[Ladyfingers]

Hello! I was using a Philips SHP805 with a NuForce uDAC for the last 9 years or so at work. I enjoyed the 805 but the pads wore out and it was a cheap headphone, so I decided to upgrade.
 
Based on the amount of buzz, I picked up a Philips SHP9500 and was amazed at how revealing it was. Sadly I ignored the "open" aspect, wondering how bad they could really be, but my colleagues let me know. So the SHP9500 is at home now.
 
So, I got a BeyerDynamic DT 770 i 16 Ohm. Very revealing, great isolation, but the 3-8 kHz band genuinely hurts my ears with rock and metal. Electric guitars are all fizzing right on the eardrum. I feel like I'm going deaf after 5 minutes. I added a little tissue paper and Dynamat, but no drop in harshness, just the high treble. I love the construction quality and these will become my DJ heapdphones.
 
So, I'm looking for a GENTLE headphone. They don't have to be high-end audiophile at all. I haven't found any way to infer this quality from reviews.
 

1. Deep bass, recessed mids, smooth treble

 

1. Up to $200, but $100 would be better as these are for work.

 

1. Fully circumaural, comfortable, replaceable pads (that are easy to find)

 

1. Good isolation - less about keeping sound out than preventing sound leaking

 
Thanks for any help anyone here can provide!

 

[Ladyfingers]

I assume this disappeared off the front page, but in the meantime I ordered an AKG K52, since it was dirt cheap and well-reviewed. I'll post a review here.

 

[Me x3]

Logitech UE6000
Momentum M2
Fidelio L2 (almost closed back)
NAD VISO HP50 (249usd)
 
Not sure about the pads.

 

[Malfunkt]

Ue6000 for certain fits the description. Not great for big ears though.

New HD471 was pretty good too.

 

[Ladyfingers]

Well, the AKG K52 arrived today and it's pretty great for the price.
 
Earpads are replaceable, which is good as these look set to flake in short order. I assume any large round pad will probably fit. Cable's not replaceable, though. Exceptionally comfortable and shockingly light. I was a little worried that anything so light would sound correspondingly chintzy, but they don't.
 
I immediately tested a few of the tracks that had made my ears bleed with with the BeyerDynamic DT 770 i, and no pain at all.
Where the DT 770 i failed dramatically for me was with electric guitar tracks. The more saturated the distortion, the more excruciating the DTs. Tracks like "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins and "Tired of Me" by Jesu sound very good indeed on the K52, with huge apparent scale and a nice, even, non-peaky sound.
 
I'm used to a lightly rolled off treble, and so I found the initial sharpness a little surprising. I'd describe the treble as a little fizzy or sibilant rather than particularly sweet, but never piercing or unconvincing. Snares and hi-hats feel a little two-dimensional at times, but are often perfect.
 
Bass goes deep, and on trip-hop tracks by Massive Attack and Portishead, there's substantial weight to the sound. There's maybe a little less mid-bass than would be absolutely ideal, so some rock tracks sound slightly thinner than I'm used to, but again never remotely unpleasant or shrill. There's occasionally a lack of prominence of bass guitars on some tracks, but there's not really a lack of bass at all. Deep notes rumble very convincingly, bass drums have weight and thwack to them. Bass reverb has very clear decay.
 
I may slip a single sheet of tissue into these to slightly dull the highs, but that's probably just my taste and not necessary for everyone. It's certainly very easily done with the stock pads.
 
I think one of the marks of a revealing headphone is when every album is quite apparently different from every other in its sonic signature, that's very much the case here. Luckily it doesn't make anything sound terrible. They certainly reveal every little change in background hiss, making the stitched-together quality of samples, and the noise-gating in some songs very obvious.
 
The soundstaging is really good, with a lot of out-of-head feel.
 
I like these a lot and they're cheap enough that I'm tempted to pick up the K92s as I've seen them for a pittance on eBay and apparently they're a little bassier.

 

[Malfunkt]

  Well, the AKG K52 arrived today and it's pretty great for the price.
 
Earpads are replaceable, which is good as these look set to flake in short order. I assume any large round pad will probably fit. Cable's not replaceable, though. Exceptionally comfortable and shockingly light. I was a little worried that anything so light would sound correspondingly chintzy, but they don't.
 
I immediately tested a few of the tracks that had made my ears bleed with with the BeyerDynamic DT 770 i, and no pain at all.
Where the DT 770 i failed dramatically for me was with electric guitar tracks. The more saturated the distortion, the more excruciating the DTs. Tracks like "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins and "Tired of Me" by Jesu sound very good indeed on the K52, with huge apparent scale and a nice, even, non-peaky sound.
 
I'm used to a lightly rolled off treble, and so I found the initial sharpness a little surprising. I'd describe the treble as a little fizzy or sibilant rather than particularly sweet, but never piercing or unconvincing. Snares and hi-hats feel a little two-dimensional at times, but are often perfect.
 
Bass goes deep, and on trip-hop tracks by Massive Attack and Portishead, there's substantial weight to the sound. There's maybe a little less mid-bass than would be absolutely ideal, so some rock tracks sound slightly thinner than I'm used to, but again never remotely unpleasant or shrill. There's occasionally a lack of prominence of bass guitars on some tracks, but there's not really a lack of bass at all. Deep notes rumble very convincingly, bass drums have weight and thwack to them. Bass reverb has very clear decay.
 
