Would you please help a beginner Head-Fier?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mralexosborn 

 

What do I do?

 

sometimes there's the case of folks posting a thread, and you can tell that they haven't read enough.

and then there's the odd case like yours of someone posting a thread, and you can tell that they've read too much.

you've spotlighted the achilles heel of every $100 headphone.

and left little on the table.

so... my only advice would be to save up a little more cash and that might get you into the bracket where there aren't those issues with the candidate headphones...

or, just buy a pair.  they all will sound good!    (couldn't resist)

ms1 has a colored sound, somewhat forward and geared for rock type music, grado in general is colored, usually harsh on the highs, botht he 80i and ms1 are good rock cans and nothing more IMO

the hd555 does not break easily, its very sturdy and since they are very old, they are prone to breaking a bit easier than you are used to but i had mine for years and never had any problems, it does lack bass but if you are using a computer or good bass booster amp, it gives a good low end, but yes, if you are bass head they are not for you.

The ad700 has a massive stage, slurring the S sounding words until a few hundred hours of use and even more lacking in the bass area than the 555.  

The m50 are awful gaming cans.  If you want a gaming can, get the hd555 or ad700

the shure 440 lacks quality bass, but the impact is very powerful, they are very harsh, very heavy.  They are the worst of all on this list, stray far from them.

You should be looking at the M50 or the Hd555.  You will sacrifice something regardless of where you go.  Get the m50 and you have a good music experience with plenty of bass and soundstage, but gaming accuracy is poor.  Get the HD555 and you get very accurate cans that do every genre very well, but lack bass and a good engaging sound.  I would wait until you get another 30$ or so and get the HD555 or AD700 purely for gaming, and maybe the ms1 or sr80 for your rock music

best of luck

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWuss 

sometimes there's the case of folks posting a thread, and you can tell that they haven't read enough.

 

and then there's the odd case like yours of someone posting a thread, and you can tell that they've read too much.

you've spotlighted the achilles heel of every $100 headphone.

and left little on the table.

 

so... my only advice would be to save up a little more cash and that might get you into the bracket where there aren't those issues with the candidate headphones...

 

or, just buy a pair.  they all will sound good!    (couldn't resist)

X2. Any one of the cans you mentioned would be good but none are all arounders with music and great with games. It depends on what's more important to you. If you save up, in the $200 range the D2000 may be a good choice or even the HD600 or HD580 though I haven't read much about the Senns and gaming. Also DT880/990 would be worth looking at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mralexosborn 

You just gave me 5 more options. I am going to go eat myself alive before I empty my wallet. 

Lol. Sorry couldn't resist. I'd honestly go with one in the $100 range first. You can always sell those and recoup some of your funds for a better can later on and you don't have to suffer without a decent set of cans.

I ended up in the same situation you're in. I narrowed it down from 6 to 3 cans and in the end I flipped a coin and ended up with Denons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWuss 

sometimes there's the case of folks posting a thread, and you can tell that they haven't read enough.

 

and then there's the odd case like yours of someone posting a thread, and you can tell that they've read too much.

you've spotlighted the achilles heel of every $100 headphone.

and left little on the table.

 

so... my only advice would be to save up a little more cash and that might get you into the bracket where there aren't those issues with the candidate headphones...

 

or, just buy a pair.  they all will sound good!    (couldn't resist)

x3  Though even $1k headphones have their positives and negatives, they just hopefully aren't as pronounced.  Figure out what sound you want, what cons you can live with, and go for it.  Otherwise you'll go into analysis paralysis figuring things out and then wondering if you should save up another $50-$100 which opens up more options...etc etc.  The other best thing you could do would be to go somewhere (like a store or a local meet) and listen to some stuff to see what sounds good to you.

out of those I would go with the M50's.

But if u really want soundstage, comfort, and good all around, I suggest u save up more.

Buy once and be happy!

That's how I started out. I said $100 cans is all I'll ever need then I got curious and went up to the $200 range and that's where I lost track. And as you can see from my sig it didn't end up well. This place is incredibly dangerous. If you can get out for $100 I'd consider you a very lucky man. As Gandalf would say "Fly, you fool!"

Then eliminate what you can and then make an educated guess.  Okay?  Okay. 

Whatever you get will have some kind of downside...even if you spent all $650, you could probably find SOMETHING that you might have wished the headphones did better.  It's not like you can expect to have a spiritual epiphany or anything.

Since u will have a downside to each of these headphones, u'll eventually want a better set once u've caught "ugradititus."

I am currently on my first set of audiophile HP's. The MS-1.

I thought I'd be satisfied with $100 headphones, but I want more.....just a warning for ur wallet.