Another vote for K701 if you like natural sound. Good enough with stock cable and I am not sure how much you get from re-cabling. I use it directly with DAC1 without special headphone-amp.
It's about that time to upgrade for me. Here's my current rig:
Headphone: Ultrasone HFI-650 Trackmasters
Amp: Xin SuperMicroIV
Source: iPod 5g
Cable: Cryo Micro Dock
Giving myself a budget of $500 for a new set of headphones, and while I listen to all types of music, I mainly listen to trance and metal, so bass and a great sound from electric guitars is important.
I like my Ultrasones and love how accurate they are at reproducing sound, but accuracy gets boring sometimes and I'd love a set of cans that are fun to listen to. I'm not exactly great with the terminology, but I don't think that the 650s do a great job of reproducing highs (or maybe it's that their too bright) as there are definitely times I wince when listening to female vocals. The other main complaint I have about the 650s is with the bass. It's accurate and controlled, but it's not punchy enough for me. These are the most "audiophile" headphones I have owned and I haven't had a chance to listen to anything beyond them, so all my impressions of other phones will be from reading the forums.
Right now I don't really have anything narrowed down, though the BTs have me interested (990s possibly). I prefer getting an open can design this time as it will mainly be for home listening. The Sennheisers also peak my interest, though I don't know if they would leave me bored similar to the Ultrasone's.
It's about that time to upgrade for me. Here's my current rig:
Headphone: Ultrasone HFI-650 Trackmasters
Amp: Xin SuperMicroIV
Source: iPod 5g
Cable: Cryo Micro Dock
Giving myself a budget of $500 for a new set of headphones, and while I listen to all types of music, I mainly listen to trance and metal, so bass and a great sound from electric guitars is important.
I like my Ultrasones and love how accurate they are at reproducing sound, but accuracy gets boring sometimes and I'd love a set of cans that are fun to listen to. I'm not exactly great with the terminology, but I don't think that the 650s do a great job of reproducing highs (or maybe it's that their too bright) as there are definitely times I wince when listening to female vocals. The other main complaint I have about the 650s is with the bass. It's accurate and controlled, but it's not punchy enough for me. These are the most "audiophile" headphones I have owned and I haven't had a chance to listen to anything beyond them, so all my impressions of other phones will be from reading the forums.
Right now I don't really have anything narrowed down, though the BTs have me interested (990s possibly). I prefer getting an open can design this time as it will mainly be for home listening. The Sennheisers also peak my interest, though I don't know if they would leave me bored similar to the Ultrasone's.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
It would have been wiser to start a dedicated thread instead of posting here but oh well.
I don't know what you mean by BT 990s.The only 990s I'm aware of are Beyerdynamics, and those do provide seriously piercing treble, too, and from your description that's not what you are looking for.
The Senn HD 6X0 series is the opposite as far as treble is concerned but in fact tend to sound boring when driven by mid-fi upstream electronics, and that's what you currently have IMO.Nice for portable purposes but not exactly high end by home audio terms.
In your situation your best bet might be a Denon D2000.
Lots of fun to listen to them, especially in combination with your favorite genres.
Great bass.A bittoo much by audiophile terms, but who cares?
Just the right amount of treble to keep metal aggressive without piercing your eardrums.They do sound exciting without being fatiguing.Just the right balance for me.
They are not overly revealing of the quality of upstream electronics and mediocre recordings (many metal recordings are mediocre at best) still are listenable.
I do have more than one rig considered to be high end but nevertheless the Denons do get a fair share of my listening time.Sometimes I just want some simple fun instead of my (over-)sophisticated dainty Omegas.
Here's a link to a novice review that might be more useful for you than the usual nitpicking audiophile blah.
The Denons are closed cans though, but don't sound claustrophobic.
