In article ,
UnsteadyKen
wrote:
Jim Lesurf said...

I also used to use HD414s for many years. But my old ones have
disintegrated and AFAIK you can't now get them, or the replacement
bits. I liked the sound overall for general test use, but found them
uncomfortable if used continuously for a long time.

Comfort was one of their great strengths IMHO. You could heat the
headband and bent it to fit and it would keep that shape, leading to
forgetting you were wearing them and ripping the connectors out when
standing up.

I found they soon felt like a pair of circular objects whose edges were
cutting into my ears. Over time the foam compressed and this came though.
Probably made worse because I wear glasses. So I always found after 15-30
mins I wanted to take them off. The EH350 is better, but I still find them
uncomfortable after a while.

That was their main weakness the fragile connector system.
They were also strangely attractive to dogs, I lost 2 pairs by
chewing:-)

I found the pads were useless at softening contact on my ears. If I
weakened the pressure the bass was lost.

These; http://goo.gl/Q1bs arrived at the weekend and remind me very
much of the 414's sound and comfort. I had a pair of HD480's for years,
but lately been using HD495's which seem to have a degree of bass bost
and I wasn't very happy with them, now with the 490's I'm in Headphone
Heaven again.


Theoretical question, Jim. If you were to redesign your DAC
specifically for HD414's would the transformers still be necessary?

Not sure, but it seems plausible that they wouldn't. Certainly the
AU-D3 happily drives 1k. So a pair of 414s with a 1k or 2k2 volume pot
would be likely to be fine, I guess. That said I can't recall the
sensitivity, so a transformer might be useful. I'd need 414s to
decide, and mine are long past use.

94 dB per 1mw or 1.41v; according to the manual

Well the AU-D3 gives 1 Vrms for 0dBFS if powered by about 5 Vdc. So I guess
you'd get a maximum of less than 94dB. It would work without transformers I
think, but perhaps not much louder than the EH350 whose specs claim 115 dB
for 1 Volt, but are 35 Ohm. Hence I guess I'm getting around 90 dB via the
present transformers.

Slainte,

Jim

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