So What's Your Gear?

Gadabout
Gadabout Posts: 1,072
edited March 2013 in Headphones
In an effort to help folks know what your personal experiences are and make it search able, I thought we could start off by listing the gear you have now and what you have used in the past. Feel free to embellish with stories ;-)

I'm relatively knew to headphone listening getting rather serious in the last couple of years. I don't have a separate head phone rig for the house yet, but am considering one. All my experience is in the portable field.

For Players I started with and moved too:
iRiver H10 20gb (brick) > Sansa E230 > Sansa Clip (still used for Audio Books) > Cowon J3

For IEM's:
Sony Ear buds > Bose IE2 > Phonak Audeo PFE 112 > Westone 4r's

For Head phones:
Koss Porta Pro > Audio Technica M-50's > Audio Techinica ANC7b's Noise cancelers.

Bluetooth:
Motorola SD10 - HD
Used for mowing the lawn, yard work, and building projects. Not the best for sound but make it convenient for answering the phone and not having the player in my pocket or being encumbered by wires.

The Porta Pros still get used in the garage. The M-50's get used in the house on one of the rigs, and the 7b's get carried with me for flying and listening to audio books. The 7b's haven't got any music duty yet because the I prefer the sound form IEM's.

I don't have any experience with head phone Amps or DACs. All of the impedance ratings of my phones don't really require them. All of my music is ripped to FLAC. A time consuming process, but well worth the time.

I'm so happy with the Westone 4r's that I'm considering getting some custom IEM's from JHAudio.

So what's your gear?


Scott
Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ..... Frank Zappa
Post edited by Gadabout on
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Comments

  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    edited July 2012
    I only use headphones for my work setup. That consists of Sennheiser HD-650, Wadia 170 iTransport, iPod Classic (Apple Lossless), and a Benchmark DAC1.
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
  • coolsax
    coolsax Posts: 1,824
    edited July 2012
    I use a couple different headphones for a couple different things..
    Sennheiser HD 650 along with a MSII DAC for morning listening

    Iphone and B&W P5 for lunch listening at work and while traveling.

    Audio Technica AD700 for gaming connected to my Yammy AVR

    would love to try some Denon woodies at some point as well as some other travel ones that might be better value than the B&Ws, also would like to get a decent Amp/DAC at some point. such as a Burson or CEntrance Dacmini or others.
    Main 2ch -
    BlueSound Node->Ethereal optical cable->Peachtree Audio Nova 150->GoldenEar Triton 2+
    TT - Pro-ject Classic SB with Sumiko Bluepoint.

    TV 3.1 system -
    Denon 3500 -> Dynaudio Excite 32/22
  • nguyendot
    nguyendot Posts: 3,594
    edited July 2012
    Work I use SkullCandy HESH on my Soundblaster MP3+ DAC.

    Home I use AKG 271 MKII's

    IEM's I use Etymotic HF3s for my iPhone or whatever I plug them into.
    Main Surround -
    Epson 8350 Projector/ Elite Screens 120" / Pioneer Elite SC-35 / Sunfire Signature / Focal Chorus 716s / Focal Chorus CC / Polk MC80 / Polk PSW150 sub

    Bedroom - Sharp Aquos 70" 650 / Pioneer SC-1222k / Polk RT-55 / Polk CS-250

    Den - Rotel RSP-1068 / Threshold CAS-2 / Boston VR-M60 / BDP-05FD
  • Strong Bad
    Strong Bad Posts: 4,276
    edited July 2012
    Right now my Sennheiser HD600's and Denon DVD 2900 sit waiting till I bring home one of these to complete the headphone rig...

    http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wa6se.html

    I got to listen this with my headphones at the Capital Audiofest...and was blown away!
    No excuses!
  • PreCd
    PreCd Posts: 786
    edited July 2012
    When I use headphones I put on a pair of Grado SR80i. A great sounding headphone at a low price.
    SDA2BTL
    Marantz CD5004
    Adcom GFA-545
    Bottlehead Quickie Tube Preamp
  • PrazVT
    PrazVT Posts: 1,606
    edited July 2012
    @ the gym:

    Klipsch Image S4 IEMs w/ foam ear plugs + iPod Classic filled w/ AAC lossless or my Galaxy S2 w/ FLAC

    @ home:

    Sennheiser HD 600s, but only used in my bedroom system. X-Fi Titanium HD SPDIF or SB Touch -> DACmagic -> NAD Integrated -> pre-out (not affected by NAD volume control) -> Schiit Asgard headphone amp.
    ALL BOXED UP for a while until I save up for a new place :(

