[SuperU]

Hi,
 
I got a great referral to this board from Steve Taylor from an Amazon review of the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro (250 ohm) headphones. He made a recommendation I come here and post. 
 
If you don't mind, I'm going to try to give a lot of information about what I have and what I'm trying to do so I can give you the best information for you to make suggestions from.
 
Here we go.
 
Currently I'm using a pair of Shure SRH440 phones. They aren't bad but would like something higher quality. The connecting cord has become loose and the plastic connect is partially broken. So maintaining a good connection is not easy. Time to upgrade.
 
Equipment I have
 
iMac
Bose Companion 3 Series II - speakers/sub/amp (Headphones plug in to the volume control of the Bose)
 
What I want to do
 
I am just starting to produce electronic music for scoring spoken sound tracks - think hypnosis sessions. Kind of like New Age in nature. But also am going to be doing some heavy bass dance/house music. Spectrasonics Omnisphere is heavily used. 
 
So I want something that helps me do this. I want to really hear the lows (and the highs) to get a sense for what it would like played at some volume over full speakers. Yes, I know that I won't fully get the effects without large speakers. But you get the idea. High-Res phones are important to me. There is a form of subliminal sounds that are played just at the outer range of hearing around 20k, so really looking for a very wide range.

Complete isolation is probably not necessary as mostly vocal recordings are done separately and the music is scored after.
 
Of course, I'd love to be able to enjoy listening to music with them as well, not just producing.

Listening wise, I tend to like everything from hard rock, heavy deep bass house dance music, top 40 to easy listening and symphony. I'm very eclectic. 

The beyerdynamic DT 880 seem very interesting. Not sure which OHM rating I would need if choosing those.

If you had another recommendation, I'm all ears as well.
 
Budget
 
In total, I'd love to stay under $500 in total. Or thereabouts. I could go another $200 if need be and it would make a huge difference.
 
Other Considerations
 
It would be great if the Bose amp I am currently using for my computer would be enough. But if I need something else to drive the headphones, I'm game. Would still like to stay around $500 give or take in total. 
 
If I could use the new phones with my Note 3, all the better, but that really isn't much of a consideration.
 
I could use a Y adapter out of my computer and go into an amp if need be to run these. But the sound needs to come from my iMac. What we do after that with it, I'm open to suggestion.

One other issue, due to where I live, unfortunately, there is no place available to go and take a listen first. So am doing my best to research the best option, with your help, and then will be satisfied with what I get.
 
Recommendations
 
Would love to hear your thoughts. Any suggestions are most appreciated. 
 
Where possible, give me all the details needed - for example, if there are OHM choices, let me know what might be best with what I have, and if an amp or other equipment would be advisable, best choices along with what OHM rating to choose in the headphones if there is a choice.
 
Thanks for bearing with this long post.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Unfortunately I know little about the Bose Companion 3 Series II and how well it can drive headphones, but if I had to guess it's not meant for high impedance headphones and it's literally just volume control opposed to true amplification.  Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in here.
 
Given your budget and your equipment, and going with a worst case scenario (meaning your Bose unit isn't good for demanding headphones), you might want to invest in the Beyerdynamic DT 880 250 Ohm, and maybe the JDS Labs ODAC and Objective2 amplifier.  I recommend these because the DT 880 is known to be very neutral which should suit your production quite well, and the ODAC will sound a lot better than your iMac.  The Objective2 amp is very highly regarded and praised for its transparency and neutrality, as is the ODAC.

 

[SuperU]

  Unfortunately I know little about the Bose Companion 3 Series II and how well it can drive headphones, but if I had to guess it's not meant for high impedance headphones and it's literally just volume control opposed to true amplification.  Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in here.
 
Given your budget and your equipment, and going with a worst case scenario (meaning your Bose unit isn't good for demanding headphones), you might want to invest in the Beyerdynamic DT 880 250 Ohm, and maybe the JDS Labs ODAC and Objective2 amplifier.  I recommend these because the DT 880 is known to be very neutral which should suit your production quite well, and the ODAC will sound a lot better than your iMac.  The Objective2 amp is very highly regarded and praised for its transparency and neutrality, as is the ODAC.

Thanks Rhamnetin,
 
If it makes a huge difference, I could go another couple of hundred dollars. 
 
Mac has a 1/8 inch mini plug out. Would that just go in to the Amp you mentioned and then to the phones?
 
I've heard there is a big difference between the 600 ohm and 25 ohm 880's. Would the amp you suggested drive the 600 ohm version?
 
Is a digital analogue converter going to help me? Since I am producing the music digitally. I'm way out of my league here. 

 

[Rhamnetin]

  Thanks Rhamnetin,
 
If it makes a huge difference, I could go another couple of hundred dollars. 
 
Mac has a 1/8 inch mini plug out. Would that just go in to the Amp you mentioned and then to the phones?
 
I've heard there is a big difference between the 600 ohm and 25 ohm 880's. Would the amp you suggested drive the 600 ohm version?
 
Is a digital analogue converter going to help me? Since I am producing the music digitally. I'm way out of my league here. 

 
You're correct about connecting the Mac to the amp and the headphones to the amp.  The Objective2 amplifier is rated for 600 Ohm headphones so it should be able to handle the task, hopefully someone who has tried the combo can answer with experience.  The DAC will help with playback, since our ears can only hear analog signal.  It will improve the quality of the sound that you hear.