Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Zucca]

https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones

Honestly seemed a little too good to be true at that price. Any opinions...?

mnem
 

I hate you, I do not know why I am still thinking to buy them or not. I hate you.

[Cerebus]

There is of course another alternative POV, which says that the sound mixer/recording engineer listens to all of it through headphones while s/he is making the master; so why shouldn't we listen to it that way...?

No, they do not.

The only time I have ever seen headphones on an engineer in any recording studio I have ever personally been in where they were recording with one of these:



The only other times I have seen headphones on the engoneer is on the actual studio floor, either to find out why the foldback isn't working or the rare case where they were filling in for a missing musician/vocalist.

There's a reason that studios spend a small fortune on monitors and listening area treatments (like the lavish Westlake style LEDE rooms) and it's not to ignore them and put headphones on.

Edit: Can't even spell straight today...

[capt bullshot]

One of the things I'm contemplating building One Of These Days (tm) is a 1KHz sine oscillator, Wien bridge, on Euro-style PCB; I've got a card frame that I'm going to put a variety of cards in. No sound system is complete ...

I'm going to cut you into little pieces

[Cerebus]

I've owned a number of "studio monitor" speakers in my time; I assumed they were primarily used as "reality check" playback devices or as monitors for the artists to hear themselves...?

Total failure of observation there then. Try an image search for "<name of your favourite band/artist> recording session" and note what all the musicians (and the drummer) are wearing to hear themselves

A couple of random picks:

[mansaxel]

I think there is a lot of difference in how people appreciate music; it seems in my experience there are two fundamental approaches: Reliving vs Remembering.

Yes, those are valuable distinctions. I believe I'm a synthesis; reliving the moments when I got some truck-load of speakers to actually cohere and play together, and so I tend to play the tracks I used to judge the system back then.  Lots of Steely Dan.

There is of course another alternative POV, which says that the sound mixer/recording engineer listens to all of it through headphones while s/he is making the master; so why shouldn't we listen to it that way...?

If you mix an album on cans it's going to sound OK in cans and nowhere else. A decent pair of neutral monitors is a much better proposition. It of course pays to check the mix in cans, as well as on a boom box and perhaps in the car stereo.

On neutral monitors: I almost won a pair of Yamaha NS-1000 yesterday evening but they went beyond my pain threshold.
TE: Also a 3455A went past, much the same way. The seller of the 3455A is known to supply a steady stream of quality gear, so has many followers, and there's almost always a bid fight.  The NS-1000 were sold by a church charity, who do a "too good" job of describing the product, and people find them.

I'm actually most irritated over missing the NS-1000. I really like that speaker. It is hated by many, and the 'phools don't like it, probably because it is so obviously a good piece of engineering work, high but not over-the-top quality furnishings and so on, but with things like the Beryllium membranes that in and of themselves would be pretty close to 'phool class, though. But here, they're in the construction for a good reason.  In the end, it is extremely revealing: It will play the recording as it is. Obviously, people don't want that, they want "musical". Fuck that.

[Specmaster]

I got soooo clooooose so many times... with different amps and crossovers... but never got it quite right.

I've tried a number of so-called quadro or surround headphones using individual transducers for the four (or whatever number of) channels and the verdict couldn't be simpler: they all don't work. Period. There are still some of them sold to computer gamers but all serious manufacturers like Beyer or Sennheiser have given up on them years ago.

The only thing that does work to some extent is HRTF, i.e. processing the signal into a binaural format and then listening through conventional stereo headphones. I'm still using this one:

https://global.beyerdynamic.com/catalog/product/view/id/40/s/headzone-pro-xt/

I suspect the reason why they never work correctly is that as left and right  the drivers are so close to the ear and fired directly into the ear and as such the ear only hears the back and front drivers as both being left or right. On the other hand using speakers, the ears also pick up the reflected sounds in the other ear and so the brain is able to  deduce a spacial awareness of where the sound is coming from in the same fashion as a descent cinema surround sound system can provide that added dimension?

[mansaxel]

I think there is a lot of difference in how people appreciate music; it seems in my experience there are two fundamental approaches...   

I listen with a pair of well used, repaired many times  Sennheiser  HD 580  / 600s.    Drive them with either my home made DAC and amplifier or  a  cheap KGUSS DAC/amp combo I bought on AE.     Sound is very good but not audiophile.   The cost of anything substantially better appends a couple of zeros to the price.

