Somewhat Frustrated!!!!!!!! - Page 2

My recommendation would be, as others have suggested, the Beyer DT1350s. I'm completely in love with these portables. They weren't even on my radar, but I read Tyll's (Inner Fidelity) glowing review of them from last year and figured I'd give them a shot. I wanted to have a better quality pair of portables to take back and forth to work. Since I picked them up, I've been reaching for them a LOT. Not a day has gone by that I haven't used them at home in addition to using them when I'm out and about. They sound fantastic even out of just my iPhone, the isolation is very good, the overall presentation is very balanced and natural, and I LOVE the bass. To get such amazing QUALITY of bass in portables and at this price point results in a very high level of satisfaction from the purchase decision...they're flat down to below 10 hz.  They have the perfect amount of clamp and the ear cushions keep my ears very cool, which is something that is important to me. I can't stand it when the material makes my ears hot or causes me to sweat...these are just beautiful headphones, IMO. I don't know if it's of interest, but they also come with a really nice little carrying case that facilitates their portability even more. I can't recommend them more highly. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by liamstrain 

Is sound isolation important to you? (ie. will you be listening in noisy environments, or those where other people hearing your music leaking from your headphones, would be an issue?)

 

Also, will you be adding an amplifier into your portable or home system - or will you be running it from the headphone out of the devices listed? 

 

Ultimately, at the price range you have some very good closed portable options:

Sennheiser HD25-1 II, VModa M-80, Beyerdynamic DT1350, Audio-Technical ATH-ESW9 - all of these isolate well, and can run off your devices without an amplifier

 

You also have some extremely good open (and a few closed) full size headphones. 

Sennheiser HD598, Senn HD600 (sometimes at this price), Beyerdynamic DT 990 and 880, Grado 325i, AKG K702/Q701 and K550, Denon D2000 (sometimes), ATH-A900 and many others. Some of these will be fine without an amp, others not so much. 

 

I own the ATH-ESW9 and they are great phones for vocal songs because of its midrange. The sound signature is very addictive, I now find my Triple.fi 10's rather boring to listen to now. However they do NOT isolate well, you will hear exterior noises and undoubtably at higher volumes the people around you will hear what you are listening to too. Tried the Beyerdynamic DT1350's and Sennheiser HD25-1 II's at a local store and would say I'd prefer the Sennheiser's a tad bit more, but all of this is just me :)