[Bliman]

Hi,
This search for the right headphones is so difficult.
I check the most review sites etc... and try to match it with my needs.
I finally thought I found the right headphones with the reviews.
I bought the 1 more triple drivers over ears headphones, who are very well reviewed. They said they had a very good spacious sound a great mid and treble. So I bought them. But now that I hear them they sound so flat and not spacious at all and are also not comfortable. They were precise, which I like but not spacious. My nephew came and took his AIAI TMA 2 with large comfortable pads that sit around the ear. And they sounded spacious but I didn't like the voices. They sounded a little bit hollow and like someone is singing from behind a carton. It would be great if I could combine these headphones.
I have a main system with Dynaudio 52 Se speakers and I love to listen to many genres (the most to music from Boomkat, Radiohead, Mahler, Bach and other classical music to Techno). I love precise but spacious sound with great dynamics and also where there is good bass but articulate.
The problem is the place where I am playing has almost always the radio on. So I don't really think that a open headphone would work (the Philips fidelio x2 has always looked tempting) , but I have never tried. I also don't have a amplifier, so it would have to be easy to drive.
So my question if someone could help me to point me in the right direction?
The price to which I could go is maximum around the 300€.
This has proven to be more difficult because it is not easy to test many different models here (Belgium).
Thanks all.

 

[SoundHelmet]

Sorry mate. Be careful where you get your impression.
There are too many hype machines out there that make every headphone seem like second comming of christ.

DT 770 80ohm and above. For spacious sounding but bright. Depends on your treble tolerance. I had no trouble with them personally and they were my first after comming from consumer crap with bloated bass and such.
AKG 553 is also spacious sounding but fit varies. without good seal , bye, bye bass.
I have also heard good things about Ath990z ( but i can't says too much about it tbh).

 

[Bliman]

Sorry mate. Be careful where you get your impression.
There are too many hype machines out there that make every headphone seem like second comming of christ.

DT 770 80ohm and above. For spacious sounding but bright. Depends on your treble tolerance. I had no trouble with them personally and they were my first after comming from consumer crap with bloated bass and such.
AKG 553 is also spacious sounding but fit varies. without good seal , bye, bye bass.
I have also heard good things about Ath990z ( but i can't says too much about it tbh).

First thanks for the reply.
Yeah it's so difficult with all these reviews. You have Innerfidelity (where the 1 more is on the wall of fame) the hundreds of magazines then you have metal 571 and Zreviews (very tempting with those sound demo's but at least it doesn't correlate with mine assesment, I found out) and hundreds of sites.
Thanks for the suggestions. I am a little sensitive about treble (I sold my Unico amplifer because there was to much sibilance).

 

[kukkurovaca]

Hi,
This search for the right headphones is so difficult.
I check the most review sites etc... and try to match it with my needs.
I finally thought I found the right headphones with the reviews.
I bought the 1 more triple drivers over ears headphones, who are very well reviewed. They said they had a very good spacious sound a great mid and treble. So I bought them. But now that I hear them they sound so flat and not spacious at all and are also not comfortable. They were precise, which I like but not spacious. My nephew came and took his AIAI TMA 2 with large comfortable pads that sit around the ear. And they sounded spacious but I didn't like the voices. They sounded a little bit hollow and like someone is singing from behind a carton. It would be great if I could combine these headphones.
I have a main system with Dynaudio 52 Se speakers and I love to listen to many genres (the most to music from Boomkat, Radiohead, Mahler, Bach and other classical music to Techno). I love precise but spacious sound with great dynamics and also where there is good bass but articulate.
The problem is the place where I am playing has almost always the radio on. So I don't really think that a open headphone would work (the Philips fidelio x2 has always looked tempting) , but I have never tried. I also don't have a amplifier, so it would have to be easy to drive.
So my question if someone could help me to point me in the right direction?
The price to which I could go is maximum around the 300€.
This has proven to be more difficult because it is not easy to test many different models here (Belgium).
Thanks all.

Closed headphones with good soundstage is tricky. An option that is within your budget, but might be a pain to get you, is Modhouse Argons, which are a modified T50RP. They're also not easy to drive, so you'd need to factor in the cost of an amp. You don't need an expensive one (I think they go great with a $30 Walnut F1), but you wouldn't be able to drive them well them from most phones.