This pinged on my RADAR a week or two ago after watching a Linus video:

https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones

Honestly seemed a little too good to be true at that price. Any opinions...?

mnem
 

My opinion is that I've been very happy with Sony MDR7506 and Sennheiser HD25. Very good cans, both. I'd sort of want to get a pair of beyerdynamic DT48 for the vintage feel, but they're quite expensive and rare.

[mansaxel]

One Of These Days

I'm going to cut you into little pieces

 

[capt bullshot]

Run, run, run, run
Run, run, run, run
Run, run, run, run
Run, run, run, run

[ch_scr]

One of the things I'm contemplating building One Of These Days (tm) is a 1KHz sine oscillator, Wien bridge, on Euro-style PCB; I've got a card frame that I'm going to put a variety of cards in. No sound system is complete ...

I'm going to cut you into little pieces

Oh I always wanted to try build a Wien Bridge with an symmetric opto-fet in the feedback as the variable gain element...
I even have some PVA3054 already at hand

[Specmaster]

I never really got on very well with the open cans, prefer sealed cans so I can ignore external sounds and also not drive other mad with my music.

[BU508A]

One of the things I'm contemplating building One Of These Days (tm) is a 1KHz sine oscillator, Wien bridge, on Euro-style PCB; I've got a card frame that I'm going to put a variety of cards in. No sound system is complete without a tone. I also want it to be stereo, so I'm thinking of interrupting left channel out for perhaps 0,1 - 0,3 ms once every 2 sec. Not that your application is the same, but testing the muting circuit would be quite similar.

I've assembled two 1kHz sine oscillators, based on this Jim Williams suggestion:


I've attached the datasheet of the LT1037 below.



Fooled around a bit with the XY-mode of my scope:

[SilverSolder]

I never really got on very well with the open cans, prefer sealed cans so I can ignore external sounds and also not drive other mad with my music.

I solved that problem by getting both!  Sealed ones for the office, and open ones at home (where I don't disturb anyone, and vice versa).  The open ones have the edge on sound quality.

[Andrew_Debbie]

I think there is a lot of difference in how people appreciate music; it seems in my experience there are two fundamental approaches...   

I listen with a pair of well used, repaired many times  Sennheiser  HD 580  / 600s.    Drive them with either my home made DAC and amplifier or  a  cheap KGUSS DAC/amp combo I bought on AE.     Sound is very good but not audiophile.   The cost of anything substantially better appends a couple of zeros to the price.

This pinged on my RADAR a week or two ago after watching a Linus video:

https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones

Honestly seemed a little too good to be true at that price. Any opinions...?

mnem
 

That is a darn good price.  That is a bit less then I paid for my 580's on closeout in 2007.


The HD-580, 600 and 650 are pretty much the same. 

The parts interchange and are all still available at reasonable prices.  One of the things I like about the 580/600/650.       

It looks like the Drop 58x  uses the HD 600 ear pads and rear grill.   The headband looks like the one from a 580.  I'm not certain about the new 150Ω drivers as I've never heard them.  I've got  300Ω HD 600/650 drivers in mine.   The 300Ω drivers need an amplifier.
The 58x comes with a 1/8" jack on the cable.    If you use 1/4",get the HD-600 or 650 cable.   I did that ages ago. 
 

The 600 and 650 use the same drivers.  The 650s might have been hand matched. 


Mine when I replaced  the drivers about two years ago.   The originals lasted 13 years.

[med6753]

Run, run, run, run
Run, run, run, run
Run, run, run, run
Run, run, run, run

If they catch you in the backseat trying to pick her locks they're going to send you back to mother in a cardboard box.

You better run

[Andrew_Debbie]

I never really got on very well with the open cans, prefer sealed cans so I can ignore external sounds and also not drive other mad with my music.

The 580s are very open .   

I have HD-25s at work for just that reason.  The 25s do not sound good as 580/600s but they don't leak.    Several of the labs use Beyerdynamic  DT-770, which are also a good choice for moderate priced closed back.

[Neper]

I solved that problem by getting both!  Sealed ones for the office, and open ones at home (where I don't disturb anyone, and vice versa).  The open ones have the edge on sound quality.

Same here. Semi-open Beyer DT 880 Pro for general use and closed DT 770 Pro for the few occasions when I work with soundscapes and don't want to be disturbed by local noises.

