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I'm new on the high-end headphone scene and would appreciate some advice and suggestions?

post #1 of 7
12/26/11 at 7:41pm
Thread Starter 

As said before I'm really new to this kind of thing, I say new meaning I've never dwelled in £200 area of headphones! Basically I'm now REALLY interested in how my music sounds and how to get the the best experience! I've done countless hours of research into headphones, amps etc and have some products in mind!  Before I start I must ask for nobody to assume that just because I'm a teenager that I'm obsessed with Beats, in reality I loathe them! So,  my music genre ranges from mainly Dance & Pop (huge Lady GaGa fan) to classical, indie and the odd dub step endeavour! I like my music to be balanced, detail is important however I still like deep thumping bass, but not so much that it masks the rest of the song! I will be using them for mainly indoor use only taking them outside for car trips etc! The products I had in mind are in the Sennheiser HD500 range! The HD518 is my main attraction but the HD558 also looks promising but I'm not sure which one is best suited to my needs?

Ithought about using an amp also, but nothing to expensive, I was looking at the Fiio E5 since it seems to be the cheapest and best value for money but I'm not sure if I need one? I will be using the Headphones with my iPod Touch 3rd Gen and possibly my iPad 2? Would you recommend an amp?

Any recommendations for other headphones are very much welcome also!

 

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post #2 of 7
12/26/11 at 9:58pm

Sennheiser HD-598 are very nice. 

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post #3 of 7
12/28/11 at 4:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanFairley View Post

As said before I'm really new to this kind of thing, I say new meaning I've never dwelled in £200 area of headphones! Basically I'm now REALLY interested in how my music sounds and how to get the the best experience! I've done countless hours of research into headphones, amps etc and have some products in mind!  Before I start I must ask for nobody to assume that just because I'm a teenager that I'm obsessed with Beats, in reality I loathe them! So,  my music genre ranges from mainly Dance & Pop (huge Lady GaGa fan) to classical, indie and the odd dub step endeavour! I like my music to be balanced, detail is important however I still like deep thumping bass, but not so much that it masks the rest of the song! I will be using them for mainly indoor use only taking them outside for car trips etc! The products I had in mind are in the Sennheiser HD500 range! The HD518 is my main attraction but the HD558 also looks promising but I'm not sure which one is best suited to my needs?

Ithought about using an amp also, but nothing to expensive, I was looking at the Fiio E5 since it seems to be the cheapest and best value for money but I'm not sure if I need one? I will be using the Headphones with my iPod Touch 3rd Gen and possibly my iPad 2? Would you recommend an amp?

Any recommendations for other headphones are very much welcome also!

 

 

Give us a total maximum budget for headphones and source. A lot of what you need to do is have flawless source material to listen to, a clean DAC source, an amplifier if necessary, and then a good resolving headphone. Putting a nice headphone on a bad source, or mediocre source, will often sound pretty bad (ie, don't use 128kbps MP3's and junk like that, try and go 320kbps minimum and strive for lossless).

 

I'd put you on this headphone. With an E11.

 

But without more input from you, it's hard to really narrow things down (especially based on what your actual budget is).

 

Some other headphones to consider: FA-003, FA-002W, D2000, A900X, PRO650, HD598, DT770, DT990, K181DJ, SRH750DJ.

 

Very best,
 

 

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post #4 of 7
12/28/11 at 6:46am
Thread Starter 

Well I'm looking for at mid-range so starting from anything to about £200 which I believe is roughly $310! don't worry I'm fussy with my Kbps, all my music is 320kbps or 256kbps(AAC) I hear that AAC is better quality though so is it worth converting songs to this via iTunes? I tried out the HD 558 today at a local tech shop and I quite liked them, the bass wasn't over powering and the audio retained its detail quite well!

 

Thanks for the help!

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post #5 of 7
12/28/11 at 7:06am
Thread Starter 

What if I bought the HD 558 with the E11 + L1 line out cable? Will this be good?

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post #6 of 7
12/28/11 at 8:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanFairley View Post
What if I bought the HD 558 with the E11 + L1 line out cable? Will this be good?


I do like the sound of my HD-558s, the Fiio E11 gets good reviews

and getting the Fiio "L" cable makes sense.

 

Hopefully after 50 hours of break in time, the sound improves.

You can always remove the black rubber tape from inside the cups of the HD-558s, usually improves the bass.

 

 

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post #7 of 7
12/28/11 at 8:20am
Thread Starter 

What audio equipment do you use with your 558s? And do you use an amp?

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