[slartibadfast]

i'm sure you guys get a lot of these threads but i need some advice.

i'm pretty serious about the music i listen to, and i'm looking to buy a new pair of headphones in the $100 range. i've been looking around a good bit and reading some of these threads and the most intriguing options appear to be the Grado SR60's and the Sony V6's.

i listen to a pretty wide range of music, which i fear makes the situation worse. i dig primarily electronic music (bjork, radiohead, dj shadow, dust brothers, etc.), rock (zeppelin, yes, smashing pumpkins), and classical (rachmaninoff, barber, gorecki).

right now i'm leaning more towards something that will sound best with classical.

any advice on this would be very much appreciated.
thanks

 

[Sol_Zhen]

The Grados will likely sound more detailed in the mids, but they'll lack some punch in the bass.

 

[puppyslugg]

If you can stretch your budget to about $125, the Senn. 580 may be a better choice for classical.

 

[Steve999]

If you want to spend 60 to 80 bucks and you're only going to get one of the two I'd get the V6s, since you're not going to miss any of the music with them, its all there, even though, paradoxicially, they're less "musical."

My advice, though, is to get both the V6s and the SR60s (or maybe even the SR80s, though I haven't heard those). You're going to miss some bass with the Grados, but man they sound good. I have the V6s and the SR60s and I could not part with either one when it came time to decide which to keep. They're both incredible. It's like having two sets of expensive and very different loudspeakers. Of all my headphones, I end up listening to the Grados most often. Darned if I know why.

 

[slartibadfast]

thanks for the feedback. another option is the phillips HP890's. a friend of mine has them and they sound very nice. how would these compare with the V6's? i could get them from www.meier-audio.com for 100 bucks, but i wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of ordering them from germany unless i was sure they were my best option.

 

[kerelybonto]

In the $100 range you're looking at the SR-80 (MSRP $95). I own that headphone and the Sony MDR-V6, and I prefer the Grado in almost every situation where I can use it -- i.e., anytime I don't need isolation, with a few exceptions.

The SR-80 sounds more cohesive than the V6 and has noticably more impactful bass. The highs and midranges on both 'phones are similar, and I'm not good enough at describing sound to relate the small differences.

Assuming you want headphones for home use, I would suggest the Grado SR-80. Granted, I have not heard the Philips HP890 and I don't listen to much classical (mostly rock and jazz), but the Grados just do it for me.

kerelybonto

 

[SumB]

V6 and classical = Grave mistake.

I second the SR80 recommendation. You absolutely cannot do any better for $100.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

I own the SR-80. Alot of portables have trouble driving them well.

 

[KR...]

Get the Grado/alessandro MS-1 for $99

http://www.alessandro-products.com/headphones.html

 

[slartibadfast]

yeah headroom mentioned that the SR80s are hard to drive, and i don't have a headphone amp, so it wouldn't do me much good to have a pair of headphones i couldn't use very well when i'm on the go.

those grado/alessandros looked pretty sweet. has anybody tried them? would they provide the bass that the SR60s are lacking?

 

[Bongofury]

The SR-80 is a great sounding headphone. It may not be perfect, but for under $100 U.S., it is a great deal as well. I have had mine for 6 months or so now and I'm glad I bought them. For the type of music I listen to (rock, pop country and a little of everthing else) I don't think you can get much better for the price.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Yes, I love my SR-80s.

However, they are a bit hard to drive with a portable. SOme portable CD players do OK with them, but most are medioce at driving them. And a portable MD? Forget it. They don't justify the cost with those sources unless a headphone amp is used.

*just got his CHA 47 built by JMT today and is loving the result *

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

I don't like the sound of grados for classicial.

Biggie.

 

[slartibadfast]

would my computer's sound card (audigy platinum) be sufficient for driving the SR80s? that's primarily what they would be used with. aside from that i'd be using them with an old marantz 2238 occasionaly. would it be better for me to run the sound from the computer through that?

 

[JaZZ]

slartibadfast...

...if you attach the most importance on classical music, why not search for a used Sennheiser HD 580? I suppose this could meet your expectations and your budget. Grado SR 80 would be o.k., too, but not ideal for classical, and possibly problematic with portable devices due to their low impedance. (This seems to be an antagonism to the fact that most portables don't deliver enough power to drive high-impedance cans. In effect they often don't match with low impedances, whereby they lack bass, while some of them harmonize quite well with the HD 580, e.g.)
I use my HD 600 (among other sources/amps) with my SB Platinum HP out and am happy with that (although the SR 80 work fine with it, too), and they sound great on my Archos MP3 Jukebox (while the SR 80 need an impedance matching adapter not to lack bass).

JaZZ