Help! I need suggestions, I nearly bought Bose.

[Alaric]

Hi, I'm in the market for a nice set of headphones, but to be honest, Bose is pretty much all I know. My budget is around 200 dollars, but id be willing to go up to 300 if you can convince me a model at that price is truly worth the extra 100.
My musical tastes are pretty varied. I listen to all sorts of things from ambient to progressive rock to death metal. I've been tending towards the progressive rock a lot more lately but still cover all the ground. Even most of the metal i listen to is strongly varied even within a single song, from heavy distortion to classical guitar. I listen to a lot of Opeth and Porcupine Tree to give a couple examples of the style i listen to. Also Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky for some more ambient type stuff. ok, im rambling, lets get to the point.
I suppose im looking for a nice set that would give me great detail for the more delicate music and still provide great bass for my heavier stuff. for some reason highs are of a slightly lesser importance if i had to make a choice between highs and lows, but of course id prefer to have both...

so... if i havent been too difficult... any help?

 

[qazwsx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alaric /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi, I'm in the market for a nice set of headphones, but to be honest, Bose is pretty much all I know. My budget is around 200 dollars, but id be willing to go up to 300 if you can convince me a model at that price is truly worth the extra 100. My musical tastes are pretty varied. I listen to all sorts of things from ambient to progressive rock to death metal. I've been tending towards the progressive rock a lot more lately but still cover all the ground. Even most of the metal i listen to is strongly varied even within a single song, from heavy distortion to classical guitar. I listen to a lot of Opeth and Porcupine Tree to give a couple examples of the style i listen to. Also Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky for some more ambient type stuff. ok, im rambling, lets get to the point. I suppose im looking for a nice set that would give me great detail for the more delicate music and still provide great bass for my heavier stuff. for some reason highs are of a slightly lesser importance if i had to make a choice between highs and lows, but of course id prefer to have both... so... if i havent been too difficult... any help?

Get yourself some Grados.

 

[Culverin]

how do you like your music to sound?
this is for home?
portable?

 

[Alaric]

id probably end up using them mostly at home, but im sure id take them on the road occasionally. im not quite sure what you mean by "how do i want it to sound" i gave a description of my music tastes and preferences in my original post, could you clarify?

 

[werdwerdus]

I'll give two suggestions, both of which I currently own:

Grado SR60 - $69 brand new. They are not a closed headphone; the design allows you to hear the outside world and vice versa. Very excellent headphone for rock and metal, and also pretty decent for most other kinds of music. TTVJ.com has them for $62 and you can get $10 discount since it is your first purchase. So $52 plus about $5 for shipping. They are "supra aural", meaning they do not go completely around your ear. Recommended over the AKG k81 DJ if you don't need isolation and are not going to listen in a noisy environment.

AKG k81 DJ - around $70ish new. They are closed headphones; they block some sound from the outside and keep the noise in. Really good bass and pretty decent for rock and metal. They are also "supra aural". Recommended over Grado SR60 if you need some isolation and are going to use in a noisy environment. TTVJ.com also has these so with $10 discount $59.95 plus shipping.

If you are going to listen primarily at home and mostly to rock and metal styles of music, I would suggest the Grado SR60 (or a higher end model if you want to spend more, but I have only heard the SR60 personally). I think these cans are superb for rock/metal, and if I had to choose one headphone to live with forever that didn't cost a lot, these would be one of my top choices (going only from what I have heard personally).

You could also use some of this information to search these forums for more specific informtion about these two headphones, and find more descriptions of sound, comfort, apperance, etc.

Welcome to head-fi and sorry about your wallet

 

[rb67]

If your budget is around $200, I would get Grado SR-80 ($80)+ a portable headphone amp ($50). This will knock the socks off of anything for that money. Bose can't even compare, I've demoed a few Bose headphones and was appalled at the sound/price. I'm glad you came to us. You just saved your ears and your pocketbook. (well the 2nd part just in the mean time. I'm sure your pocket book will be in danger in the coming months

)

 

[slwiser]

I have never heard these but they look interesting if you were looking at the Bose. The price around the internet is between 150 and 200. I wonder if these sound as good as the ATH-ES7s?

Check this out at your local Guitar Center or MusicalFriends store:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...4&src=3SOSWXXA

Probably sounds better than an Bose with noise cancellation.

 

[Alaric]

thank you all for taking the time to reply, ill be looking at each of your recommendations.

now to ask another question, though ill probably sound like a noob(probably be cause i AM a noob): what is the purpose of a headphone amp?

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alaric /img/forum/go_quote.gif thank you all for taking the time to reply, ill be looking at each of your recommendations. now to ask another question, though ill probably sound like a noob(probably be cause i AM a noob): what is the purpose of a headphone amp?

My ideal with an amp is not to get the sound louder but to get more depth and control for the music. The attack and decay of the musical note off the headphone driver can be heard with more clarity with the control that an amplifier provides as an example. Others can provide more information on this.
With the right amp and source the headphone can sound much better.

