Please help a fellow music enthusiast enter the world of head-fi! :)

Hello Head-Fi community!

As you can probably see from my account, I'm brand new to this site.

I have been saving up some money to buy a headphone set-up because I figured it would be a waste to spend money on a stereo speaker system when I'm going to move out in a year or so and probably end up in some cramped 3x4 student room ;)

So after visiting my local hi-fi shop where I was generously given the time to listen to the:

-Senn Hd650, 600, 598,

-Denon AH-D2000

-Beyerdynamic DT 880, DT990

(yes....a glaring hole in this list is AKG but sadly I have not had the chance to listen to their headphones except for a 601 or something that was poorly amplified with a horrible sound source (THANKS TO THE MEDIAMARKT! -____-' )  And besides that, I figured the 701 will be way too hard to amp since I've heard it's harder to drive then the HD 650)

Both unamplified (straight out of the jack of a Marantz cd player...forgot which one but whatever, it was around 700 euros so it was probably all right ;D) and amplified by a musicalfidelity amp (same...sorry, should've written that down).  I was thoroughly surprised by the HD 650. Although I really liked the Denon headphone as well. The HD 650 just gave me more satisfaction and sounded a lot smoother and (probably) less exhaustive for my ears. It was also nice to hear how scalable the HD 650 was, when I connected it some other amps.

Anyway, I want to buy this headphone. However, I have a few questions:

-I heard there is a new and an old version of the HD 650? How can I identify the new from old? I heard it has to do with white foam inside or something and I've heard about how foam mods can improve audio quality so I'm curious to hear more about this.

-Amps amps amps. What amp? Because I intend to use my laptop/PC/mp3player/Cowon/Ipod etc.  as source, I was thinking about saving money for a Nuforce Icon HD or HDP. (though....since I'm purely looking for a headphone setup I'm probably going for the HD)

Is this a good choice? If not, what are good alternatives? Lastly, a friend of mine advised me to look into Audio GD but, I live in The Netherlands and have absolutely no experience with importing from Asian countries. I also had problems with finding out if there are any hidden taxes, import fees etc etc that I should look out for.

-How come there are such huge price differences between online shops? I've seen HD 650's ranging from 290-450 euros!

Does this have to do with the old and new version? Should I be cautious? I think I'm going to buy them at Megapool because they have a good price but, also because I have been told that they have an official Sennheiser retailer license which would make it easier when something goes wrong and I need to use my warranty/return the headphones.

Wall of text....check! Well, I was told that head-fi is a very serious community so yeah....I tried to make my first post ever count as much as possible ;)

MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE!

Please feel free to post any info or advise on factors that I might have forgot to think about and of course I'm also open to hear about alternatives. (let's just say that 400euros max for headphone, 500 for amp)

Thanks everyone for replying!

Oke so E7/E9 combo. Holy ^*&^#@ these things are cheap!

http://www.amazon.de/FiiO-E9-E7-Kombi-Bundle/dp/B0052I27I8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1308096212&sr=8-5

(I use the German Amazon because sadly we poor Dutchies don't have one of our own :/ )

And the forum members seem to like 'em too :D This just popped onto the front page:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/557390/headphones-for-fiio-e7-e9

So yeah.....I'm stunned by the relatively low price of 189 euros but would it be worth saving more money and getting that Nuforce icon HD anyway? I mean, it's an amp/DAC in one....so yeah maybe they made concessions in the design that the Fiio people didn't do with their products but still...since I'll be working for the next summer months....and because I'm an insane music fiend that is going to spend every dime on finally achieving a decent audio set-up What should I do?

What I do get is that having the DAC and AMP separated makes more sense if you look at the portability of the E7. Even though I don't think I'd be using my HD 650 'on the go' (and get mugged ), it's still an interesting option.

@BotByte

I had a J3 but it broke down....best portable out-of-the-package product I have ever heard....needless to say I was heartbroken. To add insult to injury, the website where I bought the device had problems delivering me a new one and instead turned my money into stupid store credits!!! (finally convinced my dad to work out with me if we can take legal action....so yeah will be continued soon :P)

@SennheiserHD

I'm going to sound like a total prick but.....I listen to pretty much everything. Check my last.fm over here: http://www.last.fm/user/Heliosonic

(oh and if you're reading this....feel free to leave a shout and add me :) )

I'll look into that amp/dac but I have a feeling I'll have to import and thanks to taxes and shipping etc. my bet is prices will be quite high. :/ (if you know a EU distributer please tell!)

oh and SennheiserHD, please edit your post and delete the quote. My epic first post already creates enough wall of text for one page imho. ;)

@Mackat

Do you mean you listened to all those headphones on the Fiio combo amp?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mackat 

No, I listened to those with different amps but I kept coming back to my setup.

Aha, so you might say we got a giant killer on our hands? What other amps did you use with the HD 650? How did they compare?

@SennheiserHD Thanks! I'm quite convinced now that I should buy the Fiio's. After all....when do you really use 24bit? (Ya know...in case I'd want that Nuforce dac) Besides, I'll always be able to upgrade the DAC some other time :)
 

ps. Hmmm weird, I posted a response earlier but it disappeared :/

Oh, not necroposting on purpose but just if people read this; the Fiio E7/E9 is awesome! Amazing sound for a good price. Perfect fit for anyone with a smaller budget!

Thanks again guys for recommending this!