[Rolley]

Hey guys I'm looking to get quite a few recommendations on open back headphones to look at within this price range. As the title says I'm coming from Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80s and before that ATH-M50s. I've had my DT770s for about a year and I love them but living in a hot country, these things get really really hot even after short use.
 
The headphones I'm looking for will exclusively be used at home which is why I'm now considering open back as an option. I know open back headphones tend to not have quite as punchy bass as closed backs but I'm still looking for something with decent bass. One requirement in the comfort department is to have large ear cups with quite thick padding too. My M50s were too small for my ears and very uncomfortable for prolonged use however, my DT770s fit really well. 

Some of the pairs I was considering were Sennheiser HD598 SE, Sennheiser HD600, Beyerdynamic DT990. I'd love a huge range of recommendations since I haven't had the opportunity to sample a lot of brands myself so it'll be good to be able to look at a few different options to determine the best choice.

Thanks!

Edit - Also if you recommend a pair of headphones with an impedance that would likely require a DAC, please feel free to recommend an entry level DAC as well since I currently don't have one

 

[PinkyPowers]

The HD600s are wonderful, but you may want more bass. The HD650s will satisfy you there.

For a solid entry level DAC and Headphone Amp, try the FiiO E10K.

 

[Asr]

Hard to recommend a headphone without knowing what music you listen to, since some genres sometimes don't play well with certain headphones.
 
I haven't heard either of these so they're not "recommendations" per se, but they're fairly popular on Head-Fi (and reportedly have bass too, though I can neither confirm nor deny that myself):
- HiFiMan HE-400S (or the 'i' model too, which is currently on sale)
- Philips Fidelio X2
 
The Schiit Modi 2 is a very popular inexpensive DAC on Head-Fi, though I don't have personal experience with the base version myself (I previously had the Modi 2 Uber, which sounded ok but not great).

 

[kevnin]

Agree with the HD600 or HD650 recommendation. These are excellent sounding headphones, former TOTL models, and are known to scale up exceptionally well if you decide to upgrade the rest of your chain later. 
 
Disagree about Fiio though. I used to have a Fiio E17, tried it with an HD650 and it sounded pretty bad. If $100 is your max budget for dac/amp I would get a Schiit Vali and just use the dac inside your computer (or whatever your source is). For $200 you can get a Schitt Modi2+Vali.
 
(It's an amp you need because of the high impedance. A good dac will help your sound quality in general, but it has nothing to do with the headphone impedance).
 
Edit: forgot to mention, stay away from the 598 if lack of bass is a concern. These have good clarity, mids and treble for the price but (lack of) bass is their weakness.

 

[Rolley]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Because I live in Australia everything is quite expensive and considering our money is currently worth about as much as monopoly money, buying overseas doesn't save too much money. At the moment the best deal I've found is the HD600s for $325 down from $500 or the HifiMan HE-400S for $420 down from $480. Here the Fiio E10K is $105 and the Magni 2 is $199 and Vali 2 is $329 (ouch I know). Some brands seem to scale nicer than others in terms of cross country pricing. BTW would love to here more thoughts and ideas on which headphones and which amp and dac.
 
Quote:

  Agree with the HD600 or HD650 recommendation. These are excellent sounding headphones, former TOTL models, and are known to scale up exceptionally well if you decide to upgrade the rest of your chain later. 
 
Disagree about Fiio though. I used to have a Fiio E17, tried it with an HD650 and it sounded pretty bad. If $100 is your max budget for dac/amp I would get a Schiit Vali and just use the dac inside your computer (or whatever your source is). For $200 you can get a Schitt Modi2+Vali.
 
(It's an amp you need because of the high impedance. A good dac will help your sound quality in general, but it has nothing to do with the headphone impedance).
 
Edit: forgot to mention, stay away from the 598 if lack of bass is a concern. These have good clarity, mids and treble for the price but (lack of) bass is their weakness.

