Speaker and Headphone Rigs Picture Thread

Definitive Technology Inclines at work.

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Decided to take everyone out for a little bit of headphone pron :D

The lineup. From left to right: AKG Q701, Grado RS2i, Audio-Technica AD900, (Hiding) Yuin PK1 & C&C BK amp, Philips Fidelio X1, Denon D2000, Schiit Asgard 2 and Bifrost Uber.




Entire setup, including M-Audio BX8's.




A big pile of Schiit...




The mobile setup. It's insane what these little guys put out.




Q701, considering selling these. As much as I enjoy them, they don't get much use. I like the Fidelio a lot more.




AD900, technically my weakling, but I have a soft spot for these cans. I've always loved open AT's (hate their closed cousins, though)




RS2i, phenomenal, beautiful headphones.






Fidelio X1, just got these a few days ago, and I'm quite smitten by them. They sound way better than they should at the price I paid.






D2000, forgive the wear, these are several years older than anything else I own. Several years of use along with extensive modding have taken it's toll on them. I love them though. Many years ago I had to sell off most of my gear to pay for a big move, and these are the one pair I refused to part with.



 
Viper87227 said:
Decided to take everyone out for a little bit of headphone pron :D
Click to expand...

1) nice collection
2) cat pictures are awesome
3) i'm jealous of your schiit; how do you like the asgard?
4) baby face mask gave me the creeps
5) i spy Sheldon
 
LOL'd @ #3

nice collection.. I don't feel bad at all now having a pair of headphones at every listening station in my house and an extra set of ATH-M50s just in case. :)
 
@Viper87227:

Your setup rocks :)

Two questions if you don't mind:

How happy are you with the bifrost/asgard 2 setup? I was thinking about picking up the exact same combo.

Because of my 2 large monitors (34in ultrawide LG and 30in dell) I cannot place my bx8 in the optimal position and I was thinking about placing them like you did. Do they still sound good a bit asymmetrical like that?
 
Porter_ said:
1) nice collection
2) cat pictures are awesome
3) i'm jealous of your schiit; how do you like the asgard?
4) baby face mask gave me the creeps
5) i spy Sheldon
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1) Thanks!
2) My wife painted them. I make her paint me weird shit (they are my two actual cats, btw)
3) Love it, I've had a ton of different amps over the years, and I've never found anything that comes close to schiit on a price to performance level.
4) Good eye! It's the face off of a CPR doll (my wife is an army medic, and felt that this was the most appropriate souvenir to bring me back from Afghanistan)
5) Yep... I also have a terrorist that follows you when you move right next to him. He's for target practice :D

revenant said:
LOL'd @ #3

nice collection.. I don't feel bad at all now having a pair of headphones at every listening station in my house and an extra set of ATH-M50s just in case. :)
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Thanks! It's actually a bit overkill, I've got too many headphones that I like to much to part with and I prefer having several midrange pairs to one really expensive pair. I still think the Q701 might end up going though.

Neutrino said:
@Viper87227:

Your setup rocks :)

Two questions if you don't mind:

How happy are you with the bifrost/asgard 2 setup? I was thinking about picking up the exact same combo.

Because of my 2 large monitors (34in ultrawide LG and 30in dell) I cannot place my bx8 in the optimal position and I was thinking about placing them like you did. Do they still sound good a bit asymmetrical like that?
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Bifrost and Asgard is the best thing I've ever heard around $500. They are very high quality and sound great. The Asgard 2 is a very versatile amp with a low noise floor and a gain switch, so it does well with both high and low impendence cans. This is important to me. It may not be the perfect match for any one pair of headphones, but it does a damn good job with anything I've plugged in, and I'd rather have that. I had a Lyr before this, and despite being the more expensive and technically better sounding amp, it was not nearly as versatile and I didn't care for that.

As for the positioning of my monitors, the honest answer you do lose a bit, but not enough to make a big deal of it. They still sound great. If I had a larger desk, I wouldn't have them set up this way, but it's a more than adequate solution for now.
 
Viper87227 said:
Thanks! It's actually a bit overkill, I've got too many headphones that I like to much to part with and I prefer having several midrange pairs to one really expensive pair. I still think the Q701 might end up going though.

