My name is David and I'm an Head-fiolic
Jul 12, 2007 at 10:39 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 15

hawkhead

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I have always loved music and a chance encounter whilst buying my first hi-fi got me a part time job in the shop I bought it from. That was 1982 - fast forward a few (quite a few) years and I bought my first Naim/Linn set up.

This I loved and we had many happy hours together. Along came a family and many house moves (sometimes the hi-fi did not even get unboxed!) and music took a back seat. Gaming took over and when I needed a pair of 'phones the priority was for a built in mic for BF2 (SK160's)

An advert on local radio that Travis were playing an hour away and the tickets were booked. The concert was absolutely stunning - we really enjoyed it and I realised how much I had missed music.

The Naim/Linn had to go as the only real times I can listen are at night

So the Realtek onboard in my PC got dumped - now an Xfi music and I bought a virtually new pair of SR80's on ebay but (and it was always going to be a but) that did not cut it. I realised how awful 128 MP3's were and how the Xfi card messed with things in it's modes (read a lot of good stuff on here)

So out came my Rotel RCD-965BX CD player - no socket so got a Corda Arietta - now we're getting somewhere.

Whilst the SR80's are great for the price I'm not quite finished - I've decided to spend about £200 ($400) on some 'phones to get me nearer to the sound I want and am now reading the many! threads to get some ideas of what to audition

I enjoy mainly trance and rock and weirdly am now sharing CD's with my 13year old now the Girls Aloud phase is over.

This is a great resource and hopefully I will be able to contribute in some way
 
Jul 12, 2007 at 11:40 PM Post #3 of 15
Hi David , you might want to audition some Beyers as they are ridiculously cheap in the UK. DT990's + DT880's (stacks of info. on these in the threads) can be had for about £95 /$190 brand new+delivered . I've recently purchased the HD650's (not bad value either in the UK) but gonna pick up some Beyers as well as soon as I get a chance .
 
Jul 12, 2007 at 11:55 PM Post #5 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by big-fi /img/forum/go_quote.gif
DT990 AND DT880 altogether for $190?


Yep , we get ripped off for just about everything else but Beyers are a bargain over here if you have a good look around the UK musician/audio stores on the web . Grados on the other hand are extortionate compared to USA/CANADA prices
 
Jul 12, 2007 at 11:57 PM Post #6 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by big-fi /img/forum/go_quote.gif
DT990 AND DT880 altogether for $190?


I liked the DT990 for rock and trance, but I throughly enjoy the Grado SR225 for rock and especially Classic Rock. If you like more bass than the Beyers are for you, not to say the Grado's don't have bass, but it more punchy and fast IMHO. I haven't heard the DT880, but I hear it has good highs, pretty good mids, and great lows. I have tried out the Dt990s and it was really good for the highs and lows, but my amp might not have been able to drive the mids that well
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. Right now my favorite phones are my RS1s and HD650s. The RS1s and SR225s have a smaller soundstage, but the HD650 have a bigger soundstage, so you can hear the separation of the instruments a lot better. I like the Grado line since it feels like you are on stage with the artist (vocals I find this a lot), or you are in the front row
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Welcome back and sorry about your wallet.
 
Jul 13, 2007 at 2:47 PM Post #8 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by subfocus /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Yep , we get ripped off for just about everything else but Beyers are a bargain over here if you have a good look around the UK musician/audio stores on the web . Grados on the other hand are extortionate compared to USA/CANADA prices


Could you share some good online ones?
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I wouldn't mind some $190 Beyers =P
 
Jul 13, 2007 at 3:10 PM Post #10 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by Caution /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Could you share some good online ones?
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I wouldn't mind some $190 Beyers =P



For example www.dv247.com , DT990's - £92.99 including V.A.T and U.K.delivery . Just do a search and you can find a lot more examples and I'm sure a lot of these places would ship overseas . Just let me know and i'll pm you a few more like this if needed . Makes me curious to know what they go for in Germany though
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How much do Beyers go for in Australia BTW ? Is there much of a difference?
 
Jul 13, 2007 at 3:17 PM Post #11 of 15
lol thanks man Beyers are very expensive here, I only know of one store that sells high end beyers which is headphonic the 880s over here are 225.933 GBP, 990s are 234.460 GBP :p More than double of what you guys get in the UK lol.
 
Jul 13, 2007 at 3:50 PM Post #12 of 15
A set of phones that shares a similar sound as the SR-80 and is in your price range since they ship free worldwide for the same price, is the Alessandro MS2i. They take the SQ to a higher level even above the SR-225 and equal in SQ to the somewhat different sounding SR-325i.

....they tend to sneak through the borders more easily though since it is rumored that the paperwork(EDIT:instead of saying "always" maybe I better say "sometimes") lists the $99 MS-1 as being in the box! *shhhhhhh*!

Anyway, may wish to do a bit of looking at MS2i also!
 
Jul 13, 2007 at 3:53 PM Post #13 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by subfocus /img/forum/go_quote.gif
For example www.dv247.com , DT990's - £92.99 including V.A.T and U.K.delivery . Just do a search and you can find a lot more examples and I'm sure a lot of these places would ship overseas . Just let me know and i'll pm you a few more like this if needed . Makes me curious to know what they go for in Germany though
icon10.gif
How much do Beyers go for in Australia BTW ? Is there much of a difference?



Keep in mind those are the DT-990 pro model pointed out here:http://www.dv247.com/invt/5044/ ,and not the DT-990('05e) model...
 
Jul 13, 2007 at 4:49 PM Post #14 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hi-Finthen /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Keep in mind those are the DT-990 pro model pointed out here:http://www.dv247.com/invt/5044/ ,and not the DT-990('05e) model...


Thanks for pointing that out Hi-Finthen . Shows how much I 'm still learning about this hobby as I hadn't even considered that (Just focused on the price!) Excuse my naivety but I'm still curious to know if there is any marked difference between the two models , SQ -wise , as their specs. seem to be identical . I know that there's cosmetic differences , (particularly as one has a coiled cable ) but how does the sound differ? and if it does would you still consider them a decent buy considering the UK price?
 
Jul 13, 2007 at 6:14 PM Post #15 of 15
Does anybody else have any direct experience in actual noticeable SQ differences (not cosmetics) between the two different versions of the DT990 (cheaper Pro and the '05 version) ? as i'm really curious about this now, given the cost of the Pros in the UK . I'm presuming that there must be some difference in SQ given the price differential .
 

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