[peterbres]

First of all I wanted to say thanks to reviewers of the dt250-80s... this was one of the most informative sites I found when shopping for headphones. I got them a few weeks ago and I'm totally satisfied with the purchase. My question is this--which is the best portable cd player for under $200? Now that I have great headphones I'd like a cd player to go with them--my old sony discman (the cheapest model I could get) isn't cutting it anymore. I compared the sound with my friend's panasonic and found his to be much better. I mostly listen to classical music, but also some jazz--I don't need power, bass, or cd players designed for sports...I'm just looking for extremely clear and detailed sound. Are there any that stand out? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

panasonice ct-570. headphone out is pretty good compared to other current portables. They arn't manufactured any more but their are still plenty around. So just do some looking and you will be able to find one no problem.

Biggie.

 

[Flasken]

I'd say it depends on your wallet and your desire for headphones. Can you anywhere in your mind imagine that there is even a slight chance that you will buy an amp in the future??? If so, go with a sony like the d-ej925 which is a nice player that can be bought cheaply these days... The head-out is considered not that good by most people, but you will be happy about the great line-out if you eventually get an amp. (most do, eventually)

 

[Gus B]

Pete--I bought a Sony D-EJ925 online refurbished (with Sony's warranty) for $116 US & combine it with a $99 Headroom airhead. Even with shipping ($7 each) the total bill isn't much more than your budget. Works great. However, the airhead price is $20 more if you don't get it with a set of phones--if you happened to have purchased the 250-80 from Headroom, I'm sure they'd still give you the discount on the airhead.

 

[lini]

peterbres: I'm sorry to say that, but for exemtremely clear and detailed sound the DT250/80 is the wrong headphone to begin with because of its recessed highs. You'd need a very, very bright player to cure this - which in consequence would sound utterly terrible with regularly bright headphones. Maybe you should look for a unit with at least three band eq, so you could boost the highs separately...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally posted by lini [size=xx-small] peterbres: I'm sorry to say that, but for exemtremely clear and detailed sound the DT250/80 is the wrong headphone to begin with because of its recessed highs. You'd need a very, very bright player to cure this - which in consequence would sound utterly terrible with regularly bright headphones. Maybe you should look for a unit with at least three band eq, so you could boost the highs separately...[/size]

The 250s do NOT have recessed highs, they're fairly neutral. This is desirable because they'll give you what you put into them.

 

[RMSzero]

I'm with kwkarth on this. I won't go so far to say they are completely neutral, but they have a good sound, and I plan to be their proud owner sometime in the near future.

I've tried them out with a bunch of types of music on my d-25s and they sounded great. However, I don't think that's a good player to recommend because of the lack of anti-skip protection.

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

I thought recessed highs meant they were not as "loud" as they should be? Using this definition, I would say the 250's do have recessed highs and added bass... I wouldn't say they are neutral but I would say they are nice to listen to.

Biggie.

 

[kwkarth]

Well, folks, I can't vouch for the pairs of 250s that you all have but I can tell you that the BeyerDynamic DT250-80s that I have are fairly neutral cans. The Bass, Midrange, and Treble are all in proper proportion to one another.

Further, if you examine the normalized FR graph of the DT250 @ the Headroom site, you'll see one of the most neutral graphs at their site, and that's the way my pair sound to my ears powered by a good amp. The highs may recess with less than adequate amplification, I can't vouch for that, but with a good amp, they're right up there for neutrality.

Happy Listening!!

 

[peterbres]

I find the same thing as kwkarth--they maintain the balance of whatever recording I'm playing pretty well. For classical, the treble sounds just fine and the bass is extremely detailed (other headphones I've had gave me problems with extremely low instruments--especially basses in orchestral playing--but these are perfectly clear). Of all the closed headphones I auditioned, none make orchestral strings (especially midrange) sound this good.

Thanks for the cd player advice. I have a few quick questions... Does the panasonic sl-ct570 have a resume feature and/or a backlit lcd? I was looking at some other posts and there were some mixed reviews about sony's top of the line model (d-ej1000). Does anyone have one that would like to comment on it? I'm mostly interested in the headphone out on this one... I'd need a much less expensive cdp in order to afford an amp.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[andrzejpw]

Quote:

Originally posted by RMSzero I'm with kwkarth on this. I won't go so far to say they are completely neutral, but they have a good sound, and I plan to be their proud owner sometime in the near future. I've tried them out with a bunch of types of music on my d-25s and they sounded great. However, I don't think that's a good player to recommend because of the lack of anti-skip protection.

so, RMS, you got the phones?

 

[lini]

Compared to the 250-Ohm-Beyerdynamics, I heard (DT770Pro/250, DT990Pro/250, DT250/250, DT531), as well as the AKG K501, K240S and the Philips HP890 - the highs of the DT250/80 seem quite recessed to my ears. And that didn't change a lot with amplification. That doesn't mean that I don't find the DT250/80 enjoyable. But for "extremely clear and detailed sound" a headphone with more highs would seem more appropriate to me. The DT250/80 has a very good midrange, though - so for extremely clear and detailed voices alone it should be very good. But especially with modern stuff like Orbital or Chemical Brothers I miss too much detail with the DT250/80.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

The beyers claim to have "added bass". How is that neutral?
And I find cymbols come through much quieter then with grados... do grados have too much highs then?

Biggie.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally posted by NotoriousBIG_PJ The beyers claim to have "added bass". How is that neutral? And I find cymbols come through much quieter then with grados... do grados have too much highs then? Biggie.

Yes, the Grados have accentuated upper mids and highs to about 12kHz

By the way where do you get the thought that Beyers "claim" to have added bass? I've never read that anywhere and I certainly do not hear it.

 

[Audio-Me]

The Beyerdynamic DT 250-80 is dark, and every Grado I've heard is bright, with exception of HP-1. This is blatantly obvious, if you disagree, well I think you have tin ears. The bass on the beyers are emphasized, thus come out kinda strong to the punch. The AKG 501 had no bass, weak upper bass, that's about it.