I think the deal with the Argons (versus unmodified T50's) is that they have really good dampening in the cups to prevent reflected sound that will tell your ears how enclosed the space is. They isolate pretty well (they're fully closed) and the soundstage is great -- for a closed headphone. (YMMV, and one person's "spacious" might be another person's "stuffy", so grain of salt etc.) If you do look into the Argons, I suggest skipping the recommended ZMF Oval pads and instead getting a pad that is either fully perforated (like the perforated version of the ZMF Ori pad) or else has a perforated inner rang, like the Brainwavz angled hybrid pads.

Another option I can recommend, much more tenatively, is the B&O H6. I'm not sure I would go so far as to call it "spacious", but it has a much better soundstage & imaging than you would think from looking at it, good isolation, and overall good sound quality. Also quite easy to drive. (the 2nd generation, at least) It has angled drivers, which helps with imaging. The problem with the H6 is it's now discontinued, and the pad attachment system is proprietary, so when the pads wear out, you may be out of luck. But if you find a good deal on one as vendors are clearing out stock, it might be worth a try.

Oh, also -- you could try looking into IEMs, as well. There might be more options in your price range for isolating IEMs with good soundstage than there are closed headphones.

 

[serman005]

You might read about the SoundMAGIC HP151 and see what you think. It has a fairly spacious stage for closed in its price range and is probably worth a look-see. Sorry you are having so much difficulty.

 

[theveterans]

I'd rather trust crinacle's IEM rankings than some professional reviews where there's bias in most of their reviews. So far, most of his impressions matches what I also prefer (not all of course) https://www.head-fi.org/threads/crinacles-iem-ranking-list-222-entries-21-10-18-update.857498/

 

[kman1211]

Hi,
This search for the right headphones is so difficult.
I check the most review sites etc... and try to match it with my needs.
I finally thought I found the right headphones with the reviews.
I bought the 1 more triple drivers over ears headphones, who are very well reviewed. They said they had a very good spacious sound a great mid and treble. So I bought them. But now that I hear them they sound so flat and not spacious at all and are also not comfortable. They were precise, which I like but not spacious. My nephew came and took his AIAI TMA 2 with large comfortable pads that sit around the ear. And they sounded spacious but I didn't like the voices. They sounded a little bit hollow and like someone is singing from behind a carton. It would be great if I could combine these headphones.
I have a main system with Dynaudio 52 Se speakers and I love to listen to many genres (the most to music from Boomkat, Radiohead, Mahler, Bach and other classical music to Techno). I love precise but spacious sound with great dynamics and also where there is good bass but articulate.
The problem is the place where I am playing has almost always the radio on. So I don't really think that a open headphone would work (the Philips fidelio x2 has always looked tempting) , but I have never tried. I also don't have a amplifier, so it would have to be easy to drive.
So my question if someone could help me to point me in the right direction?
The price to which I could go is maximum around the 300€.
This has proven to be more difficult because it is not easy to test many different models here (Belgium).
Thanks all.

Beyerdynamic DT 150 while it's ugly, it is very 3D and spacious sounding for a closed-back, has natural sounding mids, good clarity, good detail, good bass, good treble, good dynamics, etc. For the price, I would recommend the DT 150 over basically any closed-back and most open-backs. I personally think it sounds better than the famous HD 600 and HD 650.

 

[Bliman]

Thanks for all the replies.
That Beyerdynamic DT150 looks very interesting. I like that it apparently is used in Studio's.
In my main system I have the Grace Design m902 which is also used in studio's and which I like very much (I use it as preamplifier, sadly I cannot use it where I use the headphone).
Now before I had narrowed it down to a Meze Neo/Classics, Philips fidelio x2 (which is tuned a few km from my place, but I think a open headphone is a no no).
And now the Beyerdynamic DT150 which I can buy for around 130€ which also makes room for a fairly cheap amplifier.
So if someone can compare these headphones that would be great?

 

[Bliman]

Also oops I see now. I thought to name the thread I am going slightly mad. After Queen .

 

[Mhog55]

I 2nd the B&O H6. I had both this and the 1 more triple driver. Returned the 1 more. H6 has excellent sound quality with a decent enough stage. Not as stark sounding as the 1 more, but better balanced. It's spacious enough sounding for a closed back. If you want more that also check your other boxes, you will need to go open.

