[Rodent]

Well, the topic say's it all.
Which ones have the best sound and comfort etc?

 

[yawg3d]

I'd say: Don't go for the HFI550s, if you take Ultrasones, take the HFI650s, or, if you want a bit more bass, the HFI700s.

Can't say much about the other two, but the AKG240S should be quite a bit harder to drive.

 

[Rodent]

Hmm, okay, why not the 550s?

The AKGs are 55 ohm so they should be easy to drive.

 

[yawg3d]

The 240S, only 55 Ohms? I was wrong then, sorry about that.

The 650s are quite a bit more detailed with a more... shiny sound. I'd prefer them over the 550s.

 

[Rodent]

The new Studio version of AKG's headphones have a lower impedance, maybe you thought of the monitor or DF versions.

Have you used and of the other headphones and can compare them to the 550s?

 

[Rodent]

I need some backup here ;(

 

[noiseunit]

while the 240s is 55ohms, their sensitivity is a bit low at 91dB/mW. in practical terms, i find out of most common headphone jacks they are a bit more difficult to drive than the 280, but still would probably work fine with most portables. i do have to max out the volume on my iRiver flash player to get decent levels, though.
the 240s also seems highly sensitive to headphone jack output specifications.

 

[hero zero]

The AKG K240S will sound good out of low impedence equipment such as portables and soundcards [if you're talking about the 55 ohm version...there's also a high impedence version out there, just like there's a 300 ohm version of the Senn HD280]

I can't really give a comparison for sound between the HFI-550 and the K240S.....sorry about that, but I'm guessing the K240S would sound better in most cases [if listening to pop music or rock and gaming]...it's also more comfortable than the closed Ultrasones.

Hope that helps

 

[CrawlingEye]

Quote:

Originally posted by hero zero The AKG K240S will sound good out of low impedence equipment such as portables and soundcards [if you're talking about the 55 ohm version...there's also a high impedence version out there, just like there's a 300 ohm version of the Senn HD280] I can't really give a comparison for sound between the HFI-550 and the K240S.....sorry about that, but I'm guessing the K240S would sound better in most cases [if listening to pop music or rock and gaming]...it's also more comfortable than the closed Ultrasones. Hope that helps

I can't really say anything about the comfort of the other cans mentioned but my Trackmasters are very comfy on my ears and only need to be taken off about each couple hours for a short period of time. With the band properly adjusted, they fit like a glove. I've only had them for about 2-3 days too, so I'm certain once the headband stretches a bit more they'll be more comfortable.

I'm hesitant to comment on the sound of them, as I haven't had time to really 'burn them in' yet, which I usually just listen to a lot of music anyhow, and am a firm believer in the 'let them burn themselves in while I enjoy them' method. So far though, they've been excellent, showing no real attenuation at any frequency that I can notice and no real excessive boost in any frequency.

They do seem rather revealing. I can hear the differences between my lower quality ogg's and my higher quality (256kbps) ogg's rather clearly. The same can be said for mp3's, albeit I could notice that before-hand. It seems the soundstage was only apparent before. Now I can actually pin-point missing frequencies.

I'm not going to say they're absolutely the highest of reference quality, but they seem to be quite close enough for my tastes.

My suggestion would be to save up for some Trackmasters. They're not significantly more than the 550's. Some have said they sound too analytical and/or too bright. I don't really think that's the case though, I've listened to them right up to going to sleep since I've gotten them. They even follow me when I leave my house with my Karma.

I can't provide any back to back comparisons but I will make those couple of comments. I hope that helps the poster.

 

[Rodent]

Hrm, would the HD590/HD595 be better than the k240s? They are about the same.

I noticed the impedance of those phones is 120 ohm, maybe that's a bit much for a soundcard to handle?

Gah, this is so hard.

 

[philodox]

I don't mean to thread hijack here... but I was wondering, is this an accurate statement?:

"their sensitivity is a bit low at 91dB/mW"

The reason I'm asking is that all of these compainies (AKG, Grado, Sennheiser) all use different measurements for sensitivity... so does compairing them based on the numbers alone make sense?

If any one has an answer, please PM me so that we don't crap this thread...

 

[doug zdanivsky]

I'd like to know what everyone thought of the 280's against the ultra's 650..

 

[Rodent]

Just wanted to let you know I got the HFI650 DVD yesterday