[snip]
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Well, it's nice to have the right pair for the right sound/mood you are in. I can 100% empathize. My 2.1 setup is what some people would call crazy (4 mono amps for 2 speakers - real bi-amping) so when I want to blast off I can take that thing to like -5 on the attenuator. I am just getting into headphones now because when the wife is home she doesn't always like that. Soooo I have some I like but I like them for different sounds.. bass, mids, highs.. I just got an e11k also and wow, what a difference... the clarity is more impressive than the loudness. I haven't gotten into the higher end pairs but I am getting very curious about them... I have two pairs of Sony X10s which I know people laugh at a little but when I need a bass fix they deliver - and the memory foam cup is so comfortable I wear a pair at the datacenter all day long.. They have an excellent sound stage also. But the ATH-M50s are way more balanced. I have some V-moda crossfades also which are amazing with the e11k. I think the next step is Beyerdynamic 880s or something.. and a better amp. yadda yadda

uhhg I have too many hobbies. lol.
 
Viper87227 said:
Decided to take everyone out for a little bit of headphone pron :D

The lineup. From left to right: AKG Q701, Grado RS2i, Audio-Technica AD900, (Hiding) Yuin PK1 & C&C BK amp, Philips Fidelio X1, Denon D2000, Schiit Asgard 2 and Bifrost Uber.
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Awesome gear! We share some of the same headphones and schiity gear :).

My phones. I like them all, but the Grado's are still my favorite

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Loving all the Schiit gear. I also have the Bifrost (even went with the Uber, because I don't know why not) and Asgard 2. Supremely jealous of your 400i's.

I haven't been able to justify the price on the new HiFiMan cans, which burns because they look so much more refined than the old ones. But man those prices. Yeesh.

Until the 400i's drop or they release a new model more in the price range of my current pair of HE-400's I can't see myself paying the cost.

I'll keep on soldiering along with my MadDogs, HD-600's, and HE-400's. Albeit with occasional dalliances with a pair of Beyer DT-990's mostly for late night Movie use.
 
The HE-400/i/HE-500 is another headphone I really covet. I don't know why, I've just heard so many good things. I wish I had an opportunity to try a pair out.

Same goes for an AD2000. I really love the AD900 sound signature, and would love to have that but a little more refined and on par with some of the other headphones in my collection. But the open AT cans don't seem to get much attention, making it difficult to find an opinion on if the AD2000 is really worth three times the price of an AD900.
 
I had one of those for a little while but with cats racing over my desk I couldn't find a good safe place for it.. I ended up with an e11k for durability reasons... and portability too. The Bravo was neat looking.. ran a bit warm though.
 
revenant said:
I had one of those for a little while but with cats racing over my desk I couldn't find a good safe place for it.. I ended up with an e11k for durability reasons... and portability too. The Bravo was neat looking.. ran a bit warm though.
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I immediately put one of the other tubes in, the generic tube was what was running uber hot for mine. Once I put the Electro-Harmonix in, it was a lot cooler. My cat stays off the desk so I am good there.

Also the Electro-Harmonix sounds incredible on classic-rock and jazz, terrible for any kind of gaming or anything like that, just for soft listening

The gold lion tube sounds incredible all around, would be my pick for tubes.
 
FrEaKy said:
I immediately put one of the other tubes in, the generic tube was what was running uber hot for mine. Once I put the Electro-Harmonix in, it was a lot cooler. My cat stays off the desk so I am good there.

Also the Electro-Harmonix sounds incredible on classic-rock and jazz, terrible for any kind of gaming or anything like that, just for soft listening

The gold lion tube sounds incredible all around, would be my pick for tubes.
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How...how do you get this to happen. Hell, one of my cats has discovered that he can squeeze beneath the monitors and get on top of the receiver (which sits under my center monitor) so he can enjoy a nice, warm cave.

That amp looks nice--a part of me want to get into tube stuff, and wants this particular one, but I can't really justify getting something like this because I barely use headphones around the house.
 
hound said:
How...how do you get this to happen. Hell, one of my cats has discovered that he can squeeze beneath the monitors and get on top of the receiver (which sits under my center monitor) so he can enjoy a nice, warm cave.

That amp looks nice--a part of me want to get into tube stuff, and wants this particular one, but I can't really justify getting something like this because I barely use headphones around the house.
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The cat was trained when we got him that going on desk = death. In fact my wife's rule was never on the couch, never on the kitchen table, never on the desk...... for the cat.

Now I can't say that when we are not around he doesn't jump up on one of those items, but for the most part, he does NOT get on any of the furniture hes not allowed. I do find him on the office chair a lot, which is fine, when I get on, he tends to jump on my lap and chill anyway.

As for the tube amps, there is something about hearing music running through a tube amp that I am absolutely in love with. The sounds are different, deeper, richer with tubes than a standard amp/dac. But again, just depends on your personal preferences.

I also have a Yamaha Natural Sound 2.0 receiver with some Sony SB-200 speakers and I gotta tell you, I love being able to blast music and it sounding incredible too.

