Top Class Headphones for MD & Headphone Amp

[Hudson]

Just what headphones are you guys using for your MD units and if you get some of the really good stuff (Grado etc) do you need a headphone amp and if so, what the hell are they and how do they help ?

Reading reviews of the real top end '' over the ears '' headphones they keep mentioning the headphone amp..... i have a sennheiser set at the moment, not too expensive and bought to watch tv and movies.

Thanks

[Azureal]

I have a headphone amp designed to drive higher end headphones. My gear is middle of the road compared to the entire spectrum of what is available but it smokes the sound quality of any on-board MD amplifier.

I use a HeadAmp model Gilmore Lite which is based on a classic Class A amplifier designed by some noted Electrical Engineering Audiophile a number of years ago. He published the design and many companies have used the design over the years. The amplifier is just a small unit which provides around one watt of power per channel over the full audio frequency spectrum with extremely low distortion. You can read more about this specific model here: HeadAmp - Gilmore Lite. This unit is no longer made and I feel fortunate to have scored one of the last ones made, it cost around $400 USD two years ago. Anything you see on eBay for $20 will not get it, you do get what you pay for when it comes to audio equipment. There are many awesome companies out there manufacturing high end small quantity units in North America and the UK.

I use two pairs of higher end headphones (again, not the highest of those available but not something you can get at Best Buy), the first pair are the classic Grado SR325is, and a pair of Sennheiser HD650s. I think I like the Senns the best and they are definitely more comfortable to wear for extended listening. I use this rig entirely at work at my desk, none of it is really portable.

Both of these headphones are considered high impedance, i.e. their resistance as a load to the amp at 1000Hz is 300 - 600 ohms. Most small headphones which can be driven by the internal amplifier in an MD player have much lower impedance ranging between 4 and 32 ohms.

My Amp is designed to drive a high impedance headphone for the maximum power transfer. The idea is not to be loud but clean and clear (although loud is certainly an option). This rig brings out all of the nuances of an SP recording.

I typically drive the input of the amplifier with one of two machines, one of my RH1s with the output set to line or my R50 for superior SP quality via its dedicated line out jack.

The sound is really quite amazing. I have a higher end Marantz SR18 receiver which has amazing specs and cost over $3500 ten years ago and its headphone amp cannot touch my Gilmore Lite.

[Hudson]

Thanks for that, so if i only listen to MD via a portable player/recorder (Sony 909 at the moment), will i be able to connect an amp to this and use a higher end set of headphones ? Also all my recordings will be in SP, will this mean the recordings will sound a lot better or will the higher end kit just bring out some of the flaws that come with any kind of compressed recordings.

Thanks

Also what set of full sized (over the ears) headphones would you recommend for just listening at night from a portable MD player.

[philippeb]

Just what headphones are you guys using for your MD units and if you get some of the really good stuff (Grado etc) do you need a headphone amp and if so, what the hell are they and how do they help ?

Reading reviews of the real top end '' over the ears '' headphones they keep mentioning the headphone amp..... i have a sennheiser set at the moment, not too expensive and bought to watch tv and movies.

Thanks

Sennheiser HD-555

[Hudson]

Cheers for that, i also got recommended the Denon D2000's.