I may slip a single sheet of tissue into these to slightly dull the highs, but that's probably just my taste and not necessary for everyone. It's certainly very easily done with the stock pads.
 
I think one of the marks of a revealing headphone is when every album is quite apparently different from every other in its sonic signature, that's very much the case here. Luckily it doesn't make anything sound terrible. They certainly reveal every little change in background hiss, making the stitched-together quality of samples, and the noise-gating in some songs very obvious.
 
The soundstaging is really good, with a lot of out-of-head feel.
 
I like these a lot and they're cheap enough that I'm tempted to pick up the K92s as I've seen them for a pittance on eBay and apparently they're a little bassier.

Great news! I've read that the K52 are among the best budget phones out there

 

[Ladyfingers]

  Great news! I've read that the K52 are among the best budget phones out there

They're really excellent. Trebles are very slightly too loud for my liking but even so they're seldom shrill, which is all I ask, really. I think a single sheet of tissue will sort them out completely to my taste. Everything in the presence band is completely acceptable, which is rare on ANY headphone for me.

 

[Music freak]

Vmoda XS. it has a warm relaxing sound. It looks good on the head too

 

[Ladyfingers]

  Vmoda XS. it has a warm relaxing sound. It looks good on the head too

 
This looks nice, but sadly supra-aural.

 

[ozyx]

I don't have personal experience, but from the reviews I read the Sony MDR-1A seems to match your description. At Amazon.fr they have it for €137 ($145) which is well within your budget and every 1-2 months can be found for €99 at Amazon's lightning deals. Unfortunately it is much more expensive in the US for whatever reason.

 

[Ladyfingers]

In a slightly further update, I'm now used to the K52's treble response. I'm consistently impressed at how much detail this set resolves. Discovering lots and lots of subtle elements of recordings I've heard a thousand times. Low-level overdubs, instrument key noises, studio clatter and string rattles, etc. The low bass is excellent, but the overall bass sound may not be thick enough for bass nuts.
 
I've ordered the K92 for slightly less than I paid for the K52, so I'm waiting for that to arrive. If it's better than this, then I am in gravy. I cannot imagine anything sounding as good as this at the price.

 

[Anis]

Nothing goes as deep as SZ1000/2000 but they have a heavy punch to them as well and weigh half a jar of peanut butter, which might sound light at first but after a while it can dig canals into your collar bone, not so gentle at all. If you want something soft deep, I have an Audio Technica pro700mk2 with Brainwavs memory foam pads and V-moda kevlar cable. Altogether it is at $120 + $25 + $10 respectively.
 
For ultimate gentleness you can power it with a Bravo audio 12AU7 tube amp ($60) which I find has a warm sig and tones down kicks and hats. A simple equalizer software like Equalizer APO (free) can be used to further tweak out any rough edges. If you want no kicks at all you can tone down the 100-200Hz zone maybe even dip ~6kHz and ~12kHz to lessen instrument harmonics and hihats.
 
These are incredibly lightweight and comfortable like ear-pillows, the pads isolate exceptionally well, people beyond 1m radius won't hear what you're listening to till around 75% volume. My setup looks like this (though I personally use a cayin c5 amp but just plugged in Bravo for reference).
 

 
 
I definitely feel these at 20Hz, and at 10Hz it is faint but still there and at 6Hz there is a faint distant rumble. This is with the bravo audio amp. Disclaimer: My Bravo amp seems to have a buzzing problem whenever I power it on but I have not seen any mention of this anywhere so my product may be faulty but w/e.
 
Edit: just read that OP already settled on new headphone. nm then LOL

 

[Ladyfingers]

  Nothing goes as deep as SZ1000/2000 but they have a heavy punch to them as well and weigh half a jar of peanut butter, which might sound light at first but after a while it can dig canals into your collar bone, not so gentle at all. If you want something soft deep, I have an Audio Technica pro700mk2 with Brainwavs memory foam pads and V-moda kevlar cable. Altogether it is at $120 + $25 + $10 respectively.
 
For ultimate gentleness you can power it with a Bravo audio 12AU7 tube amp ($60) which I find has a warm sig and tones down kicks and hats. A simple equalizer software like Equalizer APO (free) can be used to further tweak out any rough edges. If you want no kicks at all you can tone down the 100-200Hz zone maybe even dip ~6kHz and ~12kHz to lessen instrument harmonics and hihats.
 
These are incredibly lightweight and comfortable like ear-pillows, the pads isolate exceptionally well, people beyond 1m radius won't hear what you're listening to till around 75% volume. My setup looks like this (though I personally use a cayin c5 amp but just plugged in Bravo for reference).
 
 
I definitely feel these at 20Hz, and at 10Hz it is faint but still there and at 6Hz there is a faint distant rumble. This is with the bravo audio amp. Disclaimer: My Bravo amp seems to have a buzzing problem whenever I power it on but I have not seen any mention of this anywhere so my product may be faulty but w/e.
 
Edit: just read that OP already settled on new headphone. nm then LOL

 
I was actually looking at the pro700 before I settled on the AKGs. They look really nice.

 

[Ladyfingers]

After a day of listening to them slightly too loud, my ears had a bit of a sizzle to them, so I actually put a sheet of tissue into each side of the K52s this morning. Pretty decent improvement.

 

[Anis]

Yeah if k52 is doin good for you then pro700 probably would've been overkill. Glad you found what you are looking for