Headphone listening

Posted by: JedT on 14 September 2018

I've found my proper listening time really restricted in recent years:

I work a longish day.

Have a decent sized commute by train and bike.

Am pretty busy at weekends with family and friends.

My wife prefers to relax in front of the TV rather than listen to music.

So my listening time tends to be late at night when playing at a satisfying volume leads to domestic conflict!

The other night I resorted to headphones. I have a pair of Sony XBA 4s which are pretty decent in-ear phones (well reviewed at £275 a few years ago). Played via SU. Mixture of FLAC rips, HR downloads from the NAS and Tidal. Was listening to mostly acoustic, singer/songwriter stuff but it sounded rather lovely and it was one of those nights when you keep playing another track and go to bed too late.

I've resisted headphones at home so far because it does make me a bit sad that I don't get to hear the NAP250 and Linn MISOs but I think I have to be realistic about listening opportunities.

So, decided to experiment with headphones a bit more optimised for home listening. Didn't want to leap into spending >£1k so I've found a pair of Beyerdynamic Amiron Home at a decent price (normally £500 ish). Reviews suggest that these should suit my taste (pretty neutral neither over-warming the bass or being too forward at the top) and get rave reviews for comfort. They are open back which I think is probably the optimal design for phones that will only be used at home when I'm alone! Normally I'd audition but there are not that many stockists. Anyway, should have them this weekend so we'll see.

I've done some searches here but I'm wondering:

1. Anyone else with experience of how these headphones perform with SU headphone stage (believe it is the same as the 272 and SN2 one)? This headphone amp gets contradictory reviews on here but the pattern seems to be that it doesn't work at its best with really high impedance phones but is pretty good otherwise. Amirons are 250 ohm so should be OK

2. I'm prepared to spend on a headphone amp if it would bring a meaningful improvement. I guess with a SU I'd either have to use the preamp out (disconnecting the 250) or take a digital output to a dac/headphone amp (don't especially want to bypass the SU DAC but...). My question is how much do I need to spend to make a real improvement and on what? I really don't want to add another two boxes for headline and cap and it's more than I'd want to spend at this point anyway. For analogue Beyerdynamic A20 is £340 and should be a good match for the phones. Is this the right kind of level? Any cheaper recommendations?

For digital, the obvious option seems to be a chord mojo  at ~£380 - advantage of also being an option for mobile listening and avoiding switching DINs on the preamp out. I know chord dacs have a strong following but any opinions on whether it is better or worse than a sideways move on the SU DAC (only real comparison I have is with UQ and Linn Majik DS DACs into 102/hicap/180 where I preferred the SU)?

All thoughts welcome

 

 

 

  

Posted on: 14 September 2018 by Richard Dane

250 ohms is pretty high so may not be ideal for the Superuniti's headphone amp.  Naim's Headline would be more appropriate, and, IIRC, was developed with high impedance Beyers in mind. Unfortunately though the Headline will not easily mate with your SU - no fixed level analogue Tape out.  That would equally apply to any other separate analogue headphone amp.  In which case, a DAC+headphone amp may be your best bet, where you can use the coaxial BNC s/pdif output of the SU to feed the DAC+headphone amp.

The Mojo is fine but again may not be at its best with such high impedance headphones.  You may also be looking lustfully at the next step up, the Hugo, which is appreciable set up on the Mojo in all areas, albeit at much greater cost. There's now a Mk2 version as well.  That of course does mean that original Hugos are now available for reasonable money secondhand - as little as £700.

Posted on: 14 September 2018 by JedT

Thanks Richard - beyond convenience, is there a sound quality implication for setting the SU to a relatively high volume and controlling volume from a headline or other analogue head phone amp? 

Suspect you are right that taking a digital output makes more sense. Would the issue with the mojo be the amount of current it can deliver?

 

Posted on: 14 September 2018 by Perol

The Beyer Amiron should be great on a dedicated HP amp, if I didn't allready have more than enough cans I would like to order them for my Violectric amp, I primarily use Beyers DT250 there, also AKG701 which will not work without a dedicated amp

If you can change order to a pair AKG 552 or Beyer 770/990, these are easier driven and much cheaper than Amirons. My AKG 552 goes very well direct into both a UQ or SN2, closed type too.

 

Posted on: 14 September 2018 by Skinnypuppy71

I run a pair of hi-fi man he400i planers from my superuniti and they sound fab...easy to drive cans at a sensible price...sometimes amazon have them on a special offer at a steal of around £200.

Posted on: 15 September 2018 by airjordan

I am planning to buy AKG701 to use with Naim 272. Do you think the amp section in 272 not enough?

Posted on: 15 September 2018 by Perol
airjordan posted:

I am planning to buy AKG701 to use with Naim 272. Do you think the amp section in 272 not enough?

Hardly

Posted on: 17 September 2018 by JedT

Didn't have a huge amount of time this weekend but the Amiron's sounded rather lovely straight from the SU. They needed the volume at about 50 for the level I like listening at (corresponding level was 34 for the XBA-4s which are not hugely sensitive). Very airy spacious sound, pretty neutral. Also very comfortable to wear. Definite step up in all areas over the XBA-4s which I do like. 

That said, I hoped for more detail, texture and sparkle, particularly upper mid and treble. Thought they might better the amp and speakers in that area but definitely not yet. Still thinking that I'll get a mojo and see if that is what they need to give of their best.

Richard suggested above that a Hugo might be more suitable for the Amirons but I can't really find any reviews suggesting that Mojo's run out of steam with any headphones. Anyone found that a Mojo couldn't cope?

Posted on: 17 September 2018 by Dalamtian

I used the use my AKG Q701s with my Superuniti and it drove them fine, the sound quality was amazing given the price, a wide soundstage and terrific detail.

Nick

Posted on: 17 September 2018 by Japtimscarlet
airjordan posted:

I am planning to buy AKG701 to use with Naim 272. Do you think the amp section in 272 not enough?

I use AKG cans and thought I would try a dedicated amp ( arcam rhead ) as a step up from the 272 phones output

Barely any difference...I think the 272 comes with a nice usable phones amp as standard

Posted on: 17 September 2018 by airjordan

Thank you for the replies, then I should order AKG