[Jasiono]

Hey everyone, I've been lurking around a lot, gathered some information, and a lot of it is still pretty gibberish to me.

I just wanted to give some background information on what I am looking for, a budget, and hopefully someone could give me some tips and point me into the right direction?

Music I listen to:
A lot of electronic, house, trance, dubstep.
Classic music
Opera such as Andrea Bocelli (well, only Andrea Bocelli)
Rock, such as Stone Sour, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Slipknot


Budget for everything, I would give myself up to $900 for headphones and an amp.

Devices I want a setup for:

I mainly listen to music on my phone, BUT, I was also looking at the FIIO X3 since it seems to me that it's basically an all in one.

I also want something I can hook up to my car's aux input. I have a USB and AUX cable input for my car and my speakers are all Bose (I know Bose isn't the best of the best, it's all the name, but that is what my car came with and I won't be changing them out with something else)


What I currently have are 3 pairs of Sennheisser HD 428 (one for the basement, one for work and the other for upstairs, got them for 25 dollars a piece).

I do not like IEMs, they never stay in my ear and they are uncomfortable to me, plus, I don't want everyone hearing my music at work (it's a very quiet place to begin with). I like headphones that cover my ears.

I will look at open and closed headphones.

I've been looking at the Sennheiser HD-598 mainly because the reviews on them sound amazing and I really love my HD428.

I'm not sure if I should go with a portable amp, like the FIIO e7, or if I should get a player and amp all in one, which I was looking at the FIIO X3 and the reviews for the X5.


Any thoughts on other headphones/amp/players I should be looking at?

 

[davidsh]

Fiio x3 is nice as you can use it as a DAC/amp with a computer as well as a portable player.
 
Hmm, which headphones.. You'd probably wnat closed as open leak quite a lot, but I guess they should be portable and good for office use as well.
I can't quite think of something that fits you very well in that price range. Personally, I quite liked the nad viso hp50 when I heard them some time ago.. Might suit you well.

 

[Jasiono]

I'm thinking a out getting the X3, Mont Blanc e12 and a pair of dt880

 

[Jasiono]

Ok, I did more research, and I am sticking to the X3 (someone here is selling one for $150).
 
I switched gears on the headphones. Considering I will be listening to dubstep and trance/techno, electronic (whatever you want to call it lol) mostly, I thought that the overall reviews I've read about the DT990 pro were appealing.
 
I see that they are acoustically open, and maybe someone who has a pair of these, or any acoustically open headphones, could pitch in here.
 
How bad do they leak? I work in a pretty quiet environment so I wouldn't be cranking them up that loud anyway, but at the same time I don't want to disturb other people.
 
Is there anything comparable that is over the ear, in the same price range, but closed back?
 
Do open headphones, in your opinion of course, sound that much better than closed? Why? What makes it so? From what I gather, it has a better soundstage, which I don't really understand that concept.

 

[davidsh]

Open headphones tend to sound more open and airy, often more resolving. Dt990 don't leak bad but others will hear your music, albeit faintly. It might piss off some after some hours..

Hp50 sounds very open for a closed headphone.

 

[b0000]

he-500. It can play pretty much all genres and is the best value in high end phones. (a good amount of people like them better than audeze lcd series, sennheiser hd800, beyer t1).
 
Also, i recommend spending as much as possible on headphones first before worrying about amplifiers and dacs, as you will get greater improvement on sound quality from headphones than from dac/amps for the same amount of money.

 

[davidsh]

The HE-500 will for sure leak too much. To put it in perspective it will leak as much as quiet background music played from a laptop (give or take).
 
Originally I thought you were going to use the headphones partially as portables and office cans?

 

[Jasiono]

Well, I changed jobs and I originally had the Sennheiser HD428 at the other place I worked, mainly because they were cheap and sounded great and were closed back (the place got loud at times and I liked to concentrate the first half of every day). I took those home and I will use them at home.
 
Essentially I will be buying a dedicated pair for somewhere, since I work from home half the time.
 
2 scenarios I have in mind now:
Keep the HD428 at home and invest in something for work
Take the HD428 to work since they are closed and grab the DT990, or anything else that is OPEN for my house, since I would like to experience an open set
 
 
I'm leaning more toward the second scenario now. I will check out the HE-500 online.
 
I'm also looking at when the next meet around me is and I'm trying to find stores that have nice selections of headphones available to listen to before purchasing a pair.

 

[b0000]

you wont regret the he-500's! once you go orthodynamic, you'll never go back

 

[Jasiono]

I'm afraid of going to that side due to the price brackets their headphones are at, and knowing me, and I know you guys can relate, I always want to have more and more lol

 

[davidsh]

Don't get me started on electrostats
That is expensive and a very seducing segment

 

[Jasiono]

Oh man haha. Not venturing there (yet)

 

[Jasiono]

Ok here is a high level overview of what I have learned so far.

Someone buys a pair of headphones. Headphones with the ability to spit out certain frequencies, and they use an amp because the player they are using is not powerful enough to push those so called frequencies out in order to utilize the headphones to their max capacity yes?

 

[davidsh]

Yeh, amp is all about undistorted volume increase.. Well, in some cases even intended distortion can sound good. Like with tube amps..
 
With headphones you want the frequency range to be fairly linear from 20Hz to 20 kHz without too many bumps and spikes. You also want low distortion/no resonances.