[chewjya]

Hello everyone,
 
I'm looking for a pair of proper headphones and amp/dac for college. I'm currently using the Koss Portapro so this is going to be my first "audiophile" headphone. Anyways, its gonna be used mainly for music.... I listen to mostly Trance, House, Electro, Glitch and Techno.
 
Here a couple samples of what I listen to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKEkA0Z0tn0 Bart Claessen - Fantomah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_9z2o_7MFY Deniz Koyu - Hydra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a0fxr-4ilE Urban Astronauts vs. Jorn van Deynhoven - See the Halo
 
Criteria
1) It has to be comfotable. I would prefer it if it was Closed Supra Aural. Something like the Beyerdynamic DT 1350. But, i'm willing to sacrifice a little comfort for superior audio quality.
2) Has to have nice punchy and tight bass. The sound of muddy/distorted bass annoys me
3) Has to be balanced sounding if you know what i mean.
4) Budget: $700 for both Headphone and Amp/DAC combo
5) Portablilty: Has to be portable but I'm willing to sacrifice it for audio quality.
 
I've done some research and narrowed them down my options.
1) Beyerdynamic DT 1350 - I had a go at a pair of these bad boys at my local audio store. They sounded GREAT! But I felt that it was a little lacking in the bass department which made it sound a little "uninspiring" and "flat". They're so comfortable the the build quality is phenomenal but I don't think they sound good with dance music 
2) Ultrasones - Should I get the HFI or PRO Series? Any specific model to recommend? I read that EDM sounds great on Ultrasones
3) Sennheiser HD 25 I-II - They sounded too muddy for my liking. But they're a decent pair
4) AIAIAI TMA-1 - What do you guys thing of this pair? I've never tried it but I read that its suppose to have a nice clubby sound to it.
5) Amps/DAC - What's a good amp/dac combo? The store that I go to (Jaben in Singapore) recommends the Go Vibe Magnum. Are Go Vibe's any good? How about the iBasso D4? or Amps/DAC combo from Ray Samuels Audio?
 
Most of my music files are 320 kbps MP3s on iTunes. And I'll be using the set up for my iPod Touch and Laptop.
Do you guys have any pair of headphones or AMP/DAC combo to recommend?
 

 

[mdk888]

So it all started out as just me needing a set of headphones so I could use to watch movies late at night without disturbing everyone in the rest of my house. Ended up with a set of Senn HD 600. Connecting it straight off my pc mb, at times I felt like something was missing. So I stumbled upon this site and spent hours and hours of reading.

Finally pulled the trigger and placed and order for the Little Dot Dac 1 and plan on pairing it up with a Matrix M stage amp with the opamp upgrade. Appreciate any feedback on this setup. Also one question I have is, since the source is going to be my pc mostly, is it better to use optical out or USB?

 

[goodsongs]

 

 
[size=small][size=small]I bought  one of those 130 bucks Bose in-ear phone from Best Buy with 20 bucks of warranty for unlimited exchanges for the next two years. [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]I've had the one without mic a year before but it broke and I didn't have a warranty. I thought it sounded awesome when I had 'em but I don't think it is right now. I burned in for about 12 hours but not sure if this improved it or not, and just read a thread where it is said that burn in doesn't work for Bose in ear earphones. [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]I also have a $300 Bose headphone, and although it sounds good, it has to be turned up really loud for me to clearly hear the music, which hurts the ear. Besides, I can't wear it long anyways because it has this strange pressurizing feeling on my ears. The all-around nature I guess puts a pressure in the ear (like air-sucking feeling) and the turning on of the noise-cancellation also adds to the pressure. Does the burn-in work for $300 Bose?[/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]I thought about maybe buying the Klipsch, I read it sounds amazing after burn-in in one of those Amazon reviews. [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]And then on a review of sony xb40ex I read that it sounds much better than the $120 Bose. So what should I do?[/size][/size]
 

 

[seeker moc]

Probably USB.  They're both digital signals, but the optical out goes through the soundcard, so it may have some unnecessary processing done on it.  I'm not entirely sure, but I'd assume that USB stream is more or less untouched.
 
Quote:

So it all started out as just me needing a set of headphones so I could use to watch movies late at night without disturbing everyone in the rest of my house. Ended up with a set of Senn HD 600. Connecting it straight off my pc mb, at times I felt like something was missing. So I stumbled upon this site and spent hours and hours of reading.