    Home Theater:
    KEF Q900s / MIT Shotgun S3 / MIT CVT2 ICs | KEF Q600C | Polk FXi5 | BJC Wire | Signal / AQ ICs | Shunyata / Pangea PCs | Pioneer Elite SC 57 | Parasound NC2100 Pre | NAD M25 | Marantz SA8001 | Schiit Gungnir DAC | SB Touch

    2 Channel:
    Polk LSi9 (xo mods), Polk DSW MicroPro 2000 sub | NAD c375BEE | W4S DAC1 | SB Touch | Marantz SA-8001 | MIT AVt 2 | Kimber Hero / AQ / Signal ICs | Shunyata / Signal PCs
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited July 2012
    Strong Bad wrote: »
    Right now my Sennheiser HD600's and Denon DVD 2900 sit waiting till I bring home one of these to complete the headphone rig...

    Is this system going to be completely stand-alone?
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • Strong Bad
    Strong Bad Posts: 4,276
    edited July 2012
    madmax wrote: »
    Is this system going to be completely stand-alone?

    Yes, completely stand-alone.
    No excuses!
  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited July 2012
    Headphones: AKG K-550, HiFiMAN HE-6, Shure SE420-K, Koss PortaPro

    Headphone Amp: Wyred 4 Sound mINT

    Portable Player: Zune HD
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
  • gdpeck
    gdpeck Posts: 840
    edited July 2012
    Headphones: Alessandro Music Series One, Sony MDR-V6, Westone3, Yuin PK3, Polk UltraFit 1000, Koss KSC-35

    Headphone Amps: Meier Porta Corda II, Meier Headfive, Audioengine D1 (DAC and Headphone Amp)

    Players: iPhone 4, iPad (third generation), iPod Shuffle 1st Generation

    Short list of Headphones I want: Alessandro Music Series Two, Westone 4r, Senheisser HD-800, PSB M4U2, TBD pair of Shure closed headphone. JHAudio JH16s, and many others too numerous to mention here.

    Short list of Headphone Amps I want (in decreasing order of likelihood of me actually purchasing them): Fiio E7, something with Tubes, Something made by Ray Samuels Audio.
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,556
    edited July 2012
    Headphones
    Senn hd-650 with cardas cable
    Grado sr-100
    Stax sr-202
    stax sr-404
    stax sr-40

    Amps
    ASL mg-head
    Stax srm313
    Stax srm1 mkII
    Extata hybrid

    DACS
    Audio gd nfb3
    Pico
    Monica NOS usb
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • blairfrischx
    blairfrischx Posts: 259
    edited July 2012
    I just recently sold off my modded Darkvoice 336SE. I'll probably be picking up another amp within the next couple of months, but for now I am content having my stereo system and revamping the headphone setup that I used all summer. Amp/DAC at work is just a Nuforce uDAC 2.

    Headphones are HD650s and D2000s. The Sennheisers are completely stock, but I swapped the cable on the Denons to be modular (mini-XLR connector in the line so I can swap between balanced/unbalanced/short/long cables, if a situation calls for it)

    By the way, the Darkvoice/Sennheiser pairing - amazing. My next amp will probably be a SET tube design as well. Maybe I'll build a Bottlehead Crack.
  • makaveli0340
    makaveli0340 Posts: 4
    edited August 2012
    Players
    Mainly I just use my Galaxy Nexus phone unless I'm on a plane then I'll bring my iPod 80gig.

    Earbuds
    Polk UltraFit 6000 except on my laptop which I use a pair of Wicked Audio Wicked Little Buds (I really don't need sound quality watching YouTube videos)

    Headphones
    Beats Solo HD until I get my UltraFocus 8000 then my wife is getting the Solos. On my gaming PC I use a pair of Plantronics Audio 360.

    Bluetooth
    Motorola MOTOROKR S305 for those times I need to be hands-free and expecting a call.
  • tonyw
    tonyw Posts: 21
    edited August 2012
    Beats by dre, with android galaxy epic 4g slider and nuetron app utilizing ambiophonics, 32bit da converter and 5 band continuously adjustable parametric eq! Niiiice! And when I'm not using that I have an ipod with all music downloaded using apple lossless compression with a 5 band earthquke parametric eq for the headfone amp
  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,902
    edited August 2012
    Damn Tony, just reading that hurt my ears. :cheesygrin:
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
  • tonyw
    tonyw Posts: 21
    edited August 2012
    You should come try it! Stuff rocks and sounds awesome specially with that nuetron app, if you have and android try it out, you won't be dissapointed!
  • coolsax
    coolsax Posts: 1,824
    edited August 2012
    DSkip wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, did your Frisco buddy ever jump into the hobby?
    No he hasn't really though he did finally pickup a pair of cheap sennheisers. He just doesn't really have the means to really get into it as much as I think he'd like to.
    Main 2ch -
    BlueSound Node->Ethereal optical cable->Peachtree Audio Nova 150->GoldenEar Triton 2+
    TT - Pro-ject Classic SB with Sumiko Bluepoint.

