Headphones who is the best Senny 800 or Beyerdynamic T-1

jimbles

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Hello i was wondering if i could ask for anyones experience regarding these 2 heaphones both get decent reviews so is it just down to personall preferance

I would be considering the chord toucan headphone amp allthouth i don't need to extra dac unless i am missing something the other inputs could be usefull
or the other choice would be the beryerdynamic a1 amp

another item of intrest i think the sennhaisers have the option of upgrading cardas cable does the beyerdynamic also have this option and or does that catapole the sennys into pole postion the this cable upgrade

any thoughts appreciated
 
Personal preference. At those prices find some to listen to. They'll also need a good source and amp to sound as well as they should.

Cables are the realm of audio vooodoo and have never been proven to make any audible difference beyond, anecdotes. They're minute tweaks for the audiophile crowd who swear they can hear butterflies kissing during an air raid.
 
I've not heard a pair of T-1s, but I've got a pair of HD800s and I think they're amazing. You can read my review of them here.

EDIT: Headphone.com have a headphone comparison feature where you can compare aspects of various headphones. Here is a link to a comparison between the frequency response of the T-1 and HD800. They're quite similar, but different enough to produce (I presume) a different sound. To view the comparison in greater detail, click on the graph and add the HD800s for a comparison.
 
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Cables are the realm of audio vooodoo and have never been proven to make any audible difference beyond, anecdotes. They're minute tweaks for the audiophile crowd who swear they can hear butterflies kissing during an air raid.

:laugh:

That's actually hilarious, yet so true.

The only cables I use are gold-plated. Other than that I don't care about how much oxygen and copper is in the cable.

As long as the cable can get my data from A->B with as little interference or attenuation as possible, then that's good enough for me.

But, erm, a little off topic - Paying about ÂŁ60-200 for a HDMI cable is ridiculous.

I got a gold plated HDMI v1.4 cable for about ÂŁ3, from Play.com. It's only 1M, which is the longest it needs to ever be, for me.

And you know what's funny, there is 0% difference in colour/picture/shades between that and a cable 10x, or even 20x more expensive. I don't know what shades of grey my mate can see that I can't, but the picture was the exact same to me.

Is that a kick in the stanes or what?!

Jamie.
 
There are also USB cables aimed at audiophiles, seeing how USB only has data & voltage I cant see how that is going to effect sound quality.

As for headphone cables im dubious, if you could somehow switch between them live that would be the only way of telling if there is a difference, but by the time most people take the headphones off their head, change cable can they really remember what the previous was like? in theory it could make a difference if the original cable isnt very good but I think its going to be a tiny difference.

The only thing I guess is while most people may not hear any differences & claim they are a waste of money we do have to accept that perhaps there are some who can truly hear such differences, the younger you are obviously helps greatly.
 
Blind testing? Experienced audio buffs? Young female with classical tastes?

It's been done before with an instant cable switch box, where subjects knew A ($1000 cable) B ($5 cable) X (could be either) and all X guesses were just that.

http://www.nousaine.com/pdfs/Wired Wisdom.pdf

Sure, it would be better if they had 100+ subjects and published in a reputable journal, but whose going to fund it? No cable makers that for sure.

I have heard pricey cables and I hear nothing different, but then, I went in not expecting to... I think people hear what they want to. More so when they've coughed up a few hundred.
 
I would be considering the chord toucan headphone amp

Tread carefully there, there was a post on here recently by a place selling those amps & he said they found them a little too harsh & shrill with the HD800's, which are already claimed to be fairly bright sounding phones.
 
Tread carefully there, there was a post on here recently by a place selling those amps & he said they found them a little too harsh & shrill with the HD800's, which are already claimed to be fairly bright sounding phones.

Yes, you may need a lil research to find a proper amp..depending on the model you choose.
 
Thanks davejames regarding the usb info i was about to buy a 3m usb off one of the well know cable retailer that you would find on every google search near the top for ÂŁ120 smackers because it is advertised as being an audiophile usb cable for greater depth and clarity to your music i think i will stick to my 3m one costing ÂŁ7.99 from amazon the only problem is i just know i will spend it on something equally daft
 
Thanks davejames regarding the usb info i was about to buy a 3m usb off one of the well know cable retailer that you would find on every google search near the top for ÂŁ120 smackers because it is advertised as being an audiophile usb cable for greater depth and clarity to your music i think i will stick to my 3m one costing ÂŁ7.99 from amazon the only problem is i just know i will spend it on something equally daft

If I could get away with it, I'd use fuse wire and put connectors on... That reminds me..

Where'd I put that soldering iron... :rolleyes:

Jamie.
 
Thanks davejames regarding the usb info i was about to buy a 3m usb off one of the well know cable retailer that you would find on every google search near the top for ÂŁ120 smackers because it is advertised as being an audiophile usb cable for greater depth and clarity to your music i think i will stick to my 3m one costing ÂŁ7.99 from amazon the only problem is i just know i will spend it on something equally daft

Wise man! obviously its not my place to say how you spend your hard earned cash but it would be a complete waste to buy a ÂŁ120 USB lead, actually one guy on another forum took one of those cables apart & compared it to his Belkin cable, he said they were almost identical.

I think its just cable makers cashing in on this whole audiophile lark, some are even saying that a cable has a polarity, for example it sounds better when plugged in this way around rather than that, I think thats so funny :laugh:

Your just not going to hear any difference with a USB cable, good or bad.

Im a very sceptical person when people say about cables making a difference, mains & USB cables I cant see how they would ever make any difference, the interconnect that goes from your CD player to the amp though can make a difference, but it really does depend on the amp whether you will hear a difference with the cable, its often said that tube amps dont care what cables you use, but solid state does, ive always been sceptical in this area but the other night I wired up my amp to my CD player using just a standard phono to phono cable, cant remember where I got it or how much it was but needless to say its just a standard cable, to my suprise I noticed a subtle change in the sound, I thought it was in my mind so I went back to the usual cable I use which looks better quality, it sounded better, I got my friend to swap the cable without me knowing which was which, I chose the better cable everytime, so the amp I use does pick up cable differences which kinda confirms what others say about solid state.

BUT!! this is going from cheap cable to a modest priced one of respectable quality, I am still sceptical whether any of these really high priced ones will make yet another improvement, I think the difference im hearing is the cheaper cable has losses which the better cable doesnt, after that more money on cable would no doubt be wasted.
 
Depends on the rest of the system although I have no personal experience. Attending a head-fi meet, the HD800 sounded quite safe (correct if you will) and sterile on the Benchmark Dac-1. Very meh. But then with a balanced cable on a balanced setup and wow they came alive. Saying that if I ever had the money think I would be too tempted by the Grado high-end. Or maybe wooded (ooh-er) Audio-Technica's

On the usb cable front just buy a normal branded one and be done with it. I would say that a Belkin surgemaster which replaced a supermarket select extension plug removed odd background interference on my old Edirol soundcard
 
Steven, I think balanced cables fall on the safe side of snake oil. When respected manufacturers like Cambridge, to name one, allow for balanced I/O, then there has to be something to it. Although the primary reason appears to be noise and interference reduction for very long cabling lengths used in production.

But the damn audiophiles had to hijack it...
 
Wasn't saying the balanced cable alone did it. If you read again they were connected to a balanced amp set-up. Undoubtedly the expensive hardware had more of a say in bringing the HD800 to life
 

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