Finally pulled the trigger and placed and order for the Little Dot Dac 1 and plan on pairing it up with a Matrix M stage amp with the opamp upgrade. Appreciate any feedback on this setup. Also one question I have is, since the source is going to be my pc mostly, is it better to use optical out or USB?

 

 

[rugby4944]

Alright well I've had a pair of Sennheiser HD201s for awhile now and enjoyed them, but I'm looking to upgrade to better headphones around the $150 or less price range. I listen to mostly rock and alternative music with some rap in there too.  Most of my listening will be done through my iPod or computer both unamped in a quite setting.  Some of the models I've been looking into were Sennheiser HD555's, Audio Technica M50's, and Sennheiser HD595's.  Which one of these will work the best for me and also will my iPod be able to power them unamped?  I'm looking for sound quality and comfort the most, and I am not a bass head by and means but i do enjoy some bass just not so much that it overpowers the mid and highs.  Also are there any other recommendations in this price range?
 
Thanks

 

[DivergeUnify]

so I ended up impulse buying a pair of Sennheiser HD650s.  They sound SO smooth and majestic.  The bass goes impressively low and they're very unconjested compared to my Grado 325is
 
They do seem like they'd be a bit boring with certain types of music, but they're not at ALL slow like some people say( they're used so they're already burned in)

 

[Stitch]

 
[size=medium]

Quote:

 
Budget - $300 or more if needed!
 
Headphones for FPS gaming? I have used a Steelseries 4H and the lack of bass and the ability to hear foot steps and gunfire very clear was indeed a great advantage! I'm looking to move on to something better. Can you guys recommend me a good headphone for competitive FPS gaming? I would like something comfortable as well. Budget up to $300. Please also recommend a good external mic other than the Zalman one as I didn't have good experience with it. Any help would be great!
 
 
Thank you

The DT880 might fit in the budget. They are neutral, very good clarity. Makes identifying sounds easy, locating them too. Not much bass but its controlled and tight. And they are very comfy to boot, ways heavy when you play long sessions imo.
 
​

[/size]


Quote:

so I ended up impulse buying a pair of Sennheiser HD650s.  They sound SO smooth and majestic.  The bass goes impressively low and they're very unconjested compared to my Grado 325is
 
They do seem like they'd be a bit boring with certain types of music, but they're not at ALL slow like some people say( they're used so they're already burned in)

Somewhat my short experience with the 650's.It depends on what you like and what music you toss at 'em. With the faster metal styles they are sloooooooooooooooooow but im sure they do just fine on slower paced music. With the 325is and the HD650 you do cover a lot of ground in terms of sound. They are each others polar opposites imo.
I notice you like certain metal/punk music, did you try the HD650 with something like Vader, Krisiun, Marduk, Death or any other really fast style?
Also, they are know to need a decent amp. May take away some boringness.

 

[DivergeUnify]

Quote:

Somewhat my short experience with the 650's.It depends on what you like and what music you toss at 'em. With the faster metal styles they are sloooooooooooooooooow but im sure they do just fine on slower paced music. With the 325is and the HD650 you do cover a lot of ground in terms of sound. They are each others polar opposites imo.
I notice you like certain metal/punk music, did you try the HD650 with something like Vader, Krisiun, Marduk, Death or any other really fast style?
Also, they are know to need a decent amp. May take away some boringness.

No I haven't, I've just been listening to the little amounts of electronic music I have with them.  I do agree that I think metal would be boring on them... I just can't see them being better than the Grados in that regard at all, but it hasn't been a priority for me to see yet haha   I kind of chose them specifically because they are essentially opposites of eachother like you said.  All I have is a nuforce DAC.  I might get an amp in the future, but so far its powering them nice and loudly so, as a broke college student, I'm all set for now
 
I do plan on giving some of the Death remasters a spin though
 

 

[MichRT]

 
Hello all

 

So I'm on a new budget: $300. I greatly enjoy the sound of the Aviators, and I plan on buying a pair. I have a few questions though: Does anyone else have headphone suggestions? Does it need an amp? Will a $150 (preferably cheaper) amp affect the sound too much? If so, what amps do you guys recommend? I currently use my iPhone 3GS and my new laptop as media sources, and on occasion use my Cmoy amp in between with my Sony XB 500s.

 

Thanks 

 

[ExLegend]

Quote:

The A900 might not have enough thumpy bass for house, although the resonance plays well with other types of electronica. The Senns are open so we'll skip those for now. The M50 and HD25-1-ii are both solid headphones, and sonically I would choose the HD25-1-ii. It has better isolation and sharper sound, and doesn't lose out the mids like the M50 does.

