[Tyestor]

Hiya, I'm new here. This is my third thread (first on this forum), hopefully I can actually get some answers here. I'm looking for new headphones (obviously). My current headset (Steelseries Siberia v2, I can hear you guys vomiting as you read this) died a horrible death (mic on longer works and right ear has no sound. Funny that would happen though, my brother's pair doesn't have a working mic and my previous pair left ear doesn't work). I suppose anything from the below list will sound better than what I have currently. Anyway, my choices so far are as follows:

1. Audio Technica AD700
2. Audio Technica ATH-M50

1. Shure SRH240A
2. Shure SRH840A (my friend is getting these, he listens to the same music and plays the same games as I do. He wants me to get these with him when he goes and gets his pair on Saturday (I live in Australia.))

 
My uses for them are as follows:

1. Music: I listen to pretty much everything except for Country, Hip-hop, Rap and their variations. Here are some examples: Opeth - The Grand Conjuration, As I Lay Dying - Paralells, In Flames - Come Clarity, Ulver - It Is Not Sound, Cloudkicker - Dysphoria, Pendulum - Watercolour and Shinedown - Simple Man.

1. Games: I play a large variety of games and most if not all of them are on my custom gaming rig. My main games at the moment are: Heroes of Newerth (Moba/Arts), Guild Wars 2 (MMORPG), Dota 2 (Moba/Arts), Planetside 2 (MMOFPS), World of Warcraft (MMORPG), Diablo 3 (Uhh...3rd person RTS/RPG/Dungeon Crawler?), Star Wars: The Old Republic (MMORPG), League of Legends (MOBA/ARTS), Smite (3rd Person MOBA/ARTS) and a bunch of FPS' like CoD, BF3, CS:S and CS:GO.
2. Anime, Movies and TV Shows: I have a ridiculous backlog of all 3 of these. I have a PS3 and TV and they rarely get touched for watching movies/anime/tv shows. The only time I use them is when I watch Blu-rays (I don't have a blu-ray player for my PC yet sadly).
3. I'm looking for decent isolation as my brother plays the same sort of games in the same room as me (behind me to my right) and he uses his mic a lot. Not only that but I also have my GPU fan going at 100%, 100% of the time (GPU is a Gigabyte HD6950 reference card. That means reference fan and those things go like jet engines @ max (I think it's a little over 6000rpm)).
4. Must be comfortable obviously.
5. Cable length must be fairly long. I don't have the front audio jack hooked up and my case really big (Coolermaster HAF-X) and the back of the case is quite a distance from my head. Currently I am using the extension cable that came with my Steelseries Siberia v2's, that is long enough. I don't know the exact length though.

 
Computer specs:

1. CPU: Intel Corei5 2500k @ 4.1ghz. Stock cooler, stock volts.
2. GPU: AMD Gigabye HD6950 (flashed 6970 bios) @ 910/1450.
3. RAM: 12gb G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600mhz.
4. MoBo: Asus P8P67-M Pro.
5. Sound: Realtek® ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC (Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking. DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel). Basically on-board audio. I'm looking at getting an Asus Xonar DGX, though.
6. SSD: Crucial M4 256GB.
7. HDD1: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm.
8. HDD2: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 5600rpm.
9. Case: Coolermaster HAF-X.
10. Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit

 
Thanks for reading and I hope you guys can offer me a good solution to my conundrum. Unfortunately it is beyond my power to go into the store and listen to each phones before buying them so that is why I have written the above novel so that I can get expert's advice =) - It may look like I have given a bit too much information but I just wanted to make sure that you guys knew everything about my current setup and what I am looking for so that you can help me make a good choice. Thanks again.

 

[KodaO]

You could try the AD-700's Thay are a good audiophile headphone and would definitely change your listening experience with the metal/rock genres.

I personally believe that the M50's are over-rated, their highs are shrill and the miss are recessed.

Go for the AD-700's owo

 

[Parall3l]

I'm assuming that you are going to a local headphone store, go and audition as much gear as possible. Bring a portable source with you and try whatever headphone you can see. You might want to check out the glossaries here. A full sized closed headphone will probably suit your needs better. From that list the Shures seem like a good choice. The AD700, on the other hand, not so much.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary

If you're in Perth, Headphonics have a decent range of headphone available for audition, in Melbourne there's Addicted to Audio, Jaben and a few others if IRC.

 

[Tyestor]

 
Quote:

I'm assuming that you are going to a local headphone store, go and audition as much gear as possible. Bring a portable source with you and try whatever headphone you can see. You might want to check out the glossaries here.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary

If you're in Perth, Headphonics have a decent range of headphone available for audition, in Melbourne there's Addicted to Audio, Jaben and a few others if IRC.

 
I'm in Brisbane. I'll see what I can do but I'd still like a recommendation. I've read up quite a bit on the AD700s as I was set on getting them but I kept reading that the AD700s lacked bass which is bad for metal/movies.

 

[Parall3l]

Quote:

 
 
I'm in Brisbane. I'll see what I can do but I'd still like a recommendation. I've read up quite a bit on the AD700s as I was set on getting them but I kept reading that the AD700s lacked bass which is bad for metal/movies.

