[audiojun]

I would put you on the fostex t50rp planar magnetic headphones. they sound great and with a little modding it will be even better.

I'm looking to move away from IEMs cos I'm sick of them only lasting a few months at best. Build quality is important then. That and sound quality are probably the main things I'm looking for. I listen to a range of music so clarity with indie, ambient and post rock and beef with rock, dnb etc are important.
It'd probably only be used for listening through my iPod. Portability and isolation are pluses but not extreme priorities (preventing leakage is more important than blocking out outside noise. I'd rather not rely on amps and my budget is flexible but preferably sub £80~.

I've looked into the Sony MDR-V6s, Superlux HD668Bs and Audio Technica M50s although the latter is probably out of my price range. I guess it comes down to whether the slight (apparent) decrease in quality of the Sonys and its higher price tag is worth its strong build quality and superior isolation. And whether or not the superluxes need to be amped.

Thanks

 

[asxz]

Hi, I'm looking for a new headphone. I'm currently looking at Audio Techinca A900X, Sennheiser HD 650, and Mr. Speakers Mad Dogs. I mostly listen to K-pop, which one of these headphones would be best? I'm open to other suggestions as well.

 

[liquidzoo]

Hello,

I am looking for some advice on a new set of headphones, I’m not an audiophile but I do like good sound and am sure there is much room for improvement in my setup. I currently have a set of Razor Carcharias but the swivel mic is worn and won’t stay put any more and I hear crackles when the bass or volume is high.

I also find Razor Carcharias to be less comfortable than I would like, as while the ear cups are large enough for my ears the depth of the ear cups is too shallow which means that my ears rub against the mesh inside the cup and this gets very uncountable after an hour or so.

I have an ASUS Xonar D2X and would use the headphones for music (Mostly Trance, DnB & Dance) as well as gaming with VoIP and the occasional movie. I am aware that in order to get best headphone options I will have to give up the integrated mic, which I am OK with as I intend to get a, Antlion Mod Mic to compensate.

I was considering the Sennheiser HD598 as my first choice but have also been looking at:

• Sennheiser HD558
• Sennheiser PC360 (Unsure of the sound quality compared to the 598 and the 558, have read that the bass is poor)
• Beyerdynamic DT880 PRO  250 ohm (Unsure if my soundcard can drive these properly, and the design looks similar to the Carcharias so I may find them uncomfortable)
• Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO (slightly over budget)

I haven’t been able to find out much information on what impedance the Xonar D2X can drive and have also considered getting a headphone amp but don’t have enough experience to know whether it will make a big enough difference to justify it, I could really use a few recommendations on this, an external headphone amp seems the best course as replacing the D2X doesn’t seem cost effective.

I have a max budget of £200 for the headphones and for an amp I don’t even know where to begin but ideally I would like to spend as little as possible but try to avoid compromises if possible.

Any advice and recommendations that you can give would be much appreciated.

I would think the 990s would be less than the 880s, they are in the US (on Amazon, anyway) but take a look in the for sale section here. There's a pair there for sale (880s, that is).

Other than that, I'm not sure if your sound card has an amp. The DGX does, but it's only a 5.1 card.

I would say that the 558s are likely not what you're looking for.

For the 880s vs 990s, the 880s are more neutral and analytical where the 990s are warmer in sound with the most recessed mids of the Beyers (I've heard). It will depend on what type of sound you want.

 

[veyrongatti]

Quote:

Hi, I'm looking for a new headphone. I'm currently looking at Audio Techinca A900X, Sennheiser HD 650, and Mr. Speakers Mad Dogs. I mostly listen to K-pop, which one of these headphones would be best? I'm open to other suggestions as well.

ATH has great vocals and overall good for Kpop. Not sure about the other 2 though 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

Hello,
 
I am looking for some advice on a new set of headphones, I’m not an audiophile but I do like good sound and am sure there is much room for improvement in my setup. I currently have a set of Razor Carcharias but the swivel mic is worn and won’t stay put any more and I hear crackles when the bass or volume is high.
 
