Newbie Wanting a Headphone System Upgrade, Need Help with Specifics!

[rhinose]

Here's a quick rundown of all the essentials, I go into more detail below.

Budget: $2-2.5K for headphones and accessories. Flexible to spending more, especially if it is on accessories that would also be compatible with a future speaker setup

Source: Currently using a Qudelix 5K DAC wired to iPhone SE 3rd Gen, but I'm open to replacing the dac and using my laptop rather than the phone, or getting a streamer.

Purpose: Listening to music at home. Noise canceling not necessary.

Preferred Tonal Balance: Enjoy strong bass, sensitive to "harsh/bright" sounds, particularly at high frequencies. wanting some gorgeous treble and mids too.

Preferred Genres: Electronic/pop/alternative/experimental stuff/rap/trap/rage and older alternative/mpb/jazz/pop. so a pretty wide range of sounds. I love finding a listening to new types of music and exploring

Past gear experience: Currently using Sennheiser HD 400 Pros with a Qudelix 5k. Bass often sounds good but some low-end tones are underwhelming. On certain songs, mids and highs sound very harsh/sharp/bright. I previously had a pair of Realistic Optimus 6 and a Magnavox MRB130 receiver. I liked this setup but it was clear the audio quality could be significantly improved on. Vocals would get “buried."
MORE DETAIL:
I’m a VERY newbie audiophile looking to upgrade. i’m very sensitive to sounds feeling too “harsh.” I am looking to upgrade my Sennheiser HD 400 pros. I am currently using them with a Qudelix 5k wired to an iPhone SE 3rd gen to stream, though I also have access to a laptop. It is worth noting that demoing equipment in-person isn't an option for me due to health issues.

I like the HD 400 pros okay, and the Qudelix helps some for sure (settings are really complicated for a beginner, probably more optimizing i could do) but there’s some issues that i think just investing in a higher end setup could resolve and improve upon substantially.

I do love speakers. I previously had a pair of Realistic Optimus 6 and a Magnavox MRB130 receiver my dad had set me up with, but the speakers crapped out and we can’t find anyone locally who can repair them. I liked the speakers alright, they were my first pair, but I always felt they could do “more” and i wasn’t getting the full experience. Vocals would get a bit “buried” on them too.

So I am looking at getting a really kick-ass 2.1 speaker setup going, but I want to be more well researched in audio, speakers and room treatment before I make any decisions (thinking about the Wharfedale Lintons or the AsciLab c6b, still a ways off from making a decision)

I feel like finding a really “knock it out of the park” headphone setup will help me in determining the best options for speakers too. Just need some direction for now in terms of finding a headphone setup i’ll be completely happy with.

I don’t know much about using the proper terms to describe exactly what I’m hearing. But one issue I’m having is certain frequencies in the mid and high range just sound too bright/harsh. Like guitars or certain vocals. It just doesn’t have that “wow I’m right there!” kind of feeling. More grungy/alt/rock tracks and certain pop tracks seem to struggle the most.

Not every song has this issue, and some are worse than others. The HD400 pros *can* get some satisfying bass to them, and sound pretty nice on a lot of tracks, but I want that satisfaction to extend to more tracks and frequencies. And why not get some even better bass?

WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR:
A pair of headphones that will absolutely blow my socks off. “End-game” level, or something close to it. Something that’s almost impossible to make sound bad, even with potentially suboptimal settings on amps/dac/streamers/etc. Definitely not anything bright/harsh or that has any shortfalls in terms of performance, detailed is okay. Something that sounds gorgeous at every frequency (I do really love some bass especially though)

Would like the ability to fiddle with settings and EQ, but don’t want to feel like it’s a necessity to change settings for every album or artist.

I’m also trying to figure out exactly what I need to get alongside the headphones themselves, and how everything connects together, making sure gear is compatible, etc. It’s all very complicated for a beginner. I know i’ll need a dac, amp, potentially a streamer as well? No idea how necessary a pre-amp is. And I know a lot of that gear can be combined, like a DAC/amp. Not sure what other gear is best for a higher end headphone setup like what I’m seeking, so really need some specific advice on what I need in this area, and making sure everything is compatible.

I am wanting some of the gear to also be compatible with speakers for my future setup. Streaming is what i use. I’m okay sacrificing portability for quality, so if my phone couldn’t handle a direct connection, a streamer would be an option.

Mostly I just care about quality though, any other preferences could be sacrificed for quality. Such minor preferences would include ability to change songs from my phone.

