Sometimes it's all about luck when buying items, that's how I got my HE-500 and proud of it. Heck it's even better than T1 imho

Grado is not towards open back, it is a fully open back set of headphones. It depends on what kind of sound you're looking for, if you're leaning more towards rock,metal or that kind of genre, Grado would be your best.

Haven't had much good experience with AT's cans, even with their Woody series, just can't seem to appreciate their tuning, but that's just me.

If i were you, try to find a balance between a price for headphones and amp. You wouldn't want to spend good money on expensive cans to find out you're lacking the capability to drive to its fullest.

Hmm, those choices you listed should be fine but however do note HD600 is also an opened back headphones

Won't be optimal though, got any DAC or amp in mind?

Best to check what the manufacturer wants as different company have different requirements.

For cosmic ears, best to print the instruction as per their website and give it to the audiologist so they will know what to do



Source : Cosmic Ears

Even for JH Audio has some slight variation to Cosmic Ears so better to play on the safe side

Tyll from Innerfidelity has an interesting article in regards to the variants of the DT880 32/250/600 ohm versions and ultimately suggests that the 32ohm version is the weakest among the lot.



Source

Perhaps you can try considering the Sennheiser Momentum, AKG K550, UE 6000/9000. YMMV

UE6000/9000

Don't remind of the cables tax, I remember my ALO Audio Reference 16 cable got taxed heavily but not as high as 40% and the tariff got reclassified different from what ALO described in the commercial invoice for god knows what reason

Most folks at head-fi seem to agree that the natural path of upgrade from HD 650 is the Audeze LCD-2 as they bear somewhat similar characteristics (dark with some emphasis on bass and LCD-2 is known for its bass slam).

Having owned the LCD-2 previously, bear in mind you'll be sacrificing some soundstage quality what the HD 650 offers but gain alot in the bass regions as their frequency response chart is somewhat flat from 10hz until 1K hz.

HD800 on the other hand is somewhat different as its more analytical in nature and many people use it as a reference rig. As most would agree, the HD800 excels in the soundstage and imaging department as their soundstage is similar or even better than what Stax SR-009 offers.

In terms of sound difference, I would personally say the HD800 and LCD-2 opposite of each other whereas the first one being bright and the latter dark. If you plan to try the LCD-2, you may to contacts its authorised distributor in the region, they are quite helpful and friendly.

Tried the HD700 few months prior to buying my HD800, it's kinda a hit and miss whether you like it or not. I felt like it lacks character and trying to resemble the HD800 but couldn't do so. I personally feel the HD700 was something more of a filler than Sennheiser put in place between the HD650 and HD800 in order to appease certain folks (but that's just me).

As for HD800, their sound signature being analytical also mean that it is very unforgiving on your source as any flaws will be revealed and also the HD800 has a reputation for being amp finicky and I'm not sure if the ifi series will do any justice to it.

The T1 is pretty decent for its price but there's a certain treble peak I can't tolerate myself

But yea, do give the LCD2/3 a try, if you prefer the HD650 then it should be closer to LCD2 than LCD3

Hifiman, you can try contacting at David & Associates instead

+1 on FitEar TG!334, they have one the best mids for vocals around for IEMs and I dare say even better than most CIEM in this category.

If you're looking for something laid back, you can try considering Shure SE846 as IE800 comes a little too bassy (bloated imo), but of course YMMV.

Unless you're talking about the AK100 mk2 then yes maybe, I would avoid using the first version on low impedance BA/dynamic drivers due to 22ohm output impedance.

Bear in mind that FAD Hope VI sensitivity is very efficient and has very low impedance for a headphone so any increments in volume is likely to result in larger volume gain.

This post has been edited by Problem: Feb 26 2014, 12:04 PM

Unforunately you cant really compare headphones to CIEM as both are coherently different where CIEM/IEM weaknesses is still soundstaging while headphones excel in that area.

For school usage, assuming you'll be at the library place I guess both would suit your purposes but I wouldn't want to walk with Hope VI due to its weight (yes they are heavy and 100g shy off your typical planar magnetic).

From what you describe where you prefered FAD Hope VI, you seem to prefer coloured sound with some bass slam and forward mids.

There are also other brands to consdier beside A&K when it comes to portable players (they do look however) such as ibasso or hifiman (HM801 & HM901)

Haha just takes time to understand, but this link should help you understand sound frequency of instruments and vocal voices

http://www.head-fi.org/a/frequency-response-of-headphones
http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary

Too many people often describe their headphones/speakers as neutral which is often misleading without comparing to others, so its safer to based on what you listen to draw a benchmark

An amp as it is, is too amplify a signal, period. And yes, an amp purpose is able to push out in terms of watts, some amp are capable to push out more voltage into higher impedances while some don't. It all depends on how the manufacturer designs it. This is back to basic physics where

W = A * V

where W = watt, A = ampere and V = voltage

Not all products need an amp to shine as some are tuned and design to specifically work with internal amps from your portable devices like your iPad, iPhone, smartphones,tablets, PC's, etc

Often people misread thinking that low impedance don't need an amp where they should also look at the manufacturer's specification of sensitivity as it shows an indication of how much decibel of sound it can produce at 1mW of power

Take a look at the following examples:





To the uninformed, most would think that the T1 would need an amp to drive it optimally due to its 600 ohm nominal impedance while the HE-6 with its 50 ohm do not need one.

This is where they are wrong as the efficiency of 83.5 is much lower than the T1's sensitivity of 102 db. The Hifiman HE-6 is the one that requires even more power in terms of power compared to the T1

The Yamaha HA S500 has 106 db/1mW and EPH 100 has 104db +- 3db at 1mW (I'm guessing), they are both extremely sensitive to when it is fed 1mW of power and produces enough volume at 1mW. Anything that is >90db at 1mW is generally quite loud and prolong loud volume is dangerous to people unless you dont mind developing tinnitus and going deaf.

Just take this as a hint, most and I really mean most mass consumer grade products typically don't need an amp as they are efficient as it is playing directly from your portable devices already.

This post has been edited by Problem: May 15 2014, 09:53 PM

Neither, sound stage does not define what genre or sound signature of a particular loud speaker/headphone. You can have something with a wide soundstage with all bass,mids, highs properly tuned but can also have wide sound stage with terrible bass,mids, highs.




If you're still unsure, try testing from

https://www.goldenears.philips.com/en/challenge.html#

under spaciousness (stereo width), it should roughly give you an indication what is sound stage

Narrow? Basically its like someone is playing instruments or singing in a small room, while wide sound stage is like listening in a concert if that's what you're looking for.

It's basically how you perceive how sound is coming from, normally speakers tend to project a wide sound stage while headphones/earphones are inherently smaller compared to speakers.

HD800 alone with poor amp/source matching will be a nightmare if you don't get it right. And I would personally advice you steer clear of the HD800 if you don't have the budget for an amp to pair with it. Even the DNA Stratus I ordered, is about exactly twice the price on the HD800. There are a few solid state amps within $1000 or less that is worth considering but it is even difficult as no one in Malaysia carries them for testing purposes.

For a less finicky system pairing, Audeze's LCD-2/X would be an alternative as they are on "easier" side to pair an amp without being too picky like the HD800

The sky if the roof, so many possibilities