 
The only problem is that I've heard the HD25-1-ii's are pretty tight around the head.  And, unfortunately, I have a slightly large head as it is.  Is there another headphones similar to the HD25-1-ii's that have good mids, good bass, good isolation, but aren't so tight around there?

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

Hello everyone,
 
I'm looking for a pair of proper headphones and amp/dac for college. I'm currently using the Koss Portapro so this is going to be my first "audiophile" headphone. Anyways, its gonna be used mainly for music.... I listen to mostly Trance, House, Electro, Glitch and Techno.
 
Here a couple samples of what I listen to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKEkA0Z0tn0 Bart Claessen - Fantomah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_9z2o_7MFY Deniz Koyu - Hydra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a0fxr-4ilE Urban Astronauts vs. Jorn van Deynhoven - See the Halo
 
Criteria
1) It has to be comfotable. I would prefer it if it was Closed Supra Aural. Something like the Beyerdynamic DT 1350. But, i'm willing to sacrifice a little comfort for superior audio quality.
2) Has to have nice punchy and tight bass. The sound of muddy/distorted bass annoys me
3) Has to be balanced sounding if you know what i mean.
4) Budget: $700 for both Headphone and Amp/DAC combo
5) Portablilty: Has to be portable but I'm willing to sacrifice it for audio quality.
 
I've done some research and narrowed them down my options.
1) Beyerdynamic DT 1350 - I had a go at a pair of these bad boys at my local audio store. They sounded GREAT! But I felt that it was a little lacking in the bass department which made it sound a little "uninspiring" and "flat". They're so comfortable the the build quality is phenomenal but I don't think they sound good with dance music 
2) Ultrasones - Should I get the HFI or PRO Series? Any specific model to recommend? I read that EDM sounds great on Ultrasones
3) Sennheiser HD 25 I-II - They sounded too muddy for my liking. But they're a decent pair
4) AIAIAI TMA-1 - What do you guys thing of this pair? I've never tried it but I read that its suppose to have a nice clubby sound to it.
5) Amps/DAC - What's a good amp/dac combo? The store that I go to (Jaben in Singapore) recommends the Go Vibe Magnum. Are Go Vibe's any good? How about the iBasso D4? or Amps/DAC combo from Ray Samuels Audio?
 
Most of my music files are 320 kbps MP3s on iTunes. And I'll be using the set up for my iPod Touch and Laptop.
Do you guys have any pair of headphones or AMP/DAC combo to recommend?
 

 
Ultrasones can be quite good for your genres, although sometimes I feel their bass can be overpowering. The S-Logic also does funny things with soundstage perception; some people love it, others not so much, so you really have to hear it to decide for yourself. They're all quite large and circumaural though.
 
The HD25-1-ii tend to sound a little more authoritative and crisp with some amping behind them.
 
You might consider the DT1350 and just EQ the bass to give it a little more oomph.
 
GoVibe seems to be more prolific in Asia, but doesn't get much mention here. The iBasso stuff is generally very well regarded. RSA as well, although he's on the pricier side.
 

 
Quote:

So it all started out as just me needing a set of headphones so I could use to watch movies late at night without disturbing everyone in the rest of my house. Ended up with a set of Senn HD 600. Connecting it straight off my pc mb, at times I felt like something was missing. So I stumbled upon this site and spent hours and hours of reading.

Finally pulled the trigger and placed and order for the Little Dot Dac 1 and plan on pairing it up with a Matrix M stage amp with the opamp upgrade. Appreciate any feedback on this setup. Also one question I have is, since the source is going to be my pc mostly, is it better to use optical out or USB?

There's a lot of arguments that go both ways. Myself, I go with the optical because my usb tends to have a lot of noise from the power supply. That's not to say that optical doesn't have issues sometimes too... since you have the option, just try both and see if you can hear any difference.
 


Quote:

[size=small][size=small]I bought  one of those 130 bucks Bose in-ear phone from Best Buy with 20 bucks of warranty for unlimited exchanges for the next two years. [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]I've had the one without mic a year before but it broke and I didn't have a warranty. I thought it sounded awesome when I had 'em but I don't think it is right now. I burned in for about 12 hours but not sure if this improved it or not, and just read a thread where it is said that burn in doesn't work for Bose in ear earphones. [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]I also have a $300 Bose headphone, and although it sounds good, it has to be turned up really loud for me to clearly hear the music, which hurts the ear. Besides, I can't wear it long anyways because it has this strange pressurizing feeling on my ears. The all-around nature I guess puts a pressure in the ear (like air-sucking feeling) and the turning on of the noise-cancellation also adds to the pressure. Does the burn-in work for $300 Bose?[/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]I thought about maybe buying the Klipsch, I read it sounds amazing after burn-in in one of those Amazon reviews. [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]And then on a review of sony xb40ex I read that it sounds much better than the $120 Bose. So what should I do?[/size][/size]
 

 
 
Burn-in is a much debated topic. Many believe in it, many others do not. Trust your own ears and decide for yourself.
 
