Headphone recommendation?

Mytek is very capable DAC, but the headphone output is just avarage, so I would not advice some hard to drive headpnohes (especially if you are not driving them in balanced – you need a special adapter for that). SO I would not advice anything from Sennheiser.

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I don’t think that many of the Sennheiser headphones (eg HD600, HD800) are difficult to drive. Although they have a pretty high impedance (300Ohm for the two listed above), they also have quite high sensitivity - The HD800, for example, produces 108 dB @ 2Vpp and 6.65mA (13mW power) which means that pretty near anything should be able to drive them to 108dB (which is more than enough to do damage to your ears).

By contrast something like the HiFiMan SE6se has a 50Ohm impedance but only has a sensitivity of 84dB/mW. With these headphones to get the same volume (108dB), you would need 3.54Vpp and ~71mA (or ~251 mW) so the HifiMan headpones require ~1.75 times the voltage and nearly 20 times the power to drive them to the same volume.

In case you haven’t seen it, there is a useful ‘headphone calculator’ which will calculate the voltage, amps and power required to deliver a given volume at:

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Like you I like good sound but… Some people do like a specific sound. I don’t, well I do not like bass heavy. I have three headphones and like them all, but not on the same source. My BeyerDynamics DT1190 Pro is a no go with my Hifiman EF400 but does really nice on my Altair G1, my Grado RS2e though shines on the Hifiman end does also on my SPL Phonitor SE that I normally use to drive my DC Ether C 1.1 Flow. What’s the best? No question, that’s the DC. But everybody who’s heard my Grado says: “Wow, it is as if you were in the same room.” The Beyer is the best to wear all day. What do I want to say? Just try some and do it on the source you want to use for it.

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Hi, you can look, the Meze Empyrian I, or Audeze LCD-Series or Hifiman HE 1000-Series. No Abyss, No Susvara, for low power of your Combo Driver.

I’m not an expert by any means. I have a pair HD650s that I love, but being open back they bleed too much if I’m around other people. I jumped blindly into the ZMF line based on online reviews. I bought their Atrium Closed set and have loved it. Not quite the wide stereo image of the HD650s, but super close if you need a closed back. They best the HD650s in many other ways as well.

Also, if the Atrium Closed is out of the budget they just released a more affordable Closed Back called the Bokeh. They’re still running a launch sale so they’re under $1k and look gorgeous.

You will of course get great recommendations here. So I’ll add to the fray: Dan Clark audio is worth your consideration. I’ve been listening to Aeon 2 planars for over 6 months and really love them. $899 msrp but he has others.
Via schiit jotenheim so can’t speak to any matchup with your dac. Good luck.

Be on the lookout for a Can Jam in your area. It’s a good way to try out various styles to see if anything floats your sonic boat. Your Sennheiser 650s are really pretty good IMO, so you might not have too much FOMO while you explore. As you can tell from the responses, there’s a lot to check out. People I respect love their Stax electrostatics; I have too limited experience here to endorse.

thanks, everyone, great suggestions. I don’t think we get Can Jams here in Portland, Oregon. It may be best to just keep living in Plato’s cave, never knowing that there even is anything better than my 650s (not to mention the rest of my system). From what I read, if anything, I would only get a modest increase in sound quality for a LOT more money.

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The 650’s are great headphones :smiley:

Hi Garvin,

Come and take a look and join us over at Head-fi. Here’s a couple of links for you:

Cheers

Stuart