[daniele1234]

Hello, everyone.
 
First of all, I am new to this site and this is my first post/thread so I apologise for any mistakes I might make or anything I get wrong. Anyway onto the question, I am currently looking for, and would like some advice, on some closed over the ear headphones which produce a very high quality of sound above everything else, especially beautiful singing treble lines (for classical music) in the budget of roughly £80-250. There are 2 main things I will be using these headphones for:
 
1) On my (upright) piano at home, there is an option to plug in headphones and so one can practise while using headphones without disturbing other people. For this, the headphones will need to produce a high quality piano sound, be able to clearly replicate what I am playing on the piano to music on the headphones and be comfortable to wear for a (relatively) long period of time.
 
2) Listening to classical music, mainly piano/concertos/orchestral/some reggae, and so headphones should be able to produce a high quality of sound but importantly must not leak sound as I will be using these on travelling journeys often, commutes, recordings, etc.
 
All in all, I am really looking for a high quality in sound closed over the ear headphones for classical music in the budget of £100-250. Any help, advice or comments would be greatly appreciated. 
 
Thank you
 
 
By the way, what are the Sennheiser Momentum, Shure SRH840/940, Beyerdynamic DT770 pro, Audio Technica ATH-MRS7, PSB M4U1 headphones like? Are they good, or are there better ones out there for what I have described above. Anyway, thank you.

 

[Ventace]

When it comes to plugging headphones into a piano, unless you have a really specific, special, extremely expensive piano, then sticking headphones into them won't sound any better than sticking headphones into an iPhone. You can hear the sounds, but you're really asking for too much if you want a 'high quality sound' off an electric piano. In fact, from the fact that it's also an upright piano and that you didn't mention it was electric though you suggested you could plug headphones in, I'm going to even assume that it's a cheap one with very few levels of sensitivity.
Your piano (probably) won't give off a high quality sound in the first place, thus high quality headphones wouldn't be worth it. Just get headphones that will let you hear 'all the details you need', like the ATH M40x would probably be all you need for a piano.
It's more important that you hear a detailed sound rather than a good one.
I'm willing to bet, especially since you don't have an electric grand piano, that no matter what headphones you use, it wouldn't be able to come anywhere close to replicating the same sound it would if you were playing off the built in speakers or even off a real piano.

 

 

[Music Alchemist]

In your price range, I like the Yamaha HPH-MT220 and Audio-Technica ATH-M40x & M30x. I don't like the Sennheiser MOMENTUM as much, as it's on the warmer, smoother side of things.

 

[Head_case]

Hi there, 
 
you might find the sound stage of the Momentum way too compressed.  All the Sennheisers I have tend to be darker or veiled.   The Audio-Technica ATH-M40x seems to be the more vivid out of the choice you've listed, not that the Shures should be overlooked either.
 
The Sennheiser HD280Pro have better sound isolation than the Momentums and are much cheaper although I still prefer my Amperiors for commuting - listen to Medtners Piano concertos or Zarebski's Piano Quintet by the Wilanow Quartet, and it had a profound engaging attack with each note on the Amperior.  The Momentum....hmm...just seems a bit dead to me.  I don't like the Momentums for piano music at all, and got rid of it.  They were doing a crash sale for £59.95 for a Momentum 2.0 on Amazon a few months ago.   Not bad at that price.    If you don't mind the weight, and the extreme head clamp, the HD280Pros are very decent.  Listen to Murray Lachlan's Myaskovsky Piano Sonatas and the delicate melancholy trickles effortlessly at lower volumes outdoors.    Mine were terrible until they burnt in and I really thought they were going to be binned, however one day I woke up and they were just lovely.  Now they're very competent for music with silent passages.  Unless you're listening to Andre Marc Hamelin's  Scriabin's piano sonatas thundering and pounding chords like a Black Mass, it can be really hard listening to solo piano on the go on any set up without a portable amp.    I guess you would probably do okay with a commercial headphone like the Denon AH-MM400 which you can just about get on discount from Amazon for a steal at £200 and is less coloured than the Momentum - more bass neutral than rock thumping.   They look preitty for the classical music listening market too   The on-ear phones are okay for isolation - the circumaurals probably give more isolation but do check - if you wear glasses, that will probably do you in and you'll find every circumaural headphone a pain to live with at home or on the go .   
 
