[poorimpulsectrl]

I have the Klipsch Pro media 2-400 Speakers, whose coloring I like very much for my purposes (electronic music, gaming). What headphones would provide a similar experience to them?

I have a pair of Grado SR80's. Beautiful to my ears, but bright enough such that I sometimes turn down the high end on my sound card's EQ. I don't find the bass putting as big a smile on my face as my speakers do. Atmosphere of both my speakers and grado's are equally enjoyable. As well, I have a pair of Koss KSC-35's, with a new pair of them on their way, since I think my existing pair might not be at their best after regular use/abuse at the gym.

From searching the forums it seems as though the Beyerdynamic 250-80's would be similar in coloration to my speakers.

Any reccomendations or advice? Price range is $150-200.

 

[WillSmoke]

I just purchased a pair of beyer 250-80s to replace my klipsch 5.1 speakers. I didnt want to lug the klipsch's to my dorm so i decided to keep them setup at my home. I will let u know how good of a job they do in a few days, i should have by friday.

 

[Guyferd]

My beyer dt770pro is currently replacing the klipsch pro 2.1 . In my honest opinion, the beyer paired with my creek simply outclasses e beyer and anythin in the price range.
u might wana try thos eout

 

[poorimpulsectrl]

Thanks WillSmoke & Guyferd. WillSmoke, do let us know how they compare. Are you using an amp with it?

 

[Ebonyks]

Anyone else agree with me that the sporta pro's match the qualities of the klipsch speakers?

 

[Geek]

I second the DT770 with the purchase of a decent amp (Headroom Airhead or Little, as I'm familiar with the headroom sound and enjoy it immensely).

The DT770 has a relatively dark sound with clear treble, very deep bass, and a slightly recessed upper midrange.

Treble is airy and smooth and should outclass a Klipsch system any day.
Midrange isn't as detailed as the 250-80 and as stated before a bit recessed, giving these headphones a "diffuse" feel.
Bass extends as deep as a Klipsch sub, although I would say the DT770's bass is tighter and more musical than a subwoofer's. In other words, if you give these cans a techno mix, expect ear-shaking bass. Give them a brighter recording of rock music and the low end blends well with the music as opposed to overwhelming it as with many multimedia systems.

I do all listening with no equalization through three sources: my sound card (unknown low quality brand), my DVP-NS500V player, and my cheap Sony D-EJ621 portable. DT770s powered by an AirHead amp.

If you like a very neutral sound I'd buy DT250-250's with an amp. The 250-80's are the best beyer headphone unamped imho.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[poorimpulsectrl]

Funny you should mention that Geek, before I went to the gym today I spent 2 hours reading posts here and decided to get the 770Pro 250 ohm version instead of the originally planned 250-80's. I'm looking forward to seeing if they pan out as people like Tomcat say they do.

I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that you have these cans, if you've heard the Grado's how does the high end compare? I find the highs on the grado's a bit excessive as aforementioned, but in swapping the ear pads for ones without a cut out this effect is considerably reduced. I still want to get a nice pair of closed cans to complement the grado's though (hence the Beyers, as well as their wider frequency profile).

Thanks for the input all.

 

[poorimpulsectrl]

Quote:

Originally posted by Guyferd My beyer dt770pro is currently replacing the klipsch pro 2.1 . In my honest opinion, the beyer paired with my creek simply outclasses e beyer and anythin in the price range. u might wana try thos eout

I know an amp is imperative with these particular cans, and I'm leaning towards the Creek OBH11 or Meta42. Creek's styling appeals to me, as well as it's price

erformance ratio, but I know that some people don't think much of it. The meta42 would provide even more performance per dollar spent, but as my name suggests I'm itching to get everything now now now

and the creek being more readily available is another reason why I'm keeping my mind open to it.

So right now I'm kinda split between the two. I know the smart thing to do would be just wait for a meta42, but it's not as if the Creek isn't a decent performer for a first amp.

 

[WillSmoke]

I can use them with an amp, but my intentions for the 250-80's were to use them straight out of computer, as was the main reason i chose the 80s, an easy phone to drive. I can do a comparison between amp/no amp use also if you would like.

