[Duffy1207]

I've been an avid user of IEM's for the past year and a half or so, and I've got some Denon C751's coming for chirtsmas that I'm excited about. However, I've never really paid much attention to headphones because I've never had the need for them, as I've been happy listening to music out of the "ok" speakers I have for my PC.

After scouring around in the full sized headphone section, though, I've convinced myself I need some for use at home out of the PC and iPod.

I have a few questions:

1. What's the deal with open/semi open, closed. I understand what the difference is, but how does it effect sound?

2. Will decent headphones (on say a £60-£80 budget) sound ok straight out of an iPod or PC? I know this will be different with different headphones, but can anyone help?

3. Can I have a list of headphone manurfacturers and models I should look out for and how they rank? I know of Sennheiser, Grado, AKG, Audio Techinca etc. but are there any speceific models I should know about? I ask about "ranking" because I've noticed AKG's 770's and 990's cost roughly the same (and are very similar) but the 880's cost more, and just want to be aware of any anomolies like this, as usually, higher numbers in a range e.g SR60<SR80<SR125 mean higher in the range?

For your information, I listen mainly to Rock, Hip Hop and some Electronic music.

I plan on discovering new genres/artists in the next few months as my hobby develops, but I don't have much time with college etc, so I want full sized cans to bring out the best in my music at home.

I'm thinking of getting open headphones so I can hear people calling me in the house or the phone going off for example, but I don't know how having open backs effect sound (see the first question)

Thanks in advance for any help, I know people must be sick of answering questions like this, but I trust head-fi as a very helpful and friendly community

 

[1Time]

Do you prefer headphones that are good at not leaking sound out so as to not bother others near by? And do you prefer headphones that are good at blocking out external sounds? Or, is this not so much of a concern?

 

[Duffy1207]

I meant to say, as I'll most likely rarely (if ever) take them out, sound leakage is not a concern, although I'd like some isolation.

 

[BamaJohn]

I've had quite a good experience with Sony MDR-7506 headphones purchased locally for around $99 USD. The only downside to them is finding a place for the heavy coiled cable to go, especially if the other end is attached to something small and easily dragged like an iPhone 3G. Attached to my desktop PC at work or my laptop at home, I'm very pleased. I use them for music listening as well as gaming. I've found no need for any amplification for them yet.

For someone like me who is acutely aware of anything that doesn't perform up to its price or expectations, these have been a welcome breath of fresh air.

 

[Duffy1207]

Thanks for the input so far, but can anyone specifically address the questions I have asked?

 

[BamaJohn]

#1 - it appears to depend more on the design of the headphones than whether they are open / semi-open / closed. There can be bad and good variants of all three. Typically, open headphones can eliminate or greatly reduce resonances due to the "enclosure" behind the driver, and therefore can potentially sound best of all the three types. The tradeoff is any outside noises can color the sound, and the sound from the headphones leaks out and can disturb those nearby.

#2 - Good sound out of an iPod or laptop depends less on budget than on impedance of the headphones. Small devices have small, less powerful amplifier circuits. Big expensive headphones with high impedance will be very quiet plugged into these. Most cheaper, smaller headphones keep their impedance low so they can be driven by small devices. The Sony's I mentioned work fine with my iPhone 3G and my laptop (Dell XPS M1710), but an iPod Shuffle struggles to feed them enough power.

#3 - others here are much more capable to answer. Higher numbers don't necessarily equate to better sound, plus many manufacturers mix closed and open designs in their numbering scheme. The names you've mentioned are the ones I read the most about here, possibly adding Beyerdynamic and Denon.

 

[Duffy1207]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BamaJohn /img/forum/go_quote.gif #1 - it appears to depend more on the design of the headphones than whether they are open / semi-open / closed. There can be bad and good variants of all three. Typically, open headphones can eliminate or greatly reduce resonances due to the "enclosure" behind the driver, and therefore can potentially sound best of all the three types. The tradeoff is any outside noises can color the sound, and the sound from the headphones leaks out and can disturb those nearby. #2 - Good sound out of an iPod or laptop depends less on budget than on impedance of the headphones. Small devices have small, less powerful amplifier circuits. Big expensive headphones with high impedance will be very quiet plugged into these. Most cheaper, smaller headphones keep their impedance low so they can be driven by small devices. The Sony's I mentioned work fine with my iPhone 3G and my laptop (Dell XPS M1710), but an iPod Shuffle struggles to feed them enough power. #3 - others here are much more capable to answer. Higher numbers don't necessarily equate to better sound, plus many manufacturers mix closed and open designs in their numbering scheme. The names you've mentioned are the ones I read the most about here, possibly adding Beyerdynamic and Denon.

Thanks for that.

I must say, I saw your join date of somewhere in 2004 and your lack of posts and thought you were inexperienced

however, after that answer, I'm very impressed, and have learned quite a bit just from that

Don't know how I forgot them two, I own some Denon's and was just looking on the net at Beyerdynamics.

Anyone else have anything to add?

 

[MrJoshua]

OK, here's my 2p (based on my Head-Fi journey so far...):

Buy Sennheiser HD-650. You will get some at some point anyway, so save yourself time and money and just get them now

That is all.

 

[Duffy1207]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJoshua /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK, here's my 2p (based on my Head-Fi journey so far...): Buy Sennheiser HD-650. You will get some at some point anyway, so save yourself time and money and just get them now That is all.

I wish I could, but with no job to speak of and full time at college I'll have trouble just finding a couple of hundred quid.

I'm sure that if I get a job soon, I'll increase my budget quite significantly, although there is beer money to be saved too

I quite like the "stepping stones" approach though, whereby you go through about 3-4 sets of HP at increasing price ranges. It gives that feeling of "god, these are good" more than once, rather than just going for the best HP avaliable.

Also, there is the fact that straight out of my iPod, they'd sound fairly crummy, as I still have a few downloads and ripped, borrowed CD's from my 128kbps days

 

[Duffy1207]

Anyone else?

 

[thatwunguy]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/hea...-guide-271258/

that's the buying guide. As you will see, it will give you choices by price range and tell you which do not need an amp.

If you want isolation you listen to your headphones outside and around others (such as in you college room) go with closed.

If you want great soundstage and don't care who hears it, go open.

If you are interested in a set, ask about it in your personal thread here or search head-fi for other opinions about it.

I wish I knew about the headphone buyer's guide before my first purchase so hopefully this will help you.

 

[Duffy1207]

Thanks, that looks pretty useful.
I'll probably be asking some questions in here later.

 

[nylan8301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJoshua /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK, here's my 2p (based on my Head-Fi journey so far...): Buy Sennheiser HD-650. You will get some at some point anyway, so save yourself time and money and just get them now That is all.

Not so. I can't stand the HD 650. You could say that I even hate them. I'm not into warm-sounding headphones at all, and I don't consider them worth the money.

Not everybody picks up a pair of Senns.

Here's my two cents: try to find a head-fi meet in the area and go listen to as many headphones as you can. Then, make a decision. Until then, try to pick up a pair of "bang-for-the-buck" headphones like the KSC-75's, etc. If you don't like them, gift them to someone or try to return them. Either way, you'll be out less money.

Good luck with the journey,

Nylan