[AndrewM56]

I'm looking at getting some new headphones ($300 and under range, willing to look into used also) to pair with an Audio GD NFB-12. I listen to mostly dub step and hip hop, and will also be using them for gaming and occasionally to watch tv/movies. Around 60% music 20% gaming 20% tv. Doesn't really matter if open or closed but since I would be using them for long sessions I think open would be preferable. What do you guys think?

 

[Donut]

Quote:

 
While they generally like to have an amp behind them, consider a Beyerdynamic DT880. An Ultrasone HFi780 could also be an interesting option.
 

How much of a difference does an amp make with the DT880s? A quick look on Amazon reveals three different versions; I assume you refer to the 250 ohm edition. I ask because Amazon's website pairs it with a Fiio E7 [with a listed price of  USD 89 for a combo total of a touch over 300], and find myself wondering if it is worth it.
 
If it makes a difference, I do wear eyeglasses.

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

How much of a difference does an amp make with the DT880s? A quick look on Amazon reveals three different versions; I assume you refer to the 250 ohm edition. I ask because Amazon's website pairs it with a Fiio E7 [with a listed price of  USD 89 for a combo total of a touch over 300], and find myself wondering if it is worth it.
 
If it makes a difference, I do wear eyeglasses.

Amping gives you more headroom (mostly more voltage swing and better current supply), which means you can drive louder while remaining clean and undistorted. Even at low volumes it should in theory be better sounding by simply removing you from the computer's noisy power supply. That all said, the requirements for amping are generally overstated on these forums (the big Beyers and AKGs typically do though). You can just get the headphones to start and consider upgrading later. If you do, I wouldn't go with the e7. I would sooner spend a bit more money and get a heftier integrated card with headphone amp like the Xonar STX or similar.
 
The Sennheiser HD558/598 is also another good all rounder and doesn't need an amp.
 

 

[Donut]

Well, I've lived with onboard audio for quite some time, mostly because I haven't had any equipment to merit an upgrade. Asus Xonar Essence STX might be the ticket, though, especially if I decide on the Beyerdynamic DT880/250. It sounds like a plan....
 
Cripes. Every time I visit this website I wind up spending more money....

 

[mclldavidson]

My DT770's are dead, what are some good closed headphones to check out?  I am not a big headphone fanatic so I don't mind cheap.  I am currently using some 5 dollar JVC Marshmallows but want another over the ear.  I used to have some jvc hrx700s and liked them but they tore up as well.
 
I listen to rock(no metal), mainly older stuff from the 60-70's and more mellow rock.  I also like blues and classical

 

[R-Audiohead]

Quote:

 
HD448 dont really isolate that good even though they are closed, and their bass is not really that good.  I had HD438's, which are suppose to be more bass heavy version of 448, and even those are weaker in bass than my opened HD558's.
If your budget is 200 dollars, and you want something that would be usable without an amp, I think everyone here would agree that Audio Technica M50, Shure SRH840, Sennheiser HD25-1-II and Sennheiser HD380 are best choices if you want closed headphones with balanced and neutral sound, and great isolation. All of them will work nicely without amp as well.  However, if you really want a lot of bass, then go for Denon AH-D1100.
 

My perception of the HD448 was that it had more bass than the HD438, the 438 was just balanced differently to attempt exaggerated bass.  The mids in the HD448 are gorgeous for a sub $100 can, and while the bass didn't overly impress me it is certainly present in adequate quantity.  My only gripe really is that the bass could be tighter... especially unamped.  The recovery time is a little sluggish and it bloats the low end a little bit actually... giving it a little bit of a growl as opposed to a thump.  The bass is definitely there though, it is just backseated to everything else.
 
This is just one subjective opinion of someone who has spent a lot of time with the HD4x8.
HD448 > HD428 > HD438 IMO. 
 
I've been more and more intrigued by the HD380... might have to score myself a pair to try out and sell off one of my others if I like it...
 

