Serious Headphones --- who uses them and....

[richidoo]

Makes sense. I'll talk to you about it when/if the budget allows.  Til then I'll try the smallest size foams from Shure.

[manaox2]

Yeah, its something that I would take a while considering too solely because of the whole "custom" aspect when combined with large pricetag.

[djbnh]

HD650 (set to run balanced, see note below)
Grado 325i
AKG 701

(selling a balanced portable headamp by Ray Samuels, since for over a year I have not had enough time to listen to tunes @ work - really liked the balanced feature with headphones, nothing has compared since that.)

[eclein]

I see an awful lot of people lately pulling back away from the custom fit thing because they didn't feel comfortable. I'd love to try some but the price is too steep for me, I'll stick with my Sleek Sudio buds!!

[djdube525]

Thought I'd pass along a little gem... I was looking for a new pair of "cheap" headphones for work (student loans are kicking in - taking a bite out of any audio fun), and I ran across the following review for the Panasonic HTF600-S Headphones.

For $30 and $15 for the Beyer Velour pads... I figured why not. I'd have to agree with the reviewer - a very nice affordable option. I don't have much time on them... they seem to be a little congested, but they have opened up quite a bit in the 10 or so hours I have on them. Decent soundstage... imaging could be better, but it's still early on. They remind me a lot of my old ATH A900s without the heft. Nice and comfy with the velour pads.

Very curious how much they will change with some more break-in. There are certainly better headphones out there... but what you get for the price, these do appear to be winners.

Dave

[allenzachary]

I used a pair of AKG K240's for years until I got a preamp with no headphone output.  I eventually gave them to a friend.  K240's are still availabel for around a hundred bucks.  Great for indoors, not so much for portability.

[rlmacklin]

String,

Which aftermarket cables upgrade for the Audez'e LCD-2 did you go with?

I see new Audez'e LCD-3 is priced at $1900 + ...

I may be looking at one of those for eventual headphone upgrade/addition to 
{Grado 325i, Grado SR60, Sony MDR V-6}.

I have a Burson Audio HA-160 headphone amp
for normal use.

But possibly the best headphone amp in house is incorporated in ModWright LS100 preamp (running with upgraded tubes - 1957 metal base Philips Miniwatt GZ34 rectifier and two Sophia Electric 6SN7 signal tubes).

In 6 Moons review of the LS100 aws a headphone amp,
Srajan Ebaen says re

LS100 vs. [Woo Audio] Model 5 SE :

"these machines were virtual stand-ins on sound and price"

"The aural milieu was a virtual overlay, quite shockingly so..."

" In realsization mode I'd sell off the Woo as cloning the ModWright's flavor too closely."

"My accountant—the one on permanent unpaid vacation—would undoubtedly applaud and point out the sagacity of investing into the LS100 as it includes a free $4.000 headphone amp. Put this way it gives one pause to reflect on Dan Wright's chops as a very crafty and astute designer."

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/modwright7/1.html

[Lissnr]

I've read great things about the Audez'e LCD-2's and I'm sure you're going to love them ...especially with the combination you're putting together, enjoy.
At a much lower price point I have just sold my Grado Sr 125's and picked up a pair or brand new SR 225i's (this past Friday from my local brick & mortar audio store where I also got to see (but NOT hear the new Maggie 3.7's)). I don't really "Do" headphones much but I figure it's always good to have a pair in the house...just because...but this time I'm considering adding a Little Dot Mark IV
headphone amp/pre along with it, for [hopefully] much improved performance... Granted, I am always hesitant when purchasing "non-american" audio but in this instance it's not a lot of $$$ and the bang for the buck is simply trmendous... I'm expecting the 'totally tubular' amp to balance nicely with the Grado's extremely articulate/detailed house sound and form a good synergy...ALL for the price of a good pair of used interconnects...Go figure.
I'll keep the results updated.
FWIW here's the links
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=820&sid=18f1ec0cca2dab989123cdf1f2776d03
and
 http://www.gradolabs.com/page_headphones.php?item=c56e04009f99e060f4c39dfdadb98549
Grant

[Face]

I really like HiFiMAN planars, but don't have a decent headphone amp yet.  Any cans out there that sound similar but are easier to drive? 

[gopher]

I owned many over the years.  My favorites were AKG K1000s driven by an audiovalve rkv and grado rs1/hp1s driven by a single powee mpx3.

I dont do headphones anymore though Im sure my neighbors wish i did.

[opnly bafld]

But possibly the best headphone amp in house is incorporated in ModWright LS100 preamp (running with upgraded tubes - 1957 metal base Philips Miniwatt GZ34 rectifier and two Sophia Electric 6SN7 signal tubes).

In 6 Moons review of the LS100 as a headphone amp,
Srajan Ebaen says re

LS100 vs. [Woo Audio] Model 5 SE :

"it gives one pause to reflect on Dan Wright's chops as a very crafty and astute designer."

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/modwright7/1.html

I think the credit should go to Alan Kimmel who also designed the Grommes PHI 26 one of the best headphone amps in existence, unfortunately very few were made.

http://www.avsuperstore.com/moreinfo.cfm/Grommes.Hi-Fi/PHI-26

Lin  (in need of better headphones  )

[Response Audio]

Wow! Lots of different thoughts here. Many of the headphones used are those I too have considered. I want a good pair along with headphone amp for testing purposes.

After looking at countless headphone amps, I have decided to design and build my own......tube of course. I want to build one for the test bench and one for use at home.

Thanks for all the great responses.

[sleepyguy24]

I hope it isn't too late to chime in. Here are the headphones I have/use.

Sony MDR V6 with the velour pads for additional comfort. I use these when I want to listen to music from a laptop or my phone.

The other headphones that I use with a Grant Fidelity DAC-09 swiss army knife are the BeyerDynamic DT48 and Sennheiser HD-580 headphones.

I got the BeyerDynamic DT-48 headphones because their design has been around for a long time and I thought they were cool. The HD580s I got because of stuff I read on the net. I like the HD580s when I want to listen to Hip-Hop or bass heavy Electronic music. It has nice bass for me without being too boomy.

Regarding headphone amplification in the future I want a tube headphone amplifier a la something from Woo Audio.

[Face]

Recently picked up a pair of AKG K550's.  I'm not sure if they could be considered "serious", but they do sound really nice.

[Response Audio]

The chassis is built for my headphone amp. I went with 3/4" solid hardwood (I decided on Poplar so I guess it would be considered softwood). It will be dyed, not stained, black. A custom transformer is being used that was original designed and built for one of our Purity products.
It will use a 100% polypropylene, choke filtered power supply.

A future Purity Audio Design product? Hmmmmm...... We'll see if there is a call for such a product from us.