Has anyone suggested a Beyer 770 80 ohm version for you? This is another one that would be within your budget that has possibilities but you certainly would need an amp for it. If you were to go further into this hobby you can take these into lots of modification later as shown here: www.headphile.com .

 

[Inkmo]

it's not uncommon for the onboard amp in most portable devices, and in some cases home devices, to be lacking in power to drive high end headphones. This isn't a loudness issue, but a current and voltage issue. As a rule of thumb, you can check out the ohms impedance on a model to see if it will have trouble. Usually under 24-40 and you're A-okay, though this is not a hard and fast rule. Some low impedance cans are power hungry and require more juice anyways to reach their full potential (Sennheiser HD201 being an example. I'm not an electrician, but as I understand, the less volts required, the more amps you need. a double edged sword for low end amplifiers. Yeah, I took that from your explanation, ericj), and some high impedance cans sound great straight out of any source (Koss KSC75, 60 ohm driver).

If the model you're looking at needs amplification, someone here can tell you.

 

[qazwsx]

I already hear a wallet crying.

 

[makasin]

All mp3 players and CD players have a headphone amp. The principle of an amplifier is to increase a signal right? Well in the audiophile world, we use dedicated headphone amps because their power is cleaner, they can provide more current/voltage, thus making them sound better. The same principle as trying to power some power hungry speakers using an "integrated stereo unit" (those ones that come with everything in one box), you simply dont have the power or the precision to bring out the details.

 

[MaZa]

Grados headphones overall are excellent Metal headphones due to their excellent presentation of electric guitars and overall bright and aggressive sound and tight, punchy fast bass. However, their achilles heel is the lack of bass fullness and depth. They are perfect for straight-out airguitar headbanging, but not for gloomy funeral doom and slower, bassier styles of deathmetal. But SR-60 is still excellent headphone for about everything in that price range. Recommended!

Alessandro MS-1. Modified version of Grados, sold from Alessandros website. They have more neutral presentation that fixes some of Grados "faults", but are also less aggressive, less headbanging. But that also means it fits in wider variety of music. Highly recommended for all-around can, it practically works with every type of music satisfyingly enough. Which presentation one likes, Grados or Alessandros, is about taste.

AKG K 81 DJ, closed headphone. Powerfull bass, but on its own the bass is bit too muddy and highs too soft for rock and metal. Bit of modding (like removing the foam disc covering the driver for better highs) and it becomes good overall rock can with deep strong bass. But still, this is way more hiphop-style can than rock/postrock/metal can.

However, if you listen orchestrated classical or ambient too, all three above have bit too small soundstage for that stuff. Works, but not well enough IMO. Depends on taste again.

All three above are very efficient, portable players should play them with ease without help of extra amplifier (though it helps qualitywise), but K81DJ is more "surrounding friendly" on go cuz it doesnt leak sound to outside, and ear-friendlier in noisy areas cuz it blocks some outside noises. No need to hump up the volume that much.

 

[Televator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alaric /img/forum/go_quote.gif I listen to all sorts of things from ambient to progressive rock to death metal.

well, just to set the context... I listen to a similar range: prog-rock (The Mars Volta etc.) experimental/prog metal (Tool, Barkmarket, QOTSA, Kyuss, ...) and postrock and variations (EITS GY!BE, Mono, 65dos, Pelican, Red Sparowes, ...)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Alaric /img/forum/go_quote.gif I suppose im looking for a nice set that would give me great detail for the more delicate music and still provide great bass for my heavier stuff. for some reason highs are of a slightly lesser importance if i had to make a choice between highs and lows, but of course id prefer to have both...

for all the music I just mentioned I LOVE the Alessandro MS2i. It offers great detail and a very lively presentation which is very involving. It is also very fast which is great for rock/metal. The Alessandro range is less mid-high focused than the pure-bread Grados, but they still are not bass-monsters.

But if you give yourself a chance to adapt to the sound of Allessandros, you'll notice that they do come with a decent low-freq range and it is so punchy and clear that there's a good chance that you'll never want muddy large-quantity bass again

The MS2i ($299 shipped worldwide) works great without amplification, but even better when coupled with a slightly warm amp (e.g. HeadFive). Another - less expensive - option is to get the MS1 (aka the gatewaydrug) and some smaller amp(/dac-combo). Unfortunately I do not know which smaller amps are great coupled with the Alessandro range

of course this is all my opinion (in my ears/ on my setup / wtih the music I love)... but if you need objective scientific proof, just follow the link in my signature

 

[Alaric]

I'm hearing a lot of votes for Grado, but you all seem to be suggesting the lower end models rather than the ones that fit my allowed budget. any reason for this?

I'll be looking more into the Grados specifically, once again, thanks for all the input, it's much appreciated.