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$500 cans on, this is how you dream right - Official Headphone Thread

A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Fox318 said:
I hate being that guy but I need advise on what headphones to get. I've used so many good and cheap headphones over the years and I just haven't been happy with the production quality or the cable has gone out on me. I'd like to get a closed noise canceling headphones because of flying and office work but I understand that many people prefer the sound quality of open ear headphones. I've had good luck with some of the Sennheiser and Bose headphones I've used in the past but I'm not sure where to look. I can trade in my old broken Bose over the ear non-noise canceling headphones and get the Quiet comfort 15's for $200 but I'd like some other options for headphones. I'd like to use them with my PC and my mobile phone. I've heard that I should get a DAC or a USB sound card for my laptop because all laptop sound is shit compared to what power a sound card can deliver. I would be listening to music, Blu-ray movies/Streaming content, gaming, and daily Skype usage.

I'd like to spend less than $250 if possible to get a good set. I just want a removable cable so that can be replaced without ruining the whole headset.
Click to expand...



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OMKR8E/?tag=neogaf0e-20

From the reviews I've read it's one of the best options for ANC sound wise, and it has a detachable cable as well so you can replace it if the cable breaks, which sounds like a problem for you. I don't know where to find the replacements though.

Also it still works as a regular pair of closed headphones even when the battery wears off.

The B vesion apparently has much improved sound quality, but it is double the price. Still under your budget by half.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002HWJT1A/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Oh yeah, forgot the ANC9, which is closer to your budget and is the big brother of the ANC7s.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0077YTFPS/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
H

HiResDes

Member
I'd recommend checking out a pair of closed passive noise-canceling headphones with good isolation. The HD380 Pro have good enough passive isolation to be used on an airplane and fantastic build quality.
 
P

pax217

Member
Fox318 said:
I'd like to get a closed noise canceling headphones because of flying and office work but I understand that many people prefer the sound quality of open ear headphones.
Click to expand...

As long as you're not a major bass-head, check out the Beyerdynamic DT880s.
 
H

hiroshawn

Banned
Is the newest Ipod classic modable to run FLAC? I want to get one of those because of the size to price correlation. Also I want some proper headphones and an amp+DAC to use at home. I also want a portable amp for outside listening. cheers. my budget on the headphones and amps/DAC is 4-$500
 
L

LCfiner

Member
you can load rockbox on the new classics (haven’t done it myself but there’s installation instructions out there) to load up FLAC.

your choice of headphones depends on what kind of sound you’d like or if you need open or closed design. on ear, over ear, etc...

A really good closed, on ear headphone is the new KEF M500. excellent sound for $300 (or $240 from razordogaudio if you use a coupon code) and it doesn’t even really need an extra amp.

Looking for an energetic, mid-focused sound? consider a lowend or midrange Grado.
Looking for a neutral, open, over ear, try to get a used HD600 (to keep within your budget) Or maybe a hifiman HE-400 which will be a bit more bassy than the HD600. plenty more examples in the OP.

For amp/DAC combos out there for under 300 or so, there’s the AudioEngine D1, a JDSlabs O2 and ODAC combo, the schiit Magni and Modi combo. The Fiio E07K or E17 (portables) or E10 (computer use, only)
 
S

smokeandmirrors

Banned
I finally cut the cable on my HD555's a bit and replaced the massive 1/4inch plug and adaptor to a 3.5mm all metal plug, since the other one was giving me issues for some reason. It's so much more manageable with the shorter cable now. Best decision. Now to fix my other pair which incidentally is having a similar plug issue.
 
W

Willectro

Banned
Anyone have any experience with the Yulong D100 MKII Amp/DAC Combo (currently on massdrop.com for 30% off)?

1HWuU21.jpg
 
F

Fox318

Member
Thanks for the help everyone. I'm looking some more at the Denon stuff and the Audio Technica's.

