I've never had any headphones, but I need some for this coming year at college. My budget is about $250 and I will be using it with my Powerbook and HT receiver and airport express. I don't plan on getting a dedicated amp.
What would be the best headphones for this price?
What about at the $200 level?
for unamped, a good general purpose headphone seems to be the AT A900. It works well unamped and sounds great for games. It is also closed so it won't bother your roommate, or he can't bother you. If you want a more genre-specific or preference-specific can, please list what you're looking for. bass heavy? soundstage? etc. etc.
FWIW I agree with skitlets. A900 from http://audiocubes.com is the best value closed can around IMHO. The isolation is perfect for college, and they don't need an amp. They sound great with every type of music i've thrown at them. They're not portable though, too big, not heavy, and very comfortable.
Borky, you might be better off going for a headphone that reproduces all frequencies well, and using bass boost. Using negative equalisation helps a lot - ie subtract away the frequencies that are too loud rather than boost ones that are too quiet.
Imyourzero - can't help sorry, haven't heard any of them.
Originally Posted by Matt_Carter 225s got some nice bass
agreed.
but imo i find it further obscures some detail from the already not-very-detailed 225 sound, making it sound to my ears quite muddy. my opinion seems to be one of the minority views here though - i can imagine many many people out there loving this 'phone to death. .
edit: i should perhaps further qualify my post by stating that i prefer the sr325 sound to the sr225 sound (imo the sr225 is far too muddy and blurry, especially when compared to the sr325), but prefer the ms-2 sound to the sr325 sound (the ms-2 solves the sr325's imo single major flaw - its overexcitable treble).
Originally Posted by Imyourzero Whoa, I'm new to head-fi but not new to audio.
How do the A900's compare to Grado 225/325's or Senn 580/600's?
A900 is all-around performer. It's bass is not excessive but full, treble is descent (not rolled off), midrange is also good, and it has a largest soundstage (very spacious and 3D like).
Grado is fairly detailed, bass is supertight (sort of hard hitting in nature), treble is fully extended (much more so than A900 or Sennheiser). Grados have narrowest soundstage among three groups listed above. SR225 sounds a bit more neutral than aluminum-housed SR335 (can sound cold and slightly bright sometimes), but I found both to be quite good.
Sennheisers are super-refined headphones. Their trebles are noticeably rolled off than other two groups of headphones, yet fairly detailed. Midrange is superb and bass is best of three groups (with respect to details and also being fuller sounding among three groups). Soundstage is about the middle of three groups. HD600 is upgraded version of HD580 (same drivers, but better housing) and worthy of upgrade if you can afford it.
You should notice that Grados and Senns are open phones (leaks sound in and out) where Audio Technica is closed phone (not a soundproof, but doesn't leak sound as much). Finally Senns require headphone amp to sound best where other two will sound pretty good without amps (but they will too benefit from amps).
If open phones are OK for you, then the best out there would be a toss up between the Alessandro MS-1 or one of the cheaper Sennhesiers.
If you go into closed phones, the A900 would be a good choice.
If you spend a bit more then you could get the HD 25-1 price matchd and that is superb for both portable listening and otherwise.
I am getting it as soon as my source can get it for me.
Before I go I will point ou that I like my music to be fun, full of energy and have great trebles and bass impact. So the headphones I list do all those quite well.
Originally Posted by Borky Is there a sound difference or what changes in an open phone besides that it can be heard on the outside by other people?
..well actually, you can also hear 'other people' too on the inside.
while i wouldnt say either design philosophy is better per se, there is a theory floating around here that open phones are theoretically easier to do 'better' since they are free of the small-space resonance that would accompany a covered driver - the experiments xanadu777 did with his various wooden cd3000 cups seem to substantiate this theory - upon swapping the cup to another type of wood, the overall sound signature would change subtly.
do note however that some open headphones (eg the grado rs-1) do vary their enclosure material to acheive a particular type of sound.
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