Well what headphones do you like and what do you like about them? That helps me get perspective of where you are coming from.


AD: Really agile and detailed sounding. Overall neutralish. I really really want to like them, but the hardness and slight glare always creep in and bother me. The dog treat kits do tame the issue, but leaves other undesirable properties. Successive layers of felt over the driver is not the answer.


400i: Kind of a funky FR. Warmish with the bass with a spot lit mid-treble emphasis. Recording dependent. Good price. Need to do some more investigation to see if I got a bum unit.


PM2: Rather nice esp with the alt-pads. Needs low output impedance and good power not to sound soft.

I remember Marv and myself had this little talk about the PM1/PM2 vs. the HD600 at the LA meet. I asked him, what does the Oppo really do better than the HD600? Why would I want to keep it? I'm not sure how he responded exactly but basically it all boiled down to consistency. You can plug the PM1/PM2 into anything and get consistent results. It's gonna sound pretty good regardless of upstream gear, music preferences, SPL preferences, listening outdoors, whatever. Yeah, it's gonna scale a bit in terms of authority if you drive it off a transformer coupled DHT. But you can also plug it into an iPod with 192kb/s MP3s and enjoy the music. The HD600 is not like that at all in my view. Plug the HD600 into a 445 and it's a whole different ballgame. It needs good amplification to 1) open up the soundstage, 2) get cleaner bass performance and 3) gain that clarity and speshal inner-detail/microdynamics/microkrill/whatever you want to call it. IMO any above average amp gets you #1. #2 seems to happen when you drive it off a good transformer coupled amp. #3 is a more elusive quality that comes with speshal toobs and a highly resolving D/A. I'm getting away from the point though. None of this shit is even an issue with the Oppos. It just makes sound consistently. It's going to deliver its Oppo sound no matter what you do. In summary, although it doesn't scale, it does deliver consistent results.

And while that can be seen as a negative trait, I don't think that's fair on the PM1/PM2 for what it really offers. Imagine you're someone who just wants a good headphone listening experience around the house. You're an upper-middle class professional type so you have a fair bit of cash to spend and you want something that isn't cheap looking and will last you a while. You don't want to deal with all these fucking extra boxes that these nutjob audiophiles recommend. You just want to plug the headphone into your Macbook and listen to YouTube music, then go watch a movie and plug it into your AV receiver, then step outside on the patio and plug it into your little iPad while you play fucking words with friends. And the PM1/PM2 is pretty much perfect for that. It's gonna blend well with your Ikea furniture and your girlfriend won't find it offensive. And y'know it's gonna sound pretty damn good. Better than any equivalent you can find on the market that I'm aware of. That's what the PM1/PM2 is meant for. I'd heartily recommend it to anyone who is after that sort of user experience. It's pretty damn good for what it is.

AD: Really agile and detailed sounding. Overall neutralish. I really really want to like them, but the hardness and slight glare always creep in and bother me.

I feel spot on the same. So I guess it is not a trait of my amp (fiio e07k/e09k). It is music/record dependent, but it is there about 50 percent from my experience.

I don't have much experience with exotic headphones. Chances to demo here are bad. I have fidelio x1 for a year and it is fine, but I want to have something with a bit less recessed mids and a bit less bass heavy. AD are close, but maybe to clean and revealing. Clean bass is great, but I am not so crazy on mids because of mentioned glare. It would be grate if I would find headphones tilted towards classical and vocal music, but would be all rounder if needed. I do help with EQ for that, so there is a bit of room there.
I can order 400i here, but not to demo. PM I must find online, because in Europe prices are crazy. I was thinking about he500, but ADs are already to heavy for me.

Thank you for your effort.

You can probably find a better front damping solution to reduce the glare on the AD. I just am finding myself lacking time to experiment with it as much as I wanted.

As for the PM-2, I put them on a couple days ago after taking a break from them, and they sounded more disappointing than I remember (keeping in mind I was one of the few to say positive things about the PM-1). They really only excel at looks, build quality, and the ability to run well from about anything. Sound is OK, but not what I'd call great. It does a few things a bit better than a stock HD600 (I don't have a super duper amp for the HD600), but not much.

PM2: Rather nice esp with the alt-pads. Needs low output impedance and good power not to sound soft.

Is the PM2 that sensitive to output impedance?  Generally orthos aren't.  How high of an output impedance does it take to make them go soft?