990 & Headphone Experiences

Hello everyone.

I've been waiting to assemble my home theater system, as the pieces slowly roll in. In the mean time, I've been using an old, inexpensive and abused pair of Sony headphones, MDR CD550’s, to manipulate the 990’s settings, so that I can listen to my TV and FM radio. I've been enjoying the experience so much that I'm toying with the idea of buying a nice new pair. I've researched and there's quite a selection now.

My reason for writing is to ask if any of you are using headphones with your 990 and if so, how would you describe the experience and what recommendations might you all have?

Thank you!

John

I have Sennheiser HD555 phones and use them quite regularly for movies and music. This is my first pair of decent phones and am very happy. I paid $125 and feel they are a very good value. I understand Shure makes competitive units that some like very well also.

i also use Sennheiser (HD580's). i've had them for nearly 10 years now, so maybe its time to upgrade, but they sound awesome. can be easily had for under $200 and they are very comfortable.

Yes, I see the new top Sennheiser models are the 595, 600 and 650, ranging from below $200 to nearly $500. E-bay has them for reasonable money, but is this the kind of thing you'd buy without auditioning, first (based solely on reviews and feedback)?

John

Like zod, I have the Senn HD555 (comfortable) as well and really prefer the cans for late night movies rather than using night mode, etc.

The fact that a headphone output was added to the feature list for the 990 was one of the major reasons for me upgrading from the previous 950.

As far as auditioning headphones, I read up as best I could and then blindly pulled the trigger based on rep and reviews. FWIW, the Grado 60's also sound very nice and are an easy push for the 990, more emphasis on the mid-bass though.

Headphones & 990:
(1) I have several AKG Dynamic phones. But I don't want to tie-up the 990 from its use with TV for Mrs. and little ones. So...

(2) I use zone 2 and send it to an external preamp and a Crown D40 amp....this powers my STAX electrostatic phones, which sound great, and are as close as I can come to the recordings made with our AKG mics over the years. Furthermore I can not only listen but if the material has video it is output to a secondary (old, cheap CRT TV). So with this setup I get "two-for-the-price-of-one???"

Great planning on the part of the outlaws

Wow, that's an amazingly versatile, practical setup!

I'm thinking about purchasing a pair of Senn HD650's. Do any of you have any experience with these and/or thoughts about them? They seem highly recommended.

thanks,

John

Sorry I don't. Others in the forum probably can advise you on this. STAX are transparent, and I've seen them on ebay. Enjoy your versatile 990.

Dr_JB: Please let the forum know how you like your purchase. We have a new kitten who found she had a real affinity for headphone cords so I'm using this an an excuse to upgrade. I had (have) the HD-555's and enjoyed them but I'm looking at the 650's too and would really like to hear from a fellow Outlaw how they stack up for the money.
Many Thanks,
Craig, the Dog_Lover

DR_JB I have the 600's and they have a nice sound to them,so I assume the 650's will be better as they seem to be almst double the price at music direct.

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.

korkster,

I just received the 701's on Friday and plan to audition them, for the fist time, in about 20 minutes.

Outlaw wouldn't commit to any specifics, saying only that while the 990's headphone amp should have no problem driving them, a dedicated headphone amp may improve the quality of the listening experience.

So, we shall see. If I really like the 701's, I'd like to figure out how to use them on my back porch ... wireless, with a headphone amp, maybe? We will see.

I will keep you posted.

thanks for responding and glad to hear you're enjoying your Grado's.

John

Dr_JB, I hope you've found by this time that you like your AKGs - I haven't heard them but AKG phones are favored at Recording for the Blind and There's two more links in the reproduction chain fDyslexic where I volunteer. Re Outlaw's implied recommendation of dedicated headphone amps for dedicated headphone listeners, it sort of stands to reason, at least to me, that an amplifier designed to do the best possible job feeding a few milliwatts into the 16 ohm load of good headphones (NOT electrostatic, which are an entirely different can of golden worms) and fed from the 990's preamp outputs would outdo the op-amps or whatever that are in the 990. But wireless - that raises questions about the performance of two more links in the audio chain, the transmitter and receiver, that someone else will have to answer. It would be interesting to compare the reproduction quality of a set of good phones plugged into the headphone jack of a good preamp like the 990, with the same phones attached to a domestic-size wireless transmitter-receiver combo driven from the same preamp, playing high-quality material. Maybe someone here is set up to do this; I'm not.

