[MrKiko136]

Hello everyone. I would start saying I'm not an audiophile and my experience in this world is near zero.
 
I'm looking for good headphones which may fit my tastes as good as possible with a budget of 100$. I would use them for listening to EDM, POP and sometimes melodic metalcore and playing online games most, without amps, just with my PC. I had SONY XB600 and I found the low frequencies too heavy for my tastes and mid/high not good as I hoped, even after EQ'ing them a bit. Bass is not my priority anymore, I'd have just a thick sound without exaggeration
 
Surfing the internet, I found Audio Technica M40X as a possible solution but since they are considered monitor headphones, it may be not a good idea for gaming sessions and electronic music where the absolute clarity of the reproduction of the sound isn't required. In fact, I'm not going to use them in a professional way. This sucks because I've read a lot of good reviews about these headphones, also about confort after long sessions.
 
I hope you can help me to find out what headphones should I buy
 
Thank you all for future answers, I really appreciate it!

 

[MrKiko136]

Hey, I found today Sennheiser HD 449 at 59,90€, since I live in Italy this is a good price for these headphones in my country (usually it is 80€ on Amazon) and I would like to know what you think about them according to my use (gaming and EDM)
 
Thank you!
 
EDIT: Well, reading around, I realized that HD 449 could have lack of bass for my tastes but I won't headphones that muffle mid/high freqs. with basses either, like my Sony XB600. Since I listen to EDM, I need at least a sufficient level of basses.
 
I didn't think it was so hard to find a good model of headphones x_x this research is killing me

 

[MrKiko136]

Little bump!

 

[AltCtrl]

I would go with the Sennheiser HD598 which I've seen for sale for $100. If you find it for that price I don't think it can be beat.

 

[Kundi]

  I would go with the Sennheiser HD598 which I've seen for sale for $100. If you find it for that price I don't think it can be beat.

Are you talking about the HD449 or 598? I've havent seen the 598 anywhere near $100.

 

[DangerClose]

  Hey, I found today Sennheiser HD 449 at 59,90€, since I live in Italy this is a good price for these headphones in my country (usually it is 80€ on Amazon) and I would like to know what you think about them according to my use (gaming and EDM)
 
Thank you!
 
EDIT: Well, reading around, I realized that HD 449 could have lack of bass for my tastes but I won't headphones that muffle mid/high freqs. with basses either, like my Sony XB600. Since I listen to EDM, I need at least a sufficient level of basses.
 
I didn't think it was so hard to find a good model of headphones x_x this research is killing me

 
 
You might like the 449.  I'm surprised when people say they're not bassy.  They go low/pretty low and do it strongly.  If I play a rap song with that boooongggg  boooongggg kind of bass, it does it well.  It does it well enough that I EQ down the bass or increase the mids/treble on them.  They tend to have an overall warmness/veil covering the sound. Look at a frequency chart of them.  They're not flat, and the low end is quite a bit higher.  That's pretty much what they sound like to me.  
 
They feel cheap, but they are also light, and that helps them be comfortable.  The pads are decent.  They have a big soundstage (for closed), though part of that is from recessed mids, which I prefer to eq up a bit.  They definitely have a good size soundstage for gaming and things.
 
If you're worried about lack of bass, do a search for threads about the bass mod for 428/439/449 etc.  That would probably void the warranty, but you can do it if you need to.
 
You say you listen to EDM, but that bass isn't a priority, but also are worried these wouldn't have enough bass.  Kind of confusing.
 
The Sennheiser 4xx series itself can be confusing since they are nice enough headphones, but in the past they were priced much higher and were a bad value.  Prices vary a lot.  They're a lot easier to recommend when you can get a good deal on them.  If you can get a different model in the 4xx series for a lower price, that might be the way to go since most/all of them are pretty similar.  I guess counterfeit ones were a problem, so watch out for that.
 
An interesting thing about them is they are rated at 32 or so ohms, so people will automatically assume an amplifier doesn't help them much, but it certainly does, at least to tighten up the bass.  The bass is quite a bit boomier/looser on my Xonar DG card than they are on my amp that is around 9x more powerful.
 
