Just getting into headphones, where to go from here?

[murl]

I have been into speakers for almost a decade and with small children in the home now I rarely get to experience them other than disney movies.  I recently bought the sennheiser momentum 2.0s for traveling, doing the dishes, etc and they work great wirelessly when convenience is the goal.  I have a Schiit Modi multibit DAC, Channel island VHP2 amplifier, and generally use Tidal as a source.  I also have a dragonfly black that I use for portability.  I was considering getting a nice pair of headphones for a better experience to use for music with my current set up.  I have been looking at some of the headphones from Audeze, Hifiman, and higher end sennheisers.  It seems that you can get some of the best headphones for $3-4K new but didn't know how much you needed to spend to get great sound and maybe not the absolute best.  It seems obvious that if I purchased the LCD-4s from Audeze the DAC/AMP combo I have may not be the best of the weakest link so to speak.  Any thoughts?

 

[Monsterzero]

what kind of music are you into?

 

[murl]

Rock, jazz, blues, country, a decent variety. The only thing I'm not into is rap.

 

[Monsterzero]

Rock, jazz, blues, country, a decent variety. The only thing I'm not into is rap.

Couple different ways you can approach it:

Try to find something neutral,with little to no frequency peaks or dips to give as an accurate reproduction as possible....Or,

Find something with really good mids(some of The HiFiMan headphones,amongst others) that brings out the vocals and guitars a bit more than a neutral headphone would.

I listen to a lot of older rock,classic rock,old metal,old and new blues and prefer my headphones with a midrange emphasis,but that is a personal preference.

Personally if I had 4k to drop I'd get 2-3 medium priced headphones to cover all the bases,as opposed to one ultra pricey headphone that will try to do it all...but again that is subjective to personal preference.

You will also need to check into your headphone amps ability to drive whichever headphone(s) you may choose.

 

 

[Frozen Rat]

I couldn't imagine jumping to Focal Utopias or Audeze LCD-4s as a first headphone. Reason is, I'd never know if I could have been happy or happier with something less. For my mind, The $1500-$2000 range appears to be that break-off price point where you're really close to the top  sound-wise before there's a small increment in sound quality but a large increment in price. And you know what? It all depends on whether you want fantastic sound that will amaze you every day or something beyond even that because you can get the former for under 2k.
 
Here's another thing: We get used to the sound signature fairly quickly. If you bought the LCD-4, it would sound "typical" to you after a few days or weeks. So will the others. I personally think that most people would be perfectly happy up in the 2k and under market. I am. I love very high quality sound. Would I buy a Focal Utopia if I had gobs of money? Yeah, probably. If you have gobs of money, just go buy that one and be done with it. You'll hear about the Stax -009 but don't buy that one because you'll have to drag an amp along with you everywhere. 
 
If you're more considerate with your purchases there's a lot of great stuff under 2k. I'll throw out a few you should look at: Audeze LCD-3, LCD-XC, LCD-X. MrSpeakers Ether C/Flow (or non-C open). Sennheiser HD800. Grado PS1000e/GS2000e/GS1000e. Fostex TH900 mk2. Beyerdynamics T5p. Oppp PM-1. Focal Elear. And there's others I'm probably overlooking.
 
Some of these are open-backed. Those have a nice airy sound and can have a nicely expanded soundstage. Closed back phones usually do a good job of cutting out the background noise (such as clinking dishes, the TV) but sound a bit smaller stage-wise. Most people who get into headphones probably own a version of both, and I kind of think of IEMs as closed-back options although I'm really stretching it there.
 
Not all options are easy to walk around with either. Like the Stax-009 has to always be fixed to a sizable amp. You'll use something like that sitting on your couch in a music room, not while doing dishes. 
 
Some of these headphones are heavy, close to 2lbs! I'm talking about most of the Audeze headphones. Even the Grado PS1000e are a bit on the heavy side. Grado GS1000e headphones feel like nothing is on your head. So pay attention to the weight too and decide where that cutoff is for you.
 