I know it can't be as good as the audiophile stuff but the Creative Sound Blaster EVO ZxR that is coming out soon sounds interesting as well. Would noise canceling really be necessary with some of the higher end closed headphones?
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
I find that even with a headphone that has incredibly high isolation like the HD251-II the rumble of the plane still comes through a little, which muddies the sub-bass and bass ranges. Still listenable. Depends if you want to completely block it out.
 
F

Fox318

Member
Antiwhippy said:
I find that even with a headphone that has incredibly high isolation like the HD251-II the rumble of the plane still comes through a little, which muddies the sub-bass and bass ranges. Still listenable. Depends if you want to completely block it out.
Click to expand...

I've been using cheap inner ear headphones and some construction ear protection on planes so far. So it has to be an upgrade over that.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
It's kind of hard for me to recall seeing that it's been ages since I used my senn hd25s on a plane, but from what I recalled it blocked out quite a bit of the plane sound.

The hd25s are passive noise cancelling cans BTW, so it doesn't use any fancy frequency cancelling techniques that active noise cancelling cans use. They just use an incredibly tight seal and high clamping force.
 
F

Fox318

Member
Antiwhippy said:
It's kind of hard for me to recall seeing that it's been ages since I used my senn hd25s on a plane, but from what I recalled it blocked out quite a bit of the plane sound.

The hd25s are passive noise cancelling cans BTW, so it doesn't use any fancy frequency cancelling techniques that active noise cancelling cans use. They just use an incredibly tight seal and high clamping force.
Click to expand...

Worst pick up line ever.
 
L

LCfiner

Member
no idea. never heard it and only read a couple things about it. the bass toggle thing apparently works as advertised, at least.
 
F

Fox318

Member
In doing a lot of research should I build a cmoy amp?

Why don't most headphones come with build in amplifiers if they don't have the power to really play music at a more optimum level? I mean many of the higher end headphones come with a mobile control cable or a phone mic so why don't they have the tech to play music better?

I'm still new to all of this.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
A built in amplifier would increase the bulk and weight on something that you ideally would be wearing on your head for long stretches of time.

Also unless you plan to spend above $300 I really don't think you need one, especially for portable headphones. Most phones/portable music players should drive cans at that range. It's just that some might not have good DACs, which has nothing to do with powering the headphones. By then there's no point getting an amp for sound purposes unless you also upgrade your DAC to bypass the built in DAC. Though I think some amps also let you bypass the DAC? Not too sure on these myself.

My belief is that if you believe the headphone you want requires a portable amp get another pair of headphones. Not a fan of them honestly. None of them that I've tried has made the sound noticeably better other than colour the headphones sound with a bass boost or just make them louder. Also defeats the purpose of portability.

You can buy a cmoy amp here though if you want.

http://www.jdslabs.com/item.php?fetchitem=cMoyBB203
 
S

Samk

Member
Dropping the extra money is very worth it. I can't believe I put up with the ones that came with my phone for so long.
 
H

HiResDes

Member
Fox318 said:
In doing a lot of research should I build a cmoy amp?

Why don't most headphones come with build in amplifiers if they don't have the power to really play music at a more optimum level? I mean many of the higher end headphones come with a mobile control cable or a phone mic so why don't they have the tech to play music better?

I'm still new to all of this.
Click to expand...

There are good headphones out there that don't require much amplification at all the KEF M500 is one them, the Fidelio X1 is another. Oh if you're looking for something with the good isolation check out the Beyerdynamic DT150 and the Sennheiser HD380 Pro.

CPCunha said:
HiResDes and LCfiner... whats the verdict on the Beyer Custom One Pro? I like how they look and i love how the 880 sounds...
Click to expand...
They sound nothing like the 880, I'm not sure I liked them more than the 770 because even with the bass turned all the way they don't slam the way the 770 slam, and although the clarity in the midrange is better when turned down they still never reach that of even the 990...Making them a kind of middling unit.
 
F

Fox318

Member
Antiwhippy said:
A built in amplifier would increase the bulk and weight on something that you ideally would be wearing on your head for long stretches of time.

