Inbetweeners V700DJ <---> HD280 Pro for use with home CD player...
Aug 3, 2002 at 4:20 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9

Magicthyse

Better to look good than to sound good!
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The sale of the HD280's to a friend fell through, and I'm back with them again. But, after the headband mod, I'm actually not that hateful of wearing them anymore, so they still have a place.

Another friend is crashing at my house at the moment, and I put him in the room with the tertiary hi-fi (An SL-PG420A CD player among other bits). I gave him the HD280's and a few CD's to listen to before going to sleep.

So we chatted in the morning, and he said "those headphones are amazing!". He didn't know how good phones could be. He asked how much they were and I told him. He stated that he was going to spring for a pair.

I then dug out the Grado SR60 and the Sony V700DJ - all practically the same price as the HD280 (The Grado is about £20 cheaper). I then stuck 'Point' from Cornelius on the secondary CD player - a Sony CDP-XE570 - and asked his opinions about the three phones. Nothing was said about whether any were better than the other.

First of all, the HD280. He loved the sound, "I can hear everything!". Grado he liked, but as I expected, going from the 280 to the SR60 didn't provoke the "Wow" reaction that a transition from craptacular to Grado usually evokes. According to him, the bass was weak and he could hear other noises - "But a slightly sort of milder but still clear sound, it's nice" was the opinion. Now the V700's. Head starts nodding after a few seconds - he took them off and said "These phones ROCK!". He conceded that there was less detail than the other two but said that these phones made the music come alive.

He tried the SR225 later but we won't go into that - he's not going to afford those phones.

----------

The problem is he can't make up his mind - HD280 or V700? Having heard the V700's, he doesn't exactly want the HD280. But having heard the HD280, he doesn't exactly want the V700.

So what's an inbetweenie for home listening at the same price ($100-ish / £100-ish)? Probably closed as he didn't like the openness of the Grado. Regardless of whether you liked the characteristics of the sound yourself, I'd like to hear from V700 and HD280 owners or testers of broken-in versions of both.

I would personally be curious about the recommendations as well.
 
Aug 3, 2002 at 7:13 PM Post #2 of 9
Your friend is caught in the age-old "wow factor" vs "accurate" dilemma.

While not the most accurate headphones in the world, the HD 280 are pretty good. They aren't too unbalanced, have good, tight bass, and overall give pretty good sound.

The V700DJ really have one thing: exaggerated midbass and lower mids. This makes the V700 sound/feel like they have lots of energy and "slam." For people who are used to loud club music, loud boom boxes, etc., it makes the V700 sound "alive" (I guess that's the best way to put it).

So... do you want your friend to buy a pair of headphones that will help him appreciate the music, or a pair of headphones to "rock out" to?
 
Aug 4, 2002 at 11:08 AM Post #4 of 9
Magicthyse: I think it's time you added some Beyers to your lineup - 250-250 or 250-80 and 770pro.

That way you'll have the slamming bass that makes for wow factor AND clarity
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Aug 4, 2002 at 5:53 PM Post #5 of 9
Quote:

Originally posted by jlo mein
MacDEF:

are those full size kosses that your robot is wearing?


LOL, yeah, they're the Pro4AA. Retro!
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Aug 4, 2002 at 8:59 PM Post #6 of 9
The Audio Technica A55 is a good option for the $100. It has some nice bass, but doesn't give up on the clarity like v700 does. They definitely get the foot tapping and head moving "wow" factor going as well. They do need burn in before the bass will fill out.

The only problem is that the bass can be strong and sometimes overpowering.

I would recommend that he just spend the extra $250 and just get the W100 though. Tomcat didn't warn me, that the W100 was really a lot better. The A55 is good, but the W100 is wonderful.
 
Aug 7, 2002 at 11:01 AM Post #7 of 9
Hey Magicthyse, how good is xe570 for headphone listening, especially with hd280 (or any other headphones you have)? Is it any worth without dedicated headphone amp at least for a start? And how do you control the headphone output volume, from the cdp`s front panel, or the cdp`s remote? thanx...

 
Aug 7, 2002 at 1:38 PM Post #8 of 9
miro, I don't use the XE570's for headphone listening.

I bought both of them purely to match the MDS-JE770 MD recorders so that I could record minidiscs in a 'one-hit' operation using the Remote Commander.

However I did try the HD280 once on the XE570, and it wasn't bad at all. At 0db, I remember it being slightly louder than necessary so you probably have some room to adjust the volume (the volume only goes down - it doesn't go above 0db).

And apart from that, I think it's certainly a superb value for money as a transport.

I've packed away the remotes on the XE570's but I'm fairly sure that there was an analog out level control on the supplied remotes (I use the Sony RM-AV3000 instead in each room). I think this is the only way you can change the levels.
 
Aug 7, 2002 at 1:44 PM Post #9 of 9
Thanks for the recommendation folks. After all that, he's come to his senses and bought a Beyer 231 - one of the cheaper phones I suggested to him.

Ovbiously not a true Head-Fier...
 

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