[ClassicThunder]

Hey I'm looking to make my first substantial purchase of audio equipment and am looking for some advice. My budget is around 500$ for headphones and possibly an amp.
 
I currently own a pair of  SteelSeries Siberia 51016 which I enjoy more than my coworkers' Sennheiser HD5x5s both of which sounded airy and distant sounding to me. Another coworker is bringing in his HD600 tomorrow so I'll try them out then. I'm be alternately driving them from my Linux box a work, windows box /w a sound card at home and my netbook when the when I'm back in school next semester. 
 
I mostly listen to hip-hop, rock, and rap so bass is important to me. 
 

 

[Dev Avidon]

Welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet.  Always good to see a fellow Linux user!
 
Powerful, impactful bass that will rock your socks and rattle your walls will not set you back 500 dollars.  Powerful bass that's well integrated into a detailed, resolving, musical package will.  It's important to question up front whether or not that last little bit of detail is worth it to you. 
 
It seems like you'll be driving these exclusively in "stationary" settings, where power is readily available, and where background noise is not a huge issue, but that you will be in situations where bleed may present a problem.  Let me start then by recommending you get closed, or semi-closed shell headphones. 
 
With that in mind, given what seems to be your particular goals, I'd recommend spending between about 250 and 350 on a nice DAC/AMP combo, like the DAH Mk II or Matrix Mini (or for that matter, if you can find one, a used Dacport or D100) and the rest on a solid bass-head phone like the ATH-m50s, Ultrasone HFI-780s or Beyerdynamic DT-770/880s.

 

[Trysaeder]

Perhaps consider the Denon D5000.

 

[ClassicThunder]

Quote:

Perhaps consider the Denon D5000.

[size=medium]Wow thats tempting. Not sure if I want to jump fro 40$ head phones to 400$ though and I probably couldn't get near making full use of them w/ my current set up.[/size]
 
Quote:

Welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet.  Always good to see a fellow Linux user!
 
Powerful, impactful bass that will rock your socks and rattle your walls will not set you back 500 dollars.  Powerful bass that's well integrated into a detailed, resolving, musical package will.  It's important to question up front whether or not that last little bit of detail is worth it to you. 
 
It seems like you'll be driving these exclusively in "stationary" settings, where power is readily available, and where background noise is not a huge issue, but that you will be in situations where bleed may present a problem.  Let me start then by recommending you get closed, or semi-closed shell headphones. 
 
With that in mind, given what seems to be your particular goals, I'd recommend spending between about 250 and 350 on a nice DAC/AMP combo, like the DAH Mk II or Matrix Mini (or for that matter, if you can find one, a used Dacport or D100) and the rest on a solid bass-head phone like the ATH-m50s, Ultrasone HFI-780s or Beyerdynamic DT-770/880s.

 
I fear this is only the beginning of a hobby that will make my wallet much lighter. 
 
I'm currently undecided between the ATH-m50s and the Beyerdynamic DT-990. From what I read the 990 are a significant improvement over the  770/880 (can anyone verify this) and I've always enjoyed the improved sound staging from open ear headphones and despite working in an office sound leakage is a minor issue. 
 
Having trouble finding any of the amps you mentioned at priced closer to the 250$ mark. they all seem to be > 300$.
 
Thanks for the input guys.
 
Edit: Decided to be more specific about what I like.
 
Hollywood Undead - City
The Chicharones -  Little by Little
Chevelle - The Red
Crossfade - Code
 
Korn, The Gorilllaz, Lil Wayne, Jurrasic 5.

 

[Trysaeder]

My sister likes those!
Grado SR225i + Matrix M-Stage? I'd put all my money into the headphones, but if you want an amp, I reckon you should get the the best you can afford. Since you can't just have a $500 amp, a ~$300 headphone is a better choice.

 

[ClassicThunder]

Would it be worth it to skip the amp for now and buy an extertnal sound card since 2/3 of the machine I will be using have no card?
 
I was thinking about this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-Xmod-Sound-Card/product-reviews/B000IZ96LQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
 
I found a pair of Denon D5000 for $400 and a good USB sound card seems to ber around $100 so I was wondering if that was the way to go?

 

[Dev Avidon]

Quote:

Would it be worth it to skip the amp for now and buy an extertnal sound card since 2/3 of the machine I will be using have no card?
 
I was thinking about this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-Xmod-Sound-Card/product-reviews/B000IZ96LQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
 
I found a pair of Denon D5000 for $400 and a good USB sound card seems to ber around $100 so I was wondering if that was the way to go?

First, the card itself, while not going to hurt anything, is usually not going to give you the same level of sonic improvement you're going to get out of a real DAC, and is definitely not going to improve the amp section much.  The D5000s are really quality phones, however, you can always upgrade your supporting cast later to squeeze more improvement out of them.  There is definitely an argument to made for taking that approach.  Having had the luxury of having heard the 600 ohm versions of all three DT phones (770/880/990), I really think it depends on what your musical preferences are.  For me, I like the 880s, but the 990s have some of the best bass impact I've ever heard in a headphone. 
 
Some cheaper, but still quality DAC/AMP combos that you could pair with the D5000s or DT-990s include the Carat Emerald (my standby for a while), NuForce uDac-2 and FiiO E7 (have not heard this one personally as a point of full disclosure).  Especially the uDac-2, which is about as good a DAC/AMP combo as you're going to find at that price range.  If you were to buy the HP only version of the uDac-2 and the D5000s, that would put you at 500 even.

 

[ClassicThunder]

Decided to go with the uDac-2 and AH-D5000. Another coworker had a pair of the D5000 and they gave me eargasms w/o an amp and playing music off of pandora.
 
Thanks for help guys.

 

[ThePhoenix924S]

Sennheiser HD600s (or HD650s if you look hard enough) and an Audinst HUD-mx1 DAC/ Amp will put you right at $500. Great setup and definitely ready for future upgrades.

 

[LostOne.TR]

where do you work? Your coworkers have quite an assortment of cans available

 

[ClassicThunder]

Quote:

Sennheiser HD600s (or HD650s if you look hard enough) and an Audinst HUD-mx1 DAC/ Amp will put you right at $500. Great setup and definitely ready for future upgrades.

Tried the HD600s. Didn't find them as impressive as the AH-D5000 though they are cheaper. After trying the 5x5 and the 600s Sennheiser doesn't seem to be my cup of tea. 
 
Quote:

where do you work? Your coworkers have quite an assortment of cans available

Georgia Tech Research Institute. I'm a co-op there. We're coders so most of us listen to music a lot. The same guy has the HD-600s and AH-D5000 though, lucky person.