Also unless you plan to spend above $300 I really don't think you need one, especially for portable headphones. Most phones/portable music players should drive cans at that range. It's just that some might not have good DACs, which has nothing to do with powering the headphones. By then there's no point getting an amp for sound purposes unless you also upgrade your DAC to bypass the built in DAC. Though I think some amps also let you bypass the DAC? Not too sure on these myself.

My belief is that if you believe the headphone you want requires a portable amp get another pair of headphones. Not a fan of them honestly. None of them that I've tried has made the sound noticeably better other than colour the headphones sound with a bass boost or just make them louder. Also defeats the purpose of portability.

You can buy a cmoy amp here though if you want.

http://www.jdslabs.com/item.php?fetchitem=cMoyBB203
Click to expand...

Damn and I've been working out all this time

5ZRGNPW.jpg
 
A

Arkanius

Member
Beyerdynamic DT880 Premium for 249 dollars at Massdrop.com
Y/N?

600 ohm version.
I would have to invest in a Amp/DAC combo as well. Damn, audio world is really a wallet rape.
 
L

LCfiner

Member
hiroshawn said:
might have to backtrack in this. They say the Bass is not that good. What do you guys think? I listen to a wide variety of tracks.
Click to expand...

Bass is flat. it's not boosted. doesn't extend as deep as, say, the HE-400 but it's not bad.

If you're looking for more bass with a bit more impact and lower distortion - and still want an open, airy sound - then consider the hifiman HE-400.

if you want big, Beats-type bass in your price range, then you probably need to look at closed headphones.
 
H

HiResDes

Member
Arkanius said:
Beyerdynamic DT880 Premium for 249 dollars at Massdrop.com
Y/N?

600 ohm version.
I would have to invest in a Amp/DAC combo as well. Damn, audio world is really a wallet rape.
Click to expand...

Not every good headphone needs an amp, but yes if you're looking at something with 600 OHMs thenneither you already own a decent setup or plan to buy one in the future. It's not hard guys. Open Headphones like Fidelio X1, Soundmagic HP200, Sony MDR-MA900, or if you really want to save some money just cop some Somic MH463s and replace the pads with Turtle Beach X12 pads.

hiroshawn said:
Im feeling the HD 600. I like open air.
Click to expand...
The Fidelio X1, DT990, Somic MH463, and Fischer FA-011 all have good bass as well. though I believe both the DT990 and FA-011 benefit nearly twofold from a good amp.

I think the Soundmagic HP200 might be the most underrated pair of headphones overall.
 
A

Arkanius

Member
HiResDes said:
Not every good headphone needs an amp, but yes if you're looking at something with 600 OHMs thenneither you already own a decent setup or plan to buy one in the future. It's not hard guys. Open Headphones like Fidelio X1, Soundmagic HP200, Sony MDR-MA900, or if you really want to save some money just cop some Somic MH463s and replace the pads with Turtle Beach X12 pads.


The Fidelio X1, DT990, Somic MH463, and Fischer FA-011 all have good bass as well. though I believe both the DT990 and FA-011 benefit nearly twofold from a good amp.

I think the Soundmagic HP200 might be the most underrated pair of headphones overall.
Click to expand...

Yeah I want to upgrade my setup.
Right now I'm using modded Senheisers PC350 because of the Headset which I use a lot for Skype.
I'm thinking of investing in an AudioEngine D1 afterwards to couple it with my X-Fi Titanium through Optical (So I can use the CMSS-3D which is the last good thing Creative has nowadays). Right now my setup is Titanium -> Amp (Which can drive the 600 Ohm impedance) -> PC350.

The DT880 Premium look solid headphones and starting to get very close to monitor range, which I value the most. I very much prefer flat frequency responses. The price also seems right, it seems like a very good deal, but I guess I should look around Ebay to see if I can find lower.
 
H

HiResDes

Member
Arkanius said:
Yeah I want to upgrade my setup.
Right now I'm using modded Senheisers PC350 because of the Headset which I use a lot for Skype.
I'm thinking of investing in an AudioEngine D1 afterwards to couple it with my X-Fi Titanium through Optical (So I can use the CMSS-3D which is the last good thing Creative has nowadays). Right now my setup is Titanium -> Amp (Which can drive the 600 Ohm impedance) -> PC350.

