Sunday morning and a weekend free from work (unusual). Sat enjoying some sounds on the 'upstairs' setup and thought I would do a mini shoot-out with several pairs of headphones that were assembled there.
Shot 1:
Using the headphone output from the Cambridge Alva Duo phono stage:
Winner: AQ NightHawk (original 'wood' version)
2. Monolith M1070
3. Philips Fidelio X2HR
4. HarmonicDyne Zeus
5. HifiMan Sundara
6. German Maestro GMP 450
Shot 2:
Using the headphone output from the Cambridge DacMagic Plus DAC:
Winner: Monolith M1070
2. AQ NightHawk (original 'wood' version)
3. Philips Fidelio X2HR
4. HifiMan Sundara
5. HarmonicDyne Zeus
6. German Maestro GMP 450
All via a Grado 5m headphone extension cable.
Interesting test, hearing the widely-varying characteristics of these cans and now I am downstairs in the office with the M1070's plugged into the MF XCanV3 and they sound totally different again. In both sessions, the top 3 got me foot-tapping and enjoying the music with wide-soundstage, good detail and punchy dynamics.
Surprises: Philips X2HR (cheapest at €70) - sound great under all conditions, a lively all-rounder with great space and dynamics, just lacking in some fine detail - although these were the only set that revealed surface noise from the LP. The original AQ NightHawks (most expensive, €750 when bought) shine as a smooth, vivid perfomer.
These 2 headphones sounded the best with the Alva Duo and I suspect that this is due to the output here being more suitable for low-impedance, easy-to-drive cans. Certainly other headphones suffered as a result of being severely underpowered.
Things changed quite a lot with the DacMagic as that is run from a large SBooster LPSU. The performance of the Sundara's was much improved. In no way could this be seen as a test of the different headphones, more a display of how they fare when NOT properly-driven.
The German Maestro GMP 450 is a high-impedance unit and simply came over as weak and anaemic - although it is great in other systems. The Zeus is also one that cries out for serious amplification to tame it's occasionally harsh top-end, but it was the only set that revealed motor hum from the Pro-Ject TT and Grado cartridge.
The conclusion is that this particular system really needs a dedicated headphone amp and the search is now on, this also means I could shift the Metrum Musette DAC into the rig. Now looking at a little Class-D baby on Amazon, Sabaj A10h.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SABAJ-A10h-Des ... 032&sr=8-3