AKG K361, K371 or K553 MkII?
AudioTechnica M30x, M40x or M50x?
Beyerdynamic DT 250, 770 or 990?
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro, 569 or 58x Jubilee?
Sony MDR-7506?
Something else?
I agree on the K371. My friend also owns one and calls it an ‘HD600 with a bit of a boost in the subbass’. That is actually fairly close imho.
It’s open counterpart, the K245, also sounds close enough to neutral...but better because it indeed is open.
I also consider the KNS6400 neutral..but prefer its slightly pricier big brother the KNS8400, which is like a more linear take on the DT770.
AKG K553/K550MKIIs, if you can find a (used) pair that is. I cannot comment about their successors the K371s, never tried them, but according to many they beat the K553/K550s in tonal balance.
I agree with Mhog55, BeoPlay H6s are great,
And Audio Technica M40Xs are surprisingly balanced as well.
Edit: And Sennheiser HD6xx of course. It didn't cross my mind, because in the Netherlands I can only get the HD650s for 319 Euro.
I also like the DT880 very much. Still listen to them often - just last night in fact.
They were my first "good" headphones, bought about 10 years ago.
And their current pricing (in the USA at least) makes them a great buy, IMO.
But I don't consider them to be "neutral".
I think the least expensive relatively "neutral" headphone is the Audio Technica
R70x.
Something to be aware of with relatively "neutral" headphones is their tendency
to sound clinical or antiseptic. And, soon enough, they can become boring -
no matter how "good" they sound. Nonetheless, I think they're very good -
including build quality - and I can easily recommend them.
DT880 treble is far from neutral. HD58x and HD6xx are closer to neutral imo.
Out of what i'd own I'd pick the ATH-AD900 as being closest to neutral but they are no longer available. The AD900X is a different beast and not really worth the money imo.
The midrange from about 250 Hz to the low treble at about 6 kHz looks a bit recessed compared to the bass and treble. Maybe giving these a bit of a U-shaped signature(?), which might be good for lower volume listening.
For those who like or have the H6, how would you compare the sound, fit/comfort and build quality to some of the other cans in this discussion?
I agree on the K371. My friend also owns one and calls it an ‘HD600 with a bit of a boost in the subbass’. That is actually fairly close imho.
It’s open counterpart, the K245, also sounds close enough to neutral...but better because it indeed is open.
Interesting. The AKG K245 is another headphone I don't know much about. Coincidentally, I was lookin at this model on Guitar Center's website yesterday, not long before starting this topic. So I'm glad to hear some opinions on it. If nothing else, it seems to be very reasonably priced for an open-back design from a major brand. I can't find any graphs for it though. And wonder how it would compare to some of the other open and semi-open HPs mentioned above, like the Senn 58x, and Beyer DT 880 & 990?
Are there any other good neutral-ish open or semi-open HPs that should be considered in this price range?
There is also the AKG K612 Pro and I believe the Beyerdynamic TYGR 300 R (but I haven't heard them) which I believe is basically a DT 880/990 with the treble toned down.
It's been quite awhile since I listened to the KRK KNS6400. I did buy a pair and audition them for a few weeks though when last shopping for some new HPs about 6 years ago. And I had a few issues with both the sound and fit on them.
They were fairly well balanced tonally. But they didn't seal very well on my head. So the bass, L/R balance, and imaging was never very consistent. I do where glasses though, so that could have been a factor.
The cable on the KNS6400 was also rather noisy. Whenever I moved my head, I could hear a loud creaking noise in one of the cups from the cable moving. Perhaps that could've been fixed though with a little lubricant.
They also had a very "wooden" sound to my ears. I attribute that to the lightweight plastic material of the cups, which seemed to produce alot of internal reflections. I wish the old Headroom graphing tool was still working, because you could see the issue quite obviously on the unsmoothed FR plots as a lot of small-scale ringing or fluctuations across much of the frequency range. Some might possibly find it a desirable effect. But I did not.
They didn't seem to isolate that well for closed HPs either. Which could be either a good or bad thing depending on your POV.
Bottom line, I can't really recommend the KRK KNS6400 for the above reasons, even though they may fit the criteria of a neutral response pretty well. Others mileage may of course vary though.
Interesting. The AKG K245 is another headphone I don't know much about. Coincidentally, I was lookin at this model on Guitar Center's website yesterday, not long before starting this topic. So I'm glad to hear some opinions on it. If nothing else, it seems to be very reasonably priced for an open-back design from a major brand. I can't find any graphs for it though. And wonder how it would compare to some of the other open and semi-open HPs mentioned above, like the Senn 58x, and Beyer DT 880 & 990?
Are there any other good neutral-ish open or semi-open HPs that should be considered in this price range?
Well I may have overstated the ‘counterpart’ thing as the two don’t exactly share the same cup form, but the K245 is indeed tuned to the Harman response like the K371
I personally think it’s a steal and am furthermore somewhat surprised that it isn’t more popular around these parts.
Here’s a link to a review, and if you scroll way down the page you get a frequency response. The site has done other similar reviews and frequency responses in case you need something familiar to grok the system. https://www.headphonecheck.com/test/akg-k245/
Edith: Yup that’s why I prefer it’s bigger brother the KNS8400. The cable I changed for something I bought cheap off of Ali’s Libresse and it worked like a charm
The midrange from about 250 Hz to the low treble at about 6 kHz looks a bit recessed compared to the bass and treble. Maybe giving these a bit of a U-shaped signature(?), which might be good for lower volume listening.
For those who like or have the H6, how would you compare the sound, fit/comfort and build quality to some of the other cans in this discussion?
Compared to the K550MK and HD650 they sound a bit thinner. Well at least the 1st generation H6s, which I own. But they sound pretty natural and neutral to my ears. In comparison with the HD650s and K550s they lack a bit of warmth and their timbre (in texture and volume) is a bit thin-ish and less defined. Less fleshed-out in comparison with the HD650s and less immediate than the K550MKIIs. Their sound seems upfront at first, but their dynamics and presentation are a little reserved. Even though they are in the sonic front row, they act a bit like an onlooker, don't engage much in action.
Soundstage is pretty good for a small can. Comfort is excellent if you have small ears, unforunately my ears are not.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