 
Thanks for the help, with your idea of getting an amp and using pc for dac would I plug my headphones into the amp and then the amp into the source (pc sound card) until I decide to spend more on a dac? I'm not saying this is what I'll do but it's definitely an idea I'll have to consider.
 

 

[PacoBdn]

If you are happy with your Beyer DT-770, I would go for a DT-990. Your profile is quite similar.

 

[kevnin]

   
Thanks for the help, with your idea of getting an amp and using pc for dac would I plug my headphones into the amp and then the amp into the source (pc sound card) until I decide to spend more on a dac? I'm not saying this is what I'll do but it's definitely an idea I'll have to consider.
 

 
Yes, you would plug the headphones into the amp and the amp into the line-out port of the PC. The reason I suggest this is there's a pretty good chance the dac in your sound card isn't much worse than a $100 dac, but you really need an amp that can properly handle the high-impedance Sennheisers (if you decide to go with one of them).
 
That sucks about the Schiit prices there. Depending on budget it may make something like the X2 (low impedance, high sensitivity) more attractive as the Fiio can probably handle it. 

 

[Rolley]

   
Yes, you would plug the headphones into the amp and the amp into the line-out port of the PC. The reason I suggest this is there's a pretty good chance the dac in your sound card isn't much worse than a $100 dac, but you really need an amp that can properly handle the high-impedance Sennheisers (if you decide to go with one of them).
 
That sucks about the Schiit prices there. Depending on budget it may make something like the X2 (low impedance, high sensitivity) more attractive as the Fiio can probably handle it. 

 
How about something like a FiiO E12 Mont Blanc for $165. That should be able to drive the 300 Ohms of the Sennheisers, would this be an okay starting point? and the potentially upgrade to an independent amp and dac later when I feel like spending a extra couple of hundred.

Edit - Also found the original Schiit Vali (not Vali 2 like I mentioned earlier) for $219

Also the HD600 aren't super bassy I know but do they sound 'bad' when listening to songs with heavy bass (i.e Hip Hop, Rap or Electronic genres (DnB, Dubstep, Electro, House, etc))? I wouldn't call these my most common genres but my library is full of random genres and would like a nice all round set of cans so if something from a random genre comes on or I'm in a specific mood for something bass heavy I'll know these are capable.

 

[TimeLord]

If you don't mind waiting a bit to receive your headphones, I think the best bargain going for headphones under $500 right now is the AKG K7XX. It will easily go head to head with the Sennheiser HD650 and the Hifiman HE400i. It has a very good bass response, better than both the HD650 and the HE400i. It also has a very wide soundstage. HD 650 has better mids, but overall I prefer the K7XX.
 
If you happen to be familiar with the AKG K702 65th anniversary edition, these are essentially the same headphones with comfort improvements for the headband and some cosmetic changes.
 
In terms of price, the K7XX bests them both. It costs $199.99 plus $25 additional in your case for international shipment forwarding.
 
Of course, there is a catch of sorts. You can only buy the K7XX from Massdrop and because they are not allowed to directly sell these outside of the US, due to their agreement with AKG, you will have to use a shipment forwarder. Basically, you buy the headphones and they are shipped to the the forwarding agency which accepts the package on your behalf at a US address. Then they ship the headphones to you in Australia. Luckily, you don't have to do anything other than pay the extra $25 for the service. Massdrop has it all set up in the ordering process.
 
Also, Massdrop sells products periodically. Meaning, they don't always have the K7XX or any other product available all the time. They will sell an item for a specific time and quantity and if there's demand for that product, then they may bring it back for another "drop." Luckily, they are currently selling the K7XX, but only for another day. If it's too soon to make up your mind, you can wait and the drop will probably come back in another month or two.
 
For best results, you'll need an amp and DAC. I would recommend for first time buyers the Objective 2 amplifier and the Objective DAC, Rev. b. Again, Massdrop sells these as well subject to the drop being available. You can also get these from Mayflower Electronics, but they cost more at this store.

 
Good luck.