Best Late Night Low Volume Speaker

I agree with Toronto416. I have the Beyerdynamic T1 and the matching A1 headphone amp and that is hard to beat whether playing vinyl or digital at night. No room acoustics to contend with, and can play without worrying about bothering my wife or children. I have a pair of Sennheiser HD650s so my daughter likes to join and listen while doing her homework. Perfect all the way around.

Podeschi and Torono416

Thank you for your reply and I am glad you enjoy your headphones.

I have never had any super high end headphones, and have always wanted to try a pair of Stax electostatic headphones.

But I have had a few pairs of Grados, Etymotics, and Sennheiser 580s. I also have one of the original Headroom headphone amps, as well as the Grado headphone amp.

And although I enjoy them for working out, on airplanes, maybe for falling asleep and/or a trippy listen of Pink Floyd or something once in a while, I otherwise don't really get headphones.

I don't like the "orchestra in the head" feeling. Headphones don't image like speakers; I invariably find them uncomfortable after a while, and they lack a certain palpable, visceral quality that I perceive even with mini monitors on my desktop at low volume.

Of course, no speaker allows you to listen next to someone else without hearing them, and headphones on a per dollar basis are a better value.

In the end, Harbeth P3SERs and the Silverline Minuets are on my short list for further auditioning.

Podeschi,

Just checking out the reviews and price tag for the Beyerdynamic gear, I guess I probably haven't yet experienced really good headphones!

I am extremely impressed with Genelec 8020B - very very small pro speakers - and just under $1000 for a pair.

You can sit very close and get a great experience without bothering others - bass response was a real surprise for me - plenty of bass.

Wouldn't the amp make a difference here? Wouldn't a high current and high wattage amp relative to speaker sensitivity help out at low volumes?