[MikeIsGood]

Hi everyone. Up to this point I had been in the recommendations thread, but I was hoping to broaden the audience potentially and get some more opinions, because the situation is starting to drive me mad

 
Over the past two weeks, I have been racking my brain trying to decide what closed, over-the-ear can to get. I had the beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro, and liked them quite a bit, but ultimately (being open) they did not work well for my office, where I planned on listening to them for 3-5 hours daily, and I also had concerns that - even though I enjoyed them - I was just putting them to waste driving them unamped from my Android phone. That's when I returned them and began my search for a closed can that I could drive more reasonably.
 
In retrospect, I also wouldn't mind less recessed mids. Overall I do not think I want a completely flat sound, as I am a music listener only and do tend to like a little oomph to the bass and some fun highs, but the mids seemed especially recessed on the 990s and I've read that on various forums around the net as well. There's a healthy mix of indie and folk rock in my rotation and I want to hear more detail there. I know "best of both worlds" is a pie in the sky, but I wouldn't mind some better mids even if it means sacrificing some bass.
 
I've been having a hard time making a final decision. I've been all over the place. Looked at the DT 770 Pro 80ohm, Brainwavz HM5, Shure SRH 840, update to the 940?, Ultrasone 750, ATH M50, ATH A900, AKG 271 MKII, AKG 550. I ideally don't want to go up to $250 as it's the top of my budget, but I'd do it if that was the no-brainer pair for me.
 
It's killing me not being able to decide, and was hoping to look for some more input. Is it best to just move 'laterally' and pick up the DT 770 Pro 80ohm, and drive them from my phone as best as I can when at work? I presume they would drive better than the 250ohm pair that I was using before. I have read that they have good soundstage for a closed set. How does the bass and the mids compare to the 990? Or is there a better option right in front of my eyes?
 
I appreciate any help.
 
 
TL;DR: I need a new closed set of cans under $250, preferably under $200. I had 990 250ohms and liked them, but couldn't drive them well off my phone and was hoping for a bit more mid, and open doesn't work for me anymore.

 

[RayleighSilvers]

I actually just received the DT770/80 today. Listening to them right now. Done about 5-6 hours on them on and off, but most I've had them on is about an hour. The clamp and the closed nature is putting a lot of pressure on my ears making them quite sore. Hope it'll break in but at the moment I find it quite uncomfortable. Build quality is superb, and the headphone looks much better in the flesh, especially the headband which I think is fantastic. 
 
In terms of sound the are definitely bass orientated/ fun/ "v" shaped. On most songs vocals sound acceptable, but on others it gets overpowered quite badly, like a vortex is sucking them in. Doesn't happen with all the songs though. 
 
If your driving them from your mobile phone I'd look for a different headphone. I can drive these loud enough with my sansa clip+ but they leak a lot of sound. With my pc soundcard (xonar DG) which has built in amp they don't leak at all, so If you don't want to disturb your co-workers you should probably get a amp. (not sure why they leak sound without an amp, it's a question I need to ask)
 
Edit* Audio Technica have released a revised range of ART series headphones you might be interested in They are all easy to drive and the comfort will be better than the beyers if the wing system will fit your head. The A700x should fall into your price range. They have good bass and forward mids. I'd check them out.

 

[MikeIsGood]

Thanks Rayleigh. I looked at the A900, but not the A700x or A900x. I think I will look into both. I do have a bigish head, so I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing for that wing system, but the rest of what you say intrigues me.

I think I convinced myself that I liked the sound of my old 250 ohms so I could settle with 80 ohm cans because it should theoretically be an improvement, but it would obviously be best to just find something that runs well without one. I do plan to eventually improvemy home setup, but still a majority of this listening will be in my office.

Thanks for your input.

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Glad to help
 
I'm still not sure how you were getting enough volume out of your DT 990 with just your mobile, but it's very likely that a lot of the sound that was leaking was due to it being unamped.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/513393/guide-sonic-differences-between-dt770-dt990-models-more
 
This guide is useful as it compared all the beyerdynamic models.

 

[Gluegun]

I sometimes wear my 770 pro 80's for hours and hours and hours and completely forget they are on.  They are really, really, really, really comfortable for me...

 

[MikeIsGood]

I absolutely adored the comfort of my 990s. Good lord were those comfortable. It was like wearing clouds on my ears. I think that, and the general openness of the sound , let it cloud my judgement otherwise. I'm sure looking back that is why I was so content with them and wanted to be able to keep them. Not that they aren't great cans, but it wasn't the totally ideal sound (super recessed mids) for me and I just fell in love with a type of can (open) that I can't really have. Compared to my Shure e3c's, it sounded like I was in a concert hall

It sounds, though, like the 770s are not for me. The underamping concern seems very legit, and I don't want to deal with that.

I'll continue to look into those ATH ART models for sure.

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Quote:

I absolutely adored the comfort of my 990s. Good lord were those comfortable. It was like wearing clouds on my ears. I think that, and the general openness of the sound , let it cloud my judgement otherwise. I'm sure looking back that is why I was so content with them and wanted to be able to keep them. Not that they aren't great cans, but it wasn't the ideal sound for me and I just fell in love with a toe of can (open) that I can't really have. Compared to my Shure e3c's, it sounded like I was in a concert hall

It sounds, though, like the 770s are not for me. The underamping concern seems very legit, and I don't want to deal with that.
I'll continue to look into those ATH ART models for sure.

I've only had the 770's for a day so maybe they'll loosen up as I get used to them, but at the moment I can't keep them on my head for long at all. Also about the ART headphones. Please try before you buy if you can. I only spent a small amount of time with them and wouldn't like to be responsible if you end up not liking them 

.
Amazon have a good returns policy.

 

[MikeIsGood]

I'd love to buy from Amazon if I can, as I have credit there. They have the ART 900x series in stock, so that may well end up being the way I go after I do more research.

I would never blame you

 

[Fortunex]

I've had my DT770's on my head more than off since I got them about 2 weeks ago, after 8+ hours they make my eartips a little bit sore, but that's it. Other than that, super super comfortable for me.
 
I find the mids are fine, only noticed the recessed mids in a couple songs (the kind of songs where the vocals aren't very prominent to begin with anyways). If I really want to listen to the mids I just give the bass/treble a -2 or -4 on my E17 and they're a bit more forward.