It's hard to recommend too many options if the person has a hard time getting them in their country.  It's good you mentioned Italy and prices and this specific headphone or I probably wouldn't have typed all of this. 

 
One thing to keep in mind is if you want or need closed vs. open.  Open headphones will tend to sound more, well, "open," but leak more sound that other people will hear.

 

[AltCtrl]

  Are you talking about the HD449 or 598? I've havent seen the 598 anywhere near $100.

It was during last years black friday. Not sure what it goes for on the used market.

 

[MrKiko136]

  I would go with the Sennheiser HD598 which I've seen for sale for $100. If you find it for that price I don't think it can be beat.

Thank you, @AltCtrl ! I'll keep an eye on these headphones and on their price and I will search more infos about the differences between HD598 and HD558 (in case I find a good deal for the little brother and if it worth it

)

   
 
You might like the 449.  I'm surprised when people say they're not bassy.  They go low/pretty low and do it strongly.  If I play a rap song with that boooongggg  boooongggg kind of bass, it does it well.  It does it well enough that I EQ down the bass or increase the mids/treble on them.  They tend to have an overall warmness/veil covering the sound. Look at a frequency chart of them.  They're not flat, and the low end is quite a bit higher.  That's pretty much what they sound like to me.  
 
They feel cheap, but they are also light, and that helps them be comfortable.  The pads are decent.  They have a big soundstage (for closed), though part of that is from recessed mids, which I prefer to eq up a bit.  They definitely have a good size soundstage for gaming and things.
 
If you're worried about lack of bass, do a search for threads about the bass mod for 428/439/449 etc.  That would probably void the warranty, but you can do it if you need to.
 
You say you listen to EDM, but that bass isn't a priority, but also are worried these wouldn't have enough bass.  Kind of confusing.
 
The Sennheiser 4xx series itself can be confusing since they are nice enough headphones, but in the past they were priced much higher and were a bad value.  Prices vary a lot.  They're a lot easier to recommend when you can get a good deal on them.  If you can get a different model in the 4xx series for a lower price, that might be the way to go since most/all of them are pretty similar.  I guess counterfeit ones were a problem, so watch out for that.
 
An interesting thing about them is they are rated at 32 or so ohms, so people will automatically assume an amplifier doesn't help them much, but it certainly does, at least to tighten up the bass.  The bass is quite a bit boomier/looser on my Xonar DG card than they are on my amp that is around 9x more powerful.
 
It's hard to recommend too many options if the person has a hard time getting them in their country.  It's good you mentioned Italy and prices and this specific headphone or I probably wouldn't have typed all of this. 

 
One thing to keep in mind is if you want or need closed vs. open.  Open headphones will tend to sound more, well, "open," but leak more sound that other people will hear.

 
Hello @DangerClose, thanks for your reply, I really appreaciate it
Glad to read your positive experience with HD 449 and bass. I'm sorry if I have caused confusion with how much bass I need/like. After a bad experience with my last headphone, (too bass-based) I'm looking for something more "neutral" but always with a good quantity of bass. I wasn't very clear in my last sentences 

 
About Open vs Closed... I wish I had more real experience on this. I will use them primarily connected to my PC, in my room alone so I think open headphones will be fine!

 

[DangerClose]

 
About Open vs Closed... I wish I had more real experience on this. I will use them primarily connected to my PC, in my room alone so I think open headphones will be fine!

You'd probably be fine, though things like that depend on how loud you have the volume, how thin the walls are, how much leaked noise would be considered ok, how many other noise sources are around that would drown them out (like traffic or computer fans), etc.  If you plan on using them at "enjoyable" volume at night with people in a nearby room that don't want to hear any sounds at all, I'd stick to a closed-back.  Even closed-back like the 449 leak some, while other closed-backs won't leak any.
 
If night listening isn't a priority and would be the only main leak problem, you could get a cheap pair of closed-backs or IEMs for those times.
 