If you have to turn your music up really loudly for it to sound "clear', then obviously your music isn't very clear to begin with. Either that or you're in a noisy environment. Good headphones should reproduce sound cleanly so that you don't need to have high volumes for it to sound good.
 
It sounds like you really don't have much direction right now, and you're getting caught up in a bit of the hyperbole. Settle down and just do due diligence with reading and take everything with a grain of salt.
 
 


Quote:

Alright well I've had a pair of Sennheiser HD201s for awhile now and enjoyed them, but I'm looking to upgrade to better headphones around the $150 or less price range. I listen to mostly rock and alternative music with some rap in there too.  Most of my listening will be done through my iPod or computer both unamped in a quite setting.  Some of the models I've been looking into were Sennheiser HD555's, Audio Technica M50's, and Sennheiser HD595's.  Which one of these will work the best for me and also will my iPod be able to power them unamped?  I'm looking for sound quality and comfort the most, and I am not a bass head by and means but i do enjoy some bass just not so much that it overpowers the mid and highs.  Also are there any other recommendations in this price range?
 
Thanks

Get the 555 and take out that piece of foam in the cup, which effectively upgrades you into the 595.
 


Quote:

 
Hello all
 
So I'm on a new budget: $300. I greatly enjoy the sound of the Aviators, and I plan on buying a pair. I have a few questions though: Does anyone else have headphone suggestions? Does it need an amp? Will a $150 (preferably cheaper) amp affect the sound too much? If so, what amps do you guys recommend? I currently use my iPhone 3GS and my new laptop as media sources, and on occasion use my Cmoy amp in between with my Sony XB 500s.
 
Thanks 

 
It doesn't really need an amp... I would take that money and put it towards a higher end pair of headphones (or a second set with a different sound signature just to cover more bases).
 
 


Quote:

The only problem is that I've heard the HD25-1-ii's are pretty tight around the head.  And, unfortunately, I have a slightly large head as it is.  Is there another headphones similar to the HD25-1-ii's that have good mids, good bass, good isolation, but aren't so tight around there?

I have a fairly wide head and the HD25-1-ii are fine on me, although they lack a horizontal axis to move, so they tend to pinch the top of my ears a bit (I have a very square head, those with normal round heads probably won't have this problem). The clamp is adjustable with how far you split the headband as well.
 
Isolation and clamping force tend to be closely related, so it's kind of inevitable. The most comfortable supraaural I've tried is the B&W P5.

 

[Stitch]

meh, posted in wrong thread

 

[gab840]

 

HI All.....I own XonarDX Soundcard and Sony's MDRXD-100 Headphones.

My Preferrenced used for headphones:

Hardcore Gamer(FPS,RPG,Action,Adventure singleplayers) I love being immersed in games by sound so sound/directive/positional sound (& gun-fire/explosions should be felt/shake)as well as music in gaming are of Utmost imp.  (Infact I ambuying a new headsets for gaming only & was going for a 5.1headsets but heard frm this site that there are other headsets that provides better quality than 5.1 gaming headsets both in terms of sound/music quality as well as direction and positional sound)


I dont have much knowledge of being an audiophile and technical terms but I want to listen Music-all Genres(another imp. preference) and watch movies in highest quality possbile HD-audio etc. So would like to have an all-round headphones which could blow mind in gaming through 5.1 sound and also in music and movies.

Another thing, Are headphones better than speakers and can they provide that bass/impact of guns bombs/missiles exploding in games movies so that you can feel.

My budget is around 100-200$ 

And how good are these sony's xd100 headphones I am using compared to which u all are going to tell .
​

 

[gelogelo2165]

I listen to punk/punk-pop.
i need help 
any suggestions ?

 

[smokeweed420]

hey guys im after some headphones in the 1-200 dollar range, i listen to 95% hiphop, 5% reggae.
 
for use on an IPOD classic pretty much exclusively
 
prefer ones that sit on ear rather than completely covering although am open to suggestions
 
thanks! awesome forum