[Jan Roman]

Hello again. I am still trying to figure out what source I should choose. I have Beyerdynamic DT880/250 and Cambridge Audio 540A-B amplifier. I am looking for a good cheap CD player with integrated DAC. I would be happy if it could be sub 100$ mark, but feel free to suggest anything up to 300$. I would like to see these things - it has to be able to read CDs and DVDs and it should have a remote control (but I can survive without it). Suggestions? Price wins over quality here.

 

[linuxid10t]

Quote:

 
I'm still very very new to the high performance headphone world, hence, I'm not sure how an amp would work. I do know it's something that vastly improves the sound quality coming from a source. 
My current source is a 4th generation iPod Touch. I stand to be corrected, but amps can hook up to iPods and the headphones can hook up to the amp, right? 
My music files are mostly 320kbps, though there are a few tracks here and there that are 256, 192, or even several that are 128kbps. 
 
I was actually planning on purchasing the D2000s until I found they were no longer available by searching the Denon website. There, I found the D600s.
 
Yes, I've been using my new Bose sets for the past few days. The bass is a little muddy I think, and I certainly wouldn't call the sound quality amazing. They are good, probably not worthy of all the bashing that's true, but they are not exceptional. I was expecting to be blown away by clarity and precision of sound for a $300 headphone, but instead, it sounded about as good as my UE IEMs. I can confirm that the QC15s are about a whole level better than the Beats Studios. I tried them both at the store, and all I got from the Beats was a tidal wave of bass and the clarity of a Skullcandy IEM. The Beats' sound quality to price ratio is much lower than the Bose's. Studios are worth no more than $80.
 
My question now is if the D600s will have enough bass to satisfy my basshead leanings. How would you compare the power of the bass of the D600 (or D2000s) to that of the Bose offerings, or even the Studios? I'm not talking about clarity and punch and stuff, there's no comparison there, but I'm wondering about the power, the thump - will they have comparable power when called for?
 
Thanks! 
Empire

If you are just using an iPod you should also take a look at the Denon D1100.  They are a bit lower end, but can be played very well without an amp.  They are quite bassy, and I doubt that you could ever want more bass than they could give you.  Best of all, they DO have the thump
Quote:

Hello again. I am still trying to figure out what source I should choose. I have Beyerdynamic DT880/250 and Cambridge Audio 540A-B amplifier. I am looking for a good cheap CD player with integrated DAC. I would be happy if it could be sub 100$ mark, but feel free to suggest anything up to 300$. I would like to see these things - it has to be able to read CDs and DVDs and it should have a remote control (but I can survive without it). Suggestions? Price wins over quality here.

People here are getting redirected from this thread for asking about IEMs.  Sources really don't belong in this thread.

 

[Empire1]

If you are just using an iPod you should also take a look at the Denon D1100.  They are a bit lower end, but can be played very well without an amp.  They are quite bassy, and I doubt that you could ever want more bass than they could give you.  Best of all, they DO have the thump

Hm interesting. I will look into that model. Would you say the D600s and D2000s have significantly less bass than of the QC15 (the two Denons are marketed as flat, after all)?

 

[linuxid10t]

Quote:

Hm interesting. I will look into that model. Would you say the D600s and D2000s have significantly less bass than of the QC15 (the two Denons are marketed as flat, after all)?

Sorry, I haven't really gotten around to hearing them.  The D600 is very new and not a lot of people have even touched them yet.  Anyways, most companies market their audiophile phones as "flat" and it doesn't necessarily have any baring on how it actually sounds.  Anyway, if anyone would like to second me here, as a basshead it is pretty hard to go wrong with Denons.  All that being said, now is actually a pretty awful time to be buying a Denon, since they discontinued their old line and all, prices are through the roof.

 

[Empire1]

Sorry, I haven't really gotten around to hearing them.  The D600 is very new and not a lot of people have even touched them yet.  Anyways, most companies market their audiophile phones as "flat" and it doesn't necessarily have any baring on how it actually sounds.  Anyway, if anyone would like to second me here, as a basshead it is pretty hard to go wrong with Denons.  All that being said, now is actually a pretty awful time to be buying a Denon, since they discontinued their old line and all, prices are through the roof.

