I think the issue is not with the medium, but with the mastering
The resolution on modern equipment can be breathtaking
I believe you. Thing is that if music does not sound good through my Monitors or my old CD-players (16 bits sound good, hey!) I will probably not play the music again. I usually hope any contemporary CD at least has been decently produced and mastered.
You can't imagine how happy I was when the XX album turned out to sound good...
I have some extremely well mastered CD's but the vinyl counterparts almost always sound better. I do A/B comparisons (with both playing at the same time) and the vinyl usually has better bass, better sound-stage and it's much less fatiguing. The only thing that beats vinyl are 24/96 (or 192) KHz files that are direct from the original master.
This is coming from a guy who hated vinyl a year ago...I just hated the concept of it and I even hated people constantly saying how much better it is. But after listening to it at a friends, I was blown away and now I find it very hard to listen to my best sounding CD's. (Kind of like going from DVD to Blu-ray. No going back).
The oldest variants of the K240's which utilize passive radiators are the ones which are referred to as the "Sextetts".
The Monitors are completely different from the Sextetts. What you want (if you want Sextetts) is a pair of phones with a baffle that looks like this. The light-colored round things under the plastic grille may vary in color, but other than that, you want a baffle that looks that way.
Hmm, is the sound signature similar with the DF version? I've heard of a few people that prefer those over the regular Sextett.
For my own amusement yesterday I tried these straight from a Clip. Reminded me of how the DT-880 600 ohm sounded from one (not it's signature). Barely audible volume. Duh.
I was actually surprised that if I used a Clip to my Total Airhead (no LOD and power from Clip's amp) they sound quite good. I had to crank the Airhead to about 95% though. If I max it, then the red clipping light goes off occasionally. The only time there wouldn't be enough volume is when you're listening to classical music etc. Obviously I'd never buy a Sextett for use with a portable amp!
I guess it's nice to know that if I wanted to listen to my Sextett around the house this might work out. I've found the Airhead way more powerful than the E11. It uses 4 AA batteries and they last forever.
Still need to try the E9 with them. Should be OK. It seems the best amp for the AKGs i've heard is the Headroom Micro Amp (small, but same as a regular desktop amp). Has zero problems driving the Sextett. High Gain at around 40% volume.
Surprised that my Onkyo receiver drives these things extremely well. I know volume doesn't mean much but I could crank them high enough to damage my ear drums. Sounded good too. I even watched a whole movie using them without any complaints. There's tons of stuff i've never heard before in a movie i've seen at least a dozen times. Sounded better than the HD-600 and K601 for movies.
I think today i'll remove the Mogami cable and replace it with CA-0363. That super cheap wire seems to effect the highs a lot less than the Mogami. It actually seems to give the Q701 an impression of a little too much treble, but should be perfect for the Sextett. Luckily the Sextett is very easy to recable.
BTW loving these things now that I got them sounding good..finally. I think the reason the mids seem forward is due to the Mogami cable. I'll know soon.
Thanks for the reply. I missed this one until today. I've been listening to my Sextett LP alot lately. It sounds very, very good. Almost addicting due to it's mids. I've actually found it not that difficult to drive at all. I mean, with this headphone, as long as it gets enough volume it always seems to sound good. With my Q701 if it gets enough volume, it can still sound bad.
I've actually found they sound quite good from my 3-5 years old Onkyo receiver. I went to Goodwill and found a full sized JVC CD player from 1996 with a headphone jack and i'm shocked that it can drive the 600 ohm Sextett amazingly well. What the heck?! It however makes the Q701 and K601 sound really bad. HD-600 and the KRK KNS_8400 are pretty good from it. With my DJ100, it recesses the mids somewhat, which is strange. Output impedance is probably too high.
So what's everyone's favorite thing about these other than the mids? I think for me it's the imaging and how accurate the soundstage is. It's not huge (with the correct tracks) but pretty good still. I've found it's even better than the HD-600. I actually don't find my pair on any amp/source to be really that neutral. It's mids are actually more forward than my DJ100. When I compared both, female vocals were much more forward on the Sextett. It could be that's how it was recorded and the Sextett is more accurate. Possibly. Hard to say if there is any change due to the Mogami recable I did. Probably not enough to make it's mids more forward.
Worst thing about them is that the bass is good, but a bit lacking in some areas. Not a big deal for me. Not much sub-bass, but no big deal. What's funny is that at first they had bloated bass. I don't know how that happened! Some weird amping/dac issue going on there.
Does anyone else love these for female vocals? I sure do. They might be in my top 3 now for that. It's so bizarre that these things sat in my closest and hated by them and all this time I had issues with what I was connecting them to. Weird.
I think these have nearly as much detail as my KRK KNS-8400! I think they can go head to head with my DJ100, K601 and KRK KNS-8400. K601 does a few things much worse, but I still love it. It sure does seem that these are a little less picky about amping than my Q701.
BTW does anyone know offhand how the signature compares to the Beyerdynamic DT-48e? Probably not similar in any way. I've heard the DT-48e has some amazing mids. I want to try one out sometime, but new they're still $399. yikes!
So, looks like this Sextett LP might be in my top 5 soon. Too bad my original screw and logo is missing
Might hunt down the DF sometime..I think i'd be even happy with even MORE treble. Just a tiny bit more.
Still loving this newly discovered headphone. All this time and never had it sounding right due to amp/dac issues. Yesterday I listened to it for about 4 hours all from a Sansa Clip to Total Airhead. No joke! Sounded perfectly fine and no flicking red (over voltage) light.
I was basically going A/B comparisons with my DJ100. At one point I got the two confused. When my DJ100 was on my head I thought I was listening to the Sextett still
It's basically nearly like a DJ100 on steroids. Ok, less bass, but more treble and a much improved soundstage. Possibly clearer, but not 100% sure on this yet. DJ100 is crystal clear with female vocals.
Most impressive thing by far is it's imaging. Is there a headphone with better imaging and a more accurate soundstage than the Sextett? Maybe the K701? Only kidding...
When listening to the Buena Vista Social Club CD you can hear with pinpoint accuracy where all the sounds are coming from, including the vocals switching directions, almost like someone is moving around in the soundstage.
It makes my day that maybe I finally might have a headphone that might very well top my DJ100 as a favorite. Maybe in a couple months.
Also good to know there is actually a portable amp that can drive the 600 ohm Sextett!! Just can't use it with a LOD cable.
These mids are really something else. Very full sounding and life-like, but never muffled or un-clear like on my HD-600.
Call me crazy if you want, but the Sextett has a few similarities to the HD-580 (which IMO is a slightly more aggressive HD-600 and sounds clearer).
Both the HD-580 and Sextett have slightly forward upper mids, smooth treble and rolled off sub-bass.
For my own amusement I want to do a A/B/C comparison of my HD-580, Sextett and DJ100