I also find Razor Carcharias to be less comfortable than I would like, as while the ear cups are large enough for my ears the depth of the ear cups is too shallow which means that my ears rub against the mesh inside the cup and this gets very uncountable after an hour or so.
 
I have an ASUS Xonar D2X and would use the headphones for music (Mostly Trance, DnB & Dance) as well as gaming with VoIP and the occasional movie. I am aware that in order to get best headphone options I will have to give up the integrated mic, which I am OK with as I intend to get a, Antlion Mod Mic to compensate.
 
I was considering the Sennheiser HD598 as my first choice but have also been looking at:
 

1. Sennheiser HD558
2. Sennheiser PC360 (Unsure of the sound quality compared to the 598 and the 558, have read that the bass is poor)
3. Beyerdynamic DT880 PRO  250 ohm (Unsure if my soundcard can drive these properly, and the design looks similar to the Carcharias so I may find them uncomfortable)
4. Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO (slightly over budget)

 
I haven’t been able to find out much information on what impedance the Xonar D2X can drive and have also considered getting a headphone amp but don’t have enough experience to know whether it will make a big enough difference to justify it, I could really use a few recommendations on this, an external headphone amp seems the best course as replacing the D2X doesn’t seem cost effective.
 
I have a max budget of £200 for the headphones and for an amp I don’t even know where to begin but ideally I would like to spend as little as possible but try to avoid compromises if possible.
 
Any advice and recommendations that you can give would be much appreciated.

 
 
Any of these headphones will be an out of this world improvement over your Razers, which are pretty bad even as far as gaming headphones are considered,  so you should not worry about that part. IMHO, you should go for the HD558 if you're not going to use an amp, because Beyers will not be properly powered out of your D2X.  Sennheisers wont be at their full potential either, but at least they will be close. My opinion is you should go for HD558's instead of HD598's, because the difference between it and 598's is very small, and I think you'd definitely prefer the sound signature of 558's, since 598's are pretty bass light and not as good for gaming. For the money saved you could buy some entry level headphone amp, such as Pro-ject Headbox S for 90 pounds, which will power these headphones perfectly fine and sound good too. 
Or you could simply replace the D2X for an Asus ST or STX, and not worry about amps anymore.

 

[AnarchistFish]

I would put you on the fostex t50rp planar magnetic headphones. they sound great and with a little modding it will be even better.

they look out of my price range tbh

 

[Cedmo8]

Quote:

 
 
Any of these headphones will be an out of this world improvement over your Razers, which are pretty bad even as far as gaming headphones are considered,  so you should not worry about that part. IMHO, you should go for the HD558 if you're not going to use an amp, because Beyers will not be properly powered out of your D2X.  Sennheisers wont be at their full potential either, but at least they will be close. My opinion is you should go for HD558's instead of HD598's, because the difference between it and 598's is very small, and I think you'd definitely prefer the sound signature of 558's, since 598's are pretty bass light and not as good for gaming. For the money saved you could buy some entry level headphone amp, such as Pro-ject Headbox S for 90 pounds, which will power these headphones perfectly fine and sound good too. 
Or you could simply replace the D2X for an Asus ST or STX, and not worry about amps anymore.

 
 
By bad the 990s are cheaper (it was late and I mistook $ for £)

I did some research last night and confirmed that the D2X doesn't have an amp so I started a thread in the headphone amp section to collect some recommendations, I will almost certainly get an amp of some sort so I don't miss out.

How does the 598/558s measure against 880/990s in terms sound and comfort, and is there any other options that I should be considering, does adding an amp change the recommendation/open up better options?