And to expand upon the aforementioned budget, I’m thinking around 2k-2.5k total for headphones+gear but this can be flexible, ESPECIALLY if some of the gear I got would also be compatible with speakers. Speakers and subs would have a separate budget.

Thank you! I’m very new to this, and I want to learn more, but I’m also really wanting a setup that is more satisfying ASAP.

 

[kemmler3D]

Welcome!

My two cents on headphones: you should do what you can to try some high end options in person. Headphone sound varies from person to person so measurements can't get you as far as they can with speakers. They're invaluable, but even so if you can demo headphones before buying I highly advise it.

My personal opinion is if you're interested in strong / quality bass you should try out some planar magnetic cans, they're often said to do bass especially well and I tend to agree. Top brands to look at include Audeze and Dan Clark, others will probably suggest others in addition.

As far as DAC / amp, I strongly advise you to look for one that includes PEQ. Topping and JDS both have excellent models (with basically perfect sound quality on most headphones) that offer EQ.

If you are looking to hook up speakers later, look for a DAC / AMP that includes at least one pair of RCA outs, but realistically XLR + RCA is better for a 2.1 or 2.2+ setup.

Just for the sake of discussion: Personally I'm running a Topping DX5 Lite with Genelecs on the XLR AND and 2 subs on the RCA outputs. Headphones are Audeze LCD-XC and I'm very happy with the bass. It's powerful but clean in a way I've never heard elsewhere. I use my PC for EQ, but the newer DX5Ii has it onboard. I have a streamer (WiiM Mini) hooked up to the DAC as well, but just to get my desktop system integrated into the multiroom system.

Overall you just need to make sure that your DAC / AMP produces good output for the headphones you have in mind. Check the impedance of the headphones against the amp's performance at that value.

Other than that, as long as the device in question has good SINAD (95dB+ is easy to find these days and totally transparent for most listening) you're all set in terms of sound quality. Once you pass that bar, you're really shopping based on features, design, service, warranty, etc. I should note in passing, it is hard to overstate how misleading most DAC reviews are, because they ascribe subjective qualities to the sound that almost never actually exist. Tl;dr placebo effect is everywhere and nobody does real blind tests to rule it out. Measurements show the differences aren't there in 99.999% of cases.

There is almost always no audible benefit to buying a more expensive DAC, so if you end up spending $1900 on headphones and $100 on the DAC, don't worry that you've missed something along the way. That's a pretty appropriate cost ratio.

Lastly, if you are open to IEMs, check out Truthear and Moondrop, maybe some others. Starting for around $17 you can get genuinely good sound with great bass, many incredible options under $100. Sounds crazy, and it is crazy, but it's true.

 

[IngMishael]

Currently using Sennheiser HD 400 Pros with a Qudelix 5k

Test the attached PEQ profile in Qudelix.

I concur with kemmler that in person demos would be better serving but since you can't. I'd rather you're more restrained with purchases that cost a lot and won't give you any wow

 

[Alexander Gödde]

There are a lot of options, especially with a budget as big as this.

From personal experience, I'd put the Sennheiser HD800(S) at the top of the list of headphones to try.

They are lightweight, comfortable and durable. The HD800 are the only headphone I have where I sometimes actually forget that I'm wearing them.

There is very good QC, so the pair you buy should have a frequency response that is very close to what others have measured. They also have very low acoustic impedance, i.e. how they perform on your head will vary less from how they work for others than with high acoustic impedance designs (e.g. closed-back headphones). There will also be little variation based on changes in positioning, which can be significant with a lot of headphones.
This is important when you want to use EQ settings that others have created. It will still make sense to adjust these based on your specific HRTF (head-related transfer function, i.e. how your anatomy influences how you perceive sound), but you are at least very likely to find settings that get you closer to neutral. I personally use the oratory1990 settings (easy to google), and I think they sound golrious with it, and very close to reality with the orchestral music I mostly listen to. I find that there is no need to adjust that based on what music I am listening to - neutral works across all genres for me.

The HD800(S) are also easy enough to drive that you can probably just use the Qudelix 5K for them, which also allows you to use EQ.

You may want to get a "balanced" cable for the additional headroom you get from the Qudelix via that connection. Cables are a bit tricky since these use rarely found connectors, but you can get something that works on aliexpress for very reasonable money.

Lastly, there are plenty of used units available in most markets. Here in Germany the price range is from 500 - 800 EUR at the moment, which is very reasonable money for what you get.