The DT880 Premium look solid headphones and starting to get very close to monitor range, which I value the most. I very much prefer flat frequency responses. The price also seems right, it seems like a very good deal, but I guess I should look around Ebay to see if I can find lower.
Click to expand...
Oh good choice then if you already have a good setup, the 600 OHM version are by far the highest regarded and supposedly contain a level of extremely natural tonality that the others can't quite match.
 
L

LCfiner

Member
If it ends up being similar to the dragonfly ($250) or audio engine D1 ($170), then it might be a decent deal at the kickstarter early bird price of $150

But…. it’s not a shipping product, who knows when it’ll be released, and there’s no reviews as opposed to the lots of impressions and reviews for the USB powered items out right now for decent prices.

it’s not exactly a super compelling kickstarter as there’s some nice products out there now that do the same thing (or, with the D1, do more)
 
C

Crisco

Banned
I'm not sure how things escalated this quickly. 2 years ago I was listening to a Bluetooth headset off my iPhone. Now I've got an Audioengine D1 -> Matrix M-Stage feeding an AKG Q701. Nearly $700 of audio gear. I'll probably stop here for now, but f this hobby lol.
 
C

ChoklitReign

Member
I am in need of new headphones because my favorite portables, the Koss KSC75, has finally flat-out broke - they have no sound in the right piece. RIP. My requirements are:

1. Flat velour pads only! I detest pleather pads because they warm my ears immediately and they aren't even that comfortable regardless of the sweat they produce. I demand no less than a 9/10 on the comfort scale.

2. Portable-sized cord! They must be all-purpose - home, walking, lunch, school hallways, etc. If a cord is the only problem, give me tips on how to shorten it.

3. I don't know what kind of sound I want. I guess neutral but not bass-free. I listen to rock, metal, EDM, ambient, downtempo, and classical.

4. Good build quality! The #1 I hated about the Koss's was that they would sound tinny and vibrate when hairs and dust got inside. Also I have had 2 PX100s (which you will probably like to recommend) that had their plugs break off the cord due to pets and other unexpected tugs (which could happen a lot in a backpack).

5. Price: ideally around $50, but if long-term life expectancy was desired, I could stretch it to $75.

I found 2 more obscure models on Amazon, are they worth it or not?

1. Sony MDR-ZX600
2. JVC HAS600B

Recommendations? I need them soon so availability on Amazon Prime is crucial.
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
Crisco said:
I'm not sure how things escalated this quickly. 2 years ago I was listening to a Bluetooth headset off my iPhone. Now I've got an Audioengine D1 -> Matrix M-Stage feeding an AKG Q701. Nearly $700 of audio gear. I'll probably stop here for now, but f this hobby lol.
Click to expand...

This is why it's unsafe to browse Head-Fi too much.
 
H

HiResDes

Member
ChoklitReign said:
I am in need of new headphones because my favorite portables, the Koss KSC75, has finally flat-out broke - they have no sound in the right piece. RIP. My requirements are:

1. Flat velour pads only! I detest pleather pads because they warm my ears immediately and they aren't even that comfortable regardless of the sweat they produce. I demand no less than a 9/10 on the comfort scale.

2. Portable-sized cord! They must be all-purpose - home, walking, lunch, school hallways, etc. If a cord is the only problem, give me tips on how to shorten it.

3. I don't know what kind of sound I want. I guess neutral but not bass-free. I listen to rock, metal, EDM, ambient, downtempo, and classical.

4. Good build quality! The #1 I hated about the Koss's was that they would sound tinny and vibrate when hairs and dust got inside. Also I have had 2 PX100s (which you will probably like to recommend) that had their plugs break off the cord due to pets and other unexpected tugs (which could happen a lot in a backpack).

5. Price: ideally around $50, but if long-term life expectancy was desired, I could stretch it to $75.

I found 2 more obscure models on Amazon, are they worth it or not?