Those headphones I have in the picture are by far, my favorite headphones, not saying much though since my only experience with headphones are the crappy free ones you get with generic product purchases, a pair of JVC HA-RX700's, and the older and much harder to find brother of the Audio-Technica's pictured above.
 
First post here, nothing fancy, just cheap yet good stuff.

Speakers : Prodipe Pro8v2
USB Audio Interface : Focusrite Scarlett 2i4
Mic Preamp : ART Tube MP
Mic : Shure SM58

I know that the speakers are big, I need stands for them.



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Fuck you, asshole bumps! I don't know why AKG keeps using them. Below is really more of a proof-of-concept with the limited supplies I had on hand. Yes, it's a (very) old, stupid studded belt. Even better is that it's being held together by the mounting hardware from a Corsair H50 :D. I've got some black leather on order and I'm going to swing by the hardware store later to pick up some nice thumb nuts or something. For now, it's functional, and infinity more comfortable.

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nice. did similar to my 770's you modded for me ages ago. I have some chicago screws (screws that screw on via the barrel of the screw) if you need some. This way there is no nut showing and both sides are rounded. I got into leather work last year so I have pretty much everything in this regards.
 
magnetik said:
nice. did similar to my 770's you modded for me ages ago. I have some chicago screws (screws that screw on via the barrel of the screw) if you need some. This way there is no nut showing and both sides are rounded. I got into leather work last year so I have pretty much everything in this regards.
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Looking at pictures... that's probably exactly what I need.
 
Finally got around to tearing into my Q701 over the long weekend. You'll have to forgive the craftsmanship... working with leather (and sewing) clearly aren't my thing. But they don't look terrible, and more importantly, they are finally comfortable!

Thanks again for the screws magnetik, they were exactly what I needed.

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nice! I see you had to use the leather washers.. I wasn't sure if they were going to be short enough.
 
magnetik said:
nice! I see you had to use the leather washers.. I wasn't sure if they were going to be short enough.
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I actually didn't need them if I had used the shorter screws. Instead I opted to use the longer screws with the washers, because it covered up the few scratches I put into the little plastic tabs.

I made a total of three different headbands. This one is actually the belt from before, wrapped in leather. I made another one that was a thin sheet of padding with some mesh stuff my wife had used in making clothes. That one didn't come out well. The third was just a single cut piece of leather. I actually think it looked the best, and was the most comfortable since it was thin, light, and molded perfectly to my head. My concern was that the underside of the leather would get ruined, or that it would tear around the screws since there was nothing else to give it support. I may go back to that one though, and save the one pictured above as a backup in case it does break.
 
here are my new ATH-M50X's with Brainwawz HPM-5 ear pads... if you can handle looking like a dork possibly with the thickness of the pads.. these pads are great so comfortable ...i feel that the sound stage is slightly improved (drivers further from ears perhaps?)





I bought these because the same day amazon had them as the deal of the day I dropped my m50's and broke the cable connector (easy fix I know...) just kinda used this as an excuse.

I have since modified my M50's to have removable cable.... I'm going to order a different jack using a radio shack 3.5mm one now... I'm thinking about modding them to mini XLR instead.



the old M50's have Shure 840 pads on them.. better than the stock pads comfort wise...imho.. I kinda hate the stock ATH ear pads...
 
xref said:
This is my current setup.

HD650 > Lyr 2 > Bifrost Uber > Macbook Air

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I just bought a pair of HD650 cans. Running them through the Objective2 amp & ODAC. Also, I should get in the AKG K7XX cans from Massdrop any day now.

You know, the Lyr2 is good and all but there are a lot of threads on head-fi that seemingly boast about the macbook air's hardware to the point that using an aftermarket amp/odac probably isn't needed.
 
Hearing is subjective. If they're satisfied with the audio quality from the headphone output of the MBA, then good for them.
 
I been enjoying my Bifrost uber and my asgard 2 together with a Hifiman HE-500 for very long while now. I can't really explain how every thing sounds, it just sounds really good. I didn't get the usb model so I gotten a Peach tree Audio X1 usb to spdif convertor as my prior setup computer setup had a very poor audio codec and horrible driver support and limited options.

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cleaned up my desk yesterday... still not sure if i have enough stereo gear / speakers up in here???? :rolleyes:

 
Great wallpaper!

PS: you can never have too much sound equipment. :D
 
B00nie said:
Friendly advice - get one proper pair. More is not better in this case.
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Doubt he's running all those at the same time. Given the amount of stereo gear in his rack, and the fact a lot looks duplicative (see a amp/pre-amp and a couple integrated in his rack and on his desk), I have a feeling he has different speakers for different types of music, and he simply has them all side by side so he doesnt have to use speaker stands....

