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Help a newbie - music lover and producer

post #1 of 26
1/6/12 at 2:04am
Thread Starter 

Hello everyone!
So glad I found this forum!

I have long been very peculiar about my sound, but never taken the opportunity for a real investment, until now. I will try to explain exactly how I would like them, and price range.

 

PRICE RANGE:
Around £160 / $250
 

ISSUE WITH ALL MY HEADPHONES AND SPEAKERS:

I crack em! I break them - and hopefully I can find an answer as to why on this enormous forum. I have tried to find info about it, and some suggestions are: Too much bass, artificial EQ or too much "amp" or something for the headphones / speakers to handle. 

 

PREVIOUS HEADPHONES:
Sennheiser HD202 which I really loved for the isolation, decent sound, ok bass and ability to handle many genres.
Koss Porta Pro which sounds quite a lot like the Sennheiser, but with somewhat better mid-range. Generally sucky comaparing to the 202...very uncomfortable and 0 isolation.

PRIMARILY LISTENS TO:
Mostly Electronic music, in particular Drum n Bass.
Also loves Jazz (old and new) as well as Reggae (old and new). Not a lot of rock and very seldom pop or classic.

LOOKING FOR:
I will use the phones at work (stationary), at home (laptop) and for my HTC Senastion XE.
First of all, I am sick of my phones and speakers crack eventually - and would like to really get to the bottom with it, as you all know they will start sounding worse and worse, and treble sounds terrible eventually- along with singing. So I need assistance with this issue - is an AMP gonna help me with this issue, or what do they do? 

BASS is most important for me, as you can guess with Reagge and Electronic being the top. I guess it is difficult to recommend me something out of nowhere, but I have been very interested in the classic Sennheiser HD25-II  and I know they are bass heavy which I think I would prefer. However, the sound is described as a tad non-atmospheric, and I would not only like to get a great bass, but an amazing quality - like "you are simply there at the concert/event". Could they deliver this to me, or should I be looking at V-moda crossfade?

ADDITIONAL QUESTION:
Do you have any recommendation how to generally improve sound quality - let us say with better cables from my computer, or some type of external sound card / amplifier / etc.

Thank you so much!
Dennis


 

 

Edited by Magicwithin - 1/6/12 at 6:55am
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post #2 of 26
1/6/12 at 2:34am

Ultrasone for bass lovers.. as for the jazz part I don't listen to jazz on my pro900 i have other cans for that..

I think the bass on the Pro 900 is to overwhelming for jazz.. but then again you can try to do a kees mod on them..

I like the bass on my pro 900 therefore i decided not to kees mod them..


Edited by KyungMin - 1/6/12 at 2:36am
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post #3 of 26
1/6/12 at 2:57am
If he thinks HD25 is bass heavy I would think the Pro 900 would be too much bass.

Maybe something more neutral would fit him better?
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post #4 of 26
1/6/12 at 3:00am
Thread Starter 

Typical tracks I listen to:
http://youtu.be/PatqVrkGnoM (Drum n Bass HD)
http://youtu.be/x0aGt4Zenls (Needs CLEAR phones)
http://youtu.be/vTs7KXqZRmA (Needs also extremely detailed phones)
Thnx!

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post #5 of 26
1/6/12 at 3:02am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coq de Combat View Post

If he thinks HD25 is bass heavy I would think the Pro 900 would be too much bass.
Maybe something more neutral would fit him better?


I have never tried HD25, just heard about that they are excellent with Bass, but lacks this clarity and atmosphere which I would need for this track for example:  http://youtu.be/vTs7KXqZRmA (listen in 720p)
Thanks mate

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post #6 of 26
1/6/12 at 3:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coq de Combat View Post

If he thinks HD25 is bass heavy I would think the Pro 900 would be too much bass.
Maybe something more neutral would fit him better?


 

lol the "looking for" part wasn't completed when I posted my comment..

 

have you looked into Beyers? they have good bass and are open too

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post #7 of 26
1/6/12 at 4:29am
Thread Starter 

Nope, unfortunately not :(
The thing is, I have nothing to compare to or even listen to myself - I live in Malta (Europe) a microscopic island which has no "specialized" stores... whatsoever. So I cannot listen to any phones either, just have to buy em online.


