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Headphones only?

Gromit

Plasticine Dog
Anyone here run a system where headphones are the only (or even main) method of listening to music? Reason I'm asking is this:

We had a music room built onto the rear of our house a few years ago - it's been a great place for the piano to go in, and where I do all my music teaching. However, the living room where my hifi resides is un-used 99% of the time as we have a large 'family room' which is an open-plan area of sitting/dining room and kitchen. As the living room is so under-utilised, I'm giving serious thought to owning a grand piano. Always wanted one, and it would fit very nicely in the living room - which would then become the main music room. The 'old' music (piano) room would become an office/study where I can do music score prep and a man-cave to listen to music via headphones - with all the stuff that'd be going in there's insufficient space for a speaker-based hifi rig.

The upside is that it gives me the opportunity (and excuse!) to splash on some really good headphones. A good friend has a Stax headphone rig which sounds incredible, for example.
 
Me, mainly. My Stax setup is my main listening method. If I end up buying some ESLs that may change.... ;)
 
I have a very nice headphone system upstairs but I regard it as complimentary, I would never rate it as a replacement for a full range speaker set up. A different experience.
 
I can highly recommend Grado RS2s.

I bought these some time ago and still use them regularly. I find many headphones have a shut in sound and a somewhat bass heavy bias. The RS2s sound very natural and the bass goes deep but without sounding like someone has hit the loudness button.

I'd be happy to let you borrow them for a couple of weeks to try out as they do not 'impress' on a quick listen but over a period you get to realize they allow you to hear the music!
Ive got a Project HeadboxII if you need a headphone amp to borrow as well.
 
I now use Stax 009s with a Trilogy energiser for 90% of my listening leaving the main system idle. Bit of a waste really but for independent listening who cares.
 
Yep me too. Since buying my Focal/EAR headamp system I VERY rarely listen to my main Boulder/Revel Salon system.

The listening experiences are different with the main rig having the feeling of bass power and setting the musicians out in front of you. But it doesn’t even come close for naturalness, detail and musicality. My main rig sounds flat by comparison. (Of course it’ll all be down to the room).
Give headphones a few days to get used to the different presentation and I’d be surprised if you go back, also you don’t annoy the neighbours and or Mrs and ankle biters.
 
The comparison between good active speakers (my Adams fall into that category IMHO) and the electrostatic Stax headphones is interesting. As a family man, the headphones give me a chance to shut out the others and really concentrate and get into the music in a way I just can't with the speakers. I am hopeful that a sabbatical using ESLs will bring a bit more of that involvement back into the main system, if only to scratch that 'stat itch'. The Adams are really, really good. As were the ATC100 actives. In fact, they were a bit better than the Adams I'd say. Overall, however, the Stax are better in detail and involvement for me.
 
I do quite a lot of headphone listening, due to my principal opportunities being very early-morning and not wishing to disturb family. I’ve found HD800’s, balanced from an SPL Phonitor 2 using crossfeed allows me to ‘dial-out’ all that had previously put me off headphones. It’s now very close to the presentation of my main system, and often just as enjoyable.
 
Thanks all - this is great info/input. I particularly like listening via headphones for orchestral music as it gives a sense of being within the group itself (something I'm more used to), even if they'll never give the sheer physicality of being surrounded by the sound. At the moment I have a pair of HD650's which are ok, and using the headphone output on my Cyrus amp they work quite well. The Grado SR80's are also huge fun, but not exactly subtle. From the little listening I have done with them, I think Stax is on the radar though.
 
I really prefer loudspeakers but the new Sonoma electrostatics have really been a revelation , they are voiced to sound like a really good monitor in a really good room and they do.
Keith
 
IF I were ever to have a headphone only system, I'd design it quite differently to a loudspeaker based system.
The best headphones are VERY revealing of recording quality and engineered sound variance. Simple, well designed tone controls are a BIG bonus if you have broad and catholic tastes in music.
Matching impedance is vital of course, but my biggest concern would be to avoid phones which represent orchestral music as a claustrophobic experience. Some closed back phones put everything within an apparent space just a few inches high and wide, which is 'odd' in a full orchestral recording. I'd audition until I solved that.
 
I lived with Stax as my main system at a time when I could rarely use speakers. Despite only having the 'Basic' full size offering they are so detailed and involving (as JTC puts it well) that I could enjoy them for hours at a sensible volume where the Sennheisers I had before sounded flat at low volume and only opened up at a volume that I'd say was in the 30min exposure territory! However, as soon as I was in a position to listen to speakers more or less as I pleased again they quickly started to gather dust (well the energiser and dust cover did.) No doubt there is some element of psychoacoustics, and this effect will vary person to person, but without feeling the low end as well as hearing it, I am very concious I am listening to a recording; the illusion I am listening to 'real' music is that bit less convincing. For listening analytically to a recording the Stax were almost certainly better than any speaker system I have owned, but without that physicality I didn't enjoy music as much.
 
Hi,
I have the 800's using a Quad PA-One headphone amp and they do sound really good.
I think the fact that the Quad is valve makes the Senn's come alive in a way that solid state does not.
I did have the Naim headline, but the PA-One is just better to my ears, more involving and real.
Not that the Naim was bad, just the Quad is better.
Just make sure whatever headphones you go for you buy a really good headphone amp to drive them.
All the best in your quest.
Cheers
John
 
I know it's a hifi forum, but I'm more interested what grand piano you might get.....nice old German Steinway/ Bechstein/ Bluthner versus modern Far East..actually, a bit like vintage hifi versus modern Jap ? Remember, length is everything :) try for 6' 2 upwards !
 
I know it's a hifi forum, but I'm more interested what grand piano you might get.....nice old German Steinway/ Bechstein/ Bluthner versus modern Far East..actually, a bit like vintage hifi versus modern Jap ? Remember, length is everything :) try for 6' 2 upwards !

Looking at a Bluthner Model 4 (2.1m) hopefully. :)
 
Lovely action ....
Actually, back to hifi, will follow what happens as I am in a similar position and looking at investing a sizeable chunk into some headphones, though maybe not Stax territory..
 
I do most of my listening on headphones and use Sennheiser HD650s with a Bottlehead Crack that has been upgraded quite a lot..
I did try a Quad PA One well in fact I tried two Quad PA Ones which did sound good but we’re both sent back due to the left and right channels being mixed up seems Quad QC isn’t what it used to be and I expected better for an amp in that price range..
 
It's the only way I like to listen to music nowadays. Doesn't disturb anyone else and I can really get into the music. A nice glass of whiskey helps too...!

Current rig is a BH Crack running Beyer DT880 600OHM headphones. Secondary rig is a modified Little Dot 1+ used with Grado PS500E.
 
I loved the Stax 009s when I tried them, and nearly ended up with them, but found the MrSpeakers ETHER to offer an awful lot, for substantially less money, so plumped for them.

I see there’s a new ETHER Flow, that’s meant to be even closer to the electrostatic (detailed) sound.
 


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