Fortunately, price is not an issue for me. My family is giving the pair to me as a gift.

Anyways, now my question is will I really hear a significant, huge difference in sound between the D600/D2000s and the QuietComfort15s?

And also what about an amp? Can I just source it simply from my iTouch?

 

[SV650]

Quote:

Ok, the first thing I would say is cross the Pro 900 off of your list. It is great for EDM, but is not the best choice for an all-rounder. The Pro 750 wouldn't be a bad choice if you want that Ultrasone bass kick but with more balance.
 
I currently own the Denon D5000, so I can speak to the D2000 sound signature. They will have a slight recess in the mids but give a nice full bass that goes quite low. I think this is a very good choice for an all around type of headphone, and it won't require an amp to drive it either. Something to note though is that it is not very good at isolating, especially for a closed phone. I don't find leakage to be too bad though, which seems to be more of your concern.
 
I used to have the Shure SRH940. The 940 have amazon sound, with detail that raival cans up to the $1000 range. Some find their bass to be lacking, but I never had any complaints while I was running it through my FiiO E7/E9 (I also did not expect great impact on the low end, as I did not purchase them to use on bass heavy genres like dubstep or hip-hop). These were absolutely wonderful and they come with spare earpads, 2 cables and a case. The only downside, and the reason I sold them was due to the discomfort of the headband. I found that the bumps would put pressure and after about 30 minutes I would have to adjust it to relieve my aching head. However, sometimes I would get it just right and was able to wear these during all night study sessions (6-7 hours with occasional, quick breaks). If I had found a solution I would have kept these. I don't know if this affects everyone as much as me, but it is something to consider based upon how long you will be usually wearing them.

 
Slight recess in the mids, not the best at isolating...  the Denons do sound like fantastic headphones, but maybe not for my purposes.  I wonder if the D600 is at all different from the D2000/D5000 in either regard?
 
The Shure SRH940 is looking like a fantastic deal at $240.  Hard to predict what long-session comfort will be like though...  can't exactly spend all day with them on my head in J&R.
 
Anyway, thanks for the help!

 

[linuxid10t]

Fortunately, price is not an issue for me. My family is giving the pair to me as a gift.
Anyways, now my question is will I really hear a significant, huge difference in sound between the D600/D2000s and the QuietComfort15s?
And also what about an amp? Can I just source it simply from my iTouch?

You will definitely see a large jump in performance. You can use an iPod, but you will see an improvement with amping.

 

[Gekkk]

So I think I'm going to end up buying the dt-770 as my first nice set of headphones . I'm going to be using them to listen to hip-hop, rap, rock, metal, dub-step, a heap of stuff as well as gaming. Due to the fact that they will also be used for gaming I am thinking of going with the mixamp from astro due to the surround sound which is needed for location in gaming. I'm just wondering if the mixamp is good for using with music? or are they purely for gaming and offer little for music? All gaming/music will be done through my bootcamped Macbook Pro.
 
Any help would be great , thanks.

 

[Empire1]

You will definitely see a large jump in performance. You can use an iPod, but you will see an improvement with amping.

Okay I'm going to ask a completely amateurish question - is there a crash course thread for what amps are?

I'm still not sure what they exactly are or how they work.
And also, what kind of amp would you recommend to me if I used the Denons?

 

[MarcoGV]

Quote:

Hi all, been lurking on this forum for a week trying to narrow down what headphones to buy, but of course the more I read the harder it gets...  and the more I realize I'm going to spend.
 
Here's where I am, would love to hear your opinions, particularly from people who have heard multiple headphones on this list and can compare them.  
 
Thanks in advance!
 
