[shrooms]

I am looking for some decent headphones for melodic death/progressive metal at a low price. I listen to bands such as soilwork, into eternity, disarmonia mundi, scar symmetry, dream theater, opeth, arch enemy, and other similar stuff. I use a zune hd, and usually listen on the bus or outside. Circumaural is preferred. Any suggestions?
edit: forgot to say that my budget is under $100.

 

[jjinh]

i was going to suggest grado, but if you mainly listen outside so I assume you need some closed cans - not sure as i dont listen to those music genres. someone else will come along

 

[Almoxil]

At a "steal" price point, you could get the dbi Pro700.

Pros:

• Great (and I mean it) sound. Works great for rock and metal;
• Great SQ / $ ratio;
• Cheap ($30 + S&H off eBay);
• Can be driven from portable sources. Don't know about the Zune HD, but my Cowon S9 drives them well;
• Circumaural and very comfortable;
• Good isolation for bus rides and outside use;
• Durable. They can stand quite some abuse;

Cons:

• You may look like a dork wearing them. They have an industrial look, and are rather big;
• Heavy and slightly short cable (amored);
• The cups don't swivel or collapse for transportation;
• Pads may get sweaty.

At a "slightly" higher price point ($100 ~ $120), there is the Ultrasone HFI-550:

Pros:

• Great sound. Works great for rock and metal;
• Can be driven from portable sources. Don't know about the Zune HD, but my Cowon S9 drives them well;
• Circumaural;
• Reasonably good isolation for bus rides and outside use;
• Cups swivel for easy transportation;

Cons:

• Not very comfortable for long listening sessions;
• Long cable may get in the way;
• Pads may get sweaty.

Have you thought about IEMs? What is your price range?

 

[thammuz]

I know you are looking at full sized headphones, but I really enjoy listening to Opeth through my Etymotic ER4Ps. The only full sized that has sounded similar (to me) is the AKG K701, which is pretty expensive and they're not really "portable." (I'd love to hear "Black Rose Immortal" on the K701s)

The Sennheiser HD280s aren't too bad when it comes to stuff like progressive metal.

The reason I'd mention these is because I like to have a "tightness" to each of the instruments, I can easily pick out each instrument.

 

[fateicon]

I used to listen to that stuff before I started using a headphone amp. You just can't play modern, hyper-compressed stuff unless you wanna use a low power system. SR-60 in my old 1982 technics receiver with my $100 technics cd player was ok. Using the SR-60 with portable amps was horrid. Using the RS-1 with brickwalled Metal recordings made em sound worse and worse the better my gear got.

However, albums like Orchid, Morningrise, most anything made in the 90s seems to always sound better with upgraded gear. Dissection-Storm 1995 pressing works real well with my RS-1 and upgraded cd player and amp. The original Colony sounds pretty good too. HF2 isn't a bad choice either. I've tried this stuff with Sennheiser headphones and hated just about all of them.

I wouldn't invest much money in headphones or anything else if you're going to play modern, Andy Sneap or Andy Sneap wannabe produced Metal. You'll be really disappointed how 00s stuff doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

 

[OpticElement]

Hey, Shrooms.

I just finished going through the exact same thing. You have an awesome taste in music (a carbon copy of mine ). However, the difference in our searches is that I wanted circumaurals for my desk, so noise wasn't that large of an issue. The headphones I decided on were the AD700s because (yes I have reasons, don't flame me everyone) while they typically aren't recommended for metal, they were the only circumaurals that felt comfortable on my head. I wear glasses, and everything else pushed them against my head, giving me a headache. I also like the punchy bass they give out, though it isn't very hard hitting. For me, comfort is the most important thing as opposed to getting the exact sound you want, since there's no point in getting headphones you hate using, so I stuck with the AD700s.

My budget was in the $200 range. The list of headphones I tried were:

Audio-Technica: A700, AD700, M50, M40fs, PRO700
Beyerdynamic: DT250/80ohm, DT770/80ohm, DT770/250ohm
Sennheiser: HD215, HD280, HD595, PX100
Grado: SR60, SR80, SR125, SR225, GS1000

Personally, I did not like the Grados. A lot of people recommend them for metal and rock because of their "raw" sound, and ability to place the guitars in the forefront of what you hear, but I wasn't fond of the sound. Best way to find out is to listen however.

Out of all these, I would recommend the Audio-Technica M50 to you (~$100-120 on EBay). They are (FWIR) easily driven by portables, isolating, (what seems to be) sturdily built, and also, you can fold them up so you can put them in your bag while on the go. They also quite the strong bass impact. If you do not like bass in your music, then you may have a problem with them. If they hadn't been uncomfortable with my glasses I would've stuck with them. I'm actually considering getting a pair for short listening sessions because I liked them so much. Some things to note:

1) They come in two versions - coiled cord (ATH-M50), and straight cord (ATH-M50s).

2) Consider buying a set of DT250 velour pads (~$25) to replace the pleather ones. Supposedly increases the comfort a lot. Have a look at the thread I started with testimony and installation instructions: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/vel...th-m50-414574/

3) They require ALOT of burn-in time. At the beginning they sounded really muffled and uncontrolled. After 100 hours, they tightened up to some really good sounding 'phones.

Any questions or anything that needs clearing up, please ask away!

 

[shrooms]

Thanks for the suggestions. I also was just reminded that I wear glasses (half the time) and have big (3 inches at their longest) ears; so that might be a factor? Portability isn't really a factor since i don't have anywhere to put them anyway, but iI don't want anything too bulky.

 

[OpticElement]

Sorry, who is VisionRelatedBasicPart (trying to follow the thread lol).

Yes, the ATH-M50s are a bit tight on the ears. If you have ears that stick out alot, you may have them running into the screens in the earcups. My ears are something like 2-2.5inches and fit in length wise. 3 inches also may cause a problem. As for any headphone, best way would be to go try them out somewhere. Do you have a Guitar Center near you?

With glasses, I was only able to wear them for something like an hour at a time, however everybody is different. Maybe they wouldn't bother you at all.

 

[shrooms]

I read that JVC HA-RX700 and DBI Pro700 headphones were pretty good in their price range. Can this be confirmed? And if this is true, which are better?

 

[LingLing1337]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OpticElement /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry, who is VisionRelatedBasicPart (trying to follow the thread lol).

VisionRelatedBasicPart=Shrooms trying too hard to come up with a some witty way to refer to you.

 

[Moontan13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrooms /img/forum/go_quote.gif I read that JVC HA-RX700 and DBI Pro700 headphones were pretty good in their price range. Can this be confirmed? And if this is true, which are better?

Thumbs up on the HA-RX700, but also consider the JVC HA-DX1. Both can be driven straight off my iPod Nano, but to reach full potential, they must be amped.

 

[Dinan]

I would consider the Grado Alessandro MS-1, for $99 delivered it is hard to beat.

I also wonder if you can get a vintage STAX rig for anywhere close to $100? I know there is a modern SR-005 system (don't be fooled by its small size) on the gon for $250 that is pretty good.

Anyway, I love my modded MS-1's and electrostats are the ultimate ticket for metal IMHO. I am sporting a pair of STAX stats and listening to Metallica as I type this...also have a little Ozzy in the cue.

 

[Azathoth]

For under $100, go for the Alessandro MS-1i. Excellent reproduction of guitar crunch, fast note resolution and very detailed.

I'll chime in and say that my Grado SR325is is the perfect match for melodic death metal!

 

[sokolov91]

Grado's and alessandro's are fine if you want to listen to metal for about 5 mins and then have an earache.

 

[Valens7]

Ack, never mind.