Help choosing an upgrade from Harman Kardon CL headphones
Apr 25, 2016 at 5:54 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 3

martinzpg

New Head-Fier
Joined
Apr 25, 2016
Posts
10
Likes
0
Hi, I have had the HK CLs for three years now and I have enjoyed them very much.
 
I am not an audiophile, but I do enjoy good sound, and although these headphones have worked great, I wonder how much better quality I could get spending between 150 and 200 dollars now, which is my budget.
 
The headphones will be mainly for use at a desktop, and a little on the go, but I have no problem carrying big headphones on the street.
 
Some of the headphones I have seen  are the Sennheiser Momentum, ATH-M50X, but I don;t know if these (or any other headphone in my budget will be a noticeable improvement over my current headphones).
 
All suggestions are highly appreciated! Thanks!
 
Apr 25, 2016 at 6:12 PM Post #2 of 3
You can certainly get improvement over your current cans with the budget you outline. You should check out the SoundMAGIC HP150--it could work for you. Also, the AKG K553 Pro could potentially work. I would personally recommend those over the m50x. The Momentum is also a good can, depending on your listening preferences. The AKG and the SoundMAGIC are both fairly neutral, whereas the m50x is rather v-shaped, so bear that in mind. Of the above four, my preference would be the SoundMAGIC, FWIW. YMMV, of course.
 
Apr 26, 2016 at 11:28 AM Post #3 of 3
Hi serman005, first of all thanks for the very fast response!
 
One thing I didn't mention is that a detachable cable is a must for durability in my case. That rules out the k553s.
 
For the first version of the Momentums I read they can be quite uncomfortable because they have small earpads, and while they seem to have fixed that issue with the 2.0 version, that one is unfortunately out of my budget.
 
I don't need heavy bass or nothing like that. I listen to acoustic music most of the time and what I am looking for is clarity. (I'm sorry but I don't know how to describe it in more professional terms).
 
Also, my main use is going to be connected to a Macbook pro, and I don't have a big budget for a DAC.
 
I saw amazon has the B&W P5 recertified for 179 dollars, do you think that would be a good choice?
 
Thanks a lot!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top