[KruperTrooper]

After reading through some of the reviews on this site for different headphones I narrowed my selection down to two companies, Sennheiser, and Grado. If I were to go with Grado which ones would be best? I mainly listen to Dubstep, rap, hip- hop, punk and rock. I started out looking at the SR 60i ($80) and a budget of no more than $100 but kept moving on to the next tier to the 80s ($100) then the 125s ($150) and then eventually the 225s ($200). I won't be buying an amp anytime soon and my main music players will be my MBP, and iTouch.
 
What pair would be best for me? I am willing to spend up to $200 but I'd prefer not to. These will be my first true set of audiophile grade headphones, I've had various pairs Sony in ear, noise cancelling headphones up until now.
 
-Thanks

 

[Graphicism]

Hi welcome to Head-fi!
 
Grados aren't for Dubstep, they're for Rock more than anything. I'd suggest looking at Ultrasone; HFI 580, HFI 780, PRO 750 ~ copious amount of well controlled bass and work well without an amp!

 

[legcramp]

You narrowed your list down to two of the worst brand for your choice of music. Try Ultrasone/Audio-Technica/Denon.

 

[Teejaay]

mdr-xb700 they got bass, much better then the overly bright grados.

 

[KruperTrooper]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I looked into the Ultrasone 780s and I really like those. Amazon has them for $165, good price for these? 

 

[Teejaay]

ultrasone are all way over priced dont sound good and are not well built.

 

[Chronos29]

Quote:

ultrasone are all way over priced dont sound good and are not well built.

This is really helpful? Why not explain?
 
For what it's worth I second the vote for ultrasone. 
Although I think some beyerdynamic cans would suit your needs well too. They may need some amplification to really be driven to their full potential unless you went with some low imp beyers which I really haven't heard out of a portable player. 

 

[Chronos29]

Quote:

After reading through some of the reviews on this site for different headphones I narrowed my selection down to two companies, Sennheiser, and Grado. If I were to go with Grado which ones would be best? I mainly listen to Dubstep, rap, hip- hop, punk and rock. I started out looking at the SR 60i ($80) and a budget of no more than $100 but kept moving on to the next tier to the 80s ($100) then the 125s ($150) and then eventually the 225s ($200). I won't be buying an amp anytime soon and my main music players will be my MBP, and iTouch.

For Punk and Rock though, it'll be difficult to beat the pure energy of Grados. If you have a local Hi-Fi shop you should pop in and audition some Grado SR80's. You might be impressed enough to listen to all genre's on them!
 
There are some 10 minute mods that can really up the amount of bass that you hear with your grados. 
All you need is a ballpoint pen and a hairdryer! hehe

 

[schwallman]

HF2s and dubstep walk hand in hand.
 
BTW have you heard Terravita - Up in the club? The HF2s pound to this track.
Quote:

For Punk and Rock though, it'll be difficult to beat the pure energy of Grados. If you have a local Hi-Fi shop you should pop in and audition some Grado SR80's. You might be impressed enough to listen to all genre's on them!
 
There are some 10 minute mods that can really up the amount of bass that you hear with your grados. 
All you need is a ballpoint pen and a hairdryer! hehe

 

 

[detoxguy]

Quote:

mdr-xb700 they got bass, much better then the overly bright grados.

 
 
Bass is all they have though. The highs and mids on these headphones are sacrificed for overdone thumping Bass. May sound great with dubstep but these cans will do nothing to make rock and pop sing. 
 
Asking for advice on here as I have discovered will likely just confuse you more than needed because you have so many people blindly recommending their favorite headphones or offering not explanation other than ....company _______ sucks and sounds bad blah blah blah. You have done your research, narrowed your search down, now you need to trust yourself and go listen to some of them to discover your sound preference. If you (like me) don't have the ability to audition headphones then I recommend the For Sale section of the forum, if you don't like the pair you buy sell them for what you paid and then try another. Pretty much all the headphones people are discussing on here are good headphones and it's really a matter of personal preference. 

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I looked into the Ultrasone 780s and I really like those. Amazon has them for $165, good price for these? 

 

Yeah that's a decent price, they've come down recently.
 
http://camelcamelcamel.com/Ultrasone-HFI-780-Surround-Professional-Headphones/product/B00101XVH2

 

[jerg]

To play such a wide variety of music well in the $100~$200, one needs well-balanced phones that don't overshine in any one genre but perform reasonable overall.
 
A.k.a. don't get ones that are too coloured (Grados, among a couple of others).
 
Also the consistently needed attribute of OP's music taste seems to be a fair bit of bass.
 
So any hp with good neutrality but also a slight bass emphasis is fair game - Ultrasone/A-T/Denon/a few others. It all comes down to personal preference.

 

[Graphicism]

˄ Balanced with 'slight bass emphasis' is no longer balanced... it's just the other end of what you call colored.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

˄ Balanced with 'slight bass emphasis' is no longer balanced... it's just the other end of what you call colored.

Solid bass that doesn't bleed into mids is much-needed in what OP requires, I guess I meant flatter trebles and not the whole response spectrum..

 

[Assimilator702]

Quote:

HF2s and dubstep walk hand in hand.
 
BTW have you heard Terravita - Up in the club? The HF2s pound to this track.
 
I just DL'd that song and my brain was rattling via my earbuds!

 
I wouldn't mind checking out some of their other material.....would sound very nice through a nice car audio system....I'm sure my IDQ15v2 and one of my 1000 watt amps would do it justice.