[do2puff]

Quote:

 
The HD439 is a great choice at the $100 price point. Its what I would choose at $100 and our tastes in music are very similar. I haven't listened to them myself but they seem like a great buy based on things I've heard around here and the fact that I've been very happy with every Sennheiser I've tried.
 
Great to see another Wye Oak fan.
 
Checkout astroid's review of the 439 here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/614516/sennheiser-hd439-review

Wye Oak! they're awesome
thx for the review, def gave me some insight on the 439's!
seeing that we both have similar (awesome) tastes in music, do you agree that mid's and high's are more important than bass? just curious on how you'd see it.
 
Quote:

 
KRK KNS 8400, Sony MDR 7510 or MDR V900HD.

will do some research on these - thx! would you recommend an amp with these?

 

[BullHorn]

Still for a pair of headphones and still can't decide. I've narrowed down all the recommendations.
 
1) Circumaural
2) Closed/Semi-closed
3) Can be driven without an amp
4) Fit for reference/tracking/recording
5) Relatively comfortable
6) Under $300.
 
Currently, what I have my eyes on are: 
 
Audio Technica ATH-A900X
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (80ohm version)
 
I'm still getting some Sennheiser and Sony recommendations.....

 

[KG Jag]

Quote:

Wye Oak! they're awesome
thx for the review, def gave me some insight on the 439's!
seeing that we both have similar (awesome) tastes in music, do you agree that mid's and high's are more important than bass? just curious on how you'd see it.
 
will do some research on these - thx! would you recommend an amp with these?

 
An amp isn't normally needed for any of these, but as a rule a little boost can't hurt.

 

[devhen]

Quote:

Wye Oak! they're awesome
thx for the review, def gave me some insight on the 439's!
seeing that we both have similar (awesome) tastes in music, do you agree that mid's and high's are more important than bass? just curious on how you'd see it.
 
will do some research on these - thx! would you recommend an amp with these?

 
Are mids and highs more important to me than bass? Hmmm... mostly yes but partly no. It depends on what genres I'm listening to at the moment. I have the HD600 which are mid-centric cans as well as the DT770 which are bass-centric cans (but also have emphasized highs). For the majority of my music (Radiohead, Portishead, Placebo, Sigur Ros, etc [sorry I have a hard time categorizing my music into genres but those are some of my favorite bands]) the HD600s are absolutely perfect IMO. The forward mids and the lack of extreme bass or strident highs is perfect. On the other hand, for some of the electronic music that I have been getting into recently (Radiohead TKOL remixes, Modeselektor, Terranova, etc) the DT770s are perfect and the HD600s just don't have enough bass (at least not enough sub-bass) to quite do them justice. So for me the two headphones compliment each other wonderfully. One of the unfortunate things about headphones is that its hard, if not impossible, to find a headphone that is great for all of the genres you listen to. Its pretty easy to find headphones that are great for some of your genres however, and there are some that are good with multiple genres, just not great.
 
Having said that... the HD439, according to its FR graphs and the things I've heard from head-fi'ers, has more bass than the HD600 and especially more sub-bass while having a similar overall sound. So it might actually work quite well for both your alternative/indie/whatever genres (Wye Oak, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros) but also have enough bass to work well with your electronic genres. It seems like a great all-around choice for people with a similar taste in music to mine. I just wish I could come up with an excuse to buy the 439s myself and give them a try first hand but I just have no use for them and I have other things I need to spend my money on. But my educated guess is that you would be quite happy with the 439s and that they would be an excellent entry point into the audiophile world, in the $100 price range.
 
KG Jag can answer your question regarding amping the KRK KNS 8400, Sony MDR 7510 and MDR V900HD. I don't have any experience with those cans.
 
Good luck. It will probably take a while of researching and asking questions but I'm sure you'll end up deciding on some great cans. You'll be glad you did and you'll probably end up getting sucked into the hobby like the rest of us, so.... sorry about your wallet.

