[sgt deacon]

Quote:

Given your stated preferences, the stock M50 is an odd choice.  It has a fixed cord.  It features a "V" shaped EQ that emphasizes bass and gives you recessed mids.
 
On the other hand the Shure SRH 840 has a detachable cord and a more balanced sound signature.
 
The KRK KNS 8400 is even closer to neutral and has a detachable cord as well.  It is better than both the M50 and the Shure for portable use.
 
I have not heard the NVX.
 
The HM5 is OK and comes with a nice kit, but is inferior to both the Shure and KNS in terms of sound quality (I find it a bit muffled and boring).  It is also very big.

 
I'm not terribly concerned with portability, in that would you recommend the Shure or KNS?
 
Additionally I figured I would explain my line of thinking involving look for a neutral sound:
I figure that if I buy neutral headphones I can just use an EQ on my computer, whereas if I buy something with a bass boost or that sounds more bassy I am stuck with that. Is this the wrong way of looking at it or am I on the right track? I'm not terribly experienced with the upper tier of headphones, so I am making a pretty good bit of assumptions.
 
If this is the wrong way of thinking about it let me know and I will reassess my options.
 
I'll be using these headphones for music (rock, metal, etc...) and gaming
 
Thanks for your help so far.
 
EDIT: Also what is the difference between the Shure SRH440 and Shure SRH840? One thing I don't like about the Shure's is that the cables for each headphone is exposed, does anyone know if wear and tear is a big issue on this part?

 

[KG Jag]

Quote:

 
I'm not terribly concerned with portability, in that would you recommend the Shure or KNS?
 
Additionally I figured I would explain my line of thinking involving look for a neutral sound:
I figure that if I buy neutral headphones I can just use an EQ on my computer, whereas if I buy something with a bass boost or that sounds more bassy I am stuck with that. Is this the wrong way of looking at it or am I on the right track? I'm not terribly experienced with the upper tier of headphones, so I am making a pretty good bit of assumptions.
 
If this is the wrong way of thinking about it let me know and I will reassess my options.
 
I'll be using these headphones for music (rock, metal, etc...) and gaming
 
Thanks for your help so far.
 
EDIT: Also what is the difference between the Shure SRH440 and Shure SRH840? One thing I don't like about the Shure's is that the cables for each headphone is exposed, does anyone know if wear and tear is a big issue on this part?

I advise buying a quality headphone that is as close to your preferred sound signature as possible.  The Shure give you a mid bass hump with somewhat recessed highs.  The KRK is a brighter headphone that is closer to neutral.  Both have a bettter sound stage than the M50, but not nearly that of a good open design.
 
The 840 is simply better than the 440 (which is a decent can in its class) in virtually all respects from sound to comfort.  Whether the exposed wires are or not depends on how careless you are with them.  With reasonable use and storing them in their provided headphone bag, you should not have a problem.  On the other hand, if you toss them naked in you backpack and dump stuff on top of them that might catch the wire or pull them out by the wire, you may be asking for trouble.
 
BTW--these cans are clearly not in the upper tier of headphones.  They fall at the low end of mid-fi, a place where you began to find cans that sound very good.

 

[Humannequin]

I've posted the exact same thing here a few times before, but now that the Sennheiser Momentum is out, I'm wondering how well it suits my needs. So here it is again:
 
Hey! I'm looking for a good pair of closed over-ear headphones under $500. I listen to mostly hardcore/metal, but a lot of other genres as well and I listen on my 160GB iPod Classic (just AAC files), hopefully I'll be getting a Fiio E7 as an amp soon.
 
I currently have a pair of Sennheiser HD 558 and they're awesome! Just not good for on-the-go use seeing as their open, have a huge cable and bulky jack. So pretty much what I'm looking for is:
 
- Closed
- Over-ear
- Good for metal/hardcore
- Under $500
- Short cable
- Good for on-the-go
 
Thanks!
 
P.S. The new Sennheiser Momentum is looking AWESOME, any idea if they might suit my needs? Also been looking at the Denon AH-D600EM and Beyerdynamic T70 P. Of course, I'm open to any other suggestions.

