Found a pair of headphones that do a fine job of matching the Axiom sound that I'm so fond of.

And the fun has really started!!

I've rediscovered(and added to!!;)my CD collection....

.....with a twist!!

And it sums up the reason I bought M3s and M50s in the first place: My Axioms don't know HOW to make an unfriendly sound!! No matter(almost)how Badly the sound is recorded!

My new cans set the bad notes right on the table for everyone to see.

But they are FUN, FUN, FUN, on rock and on most anything upbeat and lively.

But, they do show up the warts; especially the obvious and really ugly ones, and make some of my favorite CDs neigh unlistenable!!

So now I'm happily creating two catagories of CDs: The "Axiom" CDs, and the "Alessandro" CDs.

I love my Axioms.

I love my Alessandros.

And...

I love ALL of my CDs!

Woo Hoo!!




.....this is just TOO Cool!!
Rich.

Ya lost me on some of that. My Axiom M3Tis are very good at exposing a poor recording.

As are my Grado SR325s (which I find have some similar characterstics to my Axioms, and no surprise your Allesandros are the same).

Ah, right you are; emorphien; about similar characteristics between Grado/Alessandros and Axioms. Exactly why I got me a set of them thar MS-1s!! They sound just about the same as my M3s/M50s!!

My M3s in my old room were great! Fabulous soundstage, excelent imaging....really good stuff!! Not as revealing as the M22s, perhaps, but really good stuff indeed!!

In my new larger room with horrible acoustics, my M50s are at a disadvantage to my Alessandros which have nothing in the path of the sound other than my outer ears.

Were it not for the degradation of the sound going from old room to new, chances are I wouldn't have looked for a way to get my M3 sonic axcellence back!

Interestingly; I have been doing tons of investigating in picking just the right headphones(as I did when deciding on just the right speakers)and I found that the Alessandro line more closely approximates the slightly laid-back Axiom M3/M50 pair; while the Grado line is more similar to the more foreward, more accurate Axiom M2/M22/M60, and M80.

I also have to admit that I am very impressed with your SR325s. So much so that I'm seriously looking at a set of Alessandro MS-2 which, of course, are Alessandros' slightly modified version based on the aluminum housing of the SR325i.

.....upgraditus strikes in the can set too!!

Everyone should get their hands on a nice set of cans. Hours of enjoyment.

I wholly agree, I've got the SR125's and there is nothing like listenting late at night, with the lights low and the volume where I want it.

I have a set of Sennheiser HD 280 pro that I use on ocassion. Pretty good sounding to me.

I really like the Senns smooth presentation. I first started with the HD570s in college. Wanted something I could listen to for long periods with no fatigue (both hearing and comfort0. Found a great deal on the HD650s a while back and love 'em.

Always wanted to try the Grados. I hear they offer a very unique and enjoyable sound.

I also had a set of 570s, I ended up trading them and a Creek headphone amp for a nice Onkyo receiver.

That's one thing Senns can benefit from--a separate headphone amp. Those things are hard to drive. Did you sell the set-up because you weren't satisfied?

No, I was satisfied with the set up but didn't really use it all that much. Plus the wife would complain that she could hear the music coming from them. A friend in Florida (BB the other Rick) has the set up now.

Yeah, those open headphones aren't ideal with other people in the room. At least you got a Onkyo receiver for them!

It was a good trade imo, the receiver fit the bill real nice. I am using it with the Hsu Vent system.

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD580s and a nice headphone amp that I listen to pretty much every night before bed. A bit more laid back than the M3s, but still very well balanced and detailed. I've occasionally wanted to get some more up front headphones and I have tried a few others, but suffice it to say I've never once considered selling the 580s - they have a few minor shortcomings but all in all are extremely good at what they do. I actually listen to them much more than I listen to my speakers. That probably wouldn't be the case if I wasn't sharing the house with 2 other people, though.

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they have a few minor shortcomings but all in all are extremely good at what they do.

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Some may consider them a little too tame, or refined, what have you. I think they are generally well-balanced and find them hard to beat for long term listening.

What headphone amp are you using?

I agree that they are a little tame, but like you said, they are very hard to beat for long term listening - my ears never feel tired after listening to em.

My headphone amp is a Gilmore Dynamic V2 (since discontinued) from HeadAmp. Plenty of power, great detail and balance, 2 inputs and it can act as a preamp if I ever wanted to go the separates route with my speakers.

Here's a cool guts picture:

I've read lots of good things about using a Gilmore lite with Grado/Alessandros, and it IS pretty tempting.

The biggest problem I'm having with going with ANY amp at the moment is how easy the MS-1s are to drive. Even our old Sony PCDP is able to drive them easily with nearly no loss of SQ over the mid-level Onkyo phone-output stage of our main system.

The main reason for even looking closely at amps is the fact that I will most likely go with the Alessandro MS-2s as my final stop on the cans train(although the MS-PRO Woodies are pretty darned enticing!!)but I do need to upgrade my source devices as well as final amplification to make the final 'phone update worthwhile.


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What really stinks, is not following the directions listed over on the Head-Fi forum:

"Get your cans and leave this place....FOREVER"

Or:

"Sorry about your Wallet!"

And it's true!! I really like my MS-1s,....A Lot!!

So, why do we humans do this to ourselves??!!

Why do we openly subject ourselves to rampant unbridled "Upgraditus"??!!

WHY??!!

I frequent Head-Fi too, and occasionally I get the itch to get a new pair of headphones, but I've figured out that in order to get a significant increase in enjoyment out of my system, it would take more money than I'm willing to spend on headphones now. And I really am very satisfied with what I have now.

I'll only check out a pair of headphones now if they're of the "incredible bang-for-the-buck" variety. All the "boy do I want that!" money is reserved for photography now.

Yup,...I'm in the same spot what with being very satisfied with that I have now. It's gonna take more than a 20% improvement at three times the cost to get me to part with much more money in headphones at this time.

The problem with the Alessandro MS-1 is that it appears that the cans are sold with very little profit(component wise the $99 MS-1 is very similar to the $150 Grado SR125)making the price/point leader the $300 MS-2!!(the $700 MS-PRO, uh....well.)

On top of it all I've been talking to myself about THIS situation:

"I like my $99 MS-1s as much as I do my $275 M3s."

.....and;

"I will probably like my $300 MS-2s as much as I like my $620 M50s"

I can't argue with my logic to me!

No...no...I can't listen to me!!

(Gads; this is all so entertaining!!)

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I have a pair of Sennheiser HD580s and a nice headphone amp that I listen to pretty much every night before bed.

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Honestly Adam, there is no excuse for you not to be posting more in the What are you Listening to Tonight? thread, especially after seeing your last post there:

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Right now I'm listening to REM's New Adventures In Hi-Fi. Before that it was The Flecktones (Left of Cool). Next up is Calexico + Iron & Wine (In The Reins).

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With some great musical taste like that and frequent listening you should be required to post what you are listening to! It's interesting to hear what others are "digging".

Maybe if I had a laptop, because in order to post at my computer I have to take the headphones off, and then I'd no longer be listening!

Lately though I've just had the iPod on shuffle. And after about 5 songs I'm usually asleep...

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Maybe if I had a laptop, because in order to post at my computer I have to take the headphones off, and then I'd no longer be listening!

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Just buy a looong cord!