Sony has a "Signature" system of a matched headphone amp/headphones/audio player that is banging. It isn't cheap but certainly not crazy either. It is a system you can listen to without fatigue and has a ton of features. I would get the amp and the over ear headphones. Whether or not you want to get the player depends on what you have now. I use the headphone amp as a DAC as well, it is fantastic in this role and much less $$ then other flagship dacs that don't have all of the additional features.Here is a link to the Sony Signature Series review on youtube:
Need to build a headphone system
I'm looking for advice. I need a headphone system for an apartment. I am overwhelmed both by the variety of headphones and amps out there and the difficulty of auditioning them. My budget is about 8.5K for amp and cans. I listen to lots of chamber music, solo instrumental and other small group stuff, so I appreciate detail and responsiveness. But I shy away from analytic - my main system amp has beautiful glowing tubes. Although I stream a lot, I also listen to a lot of vinyl. I wear oticon behind the ear hearing aids. Music sounds noticeably darker and less detailed when I take them out. So certainly not in-ear! Any expertise on listening with aids is greatly appreciated.
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The selection of components is intimidating. I put my headphone system together over the last twenty years. I have owned a lot of headphones, amps, DACs and streamers… in many ways going back to the early 1980’s. My desire is to have really musical, natural, and dynamic sound with great detail. I have owned electrostatic, and another dozen headphones. Amps from all over. For amps… Woo WA5 is so much better than anything I have ever owned or heard. This 300b design has enormous current and natural sound. It can grab any headphone and make it perform without a bit of analytical edge to it. While, I give so much credit to my Focal Utopia… turns out I listen to my Sennheiser 800s all the time over the top notch Focal, Audez, UltraSonde, Denon, and others. If all you need is the headphones and amp (not a top notch streamer and DAC)… then I highly recommend the Woo WA5… with a pair of Takatski 300B tubes… with Sennheiser HD800 headphones. This combo sounded so incredibly good to me it caused a $70K upgrade in my main system because my headphone system sounded sooo much better.
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Given what you’re looking for I’d highly recommend the Hifiman HE1000 SE and the Quicksilver tube headphone amp. The HE1000 SE rivals their $6000 Susvara headphones but are MUCH easier to drive and can be had for only $2799 ($700 discount) from their open box section on their site (I bought both my ‘phones from there and couldn’t tell them from brand new). The Quicksilver amp can be had for only $1198 and is a huge value and would be a great pairing with the HE1000 SEs. So for $4000 you could have an awesome HeadFi system that rivals the best. Here are a couple reviews FWIW… https://soundnews.net/headphones/full-size/hifiman-he1000se-review-how-high-hifiman/ Best of luck |
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