Quote:
Your best choice from this group is the CAL! While it's not really neutral, it has a balanced and natural sound. The CAL! is far from basshead territory.
The Superlux is an excellent can for money, but it has that bright spike.
The bass on both is good--better than average--for a balanced can the under $100 segment.
So I've been lurking for a while recently, and thought I might as well join up and ask a few questions.
I'm finishing up grad school, and thought that I could use a pair of fullsize over ear headphones. I started doing lots of research, and have come up with a list of some cans that sound like they over really good value. The problem is that sometimes reviews are conflicting, or they aren't compared to each other.
My uses:
These will be used almost exclusively at home (use Brainwavz M1 IEM for carrying around to campus and work). I've been listening to mostly electronica lately (pandora... I don't own much music at all). I'll be listening to music on them when I don't want to disturb my wife (in the other room though), and I game a fair amount, but not competitively at all (starcraft 2, skyrim, portal 2, etc). So I'm not worried about the soundstage being as big as possible, but I don't want them to be flat and terrible.
Preferences/background:
I do know that I like the sound of my brainwavz, and that I DON"T like the sound of the koss porta pro (tried buddies, they sounded muddy and thick to me in the bass). In my home theater system I prefer the smoother highs of silk dome tweeters to klipsh style horns, and I like the sound of my denon hooked up to my polk audio RTI's. I listen to music for fun, not to analyze it (I don't produce, edit, or even play any instruments), but I like to think that I like flat response curves (because I know I don't like the porta pros or home theater systems with muddy bass).
I will be running these on my home computer off of a Fiio E10. Most of these don't appear to need amping, but I've been using the Fiio for almost a year as a DAC to my 2.0 computer setup so I already have this.
I have looked at I think almost the entire spectrum of headphones, but think I've narrowed it down to a few.
Superlux HD668B: I think these are the first cans that I heard referred to as "giant killers". Most of the reviews say they're great, but occasionally you find people who hate how bright they are in the high end. And according to the reviews, these might be more comfortable than the SR850, or maybe they're not. It appears to depend on who you ask. Same thing about the bass. Some people say they have none, some say they are great.
Samson SR850: I understand that these are essentially the same as the 668b (32ohm, non detachable cable, maybe a bit more clamping force. Is that about right?). Any reason why I should look at these above the 668b?
Creative Aurvana Live: These are at the VERY VERY top of my budget. I was originally thinking $50 for the SR850's, then found those were usually closer to $60, so the $75 for the CAL is the most I can spend. These are closed cans, so I understand that they'll likely have a smaller soundstage, and probably more bass, but all of the reviews state that they are pretty good. I hear that these are much more comfortable, and one of the most comfortable cans out there. I know these are rebadged foster OEM's (Denon 1001 IIRC), but not really how they compare to the 668b.
Mostly I'm wanting peoples opinions on how the superlux compares to the CAL. Is the bass overpowering on the CAL? Are the highs on the superlux actually that piercing? Do the superlux cans actually have decent bass? Are either of these headphones responses really very "flat"? Which one would you guys choose if you were me?
Thanks for any help anyone can give me. I've been feeling a bit lost lately .
Your best choice from this group is the CAL! While it's not really neutral, it has a balanced and natural sound. The CAL! is far from basshead territory.
The Superlux is an excellent can for money, but it has that bright spike.
The bass on both is good--better than average--for a balanced can the under $100 segment.