 

[Snow Blind]

I'm looking for a dedicated movie and gaming set of cans for under $250 to pair with my Astro MixAmp 5.8 for 50% games 50% movies.  I have the AD700s for when I want to be a footstep-whore but i'm looking for something with more bass and fun factor.  The AD700s are very lacking when watching action movies.  I could care less about open vs closed... but I do want to keep a nice open/large soundstage as I play mostly FPS.  I was thinking of picking up the Panasonic HTS600-S too experiment with because of their low low price.  Any solid recommendations for nice, well built movie/game cans that have strong bass and enough of a soundstage and directional accuracy for FPSs?  If I could find a set of new 770 pro 80s i'd be tempted to try them out as they seem to be solid as all Beyers and have strong bass.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I'm looking for a dedicated movie and gaming set of cans for under $250 to pair with my Astro MixAmp 5.8 for 50% games 50% movies.  I have the AD700s for when I want to be a footstep-whore but i'm looking for something with more bass and fun factor.  The AD700s are very lacking when watching action movies.  I could care less about open vs closed... but I do want to keep a nice open/large soundstage as I play mostly FPS.  I was thinking of picking up the Panasonic HTS600-S too experiment with because of their low low price.  Any solid recommendations for nice, well built movie/game cans that have strong bass and enough of a soundstage and directional accuracy for FPSs?  If I could find a set of new 770 pro 80s i'd be tempted to try them out as they seem to be solid as all Beyers and have strong bass.

Sometimes Beyerdynamic U.S.A. will sell refurbished DT-770 Pro 80-Ohm on their eBay page "bd-usa".
 
 

 

[Snow Blind]

yeah i can never seem to find any on their EBay site.... must go quick.

 

[hislight]

Was wondering what would be some decent headphones for listening to
Acoustic/instrumental/smooth jazz , (see desu ex: HR soundtrack) I do listen to rock/hip hop/just about anything but my mainly Instrumental/acoustic music but like to be able to hear vocals when I listen to them.
Mainly I would be looking for something with good highs and clear mids. Not a basshead so prefer one where I don't have to greatly eq the bass down.
Normal uses would be on the bus walking round campus.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY would like something comfortable, I can deal with a little heat but if it feels like its trying to squash my head thats a minus *would be willing to break it in though*
Style No real preference
Price range <$250 preferably <$200
Durability is good too <3
While I do have SOME FLAC's most music will be in MP3's


Was looking at the 595's or the M50's
Suggestions?
 

 

[windwolf]

Hey!  I'm here because I hate Skullcandy.
 
Basically, I saw my friend's Lowriders here at college, and she said they had lasted her over a year.  My 3-year-old $10 headphones had just kicked the bucket, and I thought, "Well, I'll buy something good and pick up some extra-shifts at my part-time job."  I bought Skullcrushers.  About two weeks later, a different friend bought Sony MDR-7506s.  This worried me because I knew her dad is an engineer and not likely to pick a bad product.  Maybe a little dorky looking, but likely the better buy.  Sure enough two years later her cans are going strong.  I bought mine in March and they were dead in one side by May.  I fixed them.  Repeatedly.  In August I gave up and sent them in with a nasty gram.  In the time of lopsided listening and into waiting to hear back from the company, I found lying around campus every cheap 'phone in the campus store.  They all broke.  Of course, I don't know how many hours they all had.  Only the Sony clip-ons were at all better than the rest.  I even learned some of the included iPod 'phones were worse than other identical pairs.  I had payed only half-price for the Skullcrushers, but Skullcandy gave me full MSRP credit.
 
I decided not to trust another pair of Skullcrushers.  With that credit, I got a pair of Hesh cans, Lowriders, and Ink'd earbuds.  The Hesh were used mostly in my apartment with my guitar amp, to not disturb my roommates/others in the building, esp. at night, but I still had a tendency to pull them down onto my neck.  Eventually, the plastic itself snapped, again within a matter of months.  Nine months after getting them, the Lowriders began to have connection problems in the jack.  I switched to making them my at-home pair, but they leak like crazy and my new roommate gets rather grumpy because she sleeps at rather inconvenient hours for my schedule.  The Lowriders still function so long as I'm willing to fiddle, and eventually I'll probably do "surgery" on them.  I made the Ink'd earbuds my traveling choice, but at the beginning of September they also lost sound in one ear.  I'm now using a pair I found lying around campus by Panasonic, the kind that just sit in the ear like the ones that come with iPods.
 
