Quote:
Originally Posted by
MalVeauX 
Heya,
Why $500? That's basically all headphones before going high-end. You can go high-end at $700 new. But there's a lot of headphones in the $500 and under category. And frankly, something that costs about $500 isn't necessarily better than something that was $300. It's all a bunch of flavors and some paper technical differences. But ultimately it's all about what sound you're going for. And we need to know what soundcard you're planning to use because not all are equal in terms of amplification and it makes a difference for some headphones.
Open headphones generally have less impactful and powerful sub-bass, but not all. But you generally get a better sound stage, better imaging and a more airy sound. They're little speakers when open back, so they will pour the audio into the room and others can hear you just fine even from another room. It's not much more private than speakers on low volume. So if that's a problem, consider closed back headphones. Closed headphones can achieve deeper and more impactful bass with less energy and it will sound more full. But closed headphones generally have smaller sound stages, less separation of images and can sound a little more stereo because of it. So there's pros & cons to both. It just comes down to your needs and what you're looking for in sound.
In your budget range, I'd say there are two headphones I'd really push out as being my top two picks as recommendations for all applications:
Hifiman HE-400
Denon D5000
From there, there's an incredibly long list of other flavors that you can sift through. But it's better if you describe what kind of sound you want to narrow it down.
Very best,
Like I said my budget is flexible, very flexible. If spending a couple hundred bucks means jumping into a new level then I'm down. I just didn't know if it would be a good idea to get that expensive of headphones if I'm not mixing, and from the prices I've been seeing it seemed like the next step up was over a grand.
And here's the soundcard I'm getting: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132010
Seems to be top of the line as far as internal soundcards go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JonnyRocket
Do you live in Columbus Ohio?
Yeah in Ohio, forgot that there are a few Columbus's.
I'd really like to narrow it down a bit more for you guys but my music preferences are extremely broad so I would just need something well rounded I guess, although good bass is a plus. I mean I listen to anything from bluegrass to dubstep to rock to psybient to jazz.
Thanks for the recommendations so far guys, I'll have to look more into those more in the morning. I hope I can find somewhere around here that has them in store that I can try.
EDIT: I noticed the lows of the frequency range for the HE-400 starts at 20Hz. Is that good enough for hearing a lot of sub-bass? I'm not too well educated on it, but the current set I have(MDRV6) has a low of 5Hz.
Edited by chewy4 - 8/27/12 at 9:58pm