 

[KG Jag]

Quote:

I've posted the exact same thing here a few times before, but now that the Sennheiser Momentum is out, I'm wondering how well it suits my needs. So here it is again:
 
Hey! I'm looking for a good pair of closed over-ear headphones under $500. I listen to mostly hardcore/metal, but a lot of other genres as well and I listen on my 160GB iPod Classic (just AAC files), hopefully I'll be getting a Fiio E7 as an amp soon.
 
I currently have a pair of Sennheiser HD 558 and they're awesome! Just not good for on-the-go use seeing as their open, have a huge cable and bulky jack. So pretty much what I'm looking for is:
 
- Closed
- Over-ear
- Good for metal/hardcore
- Under $500
- Short cable
- Good for on-the-go
 
Thanks!
 
P.S. The new Sennheiser Momentum is looking AWESOME, any idea if they might suit my needs? Also been looking at the Denon AH-D600EM and Beyerdynamic T70 P. Of course, I'm open to any other suggestions.

They have just started shipping and no one I know has yet heard or even seen them yet.  If you've read this thread, you probably know as much as about 99% of the folks here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/627587/sennheiser-momentum-review

 

[SoftE]

Hi guys I am looking for a recommendation of mainly cost effectiveness, AKG q701 vs Hifiman he-400
please note I listen to vinyl and a huge range of music from electronic to Jazz and everywhere in between. I don't listen to classical. I want a near enough neutral not monitor level neutral, they are purely for enjoyment of music. Comfort is always a plus, To add to cost effectiveness i have ABSOLUTELY no Headphone amp but i would love a headphone that loves tubes as much as I do "Tube Speaker reciever"
but yeah 1...2...3...GO
Many Thanks in Advance

 

[linuxid10t]

Quote:

Hi guys I am looking for a recommendation of mainly cost effectiveness, AKG q701 vs Hifiman he-400
please note I listen to vinyl and a huge range of music from electronic to Jazz and everywhere in between. I don't listen to classical. I want a near enough neutral not monitor level neutral, they are purely for enjoyment of music. Comfort is always a plus, To add to cost effectiveness i have ABSOLUTELY no Headphone amp but i would love a headphone that loves tubes as much as I do "Tube Speaker reciever"
but yeah 1...2...3...GO
Many Thanks in Advance

HE-400 pigtailed to a tube speaker amp?  Sounds pretty good to me

 

[Lorspeaker]

3...2...1......h...d....6....0....0

 

[SoftE]

I want to hear the full range of bass and feel where appropriate but by no means do I want it hammering me or throbbing more than the re-0 fully burnt in but in headphone format.

 

[Humannequin]

I've read that post and some of the people commenting seem to have them. Based on what they've said, I think they'd be good for me, just thought I'd post here and see what others say. Thanks for the response again haha.

 

[sgt deacon]

Quote:

I advise buying a quality headphone that is as close to your preferred sound signature as possible.  The Shure give you a mid bass hump with somewhat recessed highs.  The KRK is a brighter headphone that is closer to neutral.  Both have a bettter sound stage than the M50, but not nearly that of a good open design.
 
The 840 is simply better than the 440 (which is a decent can in its class) in virtually all respects from sound to comfort.  Whether the exposed wires are or not depends on how careless you are with them.  With reasonable use and storing them in their provided headphone bag, you should not have a problem.  On the other hand, if you toss them naked in you backpack and dump stuff on top of them that might catch the wire or pull them out by the wire, you may be asking for trouble.
 
BTW--these cans are clearly not in the upper tier of headphones.  They fall at the low end of mid-fi, a place where you began to find cans that sound very good.

 


Ok, I'll probably end up doing the Shure 880 then, thanks.
 
When I said upper tier I was referring to anything as above my current $30 headphones as 'upper tier', which I realize is not technically correct.

 

[Mikael109]

I'm happy with the amount of bass from my AKG K240 MKII's but looking for something that'll benefit a little more from amping in the future.. and maybe a little more mid-range as well.
 
I'm stuck between the DT880 and DT990 (both would be premium, and both would be 250/600ohm)
 
I'm afraid the 880's may have less bass response than my K240's seeing as they're so linear, but the 990's might be lacking too much in the mid-range.
 