Worth saying is that my MP3 player was a 4gb by Ativa with the jack on the side of the player (a sort of Nano ripoff) and I just bought a 16gb 4th gen Nano used.
 
The Skullcrushers weren't as clear as the MDR-7506s, but they were fun in an immature way, though every word in IGN's review is true.  The Hesh's were tinny next to those, followed by the Lowriders, followed by the Ink'd, then the Panasonics.   I bought a $30 pair of Ear Pollution since someone recommended them, but they just randomly stopped playing 2 weeks after purchase, a problem encountered by others according to the internet.  I'm now a DJ for the campus station, and the station uses MDR-V6s.  I found the V6s to be a bit flat, like most people say.  They aren't the most fun listening.  But they're built to last forever.  The person with the MDR-7506s just had a copycat stalker scare, and if I show up on campus with the 7506s, I'm afraid she'll have a breakdown, but it seems the V6s are better liked regardless.  On the other hand, I hear a lot about Audio Technica ATH-M50s on these boards, and Sennheiser 280 Pros, but they cost a little more, particularly the M50s.
 
I listen to prog rock and hard rock, and a mix of other genres like most, 320 kbs when I can get it, but my current phones can only distinguish between 128 and 320 by making the latter louder.  I do play games and watch movies using my headphones, mostly off my laptop, which only has a Realtek HD sound card.  My main reason for wanting full size cans is because no matter what it is I get stuck using, I'll use it sometimes eight hours or more a day.
 
I just want to enjoy cranking my music again.  When it's loud enough to drown out noisy neighbors, my roommates can't stand the leakage.  When it's in my ear and pounding, it hurts.  Eight hours of earbuds rubs ears raw.  And I hate it when I have to turn the volume down because that sung "s" or that snare drum is just too darned tinny!  Help?

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

Was wondering what would be some decent headphones for listening toAcoustic/instrumental/smooth jazz , (see desu ex: HR soundtrack) I do listen to rock/hip hop/just about anything but my mainly Instrumental/acoustic music but like to be able to hear vocals when I listen to them.
Mainly I would be looking for something with good highs and clear mids. Not a basshead so prefer one where I don't have to greatly eq the bass down.
Normal uses would be on the bus walking round campus.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY would like something comfortable, I can deal with a little heat but if it feels like its trying to squash my head thats a minus *would be willing to break it in though*
Style No real preference
Price range <$250 preferably <$200
Durability is good too <3
While I do have SOME FLAC's most music will be in MP3's
Was looking at the 595's or the M50'sSuggestions? 

 
these all have good isolation
Beyerdynamic T50p - treble focused, weak bass, very small and light, comfortable, very strong isolation
Shure 940 - balanced sound leaning to midhigh, strong isolation, big
Ultrasone HFi780 - balanced sound, also kinda big but folds better, good isolation
 
 


Quote:

Hey!  I'm here because I hate Skullcandy.
 
<snip>

Senn HD380 - very comfortable (once you stretch them a bit), excellent isolation, good build quality and comes with a case. They are essentially the upgraded version of the HD280.

 

[hislight]

Quote:

 
these all have good isolationBeyerdynamic T50p - treble focused, weak bass, very small and light, comfortable, very strong isolation
Shure 940 - balanced sound leaning to midhigh, strong isolation, big
Ultrasone HFi780 - balanced sound, also kinda big but folds better, good isolation
 
 
 

Cool the Shure and the Ultrasone look awesome. The Shure seems to have better reviews So I'm leaning toward that, what would you say are the diff between the two? The price point on the two are about 75 dollars different but from the reviews the Shures are being compared to the hd800 which AFAIK is considered a very top headphone and is $1500. Also I read somewhere a while back that there may be some problems with balance when only one can is corded and more problems when it is detachable, both of which are featured on the 940. Myth or concern? 
Does the quality of the 940's warrant the price jump from the ultrasones or the M50s? 