 

[do2puff]

alright! thanks so much for your help i'll do a little more research on these and the others, but the 439's are probs no.1 on my list right now.
highly likely i will spend $$$$'s on headphones in the future... sigh.
Quote:

 
Are mids and highs more important to me than bass? Hmmm... mostly yes but partly no. It depends on what genres I'm listening to at the moment. I have the HD600 which are mid-centric cans as well as the DT770 which are bass-centric cans (but also have emphasized highs). For the majority of my music (Radiohead, Portishead, Placebo, Sigur Ros, etc [sorry I have a hard time categorizing my music into genres but those are some of my favorite bands]) the HD600s are absolutely perfect IMO. The forward mids and the lack of extreme bass or strident highs is perfect. On the other hand, for some of the electronic music that I have been getting into recently (Radiohead TKOL remixes, Modeselektor, Terranova, etc) the DT770s are perfect and the HD600s just don't have enough bass (at least not enough sub-bass) to quite do them justice. So for me the two headphones compliment each other wonderfully. One of the unfortunate things about headphones is that its hard, if not impossible, to find a headphone that is great for all of the genres you listen to. Its pretty easy to find headphones that are great for some of your genres however, and there are some that are good with multiple genres, just not great.
 
Having said that... the HD439, according to its FR graphs and the things I've heard from head-fi'ers, has more bass than the HD600 and especially more sub-bass while having a similar overall sound. So it might actually work quite well for both your alternative/indie/whatever genres (Wye Oak, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros) but also have enough bass to work well with your electronic genres. It seems like a great all-around choice for people with a similar taste in music to mine. I just wish I could come up with an excuse to buy the 439s myself and give them a try first hand but I just have no use for them and I have other things I need to spend my money on. But my educated guess is that you would be quite happy with the 439s and that they would be an excellent entry point into the audiophile world, in the $100 price range.
 
KG Jag can answer your question regarding amping the KRK KNS 8400, Sony MDR 7510 and MDR V900HD. I don't have any experience with those cans.
 
Good luck. It will probably take a while of researching and asking questions but I'm sure you'll end up deciding on some great cans. You'll be glad you did and you'll probably end up getting sucked into the hobby like the rest of us, so.... sorry about your wallet.

 

[Lorspeaker]

Philips uptown is circumaural...With memory foam is super comfy.. Blocks out external sound v well.
The cal! Doesn't isolate as well.

 

[KG Jag]

Quote:

Philips uptown is circumaural...With memory foam is super comfy.. Blocks out external sound v well.
The cal! Doesn't isolate as well.

 
In the $100 neighborhood my favorite for unamped portable use, especially where they may be knocked around a bit and/or shoved into a backpack, computer bag or carry on luggage, is the Sony MDR-ZX700.  They can be had through Amazon for $83 shipped.
 
Here's Tyll's review:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/sony-mdr-zx700

 

[devhen]

I've had on-ear headphones before (a rather poor Skullcandy pair), and didn't really have any irritation at all.  I have heard that over-ear headphones can cause ears to become hot/sweaty, though - thus the question.

This definitely can happen and it totally sucks IMO. This is why I avoid closed circumaural cans that have leather or pleather earpads. Then again, leather/pleather is more isolating than velour. Everything's a tradeoff but I almost always value comfort over isolation.

 

[lagittaja]

Hey fellow Head-Fi'ers, long time lurker first time poster here from Finland

I've been thinking about buying myself proper cans for so long to replace these horrid full-size Steelseries Siberia's

What I'm looking for are full-size and over-the-ear around(?)-the-ear open hp's.

For DAC/AMP I was thinking about the Audinst HUD-MX1 because I could use it for cans and then just flip the switch and have it act as a DAC/PREAMP for my Tripath based speaker amplifier.

I listen to all kinds of music so I'm looking for a decent all-rounder.
Just to name a few artists: Melody Gardot, Norah Jones, Pendulum, Machinae Supremacy, Disturbed, Volbeat, Sonata Arctica, Apocalyptica, Amorphis, Linkin Park, classical (Sibelius, Beethoven, Vivaldi), Foo Fighters, Chisu, Pink, System of a Down, Bob Dylan, Tiësto, Popeda, Maj Karma, Bobby McFerrin, Yölintu, Armin Van Buuren, Metallica, Billy Joel, Sting and much much more.