Regarding bass and overall warmness of the sound, I never lower the bass on my HD580, but I lower it on the HD449.  I also tend to lower at least part of the bass on the HD558, but that's more to clean up the sound since the bass is muddy.

 

[MrKiko136]

  You'd probably be fine, though things like that depend on how loud you have the volume, how thin the walls are, how much leaked noise would be considered ok, how many other noise sources are around that would drown them out (like traffic or computer fans), etc.  If you plan on using them at "enjoyable" volume at night with people in a nearby room that don't want to hear any sounds at all, I'd stick to a closed-back.  Even closed-back like the 449 leak some, while other closed-backs won't leak any.
 
If night listening isn't a priority and would be the only main leak problem, you could get a cheap pair of closed-backs or IEMs for those times.
 
Regarding bass and overall warmness of the sound, I never lower the bass on my HD580, but I lower it on the HD449.  I also tend to lower at least part of the bass on the HD558, but that's more to clean up the sound since the bass is muddy.

 
I did a research on Youtube to have an idea of how much leaked sound have open headphones like HD558 and HD598 and it may be a problem so I think I will not turn to opened headphones also to avoid to annoy people at certain times of the day. Heretofore I didn't know the huge difference between open and closed so thank you also for that

 
I discovered Sennheiser launched 3 new headphones HD451-461-471 but I couldn't find many reviews of them. Could they be a better choice instead HD449-439? 

 

[DangerClose]

 
I discovered Sennheiser launched 3 new headphones HD451-461-471 but I couldn't find many reviews of them. Could they be a better choose instead HD449-439? 

 
Yeah, sound leaking has many factors to it.  And if you want to make sure no one is hearing your buddies swearing and making colorful jokes while gaming, or hear whatever else you might listen to that you wouldn't want anyone else to hear, it's best to stick with closed.
 
I have no idea on those new Senns, except to guess they are probably the latest skin change for the 4xx series.  I know they updated the exterior design at least one time mainly just to make it harder for counterfeiters.  And now these have an inline volume control, which means that's one more spot that can break and cause problems.

 

[ahunatu]

Gemini HSR-1000 have some awesome bass but also good mids/highs. HyperX Cloud is another version that is more designed for gaming, probably more comfortable too not sure if it's worth 30 or so dollars more than the Gemini though. 
 
M40X is really not a good headphone. It's like the M50x but with a treble turned up in the wrong area and he rest of the frequencies muffled. That being said I wouldn't use a studio monitor for gaming -they tend to have 0 soundstage. 
 
Also look into creative aurvana live -very fun headphone for edm. 

 

[MrKiko136]

Sorry for haven't replied in this topic anymore 

 I had problems to my home network for a while!
 
Quote:

   
Yeah, sound leaking has many factors to it.  And if you want to make sure no one is hearing your buddies swearing and making colorful jokes while gaming, or hear whatever else you might listen to that you wouldn't want anyone else to hear, it's best to stick with closed.
 
I have no idea on those new Senns, except to guess they are probably the latest skin change for the 4xx series.  I know they updated the exterior design at least one time mainly just to make it harder for counterfeiters.  And now these have an inline volume control, which means that's one more spot that can break and cause problems.

Ahah, you got the point 

  Gemini HSR-1000 have some awesome bass but also good mids/highs. HyperX Cloud is another version that is more designed for gaming, probably more comfortable too not sure if it's worth 30 or so dollars more than the Gemini though. 
 
M40X is really not a good headphone. It's like the M50x but with a treble turned up in the wrong area and he rest of the frequencies muffled. That being said I wouldn't use a studio monitor for gaming -they tend to have 0 soundstage. 
 
Also look into creative aurvana live -very fun headphone for edm. 

Thanks for your advice! 
 
Finally I decided to buy Creative Aurvana Live!2 for 80€ and I feel happy with them. Very confortable, looks good and especially they are glorious (imho) with dubstep and EDM in general 

  Also the good soundstage is another reason why I bought them since I play online games. The cable is so and so. Hope it will last enough time