[sockpuppet]

Hi, i'm from UK. i just followed a link to this site from somewhere. I had no idea headphones were such a serious hobby for people, wow. Guess im in the right place to get some advice, since im suddenly tempted to get some sick awesomesauce headphone setup, however i dont know anything about this stuff. I'd like a recommendation for some great sounding headphones to use for mainly mp3s on my computer. i listen to mainly metal, so something more suited to fast loud sounds is good. I guess I'd prefer open headphones since i'll be using them in a quiet environment and sound leakage isnt too much of an issue. im not really on a budget but would prefer to not spend outrageous amounts. If possible it would be good if the recommended headphones are available on Amazon UK, since i can get virtually unlimited gift vouchers there. Amazon have senn hd580/600/650, beyerdynamic dt770 and sony mdr-sa5000, seems pretty limited sadly. If the perfect headphones for me arent any of these, its no biggy. Recommendations for a good UK online retailer that also does amps, and a recommendation for an amp would be great. i get the impression from reading here that unamped stuff is vastly inferior. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[nibiyabi]

You can try the Headphone Wizard at headphonereviews.org too. http://headphonereviews.org/wizard.php

 

[Meyvn]

For your musical preferences, I'd recommend the Sennheiser HD600 out of those. However, Grados are pretty great with rock, too, and I'm pretty sure they're available on Amazon as well. The SR225 is a great spot to be in, and the RS2 is another supposed 'sweet spot.' ANother option would be to buy headphones on this forum used. With any of these, though, I'd recommend at least some sort of amp, which I doubt Amazon will be any good for.

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

If you're just listening to mp3s on your computer, then a really great headphone/amp combo might be overkill. A lot of people at hydrogen audio will tell you that good mp3s can be transparent and undiscernable from the cd quality file in a blind test, but this is with pretty meager headphones. Using the HD650 with a good amp will be much more revealing of source flaws.

That all being said, you should look into Grados. They sound perfect for what you're describing, are open, and the lower end models will sound fantastic without making your mp3s unlistenable. What kind of encoding have you done? If you're talking 128kbps I might not go any higher than the SR 60, though I don't know pricing/availability int he UK.

Just a thought on why you might consider scaling back and saving some pennies (pounds, I guess?).

 

[003]

Since when do people suggest the HD600/580/650 for rock? You need some grados man!