Also, how is the "open-ness" of the 880? I don't care about sound leakage or isolation.. I just like how my K240's don't fatigue my ears after a short period of time.
 
I listen to EBM, death metal, and goth.. but I'm mainly looking for a comparison of these vs the K240's as I'm happy with them for the type of music I listen to.. just looking for something a little more.

 

[NujaBlessed]

Quote:

I'm happy with the amount of bass from my AKG K240 MKII's but looking for something that'll benefit a little more from amping in the future.. and maybe a little more mid-range as well.
 
I'm stuck between the DT880 and DT990 (both would be premium, and both would be 250/600ohm)
 
I'm afraid the 880's may have less bass response than my K240's seeing as they're so linear, but the 990's might be lacking too much in the mid-range.
 
Also, how is the "open-ness" of the 880? I don't care about sound leakage or isolation.. I just like how my K240's don't fatigue my ears after a short period of time.
 
I listen to EBM, death metal, and goth.. but I'm mainly looking for a comparison of these vs the K240's as I'm happy with them for the type of music I listen to.. just looking for something a little more.

 


I own the DT880 250 ohms, and i have to say, they're pretty non-fatiguing but you should have a warm sounding amp or dac because the 880's  are a little bright, the bass has nice texture, but lacks a little bit of quantity imo. The 880 is 30% open, however it sounds far more open than that, there is airyness in the instruments and the soundstage is above average.
the sound signature is optimal for rock, metal, and jazz because the soundstage is great for intimacy. do note though that the 600 ohm version cannot be driven without an amp at all.  and if you were to get an amp with it, something warm will have great synergy with it.
tl;dr
you would typically want warm components
600 ohm NEEDS amp
good for metal, rock and jazz
good soundstage and definitely open sounding

 

[NujaBlessed]

Quote:

Hi guys I am looking for a recommendation of mainly cost effectiveness, AKG q701 vs Hifiman he-400
please note I listen to vinyl and a huge range of music from electronic to Jazz and everywhere in between. I don't listen to classical. I want a near enough neutral not monitor level neutral, they are purely for enjoyment of music. Comfort is always a plus, To add to cost effectiveness i have ABSOLUTELY no Headphone amp but i would love a headphone that loves tubes as much as I do "Tube Speaker reciever"
but yeah 1...2...3...GO
Many Thanks in Advance

 

He-400 would probably be your best bet. Q701 always sounds too thin for me, minimal bass quantity and okay bass quality as well as being a bit bright. i auditioned the HE-400 and HE-500 like 9 months ago, from what i can recollect, the HE-500 was very neutral with a very smooth midrange that makes it a very enjoyable and non-fatiguing listening experience (and i would assume the HE-400 to be very similar). But, i would suggest you audition both for yourself, my choice could very well have to do with my sonic preferences.

 

[Mikael109]

 


I own the DT880 250 ohms, and i have to say, they're pretty non-fatiguing but you should have a warm sounding amp or dac because the 880's  are a little bright, the bass has nice texture, but lacks a little bit of quantity imo. The 880 is 30% open, however it sounds far more open than that, there is airyness in the instruments and the soundstage is above average.
the sound signature is optimal for rock, metal, and jazz because the soundstage is great for intimacy. do note though that the 600 ohm version cannot be driven without an amp at all.  and if you were to get an amp with it, something warm will have great synergy with it.
tl;dr
you would typically want warm components
600 ohm NEEDS amp
good for metal, rock and jazz
good soundstage and definitely open sounding
 

 
 
Just what I was looking for, thanks for taking the time to go over everything.
 
I have a diy project amp and dac coming up so I was planning on upgrading headphones at that point as well. It's going to be a hybrid tube amp.. so it's not running off 240V, but I think it should still have enough gain to drive the 600ohm version.

 

[Doc-holliday]

Not really a recommendation question, but I just ordered DT770 Premium 250ohms from a guy for 180 bucks shipped. Only did it right now because I felt I was getting a steal. Can anyone else make me feel better and tell me I had to do it because the price was so low? They are in "excellent" condition with no case.

Sorry to be off topic but I figure enough DT770 premium owners look here to answer me. Thanx.