[TheBard]

First of all, thanks for the helpful stickies to whoever wrote them (especially the gloossary ).

I need to say I've never owned any good headphones, mostly because I never needed it (living in the country and all I never had the need of "turning down the volume"), but after the demise of my current headset I decided to try some better ones.

I've been searching around for a while, looking link and reviews but I'm still undecided, so I figured I should ask to someone more expert than me ;D
What I'm looking for is something
* in the 100-150$ range, even a bit more if it's worth it.
* microphone is a definite plus, but not a must.
* I'll be using the headphones for movies, music (mostly FLAC files, some leftover mp3 and some CD) and games (so being able to determine the sound "location" is important, while this will be the last use I'll make of them time-wise, I'd hate if they did that badly, because if that's off I won't be able to use them to play :\)
* I'm not planning, at least at the moment to get an amp.
* they'll be plugged in a X-Fi Extreme Music
* I have glasses, and no I can't take em off. Last headphones I had pushed them in my head and it wasn't pleasant at all... something that doesn't require much clamp would be nice.

The ones I've been looking were at the beginning the Logitech G35, then I noticed the USB and dumped it. Google led me here and from here I found the Sennheiser PC-350 (or possibly a pure headphone model like the HD-550 or something) and to the Audio Technica website for the ATH-AD700. But feel free to suggest other ones

I also have some questions that are not really related:
* what's the difference in sound quality, if any between closed and open headphones?
* do closed models have "temperature issues" for long usages?
* do amps actually improve the sound quality or they're useful only to give some extra juice to the headphones if the home theatre/soundcard/whatever can't manage?
* HOW do they manage to produce a surround sound with a good sound localization in headphones that have a normal stereo plug as the only input? I've tried to figure it for a while, but short of alien tech I never understood that.

 

[TheBard]

Reading some other posts I noticed I forgot to mention which kind of music I'll listen to mostly, so here I go: Epic/Power Metal, Jazz (especially stuff with a lot of tenor saxophone), Blues, old Rock. (Also a lot of really really random stuff but less often)

Hope this helps somewhat

 

[Oggranak]

I just got my first amp/DAC the other day (Audio-gd Compass) and I can tell you that the sound quality difference is not subtle. They don't just 'give them more juice'.

For your price range, here is a short list of headphones you can afford that are generally liked/tolerated here:

Audio-Technica ATH-AD700
Denon AH-D1001
Grado SR80
Alessandro MS-1
Beyerdynamic DT770/80

My friend with glasses did not like the comfort of Grado/Alessandro headphones with bowls, but he liked his SR225s so much that he started wearing contacts.

Open headphones tend to grip less (though not always, HD650s grip quite a bit), so something like AD700s might be best for you given the glasses. The D1001s don't grip all that much, though.

I haven't tried the MS-1, SR80 or DT770/80 myself, so I can't really help you with this on the subject of sound quality. Much has been said about all of them, so you could easily find the information by doing a search.

 

[euphoracle]

Regarding your mic problem, you can do what I did: Buy some nice headphones (In my cause, M-Audio Q40), and attach a Zalman Mic-1 to them (on the cord). Very compact and I love the convenience! Also, if one does, the other works fine. Added bonus: Zalman Mic-1 is $10.

 

[TheBard]

Excluding the more clamping ones, it seems that the DT770/80 and D1001s are better with basses than the AD700 or HD555, that would come in handy with some of the music I listen, but on the downside I haven't been able to gather much info about those (compared to the seemingly more popular Sennheiser and Audio Technica ones), but I'll search a bit more.

Thanks for the suggestion for the mic too, I actually saw that on amazon while looking at the cans and I was going to ask if it was a good idea, so you actually answered before I could ask

Also, googling around and looking at the forum made me curious about 2 other things:
* I understand (lies, I googled for it) what recabling is about, but how does that improve the sound or anything in the headphones?
* what the ... is this? ButtKicker® (found someone suggesting it to "fill" the lack of bass of some headphones, namely the AD700s)

 

[yourstruly]

I own the AD700's and I can say that their bass improves dramatically after amping. AD700+warm amp/DAC makes a nice combo.