Sorry for the "There's two more links in the reproduction chain f" in the wrong place in my previous message. Probable operator error while trying to edit.

korkster & psyprof1,

I've had a chance to listen to the AKG K701's:

http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,911,pid,911,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html

and so far, I'm very pleased. I have a couple of programs for breaking them in, but haven't bothered, yet. Some say these phones need up to 350 hours before they really shine, yet, I've read where a couple of fellows tried a new pair against a well used pair and couldn't hear the difference. All I know is that as I'm listening to them, I can actually notice that they warm up, become richer sounding the longer I listen to them. The difference is very subtle, but noticeable. So, I'm sure they will benefit from use.

The 990 has absolutely no problem driving them and, in comparison to my old Sony MDR CD550's, these are in another world, yet driven just as easily by the 990's headphone amp. When I watch sat tv, I get my weakest audio signal, while the highest volume setting is -21db, to give you an idea.

As people say, headphones cannot compete with a quality speaker setup. Nevertheless, the fist night I checked them out, I listened to some chamber music and it was so beautiful and ethereal, that, within 15 minutes, I fell asleep and while it was ethereal, it was also engaging and at these times, I'd wake up, in disbelief, at the beautiful sounds I was hearing. This cycle went on for about 45 minutes.

So, yes, overall, I'm very pleased and not the least bit disappointed in choosing the 701's. Also, I’m not surprised that this company would supply headphones for professional applications, as, I think, these are also designated as “reference” phones.

I can't imagine finding any fault in these babies; at this level, the choices you make really reflect personal taste in the texture of the listening experience, more so, than in its quality. One obvious strength/weakness is that they’re very revealing and while when listening to excellent recordings, they really shine, when listening to garbage, it’s really noticeable (for example, when listening to the tuner, I can hear the weaknesses in the radio signal).

I certainly highly recommend these, especially as they're available on the Internet for as little as $269.

If you're interested in researching what might best suit your tastes, this is an excellent resource:

http://www.head-fi.org/

It lists, also, numerous headphone amps, which range in price from about $100 to 1,000's of dollars. I like this one:

http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wa3.html

for example, as it actually has its own preamp.

Yes, fellows, no shortage of things to spend your hard earned dollars on! lol

Anyway, hope this helps!

John

Whew ... some wind in this one ... sorry ! lol

John,

Thank you for the review. It's nice to hear that the 990 can push the 701's, and I'm glad you're happy with your purchase. And you're right, there is no shortage of "stuff" to spend your hard earned dollars on although I'll bet the Woo Audio 3 would work very nicely with them. Look out wallet! lol

I may be following your lead in the future with the 701's. I'm hoping to find somewhere where I can give them a listen before I commit because as you said, what sounds good to each one of us is very subjective.

Regards.

Korkster

Korkster,

despite the subjective thing, I can't emphasize enough just how sweet these 701's are. The only other semi-reasonably priced pair that compare, via reviews, is the Sennheiser 600/650's.

Anyway, happy auditioning. And, I'll have to look at that Woo Audio 3! lol Thanks for the reference, I think! lol

John

Fellow headphone outlaw enthusiasts: I looked also at WOO, per John's suggestion. My goodness are the
amps expensive. Not sure why. If you know, please let me know. I'm driving either my STAX model SR5 phones with a Crown (very old) D40 amp....or my AKG K240 dynamic phones with the same amp, or the headphone jack of the 990, or the headphone out (line level) from any other gear that has one, including a mixer or etc.

So I guess I don't understand the value in the expensive WOO amps. Thanks in advance.