I have the Audeze Sines too and they sit very light on my head (they're $499 for the version with the DAC that fits into an iPhone) but they do sound like $400ish headphones opposed to $1,500ish headphones. I have the GS1000i Grados and the Sine isn't even close. It's good though, so don't let the contrast make you think they sound cheap and tinny, they don't—average people (those of us fixated on headphones probably aren't average or normal) would find them exceptional sounding.

 

[Monsterzero]

   
lots of good advice...

I agree with a lot of is said in the above post...you really wont know what is exquisite,until you become familiar with less than that....

As far as the weight issues of someheadphones...i think that is quite subjective and dependant upon where youre going to be listening....I kick back in my recliner and have ZERO issues with the weight of any headphone....clamping force,is a different story tho.

 

[Frozen Rat]

Rock, jazz, blues, country, a decent variety. The only thing I'm not into is rap.

Something with forward mids works well for those genres. You'll need to read reviews, a lot of them, in order to determine which headphones work for your tastes. 

 

[Monsterzero]

 
Something with forward mids works well for those genres. You'll need to read reviews, a lot of them, in order to determine which headphones work for your tastes. 

To speed up the process,generally speaking planar headphones have great mids..Audeze,HiFiMan are two notable companies to investigate.
I own dynamic headphones with forward mids too,namely AD2000s and AKG K240 sextetts,but I wouldnt recommend either as an end-game solution.

 

[murl]

I appreciate all of the responses.  In regards to the budget I don't think I would be willing to spend $4,000 at this point in my life but realistically in the $1-2k range.  I was just pointing out that you can get middle of the road speakers for that amount which I currently have but can get an amazing set of headphones for that price.  For this pair I think I would go with an open back design because I listen in a room with my amp most of the time.  If I want convenience I can use the momentum 2.0s.  I like the idea of demoing some planar magnetics to see how they sound.  It seems that the LCD 2, 3, or X would be more in my price range.  I also wouldn't mind a pair of good used headphones.   I understand that at a certain price point the increased quality doesn't necessarily justify the sharp increase in price.  
 
In terms of the DAC/Amp combo I have do you think it would get in the way of a good set of headphones and need to be upgraded or will it suffice for a while?  

 

[Monsterzero]

  I understand that at a certain price point the increased quality doesn't necessarily justify the sharp increase in price.    
In terms of the DAC/Amp combo I have do you think it would get in the way of a good set of headphones and need to be upgraded or will it suffice for a while?  

The Law of Diminishing Returns is def a thing in this hobby.

I am not familiar with what your amp can or cannot do. But it also depends on which way you decide to go.

For instance my LCD-2s need an amp,but arent that hard to drive,relatively speaking.Whereas my HE-500s are much more demanding of an amp.Further I have an HE-6 coming in from Europe and that pretty much needs to be connected to the speaker taps of a full sized receiver/amp to sound good.

As far as DACs go,that is usually the 3rd thing folks in this hobby upgrade...headphones,then an amp,then a DAC...and if you really wanna get into it,custom cables,power conditioners,etc....

EDIT: Depending upon where you live demo-ing can be quite the challenge,which is a large part as to why this forum exists and thrives.A lot of places carry Beats,Shure IEMs,Bose and maybe if youre lucky a Sennheiser or two.

Every headphone I own was bought w/o any prior extensive A/Bing except for my since sold HD600s....most everything I have in this hobby came from reading extensively....there have been some misses along the way(DT770s,SZ2000s) but those are the exceptions.

After you buy a pair of headphones or two you will be able to better understand terminology,reading a graph,and "hearing" with your eyes.

 

[murl]

I ended up purchasing a pair of LCD-3s after reading many reviews and demoing some headphones. So far they are great and I have enjoyed them. One thing I have noticed with my set up is a slight hiss that is present when there is a pause in the music. I would like to figure out the cause and eliminate it but it is very subtle.

 

[Monsterzero]

I ended up purchasing a pair of LCD-3s after reading many reviews and demoing some headphones. So far they are great and I have enjoyed them. One thing I have noticed with my set up is a slight hiss that is present when there is a pause in the music. I would like to figure out the cause and eliminate it but it is very subtle.

most likely the amp/dac's noise floor...or coming from your source...

http://schiit.com/faq/amp-problems