Best High End Headphone & Amplifier Matchups, Part 2
This is part 2 of Drew's Best High End Headphone and Amplifier Matchups 101. If you missed the first post, you can catch up here.
Drew recommends the Moon Audio Blue Dragon V3 Headphone Cable as the best upgrade cable for the Beyerdynamic T70 or T70p headphones. The Blue Dragon is a very Neutral or Natural sounding audio cable that does not add coloration to the sound. It improves the dynamics and detail of this headphone while controlling the bass quite nicely. The T70p is a little more forward or exciting sounding than the T70, just an FYI. The T70 is a little more relaxed.
For added bass, which Drew does not feel these phones need, go to the Black Dragon V2 headphone cable as it has a fuller sound with more bottom end weight. You Techno heads may want this as your choice. :) The "p" in T70p, stands for portable. The T70p was designed to be easier to drive for use directly with an iPod or any other portable music player. While these devices will drive the phones, they will not drive the phones to peak performance and a portable amp is a way to improve the sound and get more toe-tapping authority. The T70 is recommended more for home use as it is harder to drive. Once again while not required, a dedicated headphone amp is recommended to drive these phones to peak performance as more power means better control of the headphone drivers. :)
Drew also recommends the Burson Soloist SL Headphone Amplifier as one of the best Desktop Amplifier for the Beyerdynamic T7o. Drew recommends for portable use with the T70p, the iQube V3 Portable Headphone Amplifier or the Fostex HP-P1 Headphone Amplifier and DAC. Both are two of the best portable amplifiers to bring out the best of your Beyerdynamic headphones.
Now, if you want to connect your Beyer T70p headphones to your computer...Moon Audio has some more custom audio cables and connections to improve the sound. The Moon Audio Blue Dragon USB Cable will help you connect the iQube V3 Portable Amp to your PC. Standard USB cables are not up to the task of large bit rate information and the Blue Dragon USB cable recently won a "2012 Writer's Choice Award" from Positive Feedback as one of the best values in audio.
The Blue Dragon USB cable utilizes our single crystal UP-OCC copper construction to provide you with the best possible digital bus transmission. Moon Audio has optimized this cable for audio transmission of large High Rez files. USB cables can make big a difference and the Blue Dragon USB cable is one heck of a "bang for the buck" cable starting at only $75 for .5 foot.
Some computers offer Toslink outputs such as the Apple MacBook Pro. Connecting to this Toslink output will offer OPTIMAL sound and you will need to purchase the Moon Audio Silver Dragon Toslink Digital Cable. The Apple MacBook Pro provides a combo headphone/Toslink connection. Make sure to pick the Mini Toslink connection when ordering this cable. By utilizing this connection, you have the ability of streaming hi-resolution or Hi-Rez 24 bit/192kHz audio files versus 16 bit/48kHz via the iQube’s USB input.
