[theturtle]

Was browsing a thread on reddit today and came across a question that I was curious about.
 
Right now, I currently have SE535. These days I don't really have time to listen to in ear monitors but I still do enjoy music.
 
The last full sized cans I had was the Grado SR60 which was 10 years ago?
 
I'm looking to get some cans for when I study and there is my dilemma. Everywhere I turn, the HD600 seems to be the ones that people recommend. My issue is, the cans are 20 freaking years old. No matter how godly the cans may be, the tech is TWENTY years old. Tech moves so rapidly that my pessimistic side tells me there has to be a equivalent or even something better at the price range of 269.
 
I already have a Fiio A5 which I think should be enough to drive it. Any recs?
 
Some of the recommendations that I saw in that reddit thread were:
"Hifiman HE400S/400i, AKG K712, and Fidelio X2"

 

[Monsterzero]

Couple thing before a good answer can be given..

where will you be using them?
what kind of music do you like?
 

 

[theturtle]

At home. I still have the Shures for travels
 
Music, all times. Rap to pop to classical, etc.

 

[Monsterzero]

  At home. I still have the Shures for travels
 
Music, all times. Rap to pop to classical, etc.

rap and pop you going to want a v-shape headphone=lots of bass and treble,mids can be recessed
classical youre going to want nice mids and soundstage

Those two are generally mutually exclusive....You can try for something neutral like HD600s,but they arent very exciting for bass centric poppy stuff,but will be nice for classical

X2 has nice bass and soundstage but mids are recessed,so classical wont sound amazing

AKG K712 can be bright,great soundstage and detail,pretty bass light,very nice for classical,not so much for the rest...not so easy to drive,im not sure if your amp will do the trick,you would need to find that out.

HE400S/400i=S is easier to drive,i  again check and see if your amp will do the job or not....not great soundstage,but both are decent all arounders

TL,DR   headphones have tradeoffs and thats why many of us own several different pairs of headphones.

 

 

[smy1]

I listen to mainly edm/pop and hd600 has enough bass for my needs.

 

[Monsterzero]

You can also look into some Beyer headphones like DT990,which are also bright,but have good detail and soundstage...they come in various ohm versions,32ohm version being the easiest to drive...your amp might be able to push the 250ohm version,not sure.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by theturtle /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

I'm looking to get some cans for when I study and there is my dilemma. Everywhere I turn, the HD600 seems to be the ones that people recommend. My issue is, the cans are 20 freaking years old. No matter how godly the cans may be, the tech is TWENTY years old. Tech moves so rapidly that my pessimistic side tells me there has to be a equivalent or even something better at the price range of 269.

---

Some of the recommendations that I saw in that reddit thread were:

"Hifiman HE400S/400i, AKG K712, and Fidelio X2"

 

 

Here's the HD600, HE400, K712, and justfor kicks, a $600, current generation design Beyerdynamic (they don't have the Fidelio in their archive and I want them all in one graph for easier comparison). The HD600 and the HE400 have the smoothest response curve there, with some differences - the HE400 is waaaay flatter below 1000hz, all the way down to 10hz, while the HD600 starts dropping off at around 40hz but has a hump above that. Its midrange and treble have peaks, but the HiFiMan has a crevasse between 1000hz and 9000hz. Then you have the other two headphones with a much taller bass plateau relative to where they are at 1000hz (one benefit to having them all on one graph) but still has that peak at 7000hz, when the K701 and K702 have theirs at around 9000hz. The Beyer has a massive Matterhorn of treble with the center peak at 8500hz. In fairness to the T90 though the high sensitivity means you need less power to drive it, which means you are farther from distortion and noise, and you can just EQ that peak anyway.

 

In any case this is kind of like being in the 1990s where the newer headphones are the fat, quad cam Mustangs but then a Shelby Cobra with a central cam V8 HD600 comes in to make them eat dust, and then imagine if the RX7/HE400 was just coming out now that goes to toe with the old school, tried and proven HD600/Cobra formula with newer tech.

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by theturtle /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Right now, I currently have SE535. These days I don't really have time to listen to in ear monitors but I still do enjoy music.

 

If you already have the SE535 and you like the sound, might as well just use it. I can't imagine why you'd have less time for IEMs than open backs though since you can't listen to the open back headphones on the move, but you can with IEMs (unless you're driving), and listen to it at your desk or lounge chair at home just as you would have with an open back headphone. The soundstage isn't going to be drastically bigger until you get to headphones like the K701 anyway, so I'd be more inclined to save money.

 

I have the HD600 but I still log in way more hours on my ASG-1.3, even at home, sometimes I just use the IEM (despite having used them throughout the day), as I might get home late and if I have to catch up on work or chatting/browsing forums, even my older laptop's keyboard can be annoyingly audible for music listening with the HD600 at moderate volume (even when I listen louder I'd still hear it between songs). To be honest the only compelling reason for me to keep an open back headphone is long session discomfort - I would sooner have to pull the IEMs out and scratch my ears than take the headphones off. Best of all, in my case the ASG-1.3 is a high enough impedance (32ohms) that I don't have any issues with output impedance on whatever I plug it into, while the very high sensitivity (125dB/1mW) makes gobs of power (through current or voltage) unnecessary.