Hopefully this will help, a sample of the kinds of things I want to sound their best:

Ellie Goulding - Lights (Bassnectar Remix)
E-type - Make us High
John Dreamer - Becoming A Legend
Selena Gomez - Naturally (trance remix)
Two Steps From Hell - Archangel

And of course trance but I didn't bother listing any of those, most of my music is heavy in female vocals and higher pitch sounds supplemented by bass so I'm assuming that I should be looking for crisp highs and full heavy bass, the above tracks pretty much cover everything I listen to, the first 2 especially.

I have compared the cost involved in swapping the D2X for an STX and alternatively getting an amp and connecting it to the D2X and in terms of price both are acceptable and close enough to each other in teams of cost for me not to have an obvious choice, which do you think I will benefit from more, the STX or a Pro-ject Headbox S?
 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

 
 
By bad the 990s are cheaper (it was late and I mistook $ for £)

I did some research last night and confirmed that the D2X doesn't have an amp so I started a thread in the headphone amp section to collect some recommendations, I will almost certainly get an amp of some sort so I don't miss out.

How does the 598/558s measure against 880/990s in terms sound and comfort, and is there any other options that I should be considering, does adding an amp change the recommendation/open up better options?

Hopefully this will help, a sample of the kinds of things I want to sound their best:

Ellie Goulding - Lights (Bassnectar Remix)
E-type - Make us High
John Dreamer - Becoming A Legend
Selena Gomez - Naturally (trance remix)
Two Steps From Hell - Archangel

And of course trance but I didn't bother listing any of those, most of my music is heavy in female vocals and higher pitch sounds supplemented by bass so I'm assuming that I should be looking for crisp highs and full heavy bass, the above tracks pretty much cover everything I listen to, the first 2 especially.

I have compared the cost involved in swapping the D2X for an STX and alternatively getting an amp and connecting it to the D2X and in terms of price both are acceptable and close enough to each other in teams of cost for me not to have an obvious choice, which do you think I will benefit from more, the STX or a Pro-ject Headbox S?
 

 
 
 
Definitely go for the STX or ST instead of Headbox then. They're about the same as far as amping goes, but DAC inside the ST superior to the one in D2X and you get the ability to change op-amps later.
As far as HD558/598 vs DT880/990 goes, it's quite simple. Beyers are technically better, they're from a league above. They should be compared to HD600/650's in terms of sound quality, but they're much cheaper (I never understood why, because even in terms of build quality and materials used they're ahead of sennheisers).  If you get the ST or STX, my honest recommendation then would be the DT990Pro.  I have this combo right now, and it's one of my favorites. Its awesome for music and for games/movies, and will be the best of all you've listed (and pretty much the best you can get for the money) with the music you listen to. If your main genres were classical, vocal, jazz, blues, etc...then the Sennheisers sound signature would be more appropriate, despite being technically inferior. But for electronic music, no doubt the DT990 are far better, they're pretty much made for this sort of stuff. Also, ST has plenty of power for it, I have mine on middle gain setting and usually keep the volume below 60%.

 

[RyuBlade94]

Hello everyone I'm looking for a new pair of headphones (to use mostly of the time on a pc), to "replace" my Creative Aurvana Live which i own from almost a year now. My budget is of around 100$.. i know it's not too much for a really good pair of headphones, but.. what do you recommend me? I would like those headphones to have really a clear sound quality and also powerfull basses. Thanks a lot

 

[Sheza]

Hi there, I'm new here
 
My budget is sub £80 (so like £80 maximum but if there are decent ones below that then by all means...)
I'm not sure about amps or anything. I only have a PC headset at the moment which does plug in to a sound card with a headphone amp, so I'm told. I do want to be able to use this for my iPhone as well.
 
I'm looking for headphones that work well with Electro and Drum & Bass. I also listen to bands such as Fall Out Boy, Hard-Fi, Artic Monkeys and Two Door Cinema Club though, as well as pop (including K-POP). I shall list a few YT links below as that sounds like a good idea.
 