 

[tenzip]

A Buttkicker is basically a woofer voice coil that you attach directly to your seat. The voice coil drives the chair instead of a speaker cone. You feel the bass instead of hearing it. These can be very strange at first, but if you hook several up to a couch, watching guests jump at the first explosion during a movie can be more entertaining than the movie.

They require a separate amp to drive them.

 

[TheBard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yourstruly /img/forum/go_quote.gif I own the AD700's and I can say that their bass improves dramatically after amping. AD700+warm amp/DAC makes a nice combo.

well I guess I'll have to head over to the amp forum to see what is a warm amp/DAC and see some prices. AD700 are cheaper than my budget so I'll see if I manage to fit an amp in it, maybe adding some. (edit: nvm that, I had no idea that amps were that expensive )

Just out of curiosity (since I don't even own a portable music player or anything) would they work on one of those or they'd need a portable amp?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tenzip /img/forum/go_quote.gif but if you hook several up to a couch, watching guests jump at the first explosion during a movie can be more entertaining than the movie.

I bet that'd be quite funny to watch indeed ;D

 

[TheBard]

Seems that amazon hates me, and it won't ship headphones or mic to europe... do any of you have some favourite online store that's cheaper than the usual conversion 1 $ to 1 € or more that most shop seems to utilize '-_-

 

[nullstring]

I'd recommend the D1001's for you music.
It's warmer and fuller.
And I'll second the Zalman mic. I had a friend get it, and he is very happy.

The AD700 is good for games and has lots of detail... but it's grainy, cold, and a bit bright compared to the D1001.

Neither of them have very much clamp at all.

oh, and it seems like open headphones have more of a heat issue than closed headphones. I'm not sure why though.


The surround sound isn't not like speaker surround sound.
Your ears perceive direction by two things: volume relative to each ear.. and slight delays in sound. (something from the left will hit the right ear first).

However, it is not possible for stereo headphones to differentiate between front and back.

 

[TheBard]

unluckily while I thought to buy the headphones and the mic off amazon, it turns out it doesn't ship those items to italy, and the zalman isn't sold here, so I'll just buy some desktop mic...

Well it should be possible to differentiate between front and back with headphones as long as binaural sound is used and the object is moving, but that would need some support for it in the game and while algorithms to transform surround to binaural sound do exist, they're never used (and they don't work that well either )
Ofc, I could be wrong

 

[ramennn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBard /img/forum/go_quote.gif well I guess I'll have to head over to the amp forum to see what is a warm amp/DAC and see some prices. AD700 are cheaper than my budget so I'll see if I manage to fit an amp in it, maybe adding some. (edit: nvm that, I had no idea that amps were that expensive ) Just out of curiosity (since I don't even own a portable music player or anything) would they work on one of those or they'd need a portable amp? I bet that'd be quite funny to watch indeed ;D

From what I've researched, the AD700's don't require an amp at all.

As for portable amps, the FiiO E5 seems pretty popular and well recommended for it's price range, much like the AD700.

It's about the cheapest you can get, other than the E3.

Head-Direct.com | YUIN

 

[TheBard]

I saw that but since it used batteries I thought it would be a pain to change them every 20-30 hours of listening or so, I'd prefer a desktop model. But with some luck it won't be an issue, while looking at the amp forums I found a thread talking about getting vintage amps from ebay and I remembered that one of my uncles used to have a huge modular sound system and there were an equalizer and an amplifier in it among the various things, so as soon as I go back home in the country I'll try to scavenge it from the storage room

 

[tenzip]

Dusty old equipment from relatives is often times the best, and usually free if you'll just take the pesky thing out of their house.

The Fiio E5 charges via USB, and you can use it while charging, so if you're using it on your PC for gaming a lot, shouldn't be a problem.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramennn /img/forum/go_quote.gif From what I've researched, the AD700's don't require an amp at all. As for portable amps, the FiiO E5 seems pretty popular and well recommended for it's price range, much like the AD700. It's about the cheapest you can get, other than the E3. Head-Direct.com | YUIN

'Need' and 'improve from' are two totally different concepts, especially in our hobby.