Closed Headphones above HD-600?
Dec 23, 2007 at 7:19 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 33

NeoVibe

100+ Head-Fier
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Posts
306
Likes
11
Hello everyone

I'm getting more and more tired of outside noise breaking my concentration while I'm listening to quiet music through my HD-600. Cars going by on my unfortunately steep street are enough... and even at 2a.m. it still happens frequently (like every 15sec or so)
frown.gif


So, what alternatives do I have? I'd be looking for something at least as good as my trusty HD-600. I mean something that wouldn't fall behind in any department and of course, with a good degree of isolation. I know total isolation is not available in this range but...
Right now I have a Raptor driving the Senns so you can assume it would be properly driven by a dedicated amp, be it the Raptor or something else.
thanks in advance.

Merry Christmas to you all
biggrin.gif
 
Dec 23, 2007 at 9:46 PM Post #2 of 33
I've been looking for an answer to that question for some time, I don't think there is one. You can try sidestepping into more expensive, closed, headphones, but you will not find one that sounds like it. D2000/D5000 (the closest popular contenders) are not much like HD600 really, and the don't isolate much anyways.

Your best chance is Edition 9 if you got the budget. It is not as magically neutral and accurate sounding to my ears, but it is darn good as a closed headphone, has very capable bass/detail retrieval (it can be better than HD600 if driven/sourced well). Hell, you might even enjoy it more than HD600.
 
Dec 24, 2007 at 7:15 PM Post #3 of 33
I am struggling with this at this very moment. The stock answer would be the L3000, at ~$2.5k...

So, I am currently using balanced D2000, and save for classical, there is just TOO MUCH bass. So, I am taking a plunge on some balanced RP-21. We'll see if they scale... or not. HD600 are coming back, and I'll start reconsidering some L3000. Given my application is only for the office, I simply can't leave any high $$$ cans on premise.
 
Dec 24, 2007 at 8:03 PM Post #5 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by espire /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Why not try closing the HD-600 yourself? Buy and extra pair of grills, and work from there.

Or is that not possible?





That would also require huge modifications on dampening I believe. Closing up the cans with drivers and acoustics tuned for open enviroment tend to alter sound a LOT, and badly.
 
Dec 24, 2007 at 8:12 PM Post #6 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by MaZa /img/forum/go_quote.gif
That would also require huge modifications ...


or just putting black electrical tape over the grills.
 
Dec 24, 2007 at 8:31 PM Post #8 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif
or just putting black electrical tape over the grills.


confused.gif


Read my post through. I was talking about preserving the sound quality. Closing up the open cans is a bad idea without some extra alteration on acoustic dampening. Try it with your hands with any open headphone you have.
 
Dec 24, 2007 at 8:46 PM Post #9 of 33
you could try the beyer dt770... they have a similar (NOT THE SAME) sound curve.... then there's the futursonic atrios too..
 
Dec 27, 2007 at 7:46 PM Post #10 of 33
Hey everyone,

Closing the senn's is out of question: they were designed to be open and I'm not going to do anything that will interfere with that design.


So far the options all plausible options seem to be pretty expensive:

1-Denon D5000 ~700$
2-JVC DX1000 ~800$ (1200$ in europe)
3-Audio Technica W5000 ~ 1100$ in europe
4-Ultrasone Edition 9 ~1500$
5-Audio Technica L3000 ~ 2500$

I added to the list another closed headphone I heard good things about (and not so good as well): the Audio Technica W5000 at about 1000$.
Any other suggestions?

I listed these by roughly by price and performance. Would you agree with the order, performance-wise?
And where do the HD-600 fit, when properly amped? between #1 and #2?

Thanks again!
 
Dec 27, 2007 at 9:03 PM Post #11 of 33
Scarily enough properly amped HD600 goes between 4 and 5. On a side note - try putting your hands around the HD600 grills, it does not change THAT much. With proper damping, this could serve as a good closed can (I am thinking slightly larger cup filled with cotton instead of the grill).

W5000 is not anywhere close to HD600 tonally, and its isolation just about sucks. Same goes for D5000. I'll leave the other 3 for others to comment on.
 
Dec 27, 2007 at 9:09 PM Post #12 of 33
Just throwing out an idea, not really sure how much they will change the sound but what about Darth Sennheisers.

Sennheiser Mods, Sennheiser Woody, Sennheiser Cable, Senn V2

He claims " Senn woodies help lift the lush veil and provide a more balanced frequency range to these ears. Overall impact will increase. The standard depth brings the music in your face close while the deeper depth woodies create a nice balance of soundstage, depth and bring out the high end better."

They start at 150 for completely closed normal depth or 200 for deeper cups and there are more options
 
Dec 28, 2007 at 2:26 AM Post #14 of 33
I hated what the woodie did to the HD600, with a variety of wood types. Nothing can change the design fact that they are meant to be open, and changes from that create design tradeoffs that were simply not acceptable, IMHO.
 
Dec 28, 2007 at 2:40 AM Post #15 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by pabbi1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I hated what the woodie did to the HD600, with a variety of wood types. Nothing can change the design fact that they are meant to be open, and changes from that create design tradeoffs that were simply not acceptable, IMHO.


I wonder if with proper design same driver as in HD600 can be used in a closed headphone though. Mind you, there are companies that use same drivers in open and closed headphones, because with sufficient alterations to the chassis the differences of the methods are not an issue.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top