 

[miceblue]

Quote:

Cool the Shure and the Ultrasone look awesome. The Shure seems to have better reviews So I'm leaning toward that, what would you say are the diff between the two? The price point on the two are about 75 dollars different but from the reviews the Shures are being compared to the hd800 which AFAIK is considered a very top headphone and is $1500. Also I read somewhere a while back that there may be some problems with balance when only one can is corded and more problems when it is detachable, both of which are featured on the 940. Myth or concern? 
Does the quality of the 940's warrant the price jump from the ultrasones or the M50s? 

 
The Ultrasone headphones are known to be pretty bassy headphones. The Shure SRH940's are much lighter on the bass in response to having more transparent (clear) mids and highs. The 940's also come with 2 removable cables (1 coiled, 1 straight), a hard storage case, an extra set of removable velour ear pads, and a 6.3 mm (1/4 inch) adapter.

The Shures are more often compared to the AKG K701/2 headphones than the HD800 since the K701/2's offer a similar sound signature (but are open-back headphones rather than the 940's closed-back design), but yes, there are a few people who do compare the 940's to the HD800's. I haven't had a chance to do a direct comparison between the HD800's and the 940's.
 
I'm not sure what you mean by the myth or concern, could you explain that a little more? I haven't had any problems with the 940's 1-sided cord in terms of sound balance. Even with the cord on 1 side of he headphone, it doesn't affect the weight balance of the headphone too much for me (unless you pull on the cord really hard). The detachable cables are a nice feature if you want to store your headphones separate from your cables and have the cables free from extra strain.
 
I have tried the M50's and I would say the 940's are a huge improvement in terms of clarity and detailing. The 940's are much better at presenting vocals, piano, and guitars than the M50's from my experience. I only briefly listened to the HFI-780's, but from what I recall, they were pretty bassy with sharp highs (a little too sharp for my liking). Though the 940's do place an emphasis on the mids and highs, I feel like they handle the highs quite well for the most part (some instruments can sound harsh to my ears such as saxophones or some cymbals in poorly recorded tracks).
 
If you want more details about the 940's sound, I wrote a review, which can be located in my signature.
 
 
 

 

[hislight]

Quote:

 
The Ultrasone headphones are known to be pretty bassy headphones. The Shure SRH940's are much lighter on the bass in response to having more transparent (clear) mids and highs. The 940's also come with 2 removable cables (1 coiled, 1 straight), a hard storage case, an extra set of removable velour ear pads, and a 6.3 mm (1/4 inch) adapter.
The Shures are more often compared to the AKG K701/2 headphones than the HD800 since the K701/2's offer a similar sound signature (but are open-back headphones rather than the 940's closed-back design).
 
I'm not sure what you mean by the myth or concern, could you explain that a little more? I haven't had any problems with the 940's 1-sided cord in terms of sound balance. Even with the cord on 1 side of he headphone, it doesn't affect the weight balance of the headphone too much for me (unless you pull on the cord really hard). The detachable cables are a nice feature if you want to store your headphones separate from your cables and have the cables free from extra strain.
 
I have tried the M50's and I would say the 940's are a huge improvement in terms of clarity and detailing. I only briefly listened to the HFI-780's, but from what I recall, they were pretty bassy with sharp (a little too sharp for my liking) highs. If you like more bass, then the 940's are not the headphone for you since their lows are the quietest part of the sound spectrum.
 
If you want more details about the 940's sound, I wrote a review, which can be located in my signature.
 
 
 

Wow thanks for the reply color coded and everything  
The thing about the myth was that there were some people (I heard it somewhere never really followed up on it) say that when you have detachable cords/corded on one  side it would affect the longevity of the sound balance (one side's sound deteriorates more than the other) and that with the wear and tear of the detachable cord it reduces life as well. I know the product is decently new so I wouldn't expect you to know for this specific model but in general would that be something to worry about? Seeing as how you didn't get my question I don't think it seems like a real problem in general.
 
Edit: LOL I actually DID read your review on it earlier haha very helpful