Recommendations for Best headphones on the market (new and old)

[ken36]

Great thread. Thanks for the Education.

[KarmAbe]

Well friends,

It's now my time to get those great headphones that will forever change my audio experience. I did have a peak on 300$ sennh 'phones a few years ago and I know what's coming my way... audio ectasy!

I need a little help to pin-point the right pair... don't wanna waste da money!

It's time I put the 200-400$ in and get great quality, great confort (for full day uses), the best soundstage for surround movies and games.

I want near-perfect sound, notting exagerated. I want huge/great bass, but bass which was intended to be, nothing boosted. Great bass because the HEADPHONES are great!

1st, my main use for it: Games, movies and music from my PC:
- I TV-out my divx movies on my big screen (movie audio is AC3 5.1 or 6.1)
- I play games a lot (online FPS, GTA-SA, Doom3, etc) so EAX/etc
- I listen to streaming internet music while playing online FPS (160/192k/320kbps streams quality, I want great electronic music experience
- Of course I would like to easily be able to bring the headphones elsewhere...

My soundcard is a SB Audigy2 ZS (EAX/THX/7.1/dig out/etc)
A digital solution would be nice (see #2), as my soundcards offers it.

I want closed, light and comfortable headphones.

I don't need a mic for games I like to play.


Here are my unresolved issues:


(1) I am getting convainced that I should go for Dolby Headphones (binaural, and not 5.1 surround headphones (those with 3/4 drivers per side).

Well if I get better sound with Dolby Headphones, why not... please debate if I sould still consider the 5.1 headphones with multi-drivers.

I don't want to lack in quality, comfort, precision of the soundstage, and risk that the fits-all concept of 5.1 headphones doesn't fit me.


2- Going Dolby Headphones, should I go for a dolby decoder paired with great headphones?
(like the Trustmaster T510 or others not bundled with cheap headphones)

I know that with the Trustmaster T510 you get the Dolby Digital experience! I doubt I can plug Dolby Headphones directly on my soundcard's digital output... or can I?

Maybe other Dolby decoders are digital too and can be bough separately from headphones?


3- If I don't need a Dolby decoder, will my soundcard do the job?

Will it fell the surround experience when plugged elsewhere then on the soundcard? into another amp with surround?


4- I need to know if I should go for cans required to be pluged on an amplifier to perform great (volume/bass wise).

For this I need to determine where I should plug my headphones directly on my PC's soundcard, or if I can plug the PC to my amplified receiver/tuner and use it's headphone jack... see #5


5- I usually plug my soundcard front left/front right output to my amplified receiver/tuner and listen to my PC from the amp's headphone jack.

I don't know if the mentioned simulated surround positionning emulated by my SB Audigy2ZS during games (EAX) and movies (AC3) is lost if I don't plug the headphones directly on the soundcard (I have cheap headphones, I can't figure it out).

Any hints on this? Anyone could confirm this with their experience?
I would rather plug-in on the amp jack then on the soundcard...


6- So many possibilities in models, and I havan't seen them all yet.

Audio Technica ATH-A500 / A700 / A900
Sennheiser HD 580 / 600 / 650
Beyerdynamic DT 770 / 880 / 990
AKG 240S / 271
Shure E5
V6/7506
Ultrasone HFI700

...and for digital solutions:
- TrustMaster T510 but am I wasting money on the bundled headphones as mentioned in some reviews?

...for the following Dolby Digital Headphones, I'd like a non-wireless solution:
and in addition, they are too epensive for my budget, I could affort the DS3000 but would it be a waste of money over the other models?
+ Pioneer SE-DIR800C Dolby Digital Surround Headphone - 400$
- Pioneer SE-DIR1000C Dolby Digital Surround Headphone - 440$
+ Sony MDR-DS3000 Digital Surround Headphones - 200$
- Sony MDR-DS4000 Digital Surround Headphones - 340$
- Sony MDR-DS8000 Digital Surround Headphone - 600$

Also I don't want to lose even a .05% of quality because of an infrared solution!

...and so many others I don't know yet... please just point me the ONE!


So many questions, so many possible solutions.
At least I got started!
Maybe one of you Gurus will help me in the right direction...

...CYA...

KarmAbe

[boodi]

welcome to head-fi - sorry about your wallet !

my answer would be .. mm .. beyerdynamic dt 860 ? or sennheiser hd555 ? .. just to move the first steps in the beautiful world of headphones ..

I'll leave a prolix answer to the posterity , even if I want to advice you to copy and paste your post in a new thread titled "suggest me headphones for ..."

[MikeAKGGuy]

It's true - good headphones cost money, but they are a much better value in terms of sound quality and audio enjoyment for what you spend than speakers, high-end interconnects, power conditioning, etc.

Karmabe - you ask a lot of questions, some with philosophical weight. I think that surround sound headphones sound good, but whether they're right for you is something you'll have to decide for yourself - headphones are a personal decision and each brand and model works out differently for each listener.

