Background to this post is that I have been listening to my first serious headphones, ATH-AD900 for the past couple of years, mostly very happily, but feeling like a change/upgrade, or, hey, just seeing what it is like to be one of those people who own more than one pair of headphones!  Accordingly, I spoke to a few people in person, and online, and got some pertinent advice a couple of pages back in this very thread, and, unheard and un-tried-for-fit, ordered a pair of HD600 to be carried from USA to India by a visiting friend-in-law.

They arrived today.

I have not tried any AB test, but I guess I will. First impression is that it is a lovely sound, a bit reminiscent of vintage hifi: rather mellow, but in a natural way. I'm not sure that they have quite the same bite, in places, as the AT. I did notice that, in the vocal bit of Mahler's 4th, there are notes that hurt my head on the AT; they don't from the HD600.

I'll be letting my ears burn in a bit more: I'm guessing that those in-brain cables are, given some time, going to deliver some more details that I'm not hearing today

 

Anyone use the sys passive preamp from schit? For 50 bucks it looks like killer deal and might be interesting with my power amps. Didn't even  know they even made that stuff.

(Possible) problem again.

My Sennheiser HD 215 sounds a little bit shallow on one side (or the other one is boosted), it's not really noticable, but when you put left cup on right ear and opposite, you can clearly notice the difference in sound. They behave same when I use them on my phone, but difference is slightly smaller. This smaller difference made me test my cell phone Samsung bugs on my laptop, and I think i noticed sliiiiightly difference between L and R on them too, but might be tripping. So. I'm wondering, could it be that my headphones jack is broken and that that damaged one driver on HD 215, and can I test/measure my laptop soundcard output levels, to see if it's the same for left and right?

Also, since I'm getting an amp, I quit buying soundcard, so will this cheap external USB soundcards do the same job as integrated? This one sounds quite nice, and I already asked about it, but never got an answer about cheap USB vs integrated soundcard quality difference. Will it be worse?

Had the same thing on the one I measured for a co-worker:



The HD215 isn't really a hifi phone but is intended for monitoring.

I use the XLR version of this: http://emotiva.com/products/electronics/control-freak

It's about the same price, and let me hook my gungnir up to my speaker amp without anything else in between.  It works.  I imagine the Schiit one works, too.. if you don't need balanced, the Sys is in a more convenience form factor.

Looks kinda weird. Is there even a volume knob? I have balanced interface but my power amps just use rca so the sys will be perfect. I was thinking before going passive in the past but ones I spotted were always bit pricey for some reason. Actually very tempted and will probably order one today after I take care of couple things today( phone bill and shipping something out). Probably be here around monday or so and it'll be perfect cause my power amp is getting restored and be done in time. I'll give it a shot and let people know how I like it cause for 50 bucks plus 2yr warranty,  can't pass that up. Looks solidly built too.