[wallijonn]

doesn't headroom or headphones.com have a listing for "best tv viewing cans?supposedly dvd sound is very murky in the midrange.

what type of music to you like? that'll give us a clue. have you ever heard a piece of music that makes your soul soar? if so, you may want to take that with you to audition headphones and see which one gives you the most viceral (i live that word) feeling.

for gaming i always suggest sony mdr-380's, although many here will say 497's or beyer dynamics. the mdr-380's have a cloth earpiece, comfy, light, but will probably give you sweaty ears. and of course there'll be people here who say if it's dvd's you want them for, then only sony cdr3000's digital circuitry will do dvd dynamics justice. but i can see the mdr3000's being used for sacd (super audio compact disk).

welcome.

your journey begins now into trying to find the holy grail of sound. it's a hard journey - but so much fun.

 

[Ryan0619]

Hi, wallijohn and thanks for the welcome. I listen to different types of music but I do NOT listen to Rock, Clasical and stuff like that. I don't watch alot of DVDs maybe 1 or 2 a week. I would LOVE to audition headphones but I know of absouletley no place near me where I can. Any idea of a store that will let me? Best Buy? Circuit City? Also Mega Mee, What do you mean buy the Philips being open? From the pictures saw it looked as if they would completley cover my ears? Thanks!

Ryan

 

[wallijonn]

http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenT...5&m=6940945704

that pretty much will echo info from a lot of threads here.

as to the mdr380's - they're about $40 but have a real cheap headband. at fry's it was broken because they have to be extended BEFORE putting them on your head. someone pulled it to the side instead of down and broke them. i call these semi-closed. but boy are they comfortable. i would expect the v6's to feel a lot heavier on the head and not as comfortable. and finding hp890's are going to be harder, probably, than finding the v6's.

so are you into vocals (female or male), strings, techno, bluegrass violins, swing oboes and clarinets, chamber, country, folk, trumpets...? what kind of sound are you looking for, laid back or forward? i don't like the laid back boston sound but i do like boston sounding bands (whereas i hate pennsylvania sounding bands).

try www.yellowpages.com to find audio listings near you. then make some phone calls. if you're going to school, just put a notice that you'd like to speak to a few people with different headphones. in fact, see what audio stores are near universities - they usualyy have discriminating clinentel that demands the best - look for a Tower Records store and a hi-fi store near campus.

you really can't go too wrong with some of the suggestions here for beyer's, sony v6's, etc. i just figured that you'd want a forward sound for gaming and dvd's. grados have the fastest transient attacks, but not the best accuracy or bass response. listen to a few oboes or flute songs and you'll hear the differences immediately. synth music may be tough, especially if it's the new age type. but since you say you don't go for the rock sound, you may want something slightly more laid back.

of course you can always do what one of the guys here did - ordered 3 headphones and sent the two he didn't like back for refunds.

i'm sure if you spoke to someone at headroom over the phone, and gave him an idea of what you want, he may make some better suggestions.

just remember that no matter what you buy - whether you liked it or not, that you post your findings here. of course if it's all for gaming, is it a creative eax, aureal, santa crux or terrerac sound card, what type of game, etc. you could always listen to gaming speakers and see which ones you like. i can't stand the logitec z560's and much prefer the altec lansing 401. and you can't convince me that the klipsch's sound better.

 

[Ryan0619]

Well heres what I got so far. The headphones will be used mostly for music with a occasional game and movie thrown in. The types of music I listen are as follows, Male and Female Vocalists (majority), Audio Stories (Old Time Radio). I listen to Christian Contemporary, a few oldies, Weird Al

, and a few odd varities. My environment is relativley quiet other than a occasional squawk from my bird. I guess It doesn't really matter to much about open or closed as long as there comftorable, doen't leak a ton of sound, and doesn't sacrifice sound quality (DOH I'm starting to fall into the black hole of headphones

). I am not sure about the Sony V6/7506 because of reports that they get uncomfortable after a while. I am not sure I wanna pay another $22 bucks and go through the hassle of changing them to the other pads. The Philps HP890 LOOK comftorable and all but one person said they were good. Not ruling out the Grado SR80 because I don't yet know alot about them. Are they comfortable? The Sony MDR-380 is almost out because of the problem you mentioned with the headband. I tend to be a little hard on headphones and I doubt those would last. I tried searching the yellow pages but nothing came up. I am not in college so no help there. My sound card is a SB Live 1024 Digital Sound Card. Have no idea if this is good or not? And my speakers are Harman Kardan HK695 which I have been very pleased with! So that basicly brings it down to the Philips HP890 and the Grado SR80 (western gunfight music playing in the background

)Which would you choose? Sorry for dragging this on! I'm sure you get these question alot, And I thank you VERY much for taking the time to help me!!!!!!!

