Well,

I missed out on a great sale price, of the 650's. I'll have to be a little more patient, but will post, if I manage to get a pair.

thanks,

John

P.s. I had meant to ask, is there a specific set of adjustments, dedicated only to headphone listening?

thanks,

John

The 990 does offer a couple of different processing options - "Surround Mode" menu, "HP Config" setting can be Stereo or one of several Dolby Headphone modes (which simulate surround sound for headphones).

Again, thank you!

John

I tried the different modes but other than stereo, sports announcers sounded like they were in a tin can.

I also had a young cat that liked the cord. Fortunately for her, she grew out of it.

An update:

I've put quite a bit of research into a replacement set of head phones, primarily through www.head-fi.org, before finally deciding on a pair: the AKG K701's. I should have them soon and look forward to the listening experience.

nfaguys,

I now realize what a hot pair of headphones you have, in your Stax. They must truly be a joy and via your setup, a nice way to escape.

Thank you all for your responses,

John

DR_JB wrote: I now realize what a hot pair of headphones you have, in your Stax. They must truly be a joy and via your setup, a nice way to escape.

Right-on. For example last night the wife was watching satellite TV via Video 2 Input. I was listening to a CD connected to the 990-with output thru zone 2-to a preamp and small amp and STAX phones.

Everybody happy
Life is Good
990 has great options

...and I had good sound. Able to control volume with small zone 2 remote, though I had preset the volume on peamp and small amp.

nfaguys,

that is defintely a sweet setup.

How do you have it wired?

Could a similar setup be achieved wirelessly, between headphone amp and 990?

thanks,

John

DR_JB wrote: How do you have it wired?
Could a similar setup be achieved wirelessly, between headphone amp and 990?

The Zone 2 output feeds an old Sanyo preamp and a Crown D40 Amp. Each occupies 1 RU in a 19" rack. The STAX power unit is fed from the speaker outputs of the Crown D40. The Stax phones would plug into the stax power unit (for want of a better name). This is all in my rack cabinet. I actually have a STAX extensio cord plugged into the power unit and have the phones at my chair. (Wife puts up with this and has never given me grief ).

Re: Wireless. The only experience I have with wireless is that I bought a wireless unit from Radio Shack. It is used so the wife can listen to TV in the bedroom and let me go to sleep. It is fed from line-level outputs on the TV. So this ought to work from ZONE 2 outputs which, I believe , are at line level.

If you want you can send me a PM with phone # and I'll call you.

John,

I haven't been checking the Outlaw Saloon much recently but had some extra time tonight and noticed your headphone concerns. I'm going through the same thing these days. I upgraded my system last year going to the 990/7500 combination, and I am very happy with both. However, my wife doesn't necessarily share my happiness at times and I can't always listen to my equipment as often as I'd like. That has led me to the pursuit of headphones as well so I can listen "in my own little world" without bothering her.

I was very near buying the AKG 701's but decided that I'd "stick my toe in the water" by purchasing some lower end Grado's, the SR80's, that have received great reviews as far as bang for the buck. I figured at $95 they were a good way to get started and if I didn't like them I could always hand them off to my daughter to use with her IPOD. I must say I'm very impressed and better understand why Grado's are carried by high end audio stores. If this is how their lower end stuff sounds I'm going to have to try their high end stuff before I decide to move forward with anything else. However, I'm very curious to hear what you think of the 701's? I was actually down to either those or the Beyer Dynamics DT880's.

I noticed your other thread regarding the headphone out of the 990. Have you heard anything from Outlaw regarding your question yet? The 990 seems to push the Grado's O.K. as they don't require a lot of power but I'm curious how much better they'd be with a dedicated amp. Let us know what your thoughts are regarding the 701's.

Thanks.