Goals:
-Budget of $500
-Must be closed-back, so as not to disturb others in the same room (sadly this disqualifies the easy recommendation of HE-400 or HD650)
-SQ is top concern
-Don't really care about portability
-Will run these off the desktop for now, but eventually want to set them up to work with my phone, currently a Galaxy S2 which sounds AWFUL, so I realize I may have to upgrade to either a GS3 or iPhone to be able to bypass internal DAC...
 
The Contenders:
 
 

HP	Price	Notes
Shure SRH940	239.95	Flat response, high detail, monitor-like, comes with hard case, can I spend more of my budget to get better SQ?
Denon AH-D600	499.00	Looks awesome, but selling for MSRP now, will these drop back to $400?
Denon AH-D2000	389.99	Discontinued but still available, better to wait until D600 can be had for $400 again?
Denon AH-D5000	559.99	Also discontinued but available, are they really worth more than 2x the cost of the SRH940?
Beyerdynamic T 70	495.33	Strong contender, but are these for bass-heads?  What's the deal with T70 vs T70p?  I don't think I really "get" impedance
AKG K550	299.00	Another strong contender, but are they outclassed by the more expensive <500 options here?
Ultrasone PRO 900	327.95	Probably for bass-heads but very well reviewed
Audio Technica ATH-W1000X	527.66	Not sure I want my one pair of do-it-all HPs to be made of wood and therefore "unique" sounding

 
 
All opinions welcome!

If you are not a bass-head and you like classical music, you may like to replace the Ultrasone PRO 900 with the Ortofon O-one.

 

[k0r3andud3]

I couldn't read this entire thread, so I'll just explain my situation here. 
 
I was recently exposed to the world of serious audio - I had bought into the Bose marketing and purchased a pair of QC15's about four years ago. I thought they were incredible, until I recently heard some Grado SR80i's at the local electronics store. The difference was day and night - so here I am. 
 
I plan on selling my Bose headset for about $260-280, as they are in like-new condition and already broken in (1,000 hours+). With these proceeds, I plan on buying some hi-fi quality headphones and an amp to drive it. 
 
My audio sources include an iPod Video (30GB, 5th Gen), Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and MacBook Pro (2011) which play 44KHz 1411kbps AIFF files. 
 
What are the best amp/DAC + headphones combo that I can get for approximately $300? I plan on using them at home, so open air headphones are OK. However, I would prefer for the DAC/amp to be battery powered. 
 
Sound quality is more important to me than trivialities such as comfort. 
 
Thanks for the help everyone! 

 

[Empire1]

I couldn't read this entire thread, so I'll just explain my situation here. 

I was recently exposed to the world of serious audio - I had bought into the Bose marketing and purchased a pair of QC15's about four years ago. I thought they were incredible, until I recently heard some Grado SR80i's at the local electronics store. The difference was day and night - so here I am. 

I plan on selling my Bose headset for about $260-280, as they are in like-new condition and already broken in (1,000 hours+). With these proceeds, I plan on buying some hi-fi quality headphones and an amp to drive it. 

My audio sources include an iPod Video (30GB, 5th Gen), Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and MacBook Pro (2011) which play 44KHz 1411kbps AIFF files. 

What are the best amp/DAC + headphones combo that I can get for approximately $300? I plan on using them at home, so open air headphones are OK. However, I would prefer for the DAC/amp to be battery powered. 

Sound quality is more important to me than trivialities such as comfort. 

Thanks for the help everyone! 

Just a heads up, I doubt you'll be able to sell the Bose for that high. New Bose QC15 sets cost $299 right now on Amazon.

 

[HamilcarBarca]

Quote:

Okay I'm going to ask a completely amateurish question - is there a crash course thread for what amps are?

 
Amplifier

 

[xLoRdZziNx]

Hey! I'm looking for a headphone to play cs 1.6 and for eletronics. I've one Ozone Oxid Closed Headset, with the subwoofer on, i can hear anything around me on cs1.6, with the Audio Technica will i hear too?? Sorry the English, i'm brazilian guy .

 

[dragonxx21]

Shure 840 vs TBSE1 vs DJ100's in terms of comfort, portability, and SQ. Any thoughts?