CD Players and SACDs etc

[Stunsworth]

Don't do headphones... I did try a friend's Stax (Electrostatic) Earspeakers, yes, much better (but still too close to my ears)...

The problem with headphones is that they provide a totally unnatural sound stage with everything coming from within your head rather than in front of you. Fine for listening on the move, or when you don't want to disturb people, but other than that I can't see the point since speakers provide a much more natural view of the music. I know there are exceptions such as good binaural recordings, but they are few and far between.

[Stunsworth]

The DacMagic is a masterpiece at a silly price, but a good setup takes it to another level...

I use an Audiolab M-Dac designed by the same person as the DacMagic. Feed from a MacBook (using the Pure Music software) and the sound is exceptional.

[Dave2002]

The problem with headphones is that they provide a totally unnatural sound stage with everything coming from within your head rather than in front of you. Fine for listening on the move, or when you don't want to disturb people, but other than that I can't see the point since speakers provide a much more natural view of the music. I know there are exceptions such as good binaural recordings, but they are few and far between.

Yes and no! Listening via loudspeakers is often not very natural either, due to deficiencies in the system, room acoustics etc. Some headphones can give very good sound, and some recordings can work very well. I find that sometimes on some recordings I have been confused between external sounds and recorded sounds, which gives some indication that the quality can be good. Of course this is not true for all recordings, and headphones sometimes simply expose problems in recordings which might otherwise not be noticed. One example I can think of is in the Decca recording of the suite from Háry János - with Kertesz - http://www.musicweb-international.co...ly_kertesz.htm. There's one point where the whole sound stage collapses, and it sounds as though a few instruments (horns, piano etc. IIRC - will check) sound as though they are playing in a small room. The passage occurs twice with the same effect each time. You might notice this on speakers, but it's quite likely you won't.

However, you might argue that if listening via headphones only allows you to hear defects in recordings you're better off without them. This doesn't worry me too much, as when you think about it the recordings are "artificial" anyway, whichever way you listen to them.

Of course when you turn your head the soundstage moves as well, which doesn't happen with speakers (normally!).

More of a concern for me with headphones is that after a while my ears get hot, and feel "shut in".

PS: multi-channel listening should not really make sense with headphones, though there are some multi-channel (more than 2 channels) headphones, probably for games use.

[Gordon]

Readers may wish to know that my offending CD player has been returned [as of a couple of weeks ago and it plays EVERYTHING!! Hooray! If anything it sounds even better than it was rock solid image and clean mid range and organ pedals rich and ripe - just been listening to the LPO/Bamert Parry symphonies, marvellous!! Let's see if it stays that way. All work done under warranty despite the original machine being 3 years old [but then it's been "upgraded" so what its warranty status was who knows].

As regards some of you that consign Cyrus and other Cambrdige products - QUAD included I presume?] to the scrap heap it sounds good enough for my ears that spent many years at work listening to professional grade equipment. To each his own.