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SQ lacking

I bought my first hi end audio system. Played, so far, some Redbook cds. On my speakers, I think I am hearing improvement as some time goes on. My room is horrible for room acoustics...as bad as it gets...so I am going to address that with my Dspeaker antimode 2.0 soon.

But then I switched to my headphone unit, of which I have a Questyle CMA 600i headphone amp/dac. So room acoustics have no import here. I plugged in my Sennheiser hd6xx headphones, popped in some Redbook cds, and man it just sounds rather muffled to me. I don't hear crisp details and nice separation of instruments. I am not wowed. I have a good system here, every component getting good reviews. So, does it need break in? Is it terrible cd recordings? Or, would I realize better sound if I went cd transport - dac - headphone amp? Right now it's cd transport - dac - preamp - headphone amp.
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shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Yes be careful. Hi-end means muffled and euphonic old school sound to many audiophiles - easily distinguished from modern accurate sound. 

There is a happy medium between warm euphonic sound and accuracy and clarity - you just need to find that - only experimentation and lots of listening will do.

FWIW - if it doesn’t sound excellent out of the box then it never will - don’t kid yourself. Audio memory will adjust (you will forget what good system sounds like) and you will learn to accept the less than ideal sound after many hours of conditioning (that is break in for you).


melbguyone
294 posts
 
@shadorne I can’t quite fully agree with your statement "FWIW - if it doesn’t sound excellent out of the box then it never will". Some loudspeakers i’ve heard have sounded bright, closed in and rather flat out of the box, only to smooth out, open up and sound musical after break in. Just sayin’. Though I think your statement is true of some head-fi, particularly IEM's.
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
It depends on the speaker design and manufacturing I guess and whether they are broken in at the factory QC where some manufacturers do extreme stress tests.
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ghosthouse
4,306 posts
 
I have a pair of Sennheiser HD600s. I recall finding them muffled sounding and lacking high end extension when new. Dozens and dozens of hours later and a cable upgrade (to Senn 700 or 800 cable?) they sound much better. Have to say though, they don’t have the sparkle of the AKG550s but then the AKGs are light on bass compared to the Senns. After time for break in, consider a Schiit Loki for equalization if things don’t improve to your total satisfaction.
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geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Sennheiser 600s definitely sound clearer and better all around if you remove the grills and foam. It’s the only way to fly. 
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