For movies and metal a little extra bass sounds great to me. The main reason I'd recommend you against the AD700 is because that it is open, in other words it will not isolate much. Definitely not a good idea to use open headphones in the same room with a person that'll be making noise.

 

[unkle]

You could try the ATH-A700X, are closed headphones, and they have a decent isolation and good amount of bass.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

You could try the AD-700's Thay are a good audiophile headphone and would definitely change your listening experience with the metal/rock genres.
I personally believe that the M50's are over-rated, their highs are shrill and the miss are recessed.
Go for the AD-700's owo

 
The AD700 is not a good audiophile headphone, it's quite terrible for audiophilia because it's not even neutral/flat because of it's rolled off bass around 100hz making it unable to completely render genres of music that call for sub-bass, like orchestra, organ, cello, some jazz, amongst others. There are better headphones with more capability that cost this much and less. The AD700 is not a good headphone.
 
To further make the point: the original poster wants a headphone with isolation. The AD700 is not covering this at all.
Quote:

 
 
I'm in Brisbane. I'll see what I can do but I'd still like a recommendation. I've read up quite a bit on the AD700s as I was set on getting them but I kept reading that the AD700s lacked bass which is bad for metal/movies.

 
The AD700 rolls off at 100hz, terrible for music that has any sort of sub-bass and even a lot of mid-bass. Opeth will sound lifeless and dull without that warm low bassy hug that they put into their soundscape. Also, zero isolation, so your computer fan and brother will come in loud & clear, both ways. Avoid this headphone. It's beyond over-recommended and really needs to just be removed from headphone lists except for it's one niche and it's one place for people who simply like it (because they've never had anything better on their ears and are convinced blindly that audio can't get better). Please save yourself the grief of this crippled headphone, and avoid it.
 
You mentioned you want isolation and something that is great with your genres of music like Opeth & In Flames, which have a lot of melody and reach deep into bass actually. You'll also want relatively bigger sound stages since a lot of closed headphones are more cramped in that manner, so look for things with deep cups or angled drivers to help with that. Suggestions:
 
Brainwavz HM5 (FA003, NVX)
Beyer DT770 PRO
AudioTechnica A900X
Denon D2000
Ultrasone PRO 750 (and HFI 780)
 
All of them will run from your on-board real-tek, but you should definitely look at a Xonar DG or better, or even simply get a humble Fiio E10 perhaps.
 
Very best,

 

[Tyestor]

 
Quote:

 
The AD700 is not a good audiophile headphone, it's quite terrible for audiophilia because it's not even neutral/flat because of it's rolled off bass around 100hz making it unable to completely render genres of music that call for sub-bass, like orchestra, organ, cello, some jazz, amongst others. There are better headphones with more capability that cost this much and less. The AD700 is not a good headphone.
 
To further make the point: the original poster wants a headphone with isolation. The AD700 is not covering this at all.
 
The AD700 rolls off at 100hz, terrible for music that has any sort of sub-bass and even a lot of mid-bass. Opeth will sound lifeless and dull without that warm low bassy hug that they put into their soundscape. Also, zero isolation, so your computer fan and brother will come in loud & clear, both ways. Avoid this headphone. It's beyond over-recommended and really needs to just be removed from headphone lists except for it's one niche and it's one place for people who simply like it (because they've never had anything better on their ears and are convinced blindly that audio can't get better). Please save yourself the grief of this crippled headphone, and avoid it.
 
You mentioned you want isolation and something that is great with your genres of music like Opeth & In Flames, which have a lot of melody and reach deep into bass actually. You'll also want relatively bigger sound stages since a lot of closed headphones are more cramped in that manner, so look for things with deep cups or angled drivers to help with that. Suggestions:
 
Brainwavz HM5 (FA003, NVX)
Beyer DT770 PRO
AudioTechnica A900X
Denon D2000
Ultrasone PRO 750 (and HFI 780)
 
All of them will run from your on-board real-tek, but you should definitely look at a Xonar DG or better, or even simply get a humble Fiio E10 perhaps.
 
Very best,

 
Thanks for the recommendations, you seems to know what you're talking about. Unfortunately, all of those headphones are out of mine and my friend's price range. Do you have any other cheaper suggestions? The most expensive one in my OP is $200. Remember though that everything in Australia is more expensive.
 
EDIT: http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=658 - I found the HM5 but they don't take credit cards unless you scan the card and send them it...which I can't do. Any other suggestions?

 

[unkle]

Audio Technica A500: http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=142

 

[National]

M50's, D2000's, A900x's, DT770's. 
 
Yeah yeah, the M50's are 'overrated', but they're still good headphones.

 

[Tyestor]

Anyone have any other suggestions?
 
See here:
 
Quote:

 
 
Thanks for the recommendations, you seems to know what you're talking about. Unfortunately, all of those headphones are out of mine and my friend's price range. Do you have any other cheaper suggestions? The most expensive one in my OP is $200. Remember though that everything in Australia is more expensive.
 
EDIT: http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=658 - I found the HM5 but they don't take credit cards unless you scan the card and send them it...which I can't do. Any other suggestions?