Great sounding headphones with a proper setup

By Jason T.

Right of the box I was very disappointed because I thought maybe I got a bum pair but after my more powerful headphone amplifier arrived I was very pleased. My setup is a very digital setup, MacBook Pro, Ifi Isilencers(on all usb ports), Oppo HA-2 DAC/Amp and a Ifi Ican SE Amplifier. I had done a lot of research on these headphones prior to purchasing. One of my main concerns was the power needed to properly drive them and at the time of purchase I only had the Oppo HA-2 Dac/Amp. While the ...Oppo HA-2 is a great portable device that has served me well its power was not enough despite what I had seen on many reviews/online forums regarding these headphones. Without the new headphone amplifier they were noticeably screaming for power, the sound was terrible and I was freaking out that I bought what I consider to be an expensive pair of headphones that sounded awful compared to my Pm-3 closed back planar travel headphones. I knew that my headphone amplifier would be arriving in 2 days so I waited to give them another try. Patience in the case was well rewarded as the added power(I have the headphone amplifier turned all the way up at 4000mw, probably overkill as Audeze says 1-4 watts) made a huge difference. I listen to a wide range of music and the headphones sound amazing with the only drawback being that even though music sounds fantastic and every vocal sung, string plucked and bass boom is beautifully delivered they also deliver every flaw that bad mixing or converting adds to the recording, even more so than my $400 pair of headphones. For people like me this can be a distraction but I have other headphones that I can use for the music made without any actual instruments that are filled with digital artifacts, you know studio keyboard mixes that synthesize actual instruments, and lesser quality DSD conversions. As a reference I do not own or play any music less than 16/44.1 and for the most part I have 24/48 and up files through to double DSD. All in all I love the headphones and when properly powered these are a thing of beauty which can not be faulted for bad source material. The headphones have helped me realize I now need to research more about the music I purchase and investigate how that "remastered" album sounds compared to the original.