[BloodSugar00]

Hi there,

This is not a forum I've frequented often, certainly since the divide between full-sized headphones and portables/earbuds/IEM's (due to my serious interests being limited to IEM's up until this point). However, I am now interested in becoming enlightened to the world of full-sized cans- the marketplace and the respective technolgies and designs employed in this field- with a view to a possible purchase in the near future, but, also, in main, out of curiosity and thirst for further knowledge and understanding of this pastime

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So, basically, I was wondering if there is a comprehensive guide floating around in this forum- similar to ClieOS's one, recently stickied in the portabe headphone's forum- that someone could direct me to to learn about this (main) branch of the headphone world? That would really be an excellent object to view in one place, as opposed to trying to piece it all together from disparate fragments myself (I get the impression that this realm is a lot broader than the IEM category!). If not, I would appreciate anyone who is generous enough to at least give me an overview of such, of which I could then go and research deeper into off my own bat.

N.B// I am aware of the 'Headphone Buyer's guide' but that is simply that, a list models within various price ranges and within the various headphone subcategories of design ie it assumes you know and understand and have a feel for, preliminaruily, the various designs, technologies and manufacturers etc.

N.B.2// I have also tried the advanced search facility, searching this specified forum, to no avail.

 

[BloodSugar00]

Anybody willing to give us an overview?

 

[paaj]

I don't think there really is a guide like that floating around, but reading a few topics about the main brands will sure bring you up to speed.
when looking for full-size stuff, all depends on the price/needs/tastes.
Some to search for:
SR325i/RS(1/2), HD650, DT880, K701, D2000, AD2000,
I guess these are the main headphones from the different brands at a comparable price level. (in order of appearance: Grado, Sennheiser, BeyerDynamic, AKG, Denon, AudioTechnica)

Other people will probably come to name the rest

 

[Zuffox]

Mostly, it's a matter of getting a feel of what kind of headphones you want, and what headphones represent those demands; afterwards, you start scrutinizing the headphones, comparing them, and asking people on Head-fi to do these things. Narrowing down your selection is something I think you should do on your own with big lists like the one linked to below, as users on the forum might be biased or simply not able to give a good reply, since they obviously haven't tried every headphone available.

HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears has some great buyer's guides (though some way that they're a little too happy about Sennheisers), and Headphone Reviews :: Headphone Review System has a bunch of reviews (and a buyer's guide) for checking out the details of your phones - though you should probably disregard the grades and just see what they say about them.

On this forum, check out the threads about the headphones you've narrowed your selection down to, be it single headphone reviews or comparison reviews like the good one a while ago with K 701, 501 and Sennheiser 600 and 650 (and another one ... HFI-780?), used for testing classical music.

 

[Tiemen]

Maybe this website can help:
Headphone Reviews :: Headphone Review System

Edit: Zuffox was three minutes earlier with (partly) the same advice

 

[Uncle Erik]

What are you looking for? What's your budget? What kind of music do you listen to and are you interested in buying an amp? There's a good variety of full-sized headphones, both new and out-of-production you might be interested in.

If you just went through the HeadRoom site, you might not know about the AKG K-501. One of the finest headphones for acoustic/vocal music ever made. It's out of production, however, they're relatively common used in the $100-$150 range. If you listen to a lot of classical, jazz, roots, vocals, etc., you'd do well to consider one. There are many other full sized headphones that might not be readily obvious, as well.

So if you could give us an idea of your budget, music and what you're looking for, you'll get a lot of good suggestions.