I have heard a lot of good about these Sennheisers and Beyer too.
Thanks

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post #8 of 26
1/6/12 at 4:53am

Sennheisers are mobile monitors and think that no one is using they in home studio, they are balanced but far from neutral and they dont have soundstage at all. Maybe you should visit German Maestro 8.35 d thread, they have more soundstage good bass extension and fairly neutral sound with no amp needed. I would skip ultrasone dj and dj1 pro as well as 580 hifi and pro 550, they are not neutral. One thing you should know, closed can equals more bass quantity which is good for drum and bass but they tend to have roll off  highs and recessed midrange, most of them not all. 

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post #9 of 26
1/6/12 at 5:04am
Well, I wouldn't call the HD25 bass light, but to tell you the truth, the HD25 would probably disappoint you when it comes to what you're looking for. It has a very punchy bass and when listening to d'n'b I imagine you wanting something more powerful. While the Pro 900 is truly great for EDM, I'd suggest the Denon D2000 over it because it is great sounding AND forgiving.

Pro 900: when it shines it outshines D2000, problem is bad recordings and low quality audio files
D2000: much more forgiving and good all around

As a first and only can, to D2000 of Beyer. IF and when you start finding the D2000 "boring" due to it's mellow nature, look up Pro 900. My opinions of course and YMMV.

That is IF your budget allows it. Othetwise there are the HFI series by Ultrasone, Audio-technica M50, Beyerdynamics etc.
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post #10 of 26
1/6/12 at 5:12am

Denons are very comfortable and fun to listen especially with drum and bass because their midrange deficiency is not in the focus and boomy bass enhances bad drum and bass rips in generally, but for any kind of producing even amateur they are not good. Even for simply beatmatching they fail 'cause they are very lazy/slow especially in the low region.

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post #11 of 26
1/6/12 at 5:37am
Loopfreak, that's true. I agree that the bass is rather boomy and slow on the D2000..
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post #12 of 26
1/6/12 at 6:13am

Yeah, but with instrumental dubstep it goes DOOOOOOOM, along with good ambient presentation, made for this genre IMO.


Edited by loopfreak - 1/6/12 at 6:20am
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post #13 of 26
1/6/12 at 7:02am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for all your input, highly appreciated, really!
It is difficult to define what sound I am looking for perhaps; But it sounds like I could find something better than the HD25II perhaps...

I do not need punchy bass, but heavy bass - if you imagine the difference being loud bang and a steady subbass - id go any time for the steady rumbling sub bass. You probably know this is what most DnB fans are looking for, NOT the focus on the Kick. However, Id like the phones to be accurate but still leaning to warm. I much rather have them focused on bass and mid than anything like treble and singing - I barely listen to music with singing tbh. 

The sound should - once again - be rather magestic, without sounding too cool and "boring". I think it is called "warm" sound, thus why I wrote it. I would like to experience a festival inside my phones... sort of ;) :D

 

Are we getting closer to what might suit me?

EDIT:

Perhaps these>
Sounds like good for my liking and sound is supposedly very clear?
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-PRO700MK2-Professional-Monitor-Headphones/product-reviews/B004KCLIFA/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I am looking for a CLEAR and CRIPS sound! in case that was not clear.
I'll check out the german maestros, good price http://www.amazon.com/German-Maestro-GMP-8-35-Headphone/product-reviews/B002LVUKFQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1


Edited by Magicwithin - 1/6/12 at 7:26am
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post #14 of 26
1/6/12 at 7:45am
Thread Starter 

Perhaps pure monitor headphones are not great for me, as I am not planning on investing in an expensive external amplifier, and mostly I would just like to have awesome sound "on the go" which sound very good by themselves... Later I will look into DAC, but I am just saying this as the Denon AHD2000 for instance requires a good amp to actually sound as they should. I am not producing a lot of music, so that part is not all that important comparing to the rest. 
I am afraid to say that I am looking for heavy bass, because I still would like to have great clarity/crisp sound as mentioned before!

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post #15 of 26
1/6/12 at 8:30am
While most headphones benefit some from amping, the D2000 is really easy to drive and benefits very little from it. Meaning, no extraordinary amping is needed. You could look at a Fiio E10 if you want something to drive it.

Edit: look elsewhere if you want portable ..
Edited by Coq de Combat - 1/6/12 at 8:41am
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