There are several different approaches in the market on how to achieve surround sound (or let's just say enhanced imaging). You don't need headphones with multiple drivers (after all, how many ears do you have?) to achieve more realistic imaging.

Theoretically, there's nothing wrong with infrared technology. However, it has big limitations on distance, you loose signal if someone walks in front of you and if you have a plasma screen TV, it causes interference problems. If you want to go wireless, there are other choices. But if you want the last morsel of sonic accuracy, wired is still the way to go.

As far as the sound card, you are far better off with an external amp which actually drives the headphones. Better sound cards have more dynamic range and better definition, but a good headphone amp is still necessary to play the headphones. For gaming and for software plug-ins (like AKG's Hearo Player), having faster processing and more memory also affects sound quality.

So - there's a couple of tid-bits for you.

[knagaraja]

I am a student who likes to listen to music of all types when studying. For this case i think that closed would be idea for me, but then again i feel i would want to wear them when not studying as well particularly when driving where a little ambient noise would be important. I listen to rap-hip hop and trance mostly. My price range is under 200 used/new either one. Ive been looking at sennheiser mostly but have looked into grados and sonys. Portability is important but not at the top of the list, i am more partial to sound quality, i like deep and punchy bass. What headphones would you all think would be the best considering my conditions? Also where are good websites to purchase them? Thanx!!

[chrisfromalbany]

Originally Posted by knagaraja

I am a student who likes to listen to music of all types when studying. For this case i think that closed would be idea for me, but then again i feel i would want to wear them when not studying as well particularly when driving where a little ambient noise would be important. I listen to rap-hip hop and trance mostly. My price range is under 200 used/new either one. Ive been looking at sennheiser mostly but have looked into grados and sonys. Portability is important but not at the top of the list, i am more partial to sound quality, i like deep and punchy bass. What headphones would you all think would be the best considering my conditions? Also where are good websites to purchase them? Thanx!!

I dunno for the 200 price range I would go with the UE Super.fi 5pro. They go for $250. I think that would be the best fit. They have the bass, they are portible, isolate the sound. Do a Froogle search or look them up on cnet for the best price.

I could see the HD595 there are sealed and alitte big.

If sealed wasn't an issue Grado 225 would be the one to go with.

[fraseyboy]

Altec Lansing AHP-512

The Good:
Very cheap, Great bass, decent mids and high's, good looks.

The bad:
Small cup size.

[Shaman]

Beyerdynamic DT-880's

Expetional performance. Many argue these are the best conventional headphones on the market. Of all the top models out there, these are an exceptional value, often less than half the cost of comparable sounding senns.

[HWF]

Read a lot here in the past few days and think I now have an idea of what I would like in a set of head phones.

I want to enjoy my music through my computer,(X-Fi Sound Card) and enjoy computer games. I Have a couple of headphone sets I'm trying out. Senn. HD280 Pro. and Ear Tools RP-20. These are both closed sets. I like things about both sets, but I'm still not quite happy. I lean toward the Ear Tools RP20's, The RP20's have larger ear cups and the sound is not as in my ear as the Senn.. They also are not as isolated as the Senn. due to the much softer squeeze the RP20's provide which makes them more comfortable. I've used 2 amps (low Budget) a rolls personal monitor and a Sampson S amp. I've convinced myself that I hear more detail when going direct the the sound card out of both headphones, maybe the amps are limiting the response. Any way a list of things I would like to improve over what I have. Ilisten to Country and Rock (60's thru 80's)

1.Spend little as possible.(I'm already sorry for my wallet.)
2.Hope to not require an amp.
3.I think open design would be better.
4.I want a cooler(heat) set maybe the cloth ear cover will help.
5.Want the ear cups to not set on my ear.
6.I'm not crazy about the coiled cord(Senn.). (RP20's have a braided cord.Nice)

I may have forgotten some things but that's why I came Headfi.

[YngwieJMalmsteen]

HWF - I would recommend senn 555 or 595, make sure you get the 50-ohm version. Of course, once you have them you'll probably want a better source and amp anyway, so maybe just go for 580's off the bat. Assuming you have the source and amp for it hd-580 is the best deal in high end headphones IMO.

As for the best headphone on the market, for me it is the beyerdynamic DT 880. I bought these blindly, thinking "man I really should've splurged for hd-650 or RS-1," but as it turns out I decidedly prefer DT 880. By now I've heard almost every headphone on the market (still missing SA5k, new AKGs, ultrasones) and honestly wouldn't trade the 880 for any of them. Yeah, the orpheus is the best headphone ever made (still haven't heard it with hev90) but DT 880 with a nice tube amp gets me 95% of the way there, and the last 5% isn't worth 12k to me (assuming I had the oppurtunity to buy an orpheus). The 880s only "weakness" is that they don't do well with cheap or bright components.

If beyer changed the 880s sound for the new "premium" line I would be pretty disappointed, as there is nowhere to go but down.

Long live beyer 880!