Ryan

 

[wallijonn]

Plenty of Reviews here:

http://reviews.iwon.com/iwon/categor...x_byrating.asp

 

[wallijonn]

well i have the grado and i love them. but that doesn't mean that i don't want to do some radical modifications to them. (i want to change them to angled transducer types. it collapses the soundstage midrange cutting down on sharpness. of course i may just sell them outright).

from my sound blaster they are very bright and fatigueing. [IT HELPS IF YOU SWITCH FROM SPEAKERS TO HEADPHONE SETTINGS]. they ruthlessly expose every mp3 flaw. 60's music, like my "The Turtles, Greatest Hits", is almost unlistenable. i wanted to rip the cans right off my head when that recording started. The Moody Blues "Voices in the Sky" cd will need you turn down the volume or the harshness will get to you VERY quickly. so i would say that grados are made for music from the 1970's onward. the artifical stereo of early 60's music is too wide and makes it unlistenable. but for under $100 you have to consider them a bargain. (until you read a lot of reviews on the above link). look at the phillips hp890's, denon 950's, beyer dt770's, sony v6's, etc. it'll give you a better idea of where you want to narrow your search to.

so if you have any questionable recordings, the sr80's may not be for you. i know that i'll be a lot more wary of recordings - time to start looking at the recording company labels on the back (like i used to do with classical recordings). for rock, vocals and violins, i do like the sr80's.

you'll have to wait until i get my audio technica ad10's for a full comparison. i do know that i had the sennheiser 570's for a week and i just could not take them in my house for another day. to me they sounded crappy - and i tried to burn them in as much as i could but eventually they went back for a refund.

 

[BeyerMonster]

Quote:

Originally posted by wallijonn so i would say that grados are made for music from the 1970's onward. the artifical stereo of early 60's music is too wide and makes it unlistenable. but for under $100 you have to consider them a bargain.

Lots of headphone amps incorporate a crossfeed circuit.

Headroom's crossfeed circuit description

 

[Audio Redneck]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ryan0619 Well heres what I got so far. The headphones will be used mostly for music with a occasional game and movie thrown in. The types of music I listen are as follows, Male and Female Vocalists (majority), Audio Stories (Old Time Radio). I listen to Christian Contemporary, a few oldies, Weird Al , and a few odd varities. ...... Ryan

(Guys, I promise this is not me under a different handle!

)

Howdy Ryan!
Same music tastes, V6's for home or long sessions at the office, Koss KSC-35s in my bag (day trips to other offices). Stock V6's are not a problem for me (and I have a large hat size) over long periods, but I work in a cool environment.

Also, do a search of this forum for both the 890s and V6 (thread title only as almost half the threads will mention them.)

Oh, and Welcome to Head-Fi! Sorry about your wallet.

 

[raif]

I think that i could help here. I own the sony v6, grado sr80 and the philips hp890.

For what you are going to use them for I suggest the HP890s hands down. I am listening to them right now on my computer. As was stated before, the sr80s are way, way too revealing to use with anything but the best recordings, which mp3s are not, and they are really uncomfortable.(the band hurts the head, the cups scratch your ear, the replacement pads rob the phones of the sound that makes them famous) If you listened to nothing but rock music out of a great source I would say grado, but not for anything else.

The v6s happen to be my favorite headphones(untill my ATH100Ti get here I am sure) They are very detailed, and the bass is sick. But, the cord is a pain to string to your computer, and the detail of the highs will fatigue you in seconds with computer sound. Also they lack a midrange which is annoying with all vocal music(minus rap and hip-hop which is why I love the phones) But if you are in to christian music i don't think you will be listening to much gangsta rap.

My advice, if your only going to spend 100 dollars, the Hp 890s are perfect. The thinness people talk about works great to mask the crap most computers put out for sound. And they are still great for other applications except to people who drop hundreds(thousands) of dollars on audio equipment or switch cheaper headphones for each different application(like I do, 890 for computer, grado for rock, and v6 for rap and early 90s jazz)
hope this helps

 

[Ryan0619]

Well Thank you guys for all your help and suggestion and it looks like I'll be getting the Philps HP890! Thanks ALOT guys for all your help!!! I'm sure i'll be back

Again Thanks ALOT guys!

Ryan