I used to like Audio Technica's HTM 50 as closed cans but eventually got fed up with having to change the ear cushions and the headband every year or two because their 'leather' tends to disintegrate into bazllions of small black bits.

Then, there is my longest serving piece of equiment, a AKG K240 in the very first 600 ohm incarnation. Got them in the late 70s, then already second-hand. Still working fine.

[Andrew_Debbie]

For those with closed back headphones...
Turn it up to 11  ....

https://youtu.be/DHh-SB_Ak2I?t=666

[Saskia]

oh, the K240, those are sitting on my shelf somewhere. Was looking into Stax, but decided to get a Nakamichi PA7 and a couple of Quadral Vulkan Mk 3 back then.

After a lot of experimentation I am back at Quadral Vulkan Mk3. They are very nice speakers for the money, and they fullfill my requirements. The Titan Mk3 are a bit better, but I am not willing to lug 250 kg in speakers. Especially not when moving.

As for the rest of the equipment: my stuff is vintage stuff. Nothing more, nothing less. and I would never have been able to afford it if I had not bought it second hand.

Which reminds me that I may have a couple of good stereo sets to part with.
Feel free to drop me a note if interested.

[Saskia]

and now for some nice rhythmic background enlightenment ...

[Andrew_Debbie]

oh, the K240, those are sitting on my shelf somewhere. Was looking into Stax, but decided to get a Nakamichi PA7 and a couple of Quadral Vulkan Mk 3 back then.


Which reminds me that I may have a couple of good stereo sets to part with.
Feel free to drop me a note if interested.

Drop had the Koss K-1000  electrostatics.  Not sure if they will run it again.  I was tempted but didn't.    We use a specially prepared ferromagnetic free version of the K-1000 in the MRI scanner.   - Expensive.

I have given away all of my stereos.  There simply wasn't room in our tiny home.  I barely have room for headphones and a dac/amp.

[Zucca]

I hate you, I do not know why I am still thinking to buy them or not. I hate you.

FUUUUU I bought them.... I simply can't resist.

Sometimes I need smooth chocolate in my delicate hears.

[Specmaster]

I never really got on very well with the open cans, prefer sealed cans so I can ignore external sounds and also not drive other mad with my music.

I solved that problem by getting both!  Sealed ones for the office, and open ones at home (where I don't disturb anyone, and vice versa).  The open ones have the edge on sound quality.

Hmm, I found the sealed ones have the best bass extension though.

[mansaxel]

I solved that problem by getting both!  Sealed ones for the office, and open ones at home (where I don't disturb anyone, and vice versa).  The open ones have the edge on sound quality.

Same here. Semi-open Beyer DT 880 Pro for general use and closed DT 770 Pro for the few occasions when I work with soundscapes and don't want to be disturbed by local noises.

I used to like Audio Technica's HTM 50 as closed cans but eventually got fed up with having to change the ear cushions and the headband every ear or two because their 'leather' tends to disintegrate into bazllions of small black bits.

Then, there is my longest serving piece of equiment, a AKG K240 in the very first 600 ohm incarnation. Got them in the late 70s, then already second-hand. Still working fine.

The 770s are a classic for PFL duty while doing live work. I have a pair of DT 150 that serve that purpose, but the 7506 and the HD25 work impressively well too. The DT 150 suffer  from some issue with one of the drivers, so will have to source one. Thomann (or, as they're known in Sweden, "The German Store") wanted pre-payment and stuff, which was a bit off-putting, then, but I'd probably be better off ordering a new driver anyway.  beyerdynamic are a bit underrepresented in Sweden, their distributor went bellyup a couple years ago.

[mnementh]

...However my (ex-) buddy Mike, a scottish highlander, cut off all ties when I told him I would be marrying Hubby with the words "I won't be bothering you".
FFS, he's married with 3 kids. I did not want to mess up his marriage (even though his wife said that I should not be flirting that obviously ...)

I did not understand his reaction back then and I don't understand it even after 15 years ...   He had a few strange addictions as well, he was collecting gas turbines ...

You should know better than to flirt with a married woman.

mnem

I did flirt with him in her presence and she told him to tell me that I needed to not make it that obvious.

I'm going to assume something was lost in translation here... I meant to suggest that you were flirting with her, not him. Purely out of a sense of wry deviltry, no other reason. 

mnem