[davidvanderbilt]

Hello everyone! I was wondering if I could get some suggestions. Let me just start off by saying in the past two weeks i have bought and returned several headphones including Ultrasone HFI-580s (liked them but highs were too harsh), Grado 225i (too thin sounding), Sennheiser HD 25-II (too uncomfortable/bass wasn't great), AT A900 (HUGE and had strange highs), Sennheiser HD 380 Pro, Sennheiser HD 600 AND 650's (all of these were too laid back and veiled for me). I have also had Sennheiser HD 448's and AT M-50's and own Denon 1001s. I am using a D4 mamba amp with FLAC files and none of these headphones seem to do it for me! Is it possible that I have set my expectations too high on what I should be hearing? The ONLY time i have been "wowed" by a headphone is when I listened to the Sennheiser HD 448's, but i returned them due to lack of bass. I was listening to Iron maiden in my car today ( I have a bose factory system) and thought if only my headphones could sound like this!
 
Anyways, can someone give me a suggestion for a pair of open or closed phones under $500 that are very clear and very detailed without sounding harsh? I know it sounds simple, but none of the headphones I have tried meet this qualification. I also like the upper midrange to be a little heightened (i think it makes electric guitars sound great).I mainly listen to rock and techno. If anyone could help me out I would appreciate it. I'm so tired of buying and returning headphones to Amazon!

 

[Parall3l]

You've tried all of those headphones? So you are looking for a detailed headphone with some nice boosted bass right? Since you already have a nice amp, something like the higher end Denons or the higher end Ultrasones seems like somethings you would want to research a little.  

 

[Gwarmi]

Try an Alessandro - MS-2 or MS-Pro if you can stretch it.
 
Grado flavor but not as punchy and harsh. I can vouch that the MS-1 sounded like a slightly laid-back
version of my SR80i's.

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

Anyways, can someone give me a suggestion for a pair of open or closed phones under $500 that are very clear and very detailed without sounding harsh? I know it sounds simple, but none of the headphones I have tried meet this qualification. I also like the upper midrange to be a little heightened (i think it makes electric guitars sound great).I mainly listen to rock and techno. If anyone could help me out I would appreciate it. I'm so tired of buying and returning headphones to Amazon!

If you don't have a preference of open/closed = Go Open
 
$500 is a great price. Let's try to get you a amp/DAC too!
 
Harsh sounds as if you're experiencing a evolution to basshead. What you might call harsh is the highs (treble) that are a little too far up there.
 
Gwarmi said Acceseroannahgoeoes, which are Grados that are tweaked: my favorite cans for anything.
Alessadros are what I find too tweaked and the personality