The headphone quest can become quite expensive. As you say they are all different, and often very different. The risk is to go down the slippery slope of headphone collecting.
I have:
Sennheiser HD800S, probably my favourite, the detail is incredible, but they lack a bit of bass oomph. They also leak sound so I cannot use them when others in the family are watching TV or reading.
Beyerdynamic T1 ver 2. A close second to the HD800S, a bit more bass, but the HD800 is on another level. They are relaxing and enjoyable to use.
Beyerdynamic Amiron Home. My old cans that served me well for years until I heard something better.
I need some closed headphones and the Shure SHR 1540 was my choice. Lots of bass on these, and are surpassingly good, a bit less sparkling treble compared to the HD800. But they do not leak sound and I am isolated from the TV my wife is watching.
I have a couple of IEM monitors that I use with the Astell and kern when travelling.
„ The risk is to go down the slippery slope of headphone collecting.“
Not necessarily…
For 5 years I listened (almost) exclusively with a Stax SR-009 on the AudioValve (Luminare, later SOLARIS).
Then I sold the Stax and switched to the Hifiman Shangri La Jr.
After a year with the Hifiman, I sold the stationary headphone setup (to the hi-fi friend from the session) and only listened sporadically mobile with the Fiio M15 and AKG K812 (I still have both…)
Then I realized that I couldn’t do without headphones and bought Ferrum ERCO/Hypsos and Hifiman HE 1000 V2.
I’m currently thinking about buying back my old SOLARIS and Shangri La Jr. combo…
Teeny bit jealous……potentially……how much better with the Aegis or is it one of those not better just different material dependent scenarios?
Still relying upon my LCD X with the HE.
No, it one of those, it’s better all around. However, the Caldera open directly out of the Naim HE is still really good. But with the right tubes in the Aegis, the Caldera bass goes lower, hits hard, and mids are richer. It’s almost like a tube/ solid state combo where you have tight control and precision but also have that sweet tube mids.
So when you do a quick back and forth, it’s not dramatically different but all these changes add up to a more emotional experience. I feel out the Aegis, the Caldera’s full potential is achieved and not looking for anything else. I’m a fan of the Naim sound, so using the Naim HE as streamer/dac (set to 82) and using the Aegis volume gives me the best of both worlds.
But I didn’t buy blind. At last year’s SoCal CanJam, I had just heard the Senn HE-1 and then right after tried the Caldera out of the Naim HE with same song and didn’t even come close. I went back in the ZMF room and tried the Aegis again and it was best I’ve heard the Caldera. And now with right tubes, that same song gives me same emotion experience I got with $60k Senn HE-1 setup for a fraction of the cost. Also, if you can make to a close CanJam, you get a discount, and no tax or shipping expenses, so cheapest you’ll find.
With all that said, the Aegis is not necessary. The Naim HE gets you to let’s say 85% of the headphones potential and the Aegis to 100%. But for me, I was looking at maybe getting the Caldera closed for about same price as the Aegis, and made much more sense to max out the Caldera I already have than get another version that sounds almost the same. You can check out ZMF Aegis thread on head-fi to see comments about how it sounds with other headphones like LCD but imagine most headphones would reach their full potential out of it.
This is my humble setup: Uniti Atom HE with Dan Clark Audio E3. I love the Atom’s musicality and believe the E3 is one of the best closed-back headphones on the market today.
My dealer has it set up in dual mono configuration with the Focals. It’s a very odd 100 year anniversary product but also costs 100 10,000 yen notes each. Making a dual mono crazy expensive. But he says they’ve proved quite popular.
Thanks for the detailed response.Your description sounds fantastic.
Status change : Slightly jealous upgraded to jealous.
Enjoy your rolled tube nirvana!
It’s good as you’d expect for the money. ( i bought second hand at less than £2k).
It is a bit microphonic. And yes takes an hour to warm through, but i enjoy the sound. My previous amp was a violectric v281. Slightly different sound to that, but i could easily live with both.
The volume pot is stupidly sensitive, which is a common criticism.