 

[Bliman]

I 2nd the B&O H6. I had both this and the 1 more triple driver. Returned the 1 more. H6 has excellent sound quality with a decent enough stage. Not as stark sounding as the 1 more, but better balanced. It's spacious enough sounding for a closed back. If you want more that also check your other boxes, you will need to go open.

Thank you. I am also checking out the Beyerdynamic DT-150. But I don't know because it is so old.
It is getting rave reviews here, but I have been burned by reviews before.
It took me ages to assemble my main system .
And it looks like it is going the same way.
I will check the B&O H6 out, does the earpads go over your ears? I didn't like that the 1 more was pushing the pads right to my ears.

 

[Mhog55]

Thank you. I am also checking out the Beyerdynamic DT-150. But I don't know because it is so old.
It is getting rave reviews here, but I have been burned by reviews before.
It took me ages to assemble my main system .
And it looks like it is going the same way.
I will check the B&O H6 out, does the earpads go over your ears? I didn't like that the 1 more was pushing the pads right to my ears.

Depends on your ear size. Inner diameter is about the same if memory serves correct. They cover mine though

 

[ZMG885]

Hi,
This search for the right headphones is so difficult.
I check the most review sites etc... and try to match it with my needs.
I finally thought I found the right headphones with the reviews.
I bought the 1 more triple drivers over ears headphones, who are very well reviewed. They said they had a very good spacious sound a great mid and treble. So I bought them. But now that I hear them they sound so flat and not spacious at all and are also not comfortable. They were precise, which I like but not spacious. My nephew came and took his AIAI TMA 2 with large comfortable pads that sit around the ear. And they sounded spacious but I didn't like the voices. They sounded a little bit hollow and like someone is singing from behind a carton. It would be great if I could combine these headphones.
I have a main system with Dynaudio 52 Se speakers and I love to listen to many genres (the most to music from Boomkat, Radiohead, Mahler, Bach and other classical music to Techno). I love precise but spacious sound with great dynamics and also where there is good bass but articulate.
The problem is the place where I am playing has almost always the radio on. So I don't really think that a open headphone would work (the Philips fidelio x2 has always looked tempting) , but I have never tried. I also don't have a amplifier, so it would have to be easy to drive.
So my question if someone could help me to point me in the right direction?
The price to which I could go is maximum around the 300€.
This has proven to be more difficult because it is not easy to test many different models here (Belgium).
Thanks all.

Don't know if it's possible, but are you able to reach out to head-fi'ers in Belgium and see if you can meet up to try out some headphones? If you can, you will cover so much more ground. And it's helpful if you can hear reviewed headphones and get a sense of your impression vs the reviewer, but that's still not as good as hearing a lot of different choices at a meet.

I went through a similar struggle, and then I got to a local head-fi meet and got to hear not only a dozen different head phones, but amp pairs as well. Saved so much time and effort.

Relative to closed headphones, I had the DT1770, but you have to get the right amp to drive them or the vocals will sound thin. I found a Schiit Lyr 2 or Valhalla 2 does the job, but then that's going to be outside your budget. I'm use open back mostly so I can't be of more help there.

 

[Bliman]

Don't know if it's possible, but are you able to reach out to head-fi'ers in Belgium and see if you can meet up to try out some headphones? If you can, you will cover so much more ground. And it's helpful if you can hear reviewed headphones and get a sense of your impression vs the reviewer, but that's still not as good as hearing a lot of different choices at a meet.

I went through a similar struggle, and then I got to a local head-fi meet and got to hear not only a dozen different head phones, but amp pairs as well. Saved so much time and effort.

Relative to closed headphones, I had the DT1770, but you have to get the right amp to drive them or the vocals will sound thin. I found a Schiit Lyr 2 or Valhalla 2 does the job, but then that's going to be outside your budget. I'm use open back mostly so I can't be of more help there.

Thank you very much for the advice. And that's very true what you say.
I shall look out for any events here.

 

[kman1211]

Thank you very much for the advice. And that's very true what you say.
I shall look out for any events here.

I agree, if able, I would try to go to a meet or an audio store that may let you audition a pair of headphones. Finding what suits your personal preference is ideal, if you can't do that, try to find a good place to purchase online that has a good return policy in case they aren't for you. Headphones are a very personal thing, so it's sadly a hassle and can take time to figure out what works best.