Oktyabr
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2010
- Posts
- 182
- Likes
- 46
Hello!
I got a Christmas bonus and can't think what to spend it on. I'm leaning quite a bit to a new pair of headphones, under $300 (bonus presents for the rest of the family ate most of the rest of it already).
A bit of background... I'm what I call a "budget audiophile". I try to buy the best I can afford new and when it presents itself I jump all over used stuff at a good discount. Usually my arena is stereo *speakers* (and associated amps, etc.), not headphones, and I've had pairs in my living room from too many manufacturers to name all of them but they would have to include some of my favorites like Snell, Vandersteen, Dahlquist, AR/Teledyne, and upper end vintage Polk. I love music, all kinds, and have a 3TB NAS filled mostly with FLAC both ripped from CD and 96/24 remasters from vendors like HDTracks. When I need to be, I can be a very critical and discriminate listener.
Years ago I traded a pretty nice pair of vintage Snell stereo speakers for a lightly used pair of AKG K701s and a Creek (MusicHall) OBH-11 headphone amplifier. This was my first serious introduction to "higher end" headphones. I actually loved the soundstage and even the detail of the AKGs and found the bass, once I got used to it, quite natural and satisfying, even for gaming. Most of the time this was fed from my growing FLAC collection via a pro-quality M-Audio Delta 44 sound card (I used to mix and master a bit too). I kept the Creek and finally sold the AKGs... Why? I'm not sure what was my biggest complaint, actually... either the bumps on the headband, which got downright torturous after several hours of steady use (usually binge gaming on the weekends), or because, like I found myself doing with a lot of speakers that have spent time in my living room, they were almost TOO detailed and I found myself unconsciously playing music I knew was recorded and/or mastered with decidedly better quality in mind... music that sounded best on them, not necessarily music I really wanted to hear. A great recording sounded GREAT on them but a so-so recording really showed it's weaknesses with these cans and I stopped listening to a lot of music through them because they just weren't as "fun" with certain tracks (the majority) compared to the cream that floated to the top of my collection!
So... I sold the AKGs and kept the Creek. In my many months of lurking here and reading tens of thousands of words of reviews I pretty much gave up on something with similar characteristics that might be just the "little bit better" that I really wanted and I ended up buying a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50 with the idea that those would be a cheap way to keep the Creek busy while I continued reading and window shopping. A few years later I am amazed to find that I am still pleased with the M50s! Good plugged into my cell phone, plenty of bass for the violent shooter games I play and overall quite pleasing with just about any recording I throw at them. But, like I said, I feel the urge to now explore a "higher level" of headphone, if that can be done for $300? Through rose colored glasses I remember the AKGs having a MUCH better sound stage and some music, especially acoustic instruments, sounded hyper-realistic.
So I've been tempted by the AKG Q701 and the K702, and have strongly considered the DT880 (250) and possibly the HD650 but wonder, if after listening to my M50s for so long, will any of these satisfy that "higher level" urge or will they just end up being slowly backed into a corner where they will only be used for "critical" listening to the rarified air in my music collection?
Thoughts? Recommendations? New or used?
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: I should also say that part of me thinks that, especially if I go with AKG again, that spending a bit more on a pair actually made in Austria will give me better rewards down the road than a cheaper pair made in China. Is this just some bias I have or is there truth to this?
I got a Christmas bonus and can't think what to spend it on. I'm leaning quite a bit to a new pair of headphones, under $300 (bonus presents for the rest of the family ate most of the rest of it already).
A bit of background... I'm what I call a "budget audiophile". I try to buy the best I can afford new and when it presents itself I jump all over used stuff at a good discount. Usually my arena is stereo *speakers* (and associated amps, etc.), not headphones, and I've had pairs in my living room from too many manufacturers to name all of them but they would have to include some of my favorites like Snell, Vandersteen, Dahlquist, AR/Teledyne, and upper end vintage Polk. I love music, all kinds, and have a 3TB NAS filled mostly with FLAC both ripped from CD and 96/24 remasters from vendors like HDTracks. When I need to be, I can be a very critical and discriminate listener.
Years ago I traded a pretty nice pair of vintage Snell stereo speakers for a lightly used pair of AKG K701s and a Creek (MusicHall) OBH-11 headphone amplifier. This was my first serious introduction to "higher end" headphones. I actually loved the soundstage and even the detail of the AKGs and found the bass, once I got used to it, quite natural and satisfying, even for gaming. Most of the time this was fed from my growing FLAC collection via a pro-quality M-Audio Delta 44 sound card (I used to mix and master a bit too). I kept the Creek and finally sold the AKGs... Why? I'm not sure what was my biggest complaint, actually... either the bumps on the headband, which got downright torturous after several hours of steady use (usually binge gaming on the weekends), or because, like I found myself doing with a lot of speakers that have spent time in my living room, they were almost TOO detailed and I found myself unconsciously playing music I knew was recorded and/or mastered with decidedly better quality in mind... music that sounded best on them, not necessarily music I really wanted to hear. A great recording sounded GREAT on them but a so-so recording really showed it's weaknesses with these cans and I stopped listening to a lot of music through them because they just weren't as "fun" with certain tracks (the majority) compared to the cream that floated to the top of my collection!
So... I sold the AKGs and kept the Creek. In my many months of lurking here and reading tens of thousands of words of reviews I pretty much gave up on something with similar characteristics that might be just the "little bit better" that I really wanted and I ended up buying a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50 with the idea that those would be a cheap way to keep the Creek busy while I continued reading and window shopping. A few years later I am amazed to find that I am still pleased with the M50s! Good plugged into my cell phone, plenty of bass for the violent shooter games I play and overall quite pleasing with just about any recording I throw at them. But, like I said, I feel the urge to now explore a "higher level" of headphone, if that can be done for $300? Through rose colored glasses I remember the AKGs having a MUCH better sound stage and some music, especially acoustic instruments, sounded hyper-realistic.
So I've been tempted by the AKG Q701 and the K702, and have strongly considered the DT880 (250) and possibly the HD650 but wonder, if after listening to my M50s for so long, will any of these satisfy that "higher level" urge or will they just end up being slowly backed into a corner where they will only be used for "critical" listening to the rarified air in my music collection?
Thoughts? Recommendations? New or used?
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: I should also say that part of me thinks that, especially if I go with AKG again, that spending a bit more on a pair actually made in Austria will give me better rewards down the road than a cheaper pair made in China. Is this just some bias I have or is there truth to this?