    TV 3.1 system -
    Denon 3500 -> Dynaudio Excite 32/22
  • PolkClyde
    PolkClyde Posts: 661
    edited August 2012
    I Love listening to Headphones of a LIVE concert event..... it makes me feel like i'm there.
    PolkAudioClyde
  • blairfrischx
    blairfrischx Posts: 259
    edited August 2012
    DAC: Stello DA100 Signature
    Headamp: Darkvoice 336SE (upgraded)
    Headphones: Sennheiser HD650, Denon AH-D2000

    The buyer for the 336SE sent it back because it wasn't a "big enough upgrade" over his other amp. :evil: Not that I'm upset to have it back. It's awesome. :cheesygrin:
  • breystonfan
    breystonfan Posts: 15
    edited August 2012
    PC Setup
    Asus Xonar
    Sennheiser HD598
  • atoysruskid
    atoysruskid Posts: 2
    edited August 2012
    Headphones
    Ultrasone Pro750, Beyerdynamic dt770, Sennheiser HD240 - these are mostly used for recording. Looking into getting some nice open back full size headphones for listening and mixing.

    Earbuds
    Had Shure E3c and E4 - my world changed when I got my Westone UM3s. Polk Ultrafit 3000s for the gym.

    Players
    Have had a variety of Cowons and a few iPods over the years. Now, primarily Macbook Pro or Droid RAZR. Going to pick up another Cowon product at some point.

    DAC/amp
    HeadRoom Total Bithead. Variety of pro audio interfaces.
  • deronb1
    deronb1 Posts: 5,021
    edited August 2012
    Headphones shmedphones!:razz:
  • blehmbo
    blehmbo Posts: 179
    edited August 2012
    Headphones: AKG Q701
    HP Amp: AMB M3
    DAC: Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 :cheesygrin:
  • atoysruskid
    atoysruskid Posts: 2
    edited August 2012
    @blehmbo - the Q701s are definitely on my short list for next purchase. i am mainly looking for accuracy and detail. comments...?
  • SDA1C
    SDA1C Posts: 2,069
    edited August 2012
    I only have Blutooth Plantronics back beat 903 I think. They are great for MTB rides. Battery lasts a long time and the wrap around does a good job of helping them make it home.
    Too much **** to list....
  • blehmbo
    blehmbo Posts: 179
    edited September 2012
    @blehmbo - the Q701s are definitely on my short list for next purchase. i am mainly looking for accuracy and detail. comments...?

    I think they sound very accurate and detailed. Some say they lack bass, but to my ears the bass is accurate. Have you listened to a pair?
  • fust
    fust Posts: 16
    edited September 2012
    For gaming I use Sennheiser PC 360 + Astro Mixamp. But the mixamp is a bit wimpy and can't drive the PC360 very well, so I also use a FIIO7.

    If anybody has a better suggestion for gaming I'm all ears! Something that could drive my PC360 headphones a little better.
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,557
    edited September 2012
    In ear: Bowers & Wilkins C5
    Listening: Sony MDR-V900hd, Fanny Wang 2000 series
    Gaming: Turtle Beach Ear Force PX21
    DJ: Technics RP-DH1200
  • Tekkis
    Tekkis Posts: 120
    edited September 2012
    Sennheiser HD 428 at the moment cant remember what the last good set I had before them. Had a lot of random junk when I was younger, mostly stuff that came with the players I had at the time.
    System Details:
    Marantz SR 5010, Rega RP1, Marantz CD 5004, Denon DRR-680, Carver M-4.0t
    Polk SDA 1C (modified), Definitive Technologies BP-10, Polk Audio CS400i
  • Shike
    Shike Posts: 12
    edited September 2012
    Tekkis wrote: »
    Sennheiser HD 428 at the moment cant remember what the last good set I had before them. Had a lot of random junk when I was younger, mostly stuff that came with the players I had at the time.

    I got a pair about two or three weeks ago. I was honestly surprised at how decent they were for the price.

    For headphone amps I have an AV123 X-Head and DIY O2. I also have a SU-DH1 I use for gaming switchable in the chain. For the 2CH source I have a Cabridge DacMagic. For headphones I have too many: HD 428, Pioneer Monitor 10, Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 & M40FS, Grado SR-60, AKG K601, AKG K702, Philips Citiscape Downtown. IEMs: Altec Lansing UHP336(?) (rebadged UE Super.Fi 3), Klipsch S4, MeElectronics M6.