I just got a pair of the Sennheiser HD 6xx - very good headphone but requires some decent gear to get good quality sound out of it. The main thing is it's a 300 ohm can that scales really well with a good DAC/amp combo. Great thing is the price... if you can manage to get your hands on a pair. Still not on the level of a pair of Audezes but you're also talking 1/5th to 1/10th the price.[/quote]
captaincranky It's honest to god hard to imagine high end Sennheiser headphones being 1/10 the price of anything.
Are you sure you didn't flip that denominator?
These links should clear things up for you CC
Still not on the level of a pair of Audezes but you're also talking 1/5th to 1/10th the price.
Not saying the Audezes LCD-4 phones arent worth the Audezes tax having never heard them and also given how good planar speakers can sound .
While not OD products I pay the Sony XBR 4K HDR TV tax and Sony ES ( Elevated Standard line ) AVR reciver tax without a second thought beyond which of those products I want and have been doing that for over 20 yrs. with no buyers remorse or dependability issues beyond one 2001 Sony ES AVR that smoked some of it's its outputs and got a lose Alps gain pot .
Setting the magic smoke aside all the first and upgrade replacements of the Sony ES products including a $1K DVD > SACD player back in the day that doesn't sound any better than a PC ODD and a humble but competent $99.00 DAC like the Schitt Modi 2 you can DIY similarly or better for less than half of that sans the case all were and and are good performers for what they are being broad market enthusiast products and all .
The above more recently with a stonking good 2015 Sony XBR 4K HDR TV and 1080p Samsung 64f8500 Plasma out front and much newer than I had brushed finish billet aircraft aluminum front panel 30lb heavyweight all metal 110wpc. rms. full bandwidth all channels driven Sony ES ES 7.1 AVR below the Sony 4K TV in here on the wall not the 100 wpc one or two channel driven at 1khz or full bandwidth rubbish AVR 's so common today and the lame PSU and output stages all that implies which likely wont take care of transient +20db dynamic peaks on a movie sound track without wheezing out thd+n or clipping at any half way elevated gain levels beyond maybe -40 - 50dB same for music but I have reference but not snob audiophile 2.1 -2 powered sub 850wpc music system in its own room with a Core i7 /Nvidia game /drive sim PC and G27 wheel anyway .☺
OTOH I have to wonder at what point one may reach the point of wholly diminishing returns on Sennsheiser 6xx and moreover the $1699.00 Sennsheiser HD 800S vs the $3995.00 Audezes LCD-4 planar phones as an adult at or beyond middle age and the hearing implications that come with all that when you top out @ 15Khz and hires is wholly snake oil beyond something (same production) you can not buy at 16/44 RBCD media or download☺
Same thing with OD or pricey mass produced full B+ plate voltage vacuum tube amps and the comparatively high noise floors and thd+n they imply given the low noise floors well below anyones minimum hearing threshold and state of the art thd+n specs even on my Humble solid state Schitt Audio Magni 2 and Modi 2 " $200.00 Schitt Audio stack" headphone amp & Dac given that the well regarded Sabre ES9018 DAC ASIC part retail or wholesale for maybe $18.00 anyway .
The Schitt stack here sounds better than any Headphone signal out of an AVR on my low cost but decent ATH M50x mass production phones and TBH Schit modi 2 DAC wise not much better if any than the entry level Schitt DAC vs my premium Sony ES 7.1 AVR or my Sony XBR 4K HDR TV that are both fairly clean up to and inclucling hires music.
The snob audiophile exotic metal cable fools don't have any regard for electrical conductivity science or much of any science and they are easy to ridicule anyway but being genuine planar phones and the Audeze reputation I can Imagine the Audeze LCD-4 is a legitimate albeit not cheap high end product if you are wiling to pay the freight .
OTOH I don't need a $50K, Sennsheiser Orpheus phone system anyway .
The Audeze palanars are worth the money over the well regarded Sennsheiser 6xx or 800S for an aging adult that can hear ~15K Hz or anyone with all these in a double blind Arnie Kruger style ABX test or no ?