How do I feel about bass? Well, I have quite a bassy equalizer on my PC at the moment, here's a link. It's a mix between the flat and 'bass' presets. I currently use Steelseries Siberia V2's which is a gaming headset. It sounds ridiculously tinny without an equalizer on it but it's pretty good with one on. I like bass to be tight and punchy, I definitely don't want everything sounding muddy the whole time (Tried on a mate's Beats once, they were awful. Sounded like I was underwater). 
 
So I looked at the Sennheiser HD449's which are going for £70 at the moment. The reviews said they weren't ideal for bassy genres like Electro, so I'm a bit put off by them. They look excellent though.
 
Some suggested the HD419's are better for bass and I'm fine with going for those but of course they are much, much cheaper so presumably much lower quality in the other departments.
 
I looked at the Audio Technica ath-m50 which seems to tick all the boxes for my genres, but I'm afraid it's just too far outside of my budget (Can you believe it's like $120 in the US but £130 in the UK, awful). Also they didn't really look that nice compared to the Sennheisers.
 
Here's a bit of music:
PSY - Gentleman
Fall Out Boy - Alone Together
Arctic Monkeys - This House is a Circus
Hard-Fi - Televison
Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know
Mediks - Lights (D&B)
DJ Fresh - Hot Right Now (Camo & Krooked Mix) (D&B)
 
Thanks in advance for your help

 

[KG Jag]

Quote:

Hello everyone I'm looking for a new pair of headphones (to use mostly of the time on a pc), to "replace" my Creative Aurvana Live which i own from almost a year now. My budget is of around 100$.. i know it's not too much for a really good pair of headphones, but.. what do you recommend me? I would like those headphones to have really a clear sound quality and also powerfull basses. Thanks a lot

Absent a closeout you are not going to be able to best the CAL! for $100.  You can get bass heavy cans, but that's the only "advantage", relative to what you want, over your CAL!

 

[Sony Slave]

Which of the two are have a better, the Technical Pro hpt990 or the Audio Techinica AD700.
 
From what i've read, the AD700 is just barely better, is this true?
The purpose of these headphones is gaming, so which ever one has a larger sound stage and more detail is a better option.
 
Anyone have experince with either headphone?

 

[RyuBlade94]

Quote:

Absent a closeout you are not going to be able to best the CAL! for $100.  You can get bass heavy cans, but that's the only "advantage", relative to what you want, over your CAL!

Thanks for your answer.. anyway, instead, for a budget of around 150$ is there something better then the CAL? If so, which one would you recommend me? Also i don't know why but it looks to me that on my computer my headphones are not as good as they are if i use them with my phone.. what if i buy an external-usb soundcard for my mac compatible with pc (i'm running windows through my iMac)? Any advice on that too? Thanks a lot, again  

 

[3ternalDr4gon]

Does anyone follow the reviews of http://www.goldenears.net/ closely? Because I mean, they score the K551's higher than the K550's. But then again I may be misinterpreting their scoring system. I'm under the assumption that if one can scores +2 lighter than another can, then it's implied that's better, but that may not be the case. I'm not sure

 

[hotKarl]

Sheza:
I share some of your musical tastes, and recently bought a pair of Sennheiser HD-439s. I've heard that their bass level is somewhere in between the 419s and 449s, but I can say now from experience that the bass level on these 439s with a flat EQ is perfect to my ears. It's probably not enough for a bass-head, but it's powerful yet does not overwhelm the sound. On songs with a somewhat prominent bass line you can hear every note from the bass guitar, but even powerful kick drums come through a LITTLE weak. I guess in general I would say that it's powerful, but not punchy. The mids and highs are crisp and clear, and you can hear details in your music that you've always missed with cheaper phones. I've also tried EQ'ing the bass up a bit using my computer EQ, and it sounds great with the extra bass too.
One last thing - when I first started listening to these, the bass was a little light. It really opened up after about 10 hours of burn-in.
In summary: can't recommend these highly enough for this price range.