Here’s how it looks for me at the moment. I love winter… the nights draw in and Philips Hue sets the scene. Single malt in hand and great music. Couldn’t be better
Lovely photo.
We’ve all been there , WAF is real.
I had Quad ESL 63 , they sorta dominate a room, for various reasons they were replaced by a 5.1 system Quad 21/11 s, eventually were getting ready to downsize and sell so the speakers went.
Eventually the 5.1 went as with it the speakers , we put a hi end Samsung sound bar on the TV
When I retired my wife bought me (allowed me to buy) a really good pair of headphones Sennheiser HD800 and the latterly I bought the Uniti Atom HE , and last week the HiFiman Arya Stealths
A very compact system and wow what a sound (the caveat is 73 year old ears …), the new Arya’s are still too young to call but a sounding wonderful
Other than the leaky open back headphones I have a happy wife !!
I’m sort of thinking about going 100% headphones but not sure a Uniti Atom HE would be better than my current setup which is CDX/XPS, LP 12, Node2/Chord Qtest, 82/Supercap, Headline/HC and Sennheiser HD 820….250 and SBLs which are quite old now.
So was thinking about ditching the 250 and speakers and perhaps getting a better headphone amp….any views and recommendations would be appreciated….
By all means get a better headphone (I suggest STAX or Grados), but you will regret selling your amp and loudspeakers.
What they?
I would say a lot will depend on how compact you want the finished setup to be and what you enjoy the most with speakers / headphones. But, what ever you do, demo first before getting rid of any amplifier or speakers.
When I had a two channel system I really enjoyed soundstage, imaging and layering so I knew what ever headphone system I created it would have to excel in those areas while remaining musical and engaging.
There are so many options but I feel a home demo of the Atom HE would be a good starting point. It’s great on its own and as a preamp into more exotic headphone amps.
As a demo you’ll be able to compare its performance against your current streaming/DAC/preamp etc. the Qutest is an excellent DAC so with a good streaming option would also make a good front end into a Solid State or tube headphone amp option.
Then of course headphones. So many choices here it would be best to hear a few or, rely on a trusted reviewer that you know has similar tastes to yourself.
I kept a hold of my speaker system for about a month or two after building my initial headphone setup. I think I’d just upgraded to the Meze Empyreans. At that level it opened my eyes to what was possible so selling the speaker system was easy. But demoing first will avoid costly mistakes!
I think he’s disappeared. Sonus Faber Pryma 01 headphones according to his bio.
The only problem is that with headphones, comfort beats sound quality and no two people have the same melon. I remember when I went to audition headphones, I really loved the sound of a pair of Audeze LCD -2 but my god were they painful after just a minute. The HD-800 were, in comparison, effortless to wear over time. But the friend I was with had the opposite experience. To him the Audeze were comfy and HD-800 pure agony by minute 5.
Exactly which is why I said demoing first is still recommended to avoid costly mistakes.
That said, there are a couple of brands I’d buy blind and be fairly confident they will be good. Meze (Empy and Elite design) and ZMF. I bought Meze blind and will be with ZMF because they have good rep for comfort. I also know people that have both.
When I bought the Empy I had just returned a pair of headphones because I wasn’t fussed on how they sounded. The dealer was good with this so if you can, find the ones that allow this. For those in the UK, that was Hifonix . Massive selection of headphones and they offered to send me demo pairs provided I paid for the postage.
I’m still here.
You’re right they are the Pryma from Sonus Faber
My logic was driven by the ability to use speakers as I would like. Our house is detached but in reasonable proximity to our neighbours. Driving speakers to their best probably isn’t on.
Just pre COVID we were planning a downsize to a retirement estate or the like so the situation would get even worse especially if I went for an apartment. COVID interfered but it’s still on plan I am 73 but with some ailments that won’t improve.
With earphones I only make a minimal noise but can drive them to whatever level I want.
I had been using a Cambridge Audio CXN, Audiolab M-DAC as my source and an AV amp, I am now literally 2 boxes , a Roon. NUC server (with internal storage) and the Uniti Atom HE , how more compact could I get , one mains cable and one LAN cable . The improvement was noticeable even to aging ears
I look at some of the HiFi set ups you see here and on the Roon forum and wonder how people manage. I had my time with big systems
Each to his own I suppose. I would certainly repeat the HE purchase, it’s a superb device
it’s also a lot easier to change headphones than speakers if you fancy a change
Had these out the other day as it was too wet and windy to go up to the cabin. They constantly surprise me and are really comfy after replacing all the foam pads for peanuts. I think I paid less than £30 quid for them on eBay about 10yrs ago. I can listen to them for hours on end.
I have noticed on the base of the HPA-12 indentations and holes for an isolation solution.
I believe this was a RCK-11 and I image it is similar to that with my EQA-11R phono stage and the stand for the Bakoon AMP-12R
So I have implemented something similar.
Firstly a small marble plinth with a sorbothane sheet underneath to isolate from the other equipment.
Then 4 Titanium pucks, with an indent large enough to hold a 7/32 ceramic ball bearing
The initial implementation of this was with some spare Michell Audio Tenderfeet, but the indent didn’t hold the ball bearing and they were rolling in every direction while trying to align 4 feet, ball bearing into the indentations.
The 7/32 ball bearings were left over from experimenting with changing the steel ones in my Michell Orbe turntable, and went with Silicone Nitride Si3N4 as there is no movement and the load of the HPA-12 is small spread over 4 contact points.
Happy with solution, given a RCK-11 is now unobtainium.
I’ve had my Meze Elites for a long time now but always fancied adding a pair of closed backs. I’ve been following Zachs offerings at ZMF for a while now and the Atrium Closed appealed the most to compliment the Elites. So, this ZMF November I picked up a pair of Atrium Closed Ash Ltd Editon - Purple Burst.
Running them in now but their reputation for amazing sub bass and soundstage certainly stands true! Very happy.
Big advantage of Sennys, is the availability of pretty much every spare part for most models.