Good all round headphones, not extremely bassy

Heya,

 

M50's are not a favorite. Such an overhyped, overpriced headphone.

 

Anyhow, I would point you towards things like the Beyer DT770 PRO, Panasonic HTF600, Fischer Audio FA-003, Shure SRH840, Ultrasone PRO 750 and Denon D2000.

 

Very best,

Forget the M50's ~ for your needs they will be chasing the AKG 240 like an old dog chasing a Ferrari.

 

Small sound stage compared to the AKG, lacking separation and the mids can sound a little

recessed.

 

Here's another AKG to consider, the K272HD

 

Both are excellent choices.

The Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80-Ohm cans have great sound and lots of quality bass,

very recommended (but not required) to use a headphone amplifier with them to sound their best.

 

The Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250-Ohm cans are my favorite,

because they are 250-Ohm, headphone amplifier is a must.

 

I like the low cost (starting at $50) single tube headphone amplifiers on eBay, ships from China.

they are not portable (AC powered), but they are small, only takes up little desk space.

So you would still need a portable headphone amplifier for on the move.

 

 

If you want to save a few dollars.

These are semi-open headphones and do not need a headphone amplifier.

(but a headphone amplifier helps any headphone sound better)

Panasonic RP-HTF600-S, with Beyer EDT 200 Velour ear pads.

Samson SR850 (made by Superlux)

Very similar needs in regards to an amp for the DT770 80ohm and the AKG K272HD,

 

Both will slow down and sound a little nasally or muddy if they're not properly amped

such as out of a cheap headphone laptop out or something like an iShuffle.

 

The AKG K272HD has opposite strengths to the DT770 in my opinion, very fast it is

able to keep pace with a rapid beat but the lower bass registers are not massively

big on impact or extension ~ isolation is good between the both of them.

 

It's a tough call really, depends on the rock ~ anything with slam might be partial

to the DT770's robust bottom end but the K272 I think has slightly faster pace

and dynamics even though it won't give that massive kick drum effect.

 

Sound stage is about the same from memory, neither are massive.

Increase in volume is about last thing you think about when buying a headphone amplifier.

low cost is more a decider factor then quality when some device is designed with a headphone jack.

Headphone amplifiers will feed a more quality and well controlled signal to headphones.

 

a cheap device with a headphone jack can hit like Mike Tyson's fist in your face.

A quality headphone amplifier is like Bruce Lee, hits 3 times faster with fists and can do flying kicks to any body part.

 

 

 

 

Give some thought to the Sennheiser HD-600. It is the best all-around headphone I've owned, save for the HD-800. But the HD-800 is expensive and persnickety about amps. The HD-600 is a fine performer and was considered one of the best on the market before the latest round of kilobuck cans rolled out.

But that doesn't mean the HD-600 became bad; that just made it a better value. Not much snob appeal, but it delivers sound quality.

Go read the reviews. There's good reason why it has been in production so long and why used ones rarely last more than a day or two before being snapped up.

Plus at 300 Ohms, it will work with any solid state amp as well as with OTL tube amps that have a high output impedance.

And, no, low impedance does not mean something is easy to drive. If that were true, my loudspeakers, which are 8 Ohms, could be easily driven from my iPod. That doesn't work. The difference is that the iPod has about 25mW of power and the speakers are 86dB/1W efficient. So the iPod has less than 1% of the power it needs to get the speakers to 86dB of sound. Impedance only tells you how well power transfers and you need the amp's output impedance to figure that. The speakers work pretty well with a 45W amp with 8 Ohm output impedance.

 

I'm thinking about buying a pair of HD-600 myself, but I suppose this means you wouldn't condone buying them used or refurbished?

Sony SA3000 / SA5000 and a cheap solid-state amp or similar amped soundcard.

So can we conclude that the rumors of a little while ago suggesting the HD600 will be discontinued by Sennheiser are just that..

 

An audio wife's tale and myth?

Oh, no, I fully support buying used and refurbished. My HD-600 was bought used. I've only bought a handful of things new; the majority are used or DIY.

I hope Sennheiser doesn't discontinue the HD-600. It's a great product and I haven't heard the rumors. Though I wonder if they might eliminate it and keep the HD-650. Or possibly roll out a slightly refreshed (and more expensive) HD-700 or similar.

Also, I agree on the Sony MDR-SA5000. It rarely gets mentioned and I still love my pair.

The HD600 is great and imo that is a pair everyone should own or hear at least once