Yeah, but bending down ain’t so easy at my age!
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Unless I’m mistaken, those look like EL84 for the power tubes. Which drive headphones or sensitive speakers very well.
OK, so my Headline & NAPSC are due back from Darren after their service any minute.
Now the Headphones search starts in earnest.
I really want to do the test with my Headline as the Headphones amp, but this is proving to be really difficult.
Most Beyerdynamic dealers are not Naim dealers which makes it near impossible to take my Headline for the test without taking the 202 plus a Power Supply.
Also I haven’t yet found a BD dealer willing to do a home demo. Testing the Focal’s and Meze’s is not a problem.
I don’t suppose any of you have any suggestions 
Edit
Yay! It’s back and all plugged in.
First impression Pre service was “Wow!”
First impression Post service “Goodness Me! That’s bloody AMAZING!!” 
…and that’s with my very mediocre Shure’s. Now I really need to get some demos lined up…
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Great news !
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Took my freshly serviced Headline and PSC over to Basically Sound near Norwich yesterday to try some headphones out. Tony was very accommodating as always and I had plenty of time to experiment.
3 tested and this is what I found…
- Meze 99 Classic (Closed Back):
Very nice, an improvement on my Shure’s - Focal Celestee (Closed Back):
Lifeless and unengaging. My view of Focal headphones remains the same, YMMV…
- Meze 109 Pro (Open Back):
Now we’re talking. Simply stunning.
Liked everything about them, didn’t want to take them off…
Testing the Beyerdynamic Amiron Home (CB) and T1 v3 (OB) on Wednesday PM.
Read some reviews on this 3rd Gen version of the T1’s and the general opinion of reviewers is that they’ve rather cocked them up.
I will give my views after Wednesday’s test🤞🏼
Look forward to your review of the T1 Ver 3. Second hand they are quite reasonable, and might be interesting to use with my Astell And Kern portable player.
I also had the Focals on my list, they generally get good reviews. The cost of the Ultimate is out of my range.
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Yes! It’s proven we’re all different! I would immediately take the Celestees, but I’ve only compared them with the Meze’s on an Atom HE.
I took the Meze Classics though for financial reasons.
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Absolutely, none of us hear things the same way.
I too would not be unhappy with the 99 Classsic’s, but Mrs Q has decided that as I have refused to travel for my 60th birthday she will buy me what I want.
I have chosen a Headphone solution with a budget of not more than £1500 which included the Headline/PSC purchase and service😊
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I’d love to have a matching streamer dac to the headline napsc and stick it on my office desk.
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This will actually be an addition to Mrs Q’s system in the media room. Its primary purpose is to give me somewhere to go and listen in the house without disturbing her watching the TV in the lounge.
It’ll be used mostly in the winter when I don’t want to go and sit down in the cabin on the cold dark evenings.
Mrs Q will almost certainly never use it as she doesn’t like headphones.
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By coincidence, I’ve been contemplating using one of my Raspberry Pi streamers plus (olive) Headline/NAPSC setup for the sitting room.
I’d need some sort of cabinet (adjacent to “my” sofa) to hold it all, and that space is currently occupied by a Meridian M1500 subwoofer being used as a side table.
And I’d need another pair of headphones…….and so it goes on
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Simon, I am having a wee chuckle at how your budget has increased!
I agree it can be frustrating trying to demo headphones, which is important for both sound and comfort. The only advice that I can offer you is that I have Meze 99 Classics and Quad ERA1s and I like both.
My overall preference is for open back headphones and for that the Quads are great, the open back presentation and the comfort is great for longer sessions. However the fit is very important with them due to the design of the head band. They also do need a decent amp, though I reckon your Headline and NAPSC will be up for it.
For the money the Mezes are hard to beat, they sound great, they are light and comfortable, though not as comfortable as the Quads! They are easier to drive than the ERAs, though with the closed back presentation and comparative comfort I can’t wear them for as long. I would love to try the 109 Pros, but I resist the temptation!!
Good luck on your quest 
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Thanks Martin.
The headphone only budget ceiling was set at £750, as previously mentioned. That didn’t include the Headphone amp, which was originally going to be a Lehmann Drachenfels, but the Headline came up and I snapped it up quick.
Even with the service on the Headline and PSC, the amp solution came in under the price of the Drachenfels. This gave me a little more headroom on the Headphones side of the budget😉
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It all sounds great Simon.
I had intended to go for a Headline but ended up with a Pro-Jet DS2B & MCRU PS. This was at the start of Covid and due to all the uncertainty at the time I grabbed the Pro-Jet as it was available there and then. I have to say I am very happy with it but I always wonder about the Headline, maybe one day!
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