Recently I was in the process of researching new headphones that I could take with me on vacation for music and study purposes. During that process I was looking at the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s due to them having a 60 hour battery, which is incredible.
While watching many videos on these headphones on YouTube I would often see this compared to audiophile headphones. Up until this point I was completely oblivious to what audiophile level headphones were and what they were supposed to sound like.
My curiosity led me on a search to find what I could as far as regular people listening to these higher end headphones and giving their opinion on what music sounded like through them. I found one video on YouTube was similar. An audiophile had a few of his friends listen to a few different pairs of headphones and rank them on how they sounded and how expensive they thought they were based on the sound. Each of those three people all had different preferences regarding which pair they thought sounded the best.
I was not satisfied with this information so I kept looking but I was unable to find anything that made sense to me.
I had a little bit of money saved up so I decided to try it out for myself so I began to research.
I found a pair of Sennheiser HD660S headphones for a great price online so I bought those. From the information I have heard about them is that they are easily powered compared to their previous versions, the HD600 and the HD650.
I began to realize if I wanted to fully utilize these headphones I would need to power them with an amp. I also did a little bit of research on sound quality as far as streaming and since I already have a subscription to Apple Music I stuck with that. However, If you want to listen to Apple Music in lossless audio quality then you would need an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
I began to research DACs and AMPs together in one unit as I thought that would be the best option for me but the deeper the rabbit hole got, I found that the best option would be separate devices.
Another thing that I had heard for the first time while doing research was balanced audio. To the best of my understanding this is when audio is sent via a 4 pin XLR cable and one of the signals that picks up noise is sent inverted on one of those wires so when it reaches the other end the signals cancel each other out eliminating the interference. That is probably not the best way to describe it but that is how I understand it.
Anyway, I was looking at some products produced by Schitt, a company based in the United States. I initially was going to go with some of their entry-level products but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to go with the equipment that would give me the ability to listen to this balanced audio.
I went with the Schitt Magnius, and Modius with some short XLR cables that I got from Amazon to try out this balanced audio. Then I ordered an XLR cable to go with the Sennheiser HD660S headphones that I got.
All of these products are fantastic.
I hooked them up and sat down to finally experience balanced audio.
I could not tell much of a difference from streaming music. Music that I streamed sounded basically the same on every pair of headphones that I listened to.
However, I went onto an old hard drive that had my old MP3 collection on it and listened to some music in FLAC format. That was when I noticed a big difference in what I was hearing.
Music has never been more clear to me. I am not really one that can distinguish all of the different sounds that I would be hearing with the headphones. I am also not sure how all of the terminology used to describe these headphones applies to what I was hearing. I do not know what headphones being “veiled” even means.
What I can tell you is music sounded crisp. There was a balance between the vocals, the instruments and the bass that you often don’t hear from Bluetooth headphones.
This setup is affordable for just about anyone who wants to experience this for themselves. It all cost be just a few hundred dollars and I could not be happier with what I got.
I am still by no means an audiophile, I just have an appreciation for quality headphones and what I hear from my Sennheiser HD660S headphones.
This is still an entry-level setup from what I can tell, but It can still grow if I want it to. Schitt audio has the Valhalla 2 available which is a tube amp that I can try out if I want to. I am not sure what the difference would be between that and what I have. I have heard that many that pursue the highest quality sound prefer a tube amp. The option is there if I choose to pursue that.
There is also the “Lokius” which is an equalizer that I can add to my setup as well to fine tune my sound. These additions may come in the future but for now I am going to enjoy listening to music with these headphones.
So, back to my initial question before pursuing this endeavor, what does high-end audio sound like to the ordinary person?
If you have used nothing but wireless Bluetooth headphones, then you are certainly going to hear a huge jump in the sound quality if you go with a similar setup to what I have. You have to do it right though.
Simply streaming music does not sound any different to me than it does with any of my other headphones. But with FLAC, you can DEFINITELY hear a difference. Would I recommend this setup to others? I think to truly appreciate this setup you would have to be someone that truly appreciates music.
My wife for example, is content to listen to music on the radio and does not care about high-quality sound.
To everyone else that could be looking for high-quality sound, go for it. You will not regret it.