1. Sony MDR-ZX600
2. JVC HAS600B

Recommendations? I need them soon so availability on Amazon Prime is crucial.
Click to expand...
Beyerdynamic DT 235, the only problem is they have a long cord. You really should look into some IEMs if you're doing all of that moving and stuff though.
 
L

Lv99 Slacker

Member
Ordered a pair of HiFiMan RE400's based on the review on Head-Fi. I doubt that they'll sound as good as the RE272 that I had for a year before they gave out from regular wear and tear. Those were the best earphones I had ever owned, hands down. Used to be an Ety girl. Not anymore.
 
C

Chance Hale

Member
I've always wanted to get into higher quality audio equipment but I've always put it off. Recently the headset I use was broken so I figure now is a better time than any to jump into the wonderful world of real audio equipment. I'll be using them for music(Generally listen to a wide variety of things, but not so much hard rock or dubstep) gaming, and film(blu-ray via either a PS3 or power dvd) watching so given my recent interest a lot of the headsets seem very complicated and specific in their purpose so I worry about them suiting all three of those things to a satisfactory level. I'll also want to use them on both the PC, and consoles. I was recommended the Astro mixamp for easy volume control, but would that be satisfactory for actual powering of mid tier headphones(in addition to a sound card for DAC?) I'm somewhat confused as to whether it actually acts as an amp or just handles volume control across varied devices which is hard to do otherwise.

So on to the recommendations request: Don't mind spending a decent bit of money and I want something that will last for a while so I was looking at the Sennheiser 598/600s and DT990s. I know the 600 series requires a decent amp of some sort, and given the unique platform circumstances it seems like it might be better to go with the 598s which don't need as much power. The DT990s I read were quite good for gaming in particular, but I'm confused about the wide variety of versions available and which would be the version to get.

As is clear I'm quite new to this so one thing I don't really understand. What would a higher tier headset like the HD600 or 650 sound like without a proper amp? I suppose I'm just confused as to what is meant by powering, would the quality be noticeably poor in comparison to anything or is just a matter of not realizing their full potential? Would a HD600 work as an investment of a sort, where I would use them with a relatively low end amp until I purchased a better one?

Thanks for the help!
 
B

bremon

Member
I'm rocking some HD595s right now and reading this thread I'm getting the upgrade bug. I'm still quite happy with Sennheiser, these ones must be almost 5 years old now and are holding up great. I'm looking to likely stay with Sennheiser and looking specifically at the HD600 and the HD650. There's about a $70 dollar difference from what I can find (with the 650 being less expensive). It seems like there's very minimal difference between them from what I've read on head-fi. Should I just lean towards saving myself some money? If it makes any difference, I power my current cans with my Denon receiver, or a portable DAC depending on whether I'm in front of my TV or not. Any insight is appreciated.
 
H

HiResDes

Member
There's a small difference between the two overall, but the bass is definitely the most different out of all the spectrums

"HD650 showcases a slightly more impactful bass than the HD600. This causes the HD650 to sound weightier. Some people may ultimately prefer the bass response of the HD600 because it is more neutral. The two headphones are largely similar, but it is in the bass presentation as well as lower-mids where the two Sennheiser models reveal their most obvious differences."

...The HD600 is more neutral overall, while the 650 is more laid back. I'd also consider looking at the Fidelio X1 and HE400
 
Y

Young Magus

Junior Member
A while back I asked for help in deciding on a media player to replace my ipod. The recommended product, the fiio x3 was delivered today and I gotta say that I love the player so far. The amount of options and support for Flac was much needed. Thanks again!
 
C

Chance Hale

Member
HiResDes said:
If you get the Fidelio X1 you don't really even need an amp and they basically sound like a sharper DT990.
Click to expand...

Those look quite nice, it's hard to choose a first set given there are so many that seem to be well, brilliant in terms of quality but very different in terms of variation in sound.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Hah. Out of curiosity I went back to look at how head-fi viewed the iPhone 3GS and apparently they hold the amp and DAC in quite high regard.
 
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