Headphones to Compliment Headline

Assuming you are not in the market for the best - Focal Utopias, Senheisers do present a good offering at every price point. Do yourself a favor and at least spent as much as the 650 level. 

Hi Danny - sounds like you have great parents 

What sort of budget do you have for your headphones and how do you intend to use them. Occasional wearers or for long periods. Do you need noise isolation or happy to have open backs ??

Have you got a dealer local to you where you go and try a few pairs within budget to see how you get on as there can be a lot of variation in SQ and comfort. Also what are you driving your Headline with from a source perspective ? 

Good luck 

James

PS - Don't forget you also need a power supply for the Headline but hopefully that's already taken care of. 

There are a small number of dealers who specialise in headphones, so depending on your location, you could try to visit one, where you will be able to listen to some different models and see what sounds good to you. The Audiobarn near Harlow is an example, and they are also Naim dealers.

You've mentioned studio monitors - is that something you'd like to get? 
AKG is probably the most commonly used brand in the studios - personally I use AKG K812.

As to a 1/4" jack - this is a standard headphone connector. Mini-jack is a convenience feature.

Danny

You need to point a budget for getting usefull recommendations, something between £150-250 really gets your going, many surpricingly good choices out there, few of them mentioned below.

Many Sennheisers are fine, such as Momentum, HD 598, 600 or 650(just offered on Massdrop at $200 ! but 5 months wait oh my dear), the more expensive 700 and 800 have their followers so read a bit about them, better yet go to a place where you can hear a wide selection and decide whether your looking for closed types (often used in studios or if you wish to block outside coming noise.) Or open phones (might disturb others nearby but usually a larger sound) 

If memory serve the Headline was developed way back on mostly Beyerdynamic headphones. They have many good ones in their range such as DT 770/880/990, DT 250, T1 just to mention a few, also a new Amiron out now with great reviews on comfort which is very important mind you. My own DT880 sound superb but after an hour or two my ears sweat and they are quite heavy too. For example my AKG 701 are more comfort but a bit dry, I do however keep coming back to them they must do something right, really a bargain nowadays among the insane priced headphones out there, would really love those AKG812 myself though, maybe one day..Hmm

Hi Danny,

I recommend that you try lots, preferably fed by your amplifier. 

Book in to a good dealer who has lots of stock and my recommendation is to try even the ones you did nt think you would like. That's how i found my favourite. And yes I spent more than i expected too! 

Good luck

The old headline has not seen much R&D over the years and I would suggest it could be bettered. I would recommend finding a good dealer but also look for synergy between amp and headphones.

Appreciate the headline was a present so understand that could be a challenge.......

I found my headphones got limited use so stopped at Sennheiser hd700's which worked well with headline / hi cap but ended up with a mojo as a headphone app in the end (saved some cash and got a more flexible product) 

As per above advice being as clear as you can with budget and useage would help us share our thoughts - for example I loved Grado's but  they were just too uncomfortable 

Gary

Having just bought a Headline/ NAPSC/ Powerline to go with Focal Elears, I can confirm that they are a very good match, and have great synergy. I did do a comparison with a Hicap DR in place of the NAPSC, but preferred the NAPSC. I've also compared the Headline to a Hugo (headphone out), but felt the Headline had much more rhythm and drive, even though it was a little less resolving. The Headline also drives my Grado RS-1e's very well too.

DannyNaim,

What's really missing here for me is the rest of your system. You've got a Headline but what else and how are you powering the HL?

Nice thing about the Headline is it will drive a wide range of HP impedances, up to 600Ω, so you're wide open with what you can audition. Beyer T70 (250Ω) were fantastic for me when I had a Nait XS/HL powered by FCXS. Cleanest, tightest bass I've heard on HPs and they work well through a range of listening volumes. Any other Beyers I heard outside of their Tesla line got too bass bloomy for me.

fathings cat posted:

The old headline has not seen much R&D over the years and I would suggest it could be bettered.

There is also the notion that if it ain't broke why fix it? The HL is pretty damned good and gets better with increasing levels of PSU, albeit prohibitively expensive. That said, remote volume control would be a welcome addition to the existing HL.

For the power supply I am using the NAPSC. I was thinking that I could spend about 500-600 pounds on these, I have some money saved from working as well as money from other family members for my birthday so I would like to get a good pair of h/phones. I intend to use them for an hour or two at a time, mainly when I get home and need to relax and listen to music for a bit. I am going to be going out today and seeing if the shops around me have anything good, or if I need to focus on ordering online. Hopefully I answered all the questions I should have answered in my initial post

The key thing is what source you are connecting to the Headline. There is no point having £600 phones and a really basic source. It may also be worthwhile considering a used hicap for about £400 and some £200 headphones. You can't get out of the phones what isn't there in the first place. 

I use the Astell & Kern version of Beyer's T5p, which can be found for £500 and work well with portables too. They are closed back phones, so are good for keeping the sound in, but sound more like open backed ones. 

Try lots, don't rush it. Determine whether to go for open, semi open or closed. for that budget try Mr Speakers, for more money to spend on music try AKG and buy Massdrop 7XX's !

& let us know how the journey goes. 

DannyNaim posted:

Hey everyone, my family is long time fans of Naim and I recently became the youngest member of our little Naim Cult. My parents bought me a Headline headphone adapter for my birthday and also gave me some money to buy some real audiophile headphones to go along with it. I have never bought headphones for myself that were more than 50 pounds so I am a little bewildered by it all. I have heard for a couple years that Seinheiser headphones are amazing and now I have the money for a pair, would that be a good set to go with the Headline or should I look for something a little more out there? 

Also, I am assuming I will need some kind of adapter for my headphones? I have never had something that was 1/4" before. If I got a studio monitor headphone would that negate having to get an adapted? I have so many questions about it all, I almost wish that my parents would have picked the headphones out them selves If anyone could make any suggestions or point out anywhere that my thinking is wrong please do so, I am very excited to be using my new toy

 

I finally was able to head to a local shop and take a look at the headphones there and spent a loooong time there. I finally ended on a pair of Senheiser HD 700's that sounded more crisp than any of the other pairs, plus it left the smallest sweat patch when compared to the others as well. I brought it home last night and hooked them up to my system and just wow, these sound amazing. Move over JVC, Danny has a new headphone brand Thanks for the help and advice everyone.