 

[Guyferd]

Quote:

Originally posted by poorimpulsectrl I know an amp is imperative with these particular cans, and I'm leaning towards the Creek OBH11 or Meta42. Creek's styling appeals to me, as well as it's price erformance ratio, but I know that some people don't think much of it. The meta42 would provide even more performance per dollar spent, but as my name suggests I'm itching to get everything now now now and the creek being more readily available is another reason why I'm keeping my mind open to it. So right now I'm kinda split between the two. I know the smart thing to do would be just wait for a meta42, but it's not as if the Creek isn't a decent performer for a first amp.

Oops.. when I mean it outclasses "beyer" I made a mistake! I was supposed to say that it outclasses klipsch and anything in its price range.

That being said, I prefer the dt770 to the dt250-80, unless you don't have an amp go for the dt250-80. Soundwise I prefer the dt770... very exciting.. something that my klipsch cant offer. hheehh

 

[WillSmoke]

I know it seems like you already made your decision, but just wanted to let you know my 80s just came, and ive been testing them for about 2 hours now. i must say, im quite pleased. If you are using the computer as the source, amp or no amp, i dont think you can do alot better than the 80s, especially for gaming purposes. They do a great job recreating the depth of my speakers for far less money. the only problem i can see is that the lack of base may not lend itself well to your preferred music type. I am confused though as to why you decided to go a more high end route (i.e. headphone/amp combo) when you are using your computer as the source. I would suggest a pair that can run nicley with no amp for the comp and save your cash for when you have a viable source for the higher end gear.

 

[poorimpulsectrl]

I'm not sure I'm totally convinced that a good sound card + high quality encoded mp3's + mad decoder for winamp is really all that low fi a source.

I know that a lot of people feel as though they've done scientific tests on the matter to reach their conclusion. But seeing as I've got 150 gigs of music on my computer, I'm not about to throw that all out.

I've been running without an amp thus far with my grado sr80's, I want to see what the next level can offer. I'll of course give the amp + can combo regularly play coming from a CD source.

 

[TaffyGuy]

depends on what a decent sound card is. might be an easier switch for you to get a little cheap 24/96 usb dac or something than rework your whole system. I can tell you that a sound blaster live! and probably any other similar sound card is very limiting in its analog capabilities. if you digi out to probably anything else you possible could digi out to it would sound better. (ie digital HT receiver) you probably won't notice any loss in mp3 until way farther down the line, if ever. my recently qualms about mp3 are mostly about track borders and not sound quality which is only audible in few recordings. (i don't listen to all that much stuff recorded in the last 20 years, but those would be where to look)

oh i assume you know how to encode mp3's, because though they can sound perfectly fine, they'll also sound like ass, but thats obvious. but if you still think promedia has "qualities", i wouldnt worry about it now. beyers are supposed to be a great choice for ampless. at least it wasn't cambraige soundworks. heh.

 

[poorimpulsectrl]

Quote:

Originally posted by TaffyGuy a little cheap 24/96 usb dac

That sounds interesting - I've never heard of any thing like that. Like a stripped down Audiophile 2496 that interfaces via USB? Can you tell me more about it?

I can see maybe later down the line wanting to pick up an Audiophile 2496 or such a device strictly as the source to which I connect my amp and headphones.

 

[TaffyGuy]

http://www.edirol.com/products/info/ua1a.html

well thats the first one i saw, but i hear there are several now. saw something interesting from m-audio but that was just a digital out. anyway these things can be had for less than $100 and since they're isolated from the computer and look very simple you won't have noise from the box or stupid distortion from crappy unavoidable dsp hopefully (like the sound blaster)

on the other hand i haven't heard any of these; i use an aardvark pro sound card as my main dac i have left over from when i was getting into ametuer recording, and i've yet to test how it compares to other good sources but suspect it would fare quite well--plus fits the convenience of a computer source. only bad part it has a conflict with my motherboard which leads to a lot of restarts. oh well, can't win 'um all.

you could look into dacs or the like as well; there are some popular ones around here i have no experience with. digi out from your card should be sufficient. (i've had problems with the digital out on my sound blaster. what a POS.)