[BaniLoki]

I am looking to get my first good pair of headphones. I have a tight budget of US$250 (college student). I am a musician and I have played music since a young age I love music so I been saving my penny’s to get some decent headphones. I can play the Piano, Guitar and played drums in highschool if you were wondering.

I will be using the headphones for long periods at a time. Sometimes all day. Job and school keep me at a desk most of the day. I also have a large head. I mainly will use them in my office behind a closed door. I use my laptop and I would say that the sound card is good and does not make any noise with any of my headphones. I currently am using CX 300-II Precision earbuds. They sound OK : / .They are a bit to bassy and sometimes sibilant. I have some gaming headphones that I refuse to use for music.

My music style is diverse and I listen to many different genres. I would say that most of my music is indie, alternative, rock and metal. Some of my favorite artist include:

The Airborne Toxic Event, All That Remains, American Authors,Arctic Monkeys, August Burns Red, Bastille, Beatles, The Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Bleachers, Blondfire, Blink-182, Buddy Guy, Catch 22, Chevelle, Chuck Berry, Cream, CCR, Death Cab for Cutie, Eve 6, Five finger Death Punch, Foo Fighters, Foster the People, Grouplove, Halestorm, Hollywood Undead, Imagine Dragon, Iron Maiden, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer, The lumineers, M.I.A., Magic Man, Matt and Kim, Metallica, Metric, MGMT, The Naked and Famous, Neon Trees, Nirvana, OneRepublic, Owl City, Ozzy Osbourne, Passenger, Passion Pit, Pearl Jam, The Pretty Reckless, Red Hot Chill Peppers, Royal Blood, Seether, Slipknot, Smashing Pumpkins, SoundGarden, SR-71, Starset, Stone Temple Pilots, Sum 41, Travie McCoy, Vance Joy, Walk the Moon

Sorry for the long list and yes I did just go down my music library and pick out some of my favorite bands and I did take out a lot of bands before I posted this

I also know they have a pair of Beyerdynamic DT880 Premium Headphones on massdrop for US$239.99 but i have never listen to anything that is open or simi open
I am also looking at the Sennheiser HD 598.
I have no way of listening to these headphones any suggestions would be helpful

 

[H20Fidelity]

The Beyer DT880 are decent, depending on the ohm rating as they come in 3 different types. For the 250ohm you're really going to need a decent amp to drive them properly. One of my favourite headphones and most detailed in your price range is Shure SRH840, I find this does everything I need and some more, you could even consider a decent dac/amp with some of your change.

Generally onboard audio (laptops/PC) aren't really made with excelling in mind, they're implemented to make sound come out of your laptop and do bare essentianls, so a dac/amp is something you can consider down the road.

Until other people chime in use our search feature and check out Shure SRH840.
 

 

[BaniLoki]

thanks for your input

 

[SimpleVD200792]

For beyerdynamic I suggest you take the 80 ohm, that is the best beyer without amp.
 
Other than beyerdynamic, there are audio technica a900x, but if you really prefer sound quality rather than comfort, you should try grado, I'm a musician myself and I love'em

 

[BaniLoki]

Would anyone suggest the AKG K7XX on Massdrop? Would i need an amp?

 

[Kelsoo]

  The Beyer DT880 are decent, depending on the ohm rating as they come in 3 different types. For the 250ohm you're really going to need a decent amp to drive them properly. One of my favourite headphones and most detailed in your price range is Shure SRH840, I find this does everything I need and some more, you could even consider a decent dac/amp with some of your change.

Generally onboard audio (laptops/PC) aren't really made with excelling in mind, they're implemented to make sound come out of your laptop and do bare essentianls, so a dac/amp is something you can consider down the road.

Until other people chime in use our search feature and check out Shure SRH840.
 

About the Shures, I've been looking at them and they seem to fit exactly what I've been looking for... if it wasn't for them being closed and not great for games, could you provide me with a sensible alternative?

 

[metal571]

I'm a big fan of the DT880s for those kinds of bands. Their mids are absolutely precise, although ever so slightly in the background. The bass is full and highly accurate with very little roll off. They also have the famous Beyer treble which gives an edge to the mid treble but not so much as to cause pain unless the cymbals in the recording are overbearing. Nice stage without being overly wide, very very comfortable. They tick quite a few checkmarks of what you're looking for. I own the Pro 250s right now but am selling them simply because I prefer my Q701. If you're sure you won't have any amplification on hand I'd get the dt880 32 ohm.

 

[BaniLoki]

not that against an amp. I just new to all this. I also just saw the AKG K7XX on Massdrop and i know i will need an amp. I was thinking of using a FiiO E10K to drive them

 

[metal571]

From what I gathered by reading that thread, it looks like the K7XX is going to sound like a K712 or so.

 

[BaniLoki]

i have never had the chance to listen to them or any type of open heaphone

 

[metal571]

IMO open air cans are simply superior to closed, as long as, obviously, you're in a quiet environment and won't be disturbing anyone. There's almost no reason not to get them if that's your use case. What type of sound signature you prefer is harder to convey. The only thing I have for to help you would be Sonic Sense's audio samples from these cans, and you are listening to the sound sig as a relative difference to the reference track. You also won't be able to judge things like comfort or soundstage from these but it might help a bit. I usually get flak for posting this, but I think it will at least give you an idea of what the sound signatures are like of some of the cans we're talking about. https://soundcloud.com/sonic-sense-pro-audio/sets/headphones-test

 

[BaniLoki]

Thanks for your link it was helpful. I mainly will use them in my office. Foor the most part it quite. I do have a air purifier that produces some white noise. I think i might try and get the AKG K7XX. I know i will need an amp so do you think the Fiio E10K will work with it?

 

[metal571]

Should be fine. I found the AKGs to actually be easier to drive than my 250 ohm DT880 Pro. I'm not sure why people say they're so hard to drive. They probably sound better with an amp though than with the Xonar DG and E6 I'm powering mine with, and they get super loud with that setup already.