[KahlinB]

After hours of research and trying to determine the best headphone for my listening needs (majority of it will be movies, followed by gaming and then some portable music) I have narrowed my selection down to 2 headphones.
 
 
1. BeyerDynamic DT 990 Pro 250 Ohm
 
2. Philips Fidelio X1
 
Because sound quality is probably one of the most subjective things out there, I can only tell you what I like and what I don't. Bose hurts my ears. Beats are too bassy. I have the Infinity P363s for my mains, the PC351 for a center channel and a Lava LSP12 subwoofer powered by a Yamaha A840. I am quite pleased with the sound coming from all of that for it being a budget setup. I have an LG soundbar that serves it's purpose, nothing more, nothing less but for 150 bucks I can't complain. I'm certainly not blown away by it though.
 
So with that out of the way, I'm trying to get as full a soundstage as possible with great vocal clarity, restrained yet effective bass, great mids...On a 200 something budget ha ha.  I don't do any competitive gaming save for the odd MP matchup so hearing footsteps from behind isn't important. This will mostly be for movie watching or catching up on the Walking Dead while my 3 year old is sleeping. I want to hear every bit of flesh crunch and southern drawl as Rick says "Carl" ha ha.
 
The BeyerDynamics are 209 on Amazon while the Fidelio X1 are 249.99. 
 
I really appreciate any and all input!
 
Thanks for your time!

 

[PurpleAngel]

Your Yamaha A840 receiver's headphone output is going to have a high output impedance, which will (should not) go well with the 30-Ohm Philips.
Where as the 250-Ohm Beyers will work nicely.

 

[KahlinB]

  Your Yamaha A840 receiver's headphone output is going to have a high output impedance, which will (should not) go well with the 30-Ohm Philips.
Where as the 250-Ohm Beyers will work nicely.

 
 
I'm a little confused (and ignorant as to Ohms and power) if the Philips are 30 Ohm, would they not draw less power and therefore work better with the A840 than a bigger power draw like the DT 990? Unless I misunderstood. Like I said, I'm pretty ignorant to this ha ha.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I'm a little confused (and ignorant as to Ohms and power) if the Philips are 30 Ohm, would they not draw less power and therefore work better with the A840 than a bigger power draw like the DT 990? Unless I misunderstood. Like I said, I'm pretty ignorant to this ha ha.

 
It's not really a power draw issues, more like how the power is delivered.
It's preferred to have the headphones, to have at least 8 times the impedance (Ohms) of the source they are plugged into.
With 30-ohm Philips, you would want to plug them into a headphone amplifier with an output impedance of around 4-Ohms or less.
Your Yamaha's headphone output impedance could be 50-Ohms or 75-Ohms or 100-Ohms, etc (It's kind of a wild guess).
With 250-Ohm headphones, it may not be at least 8 times, but it's still a lot better then 30-Ohm headphones.

 

[KahlinB]

   
It's not really a power draw issues, more like how the power is delivered.
It's preferred to have the headphones, to have at least 8 times the impedance (Ohms) of the source they are plugged into.
With 30-ohm Philips, you would want to plug them into a headphone amplifier with an output impedance of around 4-Ohms or less.
Your Yamaha's headphone output impedance could be 50-Ohms or 75-Ohms or 100-Ohms, etc (It's kind of a wild guess).
With 250-Ohm headphones, it may not be at least 8 times, but it's still a lot better then 30-Ohm headphones.

 
That....kind of makes sense haha. Thanks for taking the time to explain it. I did some digging and it seems that my AVR is rated up to 600-Ohms for headphones. If that matters in this case.

 

[PurpleAngel]

   
That....kind of makes sense haha. Thanks for taking the time to explain it. I did some digging and it seems that my AVR is rated up to 600-Ohms for headphones. If that matters in this case.

 
My Yamaha RX-V671 can also drive my 600-Ohm headphones.
But has weird volume issues with my 40-ohm ATH-A900X headphones.

 

[KahlinB]

   
My Yamaha RX-V671 can also drive my 600-Ohm headphones.
But has weird volume issues with my 40-ohm ATH-A900X headphones.

 
Ok. Looks like I'm sticking with the 990s then!
 
What about in terms of sound profile assuming I was driving the Fidelio's with an amp? Is there a huge difference in quality between the two?

 

[xXTHMXx]

There is....and here it gets (Kind of) complicated. The Fidelio is the more relaxed oft the two, being the better ( and imho also more comfortable to wear) headphone. The sound oft the Beyer is...special. You have to like it, i do not. I just think the X1 are far more realistic than the DTs, especially the 990. It definetely gets Vetter with the higher priced models, but the DT990s are, as I said, special. Best thing would be to either order them both or listen to them, they are just too different to really describe it.

 

[Raika]

My vote goes to Philips x2 or X1

 

[Voxel-1]

Have you looked at the akg k7XX? They are on massdrop right now.

 

[Youth]

If you want great mids you should stay away from DT990. I don't know the X1.

 

[Rhamnetin]

  My vote goes to Philips x2 or X1

 
Since the thread is almost a year old I wager the thread starter chose already.