Headphone amp + headphones

No, I hope it does the business for you. Its all that matters really. I feel your pain, I've spent £825 on headphone amps myself

 

Cheers Paul.

I plugged in the RA1 last night for a listen. I also did some A/B comparisons with the OBH21SE, and I tried both amps with the 325s and the CD1700s. So....

The RA1 is better to my ears than the 21SE. It has more detail, it's crisper and there's a better feeling of balance (nothing is too dominant, whether an instrument or vocals). The difference is not a gulf, however, and I've enjoyed the Creek since I got a replacement a couple of weeks ago. It seems much better than I had remembered. I don't know if it's down to the recently-revised power supply, but it's a good listen anyhow.

My headphone preference is pretty much music-dependent - on some of the cds I listened to last night I preferred the Grados (such as Rickie Lee Jones and Tori Amos) as they gave me a feeling of being closer to the performance. On other cds I preferred the Sonys (including The Band and Golden Smog) as they are warmer and less fatiguing than the Grados.

Although Grado believe their 'phones and amp are warm in sound I actually find the Sonys warmer and the Grado's high end can get a little tiring on a long listen.

So, for now at least, I'm gonna keep both amps and 'phones. I'll stick with the RA1 and let it run in (with the 21SE as a good backup option) and I'll probably choose 'phones based on music, personal whim or the phase of the moon.

Either way I'll get a good sound.

 

Yeah I reckon its good to have headphone choices, after all, no matter how good your headphones are, its nice to have a change. I almost wished I had kept my DT531's but up until that point they were collecting dust, and I wont have money for another set for a while. Besides, my preferences are about 90% electronic, with the other 10% rock, female vocal and pop, and I've found nothing much that can do any better in those areas.

I am not really surprised that your RA1 beats the OBH21, as you may gather from my posts, I am not really a fan of the Creek amps - they work, but I wouldnt go so far as to say they were good performers, but anyway, enjoy it, and remember, theres far more difference between cans than amps, so dont stress about it.

 

Well that's three pairs bought in this thread! Anyone else? I wonder how many Ask have left... Hope you like them David; they'll certainly improve your Cyberman impressions .

This whole different headphones for different types of music idea is something I hadn't thought of, but I'd better resist or that could get seriously expensive!

 

Heh heh! I am evil...

In fact, I can't believe the improvement that I get by switching cans for various cds. Anyone using just one set is craaazy...

[Whispers: Do it, do it, you know you want to...]

:JOEL:

 

I have been without a pair of headphones for a while now, since my last pair broke.

I've been looking around for ages try to decide which to go for, and finally (on friday) decided the CD1700's were going to be the cans I'd choose. I ordered them and was looking forward to getting them and spending the weekend trying them out. Went to bed that night, wondering if they'd arrive the next day.

Got up on Saturday, and not just 1 thing had arrived, but 2 things...
1) A parcel from askdirect containing my CD1700 headphone's.
2) A bad cold, and a completely blocked left inner ear.

Sods law or what???. :banghead:

The headphones do sound pretty good though... in mono... through my right ear!!!

On the plus side, I will be able to give you a review (shortly) of the audio enhancing effects of 'Sudafed' and 'Audiclean' (spray to clean your ears... advert is on TV).

 

Congrats lloydsj, but if my cold was anything to go by, it took 4 weeks for my hearing to return to normal

Well, just FYI, there are probably at least 10 members of headfi, possibly more, who have... not one..... not two..... or three, four or five pairs..... but have AT LEAST TWENTY-FIVE pairs of headphones

So yes, it could get expensive

 

:yikes: I wouldn't know what to do if I had 25 pairs of headphones (other than sell a few...)! Imagine having to decided which pair you fancied each time you grabbed a CD to listen to .

My Perreaux turned up yesterday BTW . I only had a very quick listen last night, but it was certainly powerful sounding, having that sort of solidity and realism you get with more powerful amp/speaker setups. With nothing playing it was dead silent too, which is great. Straight out of the box it wasn't the clearest amp I've heard, but hopefully it's running itself in at home as I type this, which with luck may help this.

Martin