Not a ideal setup, but great for storage :).

I also have 2 sets of speakers, a integrated amp, a preamp/amp combo and soon will be adding powered monitors. So a pic of my system would look wonky as it would lead you to believe I use all them at the same time which isnt the case....
 
Got a new addition to the family today... My PK1 developed a faint, but very annoying buzz in the left channel. Decided I was going to try and find a small headphone to replace it with. Nearly pulled the trigger on an SR80, and then came across the Yamaha HPH-200. At their $150 retail price, I would have found them very acceptable. Amazon has the white ones for $80 though, and for that price, they are a damn steal. They are far superior to my wifes V-MODA M-80 that cost $100.

They wont replace any of my desktop cans anytime soon, but for something to wear outside (trying to get out every day now that its warming up), these are going to be great. So... Headphones++ :p
 
Wow, I wonder why those are half the price of the black ones, is there any differences (besides the color) between the two?
 
EndersShadow said:
Doubt he's running all those at the same time. Given the amount of stereo gear in his rack, and the fact a lot looks duplicative (see a amp/pre-amp and a couple integrated in his rack and on his desk), I have a feeling he has different speakers for different types of music, and he simply has them all side by side so he doesnt have to use speaker stands....

Not a ideal setup, but great for storage :).

I also have 2 sets of speakers, a integrated amp, a preamp/amp combo and soon will be adding powered monitors. So a pic of my system would look wonky as it would lead you to believe I use all them at the same time which isnt the case....
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yes.. only 2 pairs of the speakers running at one (most times anyway... tried a couple pairs at once a few times just for laughs). I just dig stereo equipment so I keep getting more .. but most I use the JBL L1's on stands w/ the Sony TA-E77ESD / TA-N77ES sounds excellent.

sometimes I use the monitor Audio S1's instead and I also have NHT SuperZereo's ...etc I give them all a go from time to time.
 
.Gunfire said:
Wow, I wonder why those are half the price of the black ones, is there any differences (besides the color) between the two?
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I wondered the same, and searched extensivly. They are exactly the same. It's a third party seller, fulfilled by Amazon. But, they are an authorized Yamaha dealer, so I'm not worried about them being counterfit.

No idea why they are so cheap, but per dollar I'd call it one of my best HiFi snags. I really like them for what they are.
 
Well I like to burn through gear, so here is an updated picture of my current rack... but I'm buying a used Salamander Archetype 5.0 rack this weekend... so the gear will be the same (at least for a week :D) but the rack is not staying...



Top to bottom:

Parasound HCA-1200ii
Cambridge Audio Azur DacMagic (the original)
B&K Reference 50 pre-amp
Silverstone GD08b HTPC case w Q9650 CPU, X38 motherboard, 4 gigs DDR2 Corsair RAM
APC H15
Furman PL Plus Series II

Here is how it is all connected:

HTPC -> Black Cat Veloce 1.5m Coaxial/BNC cable -> Cambridge Audio DacMagic -> Signal Cable Analog 2 Balanced XLR -> B&K Reference 50 -> Douglas Connection 1m w Furez locking RCAs -> Parasound HCA-1200ii -> Douglas Connection 4m 9 gauge speaker cables w copper bananas & spades -> Polk RTA 11TL speakers & Elemental A2-300 sub (connected with 5m Audioquest Sidewinder RCA)

This gives you an idea of the layout. Its NOT ideal and I'm working on building a new desk & buying some studio monitors & isomike isolation stands for them for my computer stuff, but I gotta admit I love the vintage Polks too much to let em go!

 
Here goes the new setup...

I got the new rack yesterday and got it installed. Its a Salamander Archtype 5.0 which is a flexi rack so its 100% adjustable height wise which is good since I flip gear often lol......

Assembly was quite easy... but it normally is when you use child labor :smile: (link to cute video that wont insert here)


Its final home. Here is what we have:

HTPC -> Black Cat Veloce Coaxial cable -> B&K Reference 50 -> Douglass Connection RCA -> Parasound HCA-1200ii -> Douglass Connection speaker cables (banana's on amp end, spades on speaker)



And to the way it looks now all said and done. The 3 pictures on the left were purchased by my wife from a friend. I still plan to get my wall treatments up and may use canvas w/ posters printed on them. Thinking something FireFly, Master Chief, and then maybe the famous hair blowing back in chair picture & Star Wars.....




And because this is a computer forum, here are the internals of the computer (parts list in my sig). Its to small of a case to really do a ton of cable managment, especially as adding another hard drive requires a total removal of the HDD cage which would require re-doing the cables anyway....



 
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