cognito ERGO sum

[howiebrou]

The other day, whilst I waited for a new stereo to be put into my car, I took the most unwise step of visiting a headphone shop. I know one of the salespeople quite well and so proceeded to sit down with him and listen to a large selection of expensive cans.

These included
- Ultrasone Edition 10
- Sennheiser HD 800
- Grado PS 1000
- Ergo AMT
- Beyerdynamic T1 & T5P

and a mixture of headphone amps:
- Grace 902/903
- SPL Phonitor
- Benchmark Dac1
- Ergo Amp2
- Luxman P1-U
- Graham Slee (can't remember which model)

To cut a long story short, I excited as the proud owner of a pair of Ergo AMT and Amp 2. I had never heard of the Swiss made Ergo and the look was not particularly attractive. It looks like a cross between a pair of stax and quad 2905.





The salesman didn't suggest it initially as he thought the size would be, how could you say, a little small for my australopithecus sized head but it fit just fine. In fact the lack of an enclosed speaker means that the headphone sits comfortably and I don't get too hot which happens to me a lot of regular styled earphones.

The ultrasone were very dynamic but to me the treble was too harsh and tiring. The Grados even more so. The beyers brought much relief (and at half the price of the ultrasones) and these looked very promising to me. The Sennheisers were very warm and dark sounding and I think i would be asleep before the first song finished but I can see their attraction for a relazed evening.

Lastly I tried the Ergos for fun since they looked silly and I knew nothing about them. These are produced by the same company that made Jecklin Floats apparently. Holy mackeral, the realism with these was akin to going from digital to analog, from computer to LP. They brought about a sense of naturalness that I find hard to describe. I tend to find many headphones are very forward and aggressive as though the singer is in your ear which to me is a little bit too much. The Ergos sat back a few feet and just sang. Treble was controlled and not piercing. Bass was less dominating than the others but more like my speakers and people's voices than the other cans. It took me all of 2 minutes to decide that this was the winner aurally. The only thing is it comes with a four pin xlr that fits nothing else apparently. The Ergo headphone amp which is designed for this pair has this output and nothing else. Luckliy adaptors are available although I am not sure I would be brave enough to wear it on the plane unless it was an X-wing fighter . I seriously suggest one try these before spending a few grand on a headphone system but I think they are quite difficult to find and the website is rubbish.

One decision I had to make with regards to the amp was with or without dac. It seems more and more have dacs which would have been okay since my proposed headphone location is in the room next to the sources. A long coaxial cable would have sorted this out but would mean I couldn't listen to LPs. Balanced inputs would allow me to listen via an analog connection with long balanced cables but my preamp only has one set of balanced out and they are being used by the power amp. Both the SPL and Ergo had no dacs and this was the direction i decided to go so I would force myself to provision for LPs.

Ultimately I swapped my listening position to the armchair near the audio room so that a 2 m pair of rcas should easily reach the ergo amp.

Picking it up later this week I hope!

howie

[Amfibius]

Good to hear, Howie. What did you think of the Sennheiser HD800's? They are supposed to be the best headphone on the market.

I did think about buying the HD800's but they would be completely useless for what I am planning to use them for - listening to music on my computer while my wife is asleep. The HD800's are open backed and leak a lot of sound. Do you know if these headphones leak sound?

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by Amfibius

Good to hear, Howie. What did you think of the Sennheiser HD800's? They are supposed to be the best headphone on the market.

I did think about buying the HD800's but they would be completely useless for what I am planning to use them for - listening to music on my computer while my wife is asleep. The HD800's are open backed and leak a lot of sound. Do you know if these headphones leak sound?

The Hd800s were quite comfortable and yes they leak sound although I don't think they are any worse than the others. The Sennheisers have a very romantic sound. Think old Mcintosh and that is how they sounded after hearing the others. Beyer was less warm and ultrasone not warm at all. I don't think they are the best but they were the most hyped when they came out!

Why would they be wasted? Get a benchmark with dac, connect via usb and you have a world class headphone system for 2k or so. UNless you listen very loud or your wife is a very light sleeper sounds like a good idea to me!

howie

[Amfibius]

howie, I could hear the sound leakage from the HD800's even in a noisy head-fi club meet! That sound leakage would be divorce inducing within the quiet confines of my bedroom. My current headphones are extremely cheap no-name Philips phones which are close backed and do not leak any sound. Sadly, there is no such thing as a high end headphone that does not leak sound

[chessman]

It makes me happy beyond tears to belong to a board where "australopithecus" is used in a sentence. Not kidding - I am a huge fan of education.

[jdandy]

Howie.......australopithecus......

I had to go to Wikipedia for that one.

[Amfibius]

I wasn't enough of a pedant to point it out - but "too small for my Australopithecus sized head" was a wrong metaphor. Australopithecines were known for their small heads. Of all the species in our evolutionary line, Homo sapiens are the ones with the biggest heads. Sorry howie for the diversion

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by Amfibius

I wasn't enough of a pedant to point it out - but "too small for my Australopithecus sized head" was a wrong metaphor. Australopithecines were known for their small heads. Of all the species in our evolutionary line, Homo sapiens are the ones with the biggest heads. Sorry howie for the diversion

Love it. You're right I should have used Neanderthalensis or something. Lucy never did have a huge head. Although in proportion to the rest of their body the australopithecines head was not small, just their brain cavities. I digress

[chessman]

Originally Posted by howiebrou

Love it. You're right I should have used Neanderthalensis or something. Lucy never did have a huge head. Although in proportion to the rest of their body the australopithecines head was not small, just their brain cavities. I digress

I just thought you meant the phones were potentially too small in relation to your [what-ever size] head. I can say that because mine is so big that when I walk down the street, people start dancing around it like a parade float.

[lord sere]

What does a pair of those cost in America? I looked up the site and the page with prices in CHF wasn't working.