Thinking of moving to a Headphone system, thoughts

The new Sennheiser HD800 would probably fit the bill nicely, but they are expensive.

I think the best budget system would be Computer/Laptop-->Asynchronous USB DAC-->Headphone Amp-->Sennheiser HD650 or HD 800.

Some headphones have physical sound "crosstalk" between channels to provide 3d imaging. In normal speaker reproduction sound gets from right speaker to your left ear with delay. There are computer sound cards drivers that can imitate this delay creating 3d image. It also can be done in hardware but I don't know of commercial units available.

I have owned a few nice top end headphones, and my favorite was the Grado gs-1000, but even with a great amp they can't touch a speaker system in so many areas. If I were in your shoes I would go for some monitors and a subwoofer and listen at lower levels, and get some headphones for when you want to turn it up a bit.

I just moved from a nice headphone system to a speaker system. I had recabled AKG K701s powered by a Little Dot MKV, fed my an audio mirror D2 DAC.

Ya, they sounded good I suppose... a little harsh on the highs and lacking in bass though.

Now, once I moved to my speaker system... I was (and still am) blown away. Much greater sense of space and precise, accurate placement... much more balanced through the entire range.

My system now consists of Green Mountain Audio Continuum 1's, a modified Yamaha M-40, and again the Audio Mirror D2 DAC.

It's also great to not be tethered to a cord and to be able to share the music experience with others.

I'm in the speaker camp again now :).

So, I have a pristine pair of AKG K701s for sale if your interested. They are recabled with 5ft APureSound V3 cable, terminated with a Furutech FP-704 1/4" jack.

You can see pics here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f10/fs-akg-k701-w-apsv3-furutech-pristine-408388/

Take care.

Djembeplay - "to be able to share the music experience with others." - I feel the same way.

I have Sennheisers HD580 (same drivers as HD600) and don't use them. Cord is one issue but I just don't like music inside of my head. My 2 speaker stereo throws image in front of me.