Several years ago, I did a lawsuit representing Quincy Jones. I learned more about music from Q than I ever thought I could. Hell, I thought I knew a lot about music before meeting him. After a few days of talks, I realized how little I knew. He showed me the true difference in listening to a master of a great recording and a CD quality version of the same recording. Those of you who think there is no difference above CD quality are as clueless as I was. The biggest thing he introduced me to was true studio quality headphones. Q never used speakers to master his music, always headphones of the highest quality. He eventually decided there was a problem with studio headphones, and that was they didn’t compensate for the individual ear. As a result, he led AKG to developed headphones with what is essentially in ear room correction. They were pricey as hell, but absolutely phenomenal. I helped him win his case and was rewarded with a pair of AKG n90Q’s. His techs helped me get them just right. I tested them against every studio quality set of headphones that have come out sense. They blew everything away. Unfortunately, after 6 years, the power receptacle just broke on a long flight. These have been off the market for a while, so I went with another client recommendation. The B&O H95s. This is like going from a symphony to a high school band. RIP greatness.
Great story! Hope you can get the headphones repaired, but here’s my experience with sennheiser HD800’s with cardas’ best cable, plugged into the balanced outputs of a very high end all tube preamp.
The headphones sound great, but can’t hold a candle to really top end speakers, like my TAD’s. Going to the speakers (with added subs and super tweeters) is like going to high resolution. With the right recording it mimics real instruments, and makes the headphones sound low res in comparison. But headphones are a bargain compared to a $100k+ system.