[FarleyCZ]

Hi all,

my long-time kinda cheap traveler companion SHR-440 is slowly starting to fall apart. I'm slowly starting to search for something to replace it with.

I happen to travel relatively a lot, so in the efford to maximize time as much as possible I sometimes work on some music on various hotel rooms. (Just a TV technician, not a touring musician, but it sounded cool for a moment, huh? ) For that purpose was SHR-440 quite ok with to my ear surprisingly flat-ish sound. At home, I got really used to sound of old good DT770 80 Ohm. That's my spirit animal headphone. That ment I wanted something in a from-factor of SHR-440, with sound close to DT770 and possibly more durable then the Shures were. 100-200 buck range. Not a simple task I guess.

So I did a little research and decided that ATH M-50x are probably the best bet. Everybody loves them. So I went to try them in a fairly local headphone store and ... well ... the bass and the midrange are top notch, but what's with the highs? There was this peak close to 10KHz that was just killing me. That got me sad, because otherwise these were perfect. Folding, built like a tank, easy to throw in a backpack.

So I went exploring what they had on display, but there was always something. HD-25 were kinda tiny sounding, not too dynamic. Anything elese from Sennheiser was not foldable. (They didn't have HD-280 though...) Cheaper Audio Technicas were either still with the 10kHz peak present, or not very trustworthy in terms of build. Closest thing I find to my liking was AKG K550, but they are hefty, almost unfoldable, not portable at all. ...or SHR-840, but they were so plasticky I'm kinda worried they'd be beaten up as quickly as the SHR-440 were.

I'm really stuck. Do you guys have any more suggestions?

 

[cossix]

Honestly, go with the 30X or 40X. I've heard a lot of people arguing over the 50X but the 40X seem to be more widely enjoyed. They are all built very well

 

[FarleyCZ]

I tried M40X and M30X swiftly but can't really remember how they felt. I will have to return to the store later and test them properly. ( 100km away :/ ) A friend of mine, mastering engineer actually, told me he has M30X and loves them.

 

[god-bluff]

Focal Spirit Pro, Sennheiser HD380?

 

[serman005]

I would add the NAD HP Viso and the SoundMAGIC HP151 to your list. Both sound terrific and tick several of your boxes. Maybe read about them and see what you think. It is possible one of them could work.

 

[FarleyCZ]

...didn't have either of those on display. :/ I really need to test headphones before trying. Will try to find another store.

 

[Luminance]

You really need to check SoundMAGIC HP151 or Beyerdynamic Custom Studio out. If I was to choose a closed monitor headphone, it would be one of these two (the latter need small amp)

 

[god-bluff]

You really need to check SoundMAGIC HP151 or Beyerdynamic Custom Studio out. If I was to choose a closed monitor headphone, it would be one of these two (the latter need small amp)

Those Beyers don't fold, do they? Beyer have lots of (better than those ?) closed heafdphones but only their DT660 fold unless I'm mistaken.

 

[Luminance]

Sadly they don't, I forgot to mention that.

 

[FarleyCZ]

So I've got back to the store. They didn't have the Soundmagics. So tested all of the headphones they had including all the Audio Technicas (Have you heard M70X? What the heck? They need amp or something? No bass and almost no low mids.)

...and settled for the heavy plastic ugly SHR840. I felt that of all the closed phones these had (with the DT770 and K550) the widest soundstage. Miles ahead from my old SHR440, from HD25-II and from all of the Audio Technicas for that matter. They have 2 or 3 db more on > 8k than I'd prefer, but evenly spread out. Not in a narrow peak. Low mids are may be even a bit more readable than on my beloved DT770. So far I'm quite happy with the purchase.

Thanks for the help, though!