Btw  have you considered a portable amp for your electric keyboard as well as travel?  It makes a superb difference for travelling isolation on harder to drive closed back headphones.   I guess, you would do better with a portable amp and a really good closed back isolating headphone, despite its coloration - as long as you don't have to turn it up painfully loud just to drown out the background noise for solo piano work like Estampes or Preludes by Debussy.   Even the V-Moda Crossfade (more rock than classical headphones really) sound superb compared to the Senns average isolation.    The other thing... the Senns lack - the soundstage is really important if you're playing a real instrument and then listening on headphone.  It can get really claustrophobic on Momentums and  I find the closed back Sennheisers mostly useless in this respect.  At your budget though, there's little difference maybe.  I love the soundstage of the the closed back Ultrasone Pro900 -  fabulous soundstage with its S-Logic, but they do leak sound very badly.  Try listening to Ponelle's string quartets by the Gemeaux Quartet, and you'll find tube passengers staring in surprise as pizzicati and third octave glissandi go screeching around.  If you don't mind irritating people, the Ultrasone Pro 900 might just be a whisker above your budget if you hunt around for a deal although for classical music on the go, it's a way more enjoyable experience than the ones you've listed.  Sadly the prices seem to hover around about £80 more than your budget....

 

[Me x3]

  Hello, everyone.
 
First of all, I am new to this site and this is my first post/thread so I apologise for any mistakes I might make or anything I get wrong. Anyway onto the question, I am currently looking for, and would like some advice, on some closed over the ear headphones which produce a very high quality of sound above everything else, especially beautiful singing treble lines (for classical music) in the budget of roughly £80-250. There are 2 main things I will be using these headphones for:
 
1) On my (upright) piano at home, there is an option to plug in headphones and so one can practise while using headphones without disturbing other people. For this, the headphones will need to produce a high quality piano sound, be able to clearly replicate what I am playing on the piano to music on the headphones and be comfortable to wear for a (relatively) long period of time.
 
2) Listening to classical music, mainly piano/concertos/orchestral/some reggae, and so headphones should be able to produce a high quality of sound but importantly must not leak sound as I will be using these on travelling journeys often, commutes, recordings, etc.
 
All in all, I am really looking for a high quality in sound closed over the ear headphones for classical music in the budget of £100-250. Any help, advice or comments would be greatly appreciated. 
 
Thank you
 
 
By the way, what are the Sennheiser Momentum, Shure SRH840/940, Beyerdynamic DT770 pro, Audio Technica ATH-MRS7, PSB M4U1 headphones like? Are they good, or are there better ones out there for what I have described above. Anyway, thank you.

Here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-58-headphones-compared#user_DT660

 

[daniele1234]

Just to let everyone know, the piano is a good quality upright (acoustic obviously) Kawai piano which has the option of plugging in headphones if you wish (through an amp built inside the piano). In terms of how much it is worth, I believe roughly £8,000 (so it is not cheap by any means).
 
Also, based on all your responses some of the headphones I am looking at our:
 
Shure SRH940 (slightly cautious about these as they require batteries)
Audio Technica ATH-MSR7
Beyerdynamic DT660
 
Do any of you have any better ideas or advice?

 

[hbuus]

Last month I had some Beyerdynamic DT 660's home for testing for a week or so.
It has a great, neutral sound signature that works well for classical music (which is 95% of what I hear), however my ears got hot in no time from using the DT 660.
Therefore I can't recommend these cans for use in hot weather.
Also I found the build quality to be lacking compared to the price of the headphone.
 
In the end I returned the DT 660 and got myself a used pair of Sennheiser HD250 Linear II.
These are excellent for classical music as well and can be had very cheap as they're not in production anymore.
 
I've tried around 10 headphones total in my life.
I've been using Sennheiser HD600 for many years but just got a pair of HD700 last week.
As headphone amp I've got a Meier Audio Corda Classic (neutral and transparent) and a Graham Slee Novo (warm and musical).
My DAC is a NAD M51 (also warm/musical).
I run sound digitally out from my computer -> NAD M51 DAC -> headamps -> headphones.
 
Hope this was helpful and good luck with your purchace.
 
EDIT: Forgot to state that I just sold the Novo and replaced it with a Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear headamp, which is currently in transit to my place.

 

[chrisjackson]

The B&O H6 is still just under £200 at amazon.co.uk (the tan one only now).
That is a recommended choice for classical music.
 
Though it is not supposed to be the best for isolation a lot of your other suggestions look a bit bulky for use outdoors.