[maladjustdeath]

Hello,
Havn't visited this great site for long time.
I'm looking for headphones again, so here I go:
I'm tired of carrying around my dt770 back and forth to work, so I'm looking for additional set.
budget:  150$ more or less.
Not looking for extreme audiophile level, mostly intended for background music (various styles, bitrates) while working + ability to pick up details and analyze them if really needed.
No more grados for me after Y cable issue and build quality issues. I liked those mids on metal music, but not the sound stage and lacking bass.
I really like my beyers, though using unamped is not maximising their potentials. maybe mids could be better on metal music, electronic is amazing. but guess I'm more basshead than metalhead.
Instead of buying another one just like that, listened to m50. No comfort issue there, no recessed mids issue, bright enough for me, but small presentation (or stage) compared to my beyers.
almost pulled the trigger on those till seeing youtube review raving how srh840 are so much better. maybe the flatter response will complement by basshead cans better. can't try them out, having concerns about comfort and build quality.
and now for akgs, I briefly listened to k272 awhile back and remember good detail and lacking bass (unamped). read alot how k242hd/k240mkii have better stage due to semi-open design (I don't care about sound leak). but also warnings about chinese building quality (no longer built in austria). also remember comment that they are unforgiving for lower quality recordings.
Will start using them in office space unamped, directly connected to motherboard jack, until improving with usb dac/amp later.
Any insights?
TIA

 

[maladjustdeath]

Well, guess I'll always wonder how the srh840 would have sounded like, but had nowhere to audition them.
 I ended up with k242hd today, I think it will be good for me.
Rational:
Came into the store with my iaudio 7 un-amped, listened to couple of senns (hd215, hd380 don't remember pro or not), and also checked the k272. looping through same songs and changing cans always caused me to favor the 242 due to less sibilance, more detail, larger stage, while keeping in mind I'm looking also for bass and general idea of "fun".
Got a chance again to compare with m50, the m50 had more punchy engaging in your face bass that I would enjoy rocking out to, but I already have that on larger scale with my dt770pro80. I think just when comparing m50 with k242hd it is possible to notice some mid/high parts of the spectrum were missing on m50, which otherwise are so much fun.
Just made another short comparison with the beyers playing bass guitar + music through digitech bp-8 (maybe considered headphone amp I think). I think I'll enjoy beyers more for that - again more punch and engaging, but less detail.
Hope building quality won't fail me - both dt770 and m50 are built like tanks, while the k242hd seem more fragile, they are so light and comfortable I can think they'll disappear on my head through long listening sessions.
Now time for break-in and maybe consider dac/amp, though I don't think I need to.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Asus Xonar DG (PCI) sound card, $27 and there is a $10 mail in rebate this month (Amazon).
Comes with a basic headphone amplifier, rated for headphones up to 150-Ohms,
so the 55-Ohm K242HD and even the DT770 Ohm 80-Ohm would benefit from the Xonar DG.
 
Or the ELE-D02 USB-DAC-Amp, sells for under $20 and ships from China, sold on eBay.
Needs a USB cable, type A to type B connectors.

 

[maladjustdeath]

Thanks, guess until using an amp I won't know what I'm missing. but I know that my phone is somewhat struggling in decent audible levels compared to iaudio.
I think I prefer the usb route compared to pci so I don't need to open a pc case whenever changing source.
I'll probably search for my old ibasso in one of those dusty drawers, just to see if I recognize some improvement even from line-in.