I'm not a basshead so head pounding, eardrum bleeding bass is not needed. If I know how to correctly say what kind of cans I want: neutral, clear highs, balanced mids compared to high/lows, lows would be LOW precise and just there nothing boomy or overpowering.

Budget for cans are 350€ max.
HD600's look nice and price is nice, 299.90€ here, but I read that they're calm and relaxed so I wonder if they're too relaxed for Machinae Supremacy, Tiësto and etcetera.
Although my listening with cans are mostly jazz like Melody Gardot, as in a lot of vocals with calm tempo, since if I'm in the mood for fast paced music loud I will just use my speakers LOL.

P.S. I hope I put this in the correct thread.

Sent from my Galaxy Note

E: I forgot to add that I'll probably order the cans from Verkkokauppa.com, a Finnish etailer.
List of HP's they have listed
But ordering from Amazon.de or Ebay.de etcetera is not impossibility, BUT inside EU.

 

[SonicScientist]

Ale
Also, how bassy are the Downtowns?  Are we talking about a bit of extra bass, or an extremely powerful bass that drowns out the rest of your music?

For my ears they are not bass-heavy. Maybe a slightly emphasized, but definitely not overpowered. It all comes down to fit and seal I guess, imo 'bass-light' fa-006 have awesome low end.

 

[bixby]

Quote:

You have some good points and I respect your preferences.  I can live with slightly anemic highs on the 840s especially when they mate so well with lots of entry level stuff that tends to be a bit peaky in the upper end to begin with.  I guess I just liked what they didn't do to the mids, to each his own.
 
I would like to listen to the Sony's some day.  I really liked the sound of the EDIT:  Sony 5000??? Sony R-10 that Ray Samuels let me hear at a few shows, just way out of my price league.

Sorry wasn't the Sony 5000 that I heard but rather the Sony R-10.  Rare beast and quite expensive I suppose.

 

[Slivortal]

Thanks for the help everyone! At the moment I feel that I'm kind of leaning to the Downtowns over the CAL!s. but just to be sure, neither of them need to be driven by an amp, do they? For the money and the hassle that an amp costs, it's just something I'd rather not deal with.

 

[jasta01]

what's best for house hiphop a lil bit or metal rock and alternative musics?
 
Sennheiser HD 205 or Superlux 661 or Superlux 631
 
any help?

 

[MarcoGV]

Quote:

 

I've had on-ear headphones before (a rather poor Skullcandy pair), and didn't really have any irritation at all.  I have heard that over-ear headphones can cause ears to become hot/sweaty, though - thus the question.

Your concern is reasonable.  I do not wear headphones for hours at a time, so others may be better judges.  Here are my current impressions.  Note that I wear glasses.  I find that some of my on-ear headphones are more comfortable than some of my over-ear headphones.  Maybe the worst are "largish" on-ears, such as the Beyerdynamic DT-235---they both keep my ears warm and press on them.  I am listening to classical music using them as I type this, and, while they are comfortable enough, they are less comfortable than, say, the Sennheiser HD-238, Philips SHL-5500, or Koss Portapro.  I find the over-ear Ortofon O-one more comfortable than the DT-235, but slightly less comfortable than the PortaPro.  I find the Fostex T50RP less comfortable than the Audio Technica AD-700, which I find less comfortable than the O-one.  All of these headphones are comfortable enough for a CD-length listening session. 

 

[BullHorn]

Let's say I'd raised my budget to $400 and wouldn't mind if I had to add an amp, what would you guys recommend me than?
 
Closed or semi-closed, for recording/tracking with great comfort.
 
Beyerdynamic DT 880 250ohm + a cheap FIIO amp? Or a DT 770? Or DT 990? ....too much choice.