Looking for a decent closed headphone for around 200 bucks

[obsidyen]

I would also consider AKG K 451 and Philips Fidelio M1.

 

[MattTCG]

I don't like to suggest hp's that I haven't heard, but...the soundmagic hp100 is getting some good press.

 

[ekko]

HD25-1 ii do the job for me

 

[obobskivich]

I have the accudio app on my phone and that does a pretty good job getting the headphones it supports to neutral.  Brings a little bit of objectivity into a "neutral" sound :tongue_smile:

You can actually view GoldenEars' Accudio effectiveness plots on their website - not all headphones are going to respond universally well to EQ'ing (they rank them out of 5, with 5 being the best). Their target is an averaged/weighted perceptional flat - again, there is no "true neutral." Not to get into this more (because you seem pretty resistive), but EQ is only going to act upon the frequency domain - there are still going to be differences in other domains that will influence how a headphone sounds (or sounds for you).

More information about Accudio: http://accudio.goldenears.net/Accudio/404

And their EQ Adaptability chart:
http://accudio.goldenears.net/SupportProdList

The A900X appear to score worse than the K550/551 in that respect (if you went and pulled up their measurements of the K550 and A900X, it would likely show you the before and after Accudio results, for comparison). The Soundmagic headphones you want do not appear on that list.

 

[Anewills]

Quote:

You can actually view GoldenEars' Accudio effectiveness plots on their website - not all headphones are going to respond universally well to EQ'ing (they rank them out of 5, with 5 being the best). Their target is an averaged/weighted perceptional flat - again, there is no "true neutral." Not to get into this more (because you seem pretty resistive), but EQ is only going to act upon the frequency domain - there are still going to be differences in other domains that will influence how a headphone sounds (or sounds for you).

More information about Accudio: http://accudio.goldenears.net/Accudio/404

And their EQ Adaptability chart:
http://accudio.goldenears.net/SupportProdList

The A900X appear to score worse than the K550/551 in that respect (if you went and pulled up their measurements of the K550 and A900X, it would likely show you the before and after Accudio results, for comparison). The Soundmagic headphones you want do not appear on that list

I'm aware they're not on the list, only thing is I've haven't read a single negative review yet, maybe just because they're not extremely popular.  I may come off as a bit ignorant because I'm relatively new to the hobby, but I'd appreciate it if you left the sny remarks out of your posts.  Other than that thanks for all your help.

 

[Sekka]

Quote:

I'm aware they're not on the list, only thing is I've haven't read a single negative review yet, maybe just because they're not extremely popular.  I may come off as a bit ignorant because I'm relatively new to the hobby, but I'd appreciate it if you left the sny remarks out of your posts.  Other than that thanks for all your help.

It's the best closed-back headphone for $200, and it beats most $300 closed pairs (not Mad Dog).

 

[Marximus]

The A900Xs and HP100s are both excellent, and have a relatively similar sound (IIRC; I haven't owned them at the same time).  I find the comfort of the A900Xs to be *very* slightly superior to that of the HP100s, but only because the earcups are deep enough.  I found the pads on the HP100s to be a bit too shallow, but I know I'm in the minority here regarding their comfort.

 

[obobskivich]

I'm aware they're not on the list, only thing is I've haven't read a single negative review yet, maybe just because they're not extremely popular.  I may come off as a bit ignorant because I'm relatively new to the hobby, but I'd appreciate it if you left the sny remarks out of your posts.  Other than that thanks for all your help.

And I'll tell you that anything that is experiencing FOTM will be surrounded with superlatives - and it makes shopping hard, because you *won't* see negative reviews. I'd advise skepticism, is basically my point. If your goal is to try and EQ/DSP whatever you're buying to "flat" or "neutral" (more accurately to the GE reference curve), I would suggest buying a comfortable model off the list that scores high - as it will have the best shot at correlating with their target curve. That still won't account for things like soundstage, isolation (which will influence the overall sound), variations in impedance, transient response, etc - all sorts of wonderful details that are often ignored when the "EQ fixes everything" discussions start.

Best possible answer? Do you live near a Best Buy with Magnolia in it - they should have the K550 and A900X available for demo. I'd suggest trying both; see what you come away with. You may dislike them both, or you may like one (or both) of them very much. It's impossible to tell you that based on looking at charts.

And you'll have to explain what "sny" means...

 

[Tsujigiri]

Quote:

And I'll tell you that anything that is experiencing FOTM will be surrounded with superlatives - and it makes shopping hard, because you *won't* see negative reviews. I'd advise skepticism, is basically my point.

Very true. If you're willing to test them out for yourself and post your impressions, you have our gratitude. But personally, I'd wait for the hype to die down and see how it's received by more objective reviewers before spending money on something that might fall out of favor and suffer major backlash like so many others before.

 

[Anewills]

Quote:

Very true. If you're willing to test them out for yourself and post your impressions, you have our gratitude. But personally, I'd wait for the hype to die down and see how it's received by more objective reviewers before spending money on something that might fall out of favor and suffer major backlash like so many others before.

I live near 1 best buy that has a fairly lously selection of headphones, and you can only demo the beats and bose.  Its where i got my first pair of sennheiser hd429's. I've looked and looked for places around me to demo, only place really is guitar center which also doesn't have a great selection, especially considering a lot of people say they have a bunch of headphones.  The other thing about the Soundmagic is that they're not really that new, they've been out almost a year, it's just taking some time to get attention.  Obviously trying them all out is what  I really should do, but I don't have that option, so I have to use the guess and hope method.