[CaffeinatedQ8]

Hey all, been lurking here for a while now trying to figure what to get to kickstart my exciting endeavour into the audiophiliac scene... however, the search for a suitable pair seems to be quite daunting and (much) harder than I anticipated and so I decided to break my silence and seek help from those who can offer it.

What I'm looking for:

For Home/Desktop Use
closed-backs, I really wanted open-backs for better soundstaging and layering mainly but with my two little minions (daughters 6 and 2 years old) lurking around me, I NEED closed-backs to keep me into whatever I'm doing (watching movies, gaming, zoning out into music... etc.) so yeah, there's that.
Over Ear
Accurate
Capable of Hi Frequencies; 40kHz+
Decent Bass (not over-powering)
Plays nice with a decent AMP/DAC (Think Fulla or even The Element?)
Price Range: Below $450 is preferable, however, if worth it, I can push to about $600.

My listening palette is wildly diverse, classics, strings, EDM, Rock, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Blues... If it sounds good, I listen to it. I use my sets to play lots of video games too.

I narrowed down my candidates to the list below (Are these any good? for every good review I find, there's always another that drags them into the mud... Any other suggestions are welcome):

Beyerdynamics DT1770 Or DT770 (some people apparently prefer the older 770 more than the 1770... but which one is really better?!)
Oppo PM3
Audio-Technica MSR7SE
B&O H6/7/9?
V-Moda Crossfade 2 Wireless
Senn's HD598CS


Owned cans:
Audio-Technica ATH-M50: Straight-forward, decently neutral, I liked them while editing videos and relatively comfortable for longer periods of time.

V-Moda M100: I really like these, the lows are fun, highs are good, decent mids and a good overall performer, not as comfortable as I would have liked them to be (They clamp a bit too much) but it's a solid pair for the price, however I can't shake the feeling that something is missing (Performance/construction/looks).

Thank you all for taking the time to help, I really appreciate it!

 

[Wiljen]

If you can push the budget, the Mr Speakers Aeon Flow Closed belongs on your short list of things to try. If not, of those listed my favorites would be the Oppo PM3.

 

[CaffeinatedQ8]

If you can push the budget, the Mr Speakers Aeon Flow Closed belongs on your short list of things to try. If not, of those listed my favorites would be the Oppo PM3.

Interesting, TBH I've never came across these while hunting for my close-back, partly because there aren't any dealer for Mr. Speaker around me otherwise it'd have made the list... but hat price tag though.. Argh! I've noticed it has low impedance, how does it fare with an external amp?

 

[Wiljen]

The Aeon Flow scales well with an amp but will work from a phone or tablet if you desire. I would suggest you watch the classifieds here as both the PM3s and Aeon come up fairly regularly and it would be a way to stretch your budget considerably. I picked up an HD700 in very good condition for $275 awhile back as an example. They were in 95%+ condition and I paid about 1/2 of new price so hard to argue that better deals can be had on the used market here.

 

[CaffeinatedQ8]

Definitely worth a look, I'm a bit of an OCD when it comes to used items, but heck... they sure seem like they're worth it. You mentioned the PM3's earlier, any ideas on how they scale with an amp?

 

[Wiljen]

The PM3 scales extremely well and while it will work run directly off a tablet or phone, it is certainly going to perform better with a bit more input power than most portable devices are capable of feeding it.

 

[CaffeinatedQ8]

Ah! Good to know, I was worried about them being all fancy and all that Jazz that they're geared toward portables and casuals and aren't designed for good scaling, it's weird how I already added The Element DAC/AMP in my shopping bin but not the cans. So far, it seems I'm leaning more towards the PM3's I guess.

Any thoughts on the DT1770/DT770?

 

[PopZeus]

Weird that you would specifically ask for something with extended treble response past human hearing but want the PM-3 whose treble tuning is way rolled off and not in a natural way.

Personally, closed back ~$500 that seems to hit all of your stated preferences? E-MU Teak.

 

[Wiljen]

@PopZeus has a good point in that the PM3 is a bit rolled off in the upper treble and has a bit of extra lower treble energy so isn't quite neutral (although still probably closer than anything else on your short list).

 

[Monsterzero]

You made no mention of an amp,but if you have one or plan on getting one I highly recommend the Sennheiser HD250...Its a phenomenal closed back with great extension on both ends...Can be had for fairly cheap(got mine for 85.00 shipped,but thats a steal!)

If no amp is available,the suggestions made above are all solid.

EDIT: just noticed Fulla or Element being mentioned as a n amp,unfortunately that wont come close to bring out the best in the HD250

 

[CaffeinatedQ8]

lol, fair enough, it's just the fact that I wanted to justify my purchase with better numbers over my current cans, weird I know, but yeah, the reason I'm asking for recommendations is because I have no first hand experience with any of those I listed, reviews were literally on side or the other, either "immaculate accuracy" or "way off".

The E-MU Teak seems fine as heck if it weren't for the non-removable cable.. I doubt it would survive a couple of yanks from my 2 years old, lol. Modding it is an option I guess?

I truly apologize for the prolonged back and forths, it's just that I want to make sure my investment in the cans is worth it and learn something from those who are more knowledgeable than I am

 

[CaffeinatedQ8]

You made no mention of an amp,but if you have one or plan on getting one I highly recommend the Sennheiser HD250...Its a phenomenal closed back with great extension on both ends...Can be had for fairly cheap(got mine for 85.00 shipped,but thats a steal!)

If no amp is available,the suggestions made above are all solid.

EDIT: just noticed Fulla or Element being mentioned as a n amp,unfortunately that wont come close to bring out the best in the HD250

I might be able to ditch the element/fulla for a schiit stack (magni 3/modi 2) since the price for the HD250's is lower, would that work?

EDIT: Darn, seems to be discontinued

 

[Monsterzero]

I might be able to ditch the element/fulla for a schiit stack (magni 3/modi 2) since the price for the HD250's is lower, would that work?

EDIT: Darn, seems to be discontinued

Yes its been discontinued for years,however Sennheiser recently announced they are reviving it. I dont know anymore about the new version than whats posted in the thread though.
Personally I would try to find a used pair of the HD250s and pair it up with a nice tube amp. I have tried them with powerful solid state amps and while they still sound great,tubes give it an incredibly sweet sound. La Figaro 339, Bottlehead Crack,or maybe even the DarkVoice 336 (educated guess on that one) would all make you quite happy I assume.

You can read more about the HD250 here

 

[ctaxxxx]

lol, fair enough, it's just the fact that I wanted to justify my purchase with better numbers over my current cans, weird I know, but yeah, the reason I'm asking for recommendations is because I have no first hand experience with any of those I listed, reviews were literally on side or the other, either "immaculate accuracy" or "way off".

The E-MU Teak seems fine as heck if it weren't for the non-removable cable.. I doubt it would survive a couple of yanks from my 2 years old, lol. Modding it is an option I guess?

I truly apologize for the prolonged back and forths, it's just that I want to make sure my investment in the cans is worth it and learn something from those who are more knowledgeable than I am

What? The E-MU Teak have a removable cable. You sure you weren't looking at the Fostex TH-X00?

 

[CaffeinatedQ8]

What? The E-MU Teak have a removable cable. You sure you weren't looking at the Fostex TH-X00?

Read it here: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/e-mu-teak-headphones.21741/reviews

Now that you mentioned it, I saw some detachables while searching google.