__________________ Digital: Esoteric P-03/D-03, Esoteric Rubidium G-0Rb, Esoteric DV 60, Rega Apollo, Linn Kivor Tunboks, iPod, Wadia iPod Dock, McIntosh MS 300. Analogue: Basis 2500 Signature, Basis Vector 4, Lyra Titani, Kiseki Agate Ruby, Air Tight PC-1, Koetsu Urushi Tsugaru, Clearaudio Syncro, Magnum Dynalab MD-90, Nakamichi 1000 MKII, and 25+ exotic cartridges Headphone Amplifiers: RSA Hornet, Stax SRM-727, Stax SRM-007t, HeadAmp Aristeaus, CEC HD53R, Stax SRM-T1S, Ray Samuels Raptor. Headphones: Stax 4070, Stax SR-007, Sennheiser HE 60's, Stax Lambda Pro, Stax SR-X, Stax Lambda Novas, Stax Sigmas, Stax Gammas, Stax Omega 1's, Sennheiser HE-90 Orpheus, Stax Omega 2 MK2, Ultrasone Edition 9. Other: Shunyata Hydra 8, Anacondas, Pythons, Nordost Vallhalla, Shunyata Antares, Kimber Select, Audioquest Sky, Shunyata V-Ray & Pythons, Shunyata Antares, Purist Audio Dominus, Stealth Indra, Harmonix Isolation Devices (various), Mye Stands, Purist Audio Speaker Cables, Harmonix Cables & Isolation Devices, Shunyata Guardian. Stealth Varadig Sextet. Speakers: Magnepan MG 20.1, Martin Logan CLS, Magnepan 3.6R, Green Mountain Europa Electronics: Audio Research Reference 3, Audio Research PH-7, Audio Research Reference 210's, Pass X-250.5, Tom Tutay Crossover On Order: Headamp Blue Hawaii Special Edition, Blue Hawaii, Stax SRM-007t 2.
"Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood." H. L. Mencken
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Dubya
__________________ Digital: Esoteric P-03/D-03, Esoteric Rubidium G-0Rb, Esoteric DV 60, Rega Apollo, Linn Kivor Tunboks, iPod, Wadia iPod Dock, McIntosh MS 300. Analogue: Basis 2500 Signature, Basis Vector 4, Lyra Titani, Kiseki Agate Ruby, Air Tight PC-1, Koetsu Urushi Tsugaru, Clearaudio Syncro, Magnum Dynalab MD-90, Nakamichi 1000 MKII, and 25+ exotic cartridges Headphone Amplifiers: RSA Hornet, Stax SRM-727, Stax SRM-007t, HeadAmp Aristeaus, CEC HD53R, Stax SRM-T1S, Ray Samuels Raptor. Headphones: Stax 4070, Stax SR-007, Sennheiser HE 60's, Stax Lambda Pro, Stax SR-X, Stax Lambda Novas, Stax Sigmas, Stax Gammas, Stax Omega 1's, Sennheiser HE-90 Orpheus, Stax Omega 2 MK2, Ultrasone Edition 9. Other: Shunyata Hydra 8, Anacondas, Pythons, Nordost Vallhalla, Shunyata Antares, Kimber Select, Audioquest Sky, Shunyata V-Ray & Pythons, Shunyata Antares, Purist Audio Dominus, Stealth Indra, Harmonix Isolation Devices (various), Mye Stands, Purist Audio Speaker Cables, Harmonix Cables & Isolation Devices, Shunyata Guardian. Stealth Varadig Sextet. Speakers: Magnepan MG 20.1, Martin Logan CLS, Magnepan 3.6R, Green Mountain Europa Electronics: Audio Research Reference 3, Audio Research PH-7, Audio Research Reference 210's, Pass X-250.5, Tom Tutay Crossover On Order: Headamp Blue Hawaii Special Edition, Blue Hawaii, Stax SRM-007t 2.
"Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood." H. L. Mencken
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Dubya
Inspired by a thread by Carlo, I'm going to try this as a trial, and see how things go... If you haven't already seen that thread, basically we're going to try and get an FAQ going ~ to which end, we need your opinions (good and bad ~ but no flame wars) for any popular headphones that are available for less than $500 (standard MSRP... Discounted products aren't really applicable)
The replies need to be as short, and concise as possible, because they're (hopefully ~ if this takes off) going to be used as quotes within a new sticky (locked) thread...
Lets see if this works
I am convinced that any such description of "best" headphone is useless unless one has defined what is to be listened to. Most people probably want to be listening to background music on portable equipment, and for this purpose a different phone is required to that needed for concentrated listening.
Most people probably want to be listening to background music on portable equipment.
True but somewhat irrelevant.
Most people don't frequent head-fi regularly nor are they experienced with several headphones in the up to $500 range.
Besides of that : welcome to head-fi and sorry about your wallet.
Maybe you wallet will soon realize that there are headphones available way more expensive than $500.Heck, there are even cables costing more than that (although not recommended, at least not by me).
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Linear Mode
