp. Great PSU, nice relays, beautiful leds but a meager NE5532 op-amp as a headphoneoutputstage. Mmm.. a Senny 650 has big membrames, maybe it needs a bit more control? So I googled, and there it was, lots of folks didn't like their 650's without a dedicated headphoneamp!
But then what. Dedicated headphoneamps are for 'hi-end'geeks, so they cost about twenty times their real worth. I searched Headwise and found some nice DIY-designs, but the hours it will take me to build one would cost me as much as buying one. But hey, spending over $1k for some decent sound in your cans, lawd..
So I got careless. I looked at my class-A monoblocks. I couldn't plug the 650 straight in, monoblocks have seperate earths and a headphoneplug hasn't. But what I understood from all the folks searching for that one great headphoneamp it's all about drivercontrol, and lots of spare juice. Well, twenty watts of Jean Hiraga's poweramps (with a 500 watt PSU per amp) should be enough. About fifty times enough.
I cut the plug from my 650. I burned the laquer off the leads. I soldered them via a switch (emergencybreak, I'm not that careless) and two 100u caps (you don't want DC from a poweramp on your 650) to a pair of speakerleads and connected them to the Higara's.
Right now I'm still listening, and am stunned. My HFdamage seems to be much less severe than I thought, but fuck, the sound from that 650... All the dynamics are back. Reverbs in the background keep fading steadily while drums pound on the foreground. Ridebells are back. Tomehits are subtle and exact again. Acoustic strums sizzle. And a bass, you can't get that from a speaker. Everything shines, pounds and cries like I've never heard.
It should be, having a kilowatt of PSU humming to feed a pair of cans. Well. it's winter, so putting them under my desk keeps my feet warm.
Moral: If you wan to use your cans a lot, drive them with a sea of power. If you don't and are having trouble making a proper balance, don't start doubting yourself too soon. Most headphoneoutputs have little opamps that drain themselfes with every drumhit, destroying depth, image and impact. Right now I have it all back, and in a way that my 'spitzenklasse IV referentz' speakers can't reproduce.
Slate's demos on my Sennies..
Had to share a story.
I have a little homestudio in the attic. More like a nice cpu, tons of software (was a salesman/reviewer once, loads of NFR's on the shelf), a good amp, nice speakers, a Kurzweil midiboard and a good main interface (RME).
My headphone was wearing out. It was a Sennheiser 5-something, too lean on the bass, too much mids, no more depth. Had to buy a new one.
I bought a Sennheiser 650. I'm a bit of a pro, I make money with this stuff, so I deserved one. I thought.
Around that time I had a livegig, had to do a FOHmix of Steve Adler (Adler's appetite). Great band, but they were as loud as they were deaf. And stupid me, I forgot my earplugs. So after a very miserable week with a constant sizzle in my poor ears, I accepted the Grand HF Canyon that Steve had ploughed through my inner ear. I learned at school that damaged frequencies are gone forever, so I prepared myself for a life without overtones.
At that time I switched Audio'interfaces, my old Digi 001 became a shelfsitter and the RME and an ADA8000 became my main source of output.
I hooked the ADA8000 to a Sony Extwemely Standawd Pweamp, folks around the net called this nice looking amp 'HiEnd', so it should be more than adequate to drive my dual mono class-A amps, Technics SB-RX50 monitors (they are good) and ofcourse my brand new Sennheiser 650.
Boy, had I gone deaf. With this beautifull new headphone, top-of-the-line and pwetty expensive I couldn't hear details anymore. Ridebells, hihats, snarecracks, all gone. Wooly bass, and dynamics like wet farts. I accepted this situation for a while, it was my own stupid fault, mixing livegigs with imploded rockstars is never worth the money.
Then I read the servicemanual of my last Sony preamp. Great PSU, nice relays, beautiful leds but a meager NE5532 op-amp as a headphoneoutputstage. Mmm.. a Senny 650 has big membrames, maybe it needs a bit more control? So I googled, and there it was, lots of folks didn't like their 650's without a dedicated headphoneamp!
But then what. Dedicated headphoneamps are for 'hi-end'geeks, so they cost about twenty times their real worth. I searched Headwise and found some nice DIY-designs, but the hours it will take me to build one would cost me as much as buying one. But hey, spending over $1k for some decent sound in your cans, lawd..
So I got careless. I looked at my class-A monoblocks. I couldn't plug the 650 straight in, monoblocks have seperate earths and a headphoneplug hasn't. But what I understood from all the folks searching for that one great headphoneamp it's all about drivercontrol, and lots of spare juice. Well, twenty watts of Jean Hiraga's poweramps (with a 500 watt PSU per amp) should be enough. About fifty times enough.
I cut the plug from my 650. I burned the laquer off the leads. I soldered them via a switch (emergencybreak, I'm not that careless) and two 100u caps (you don't want DC from a poweramp on your 650) to a pair of speakerleads and connected them to the Higara's.
Right now I'm still listening, and am stunned. My HFdamage seems to be much less severe than I thought, but fuck, the sound from that 650... All the dynamics are back. Reverbs in the background keep fading steadily while drums pound on the foreground. Ridebells are back. Tomehits are subtle and exact again. Acoustic strums sizzle. And a bass, you can't get that from a speaker. Everything shines, pounds and cries like I've never heard.
It should be, having a kilowatt of PSU humming to feed a pair of cans. Well. it's winter, so putting them under my desk keeps my feet warm.
Moral: If you wan to use your cans a lot, drive them with a sea of power. If you don't and are having trouble making a proper balance, don't start doubting yourself too soon. Most headphoneoutputs have little opamps that drain themselfes with every drumhit, destroying depth, image and impact. Right now I have it all back, and in a way that my 'spitzenklasse IV referentz' speakers can't reproduce.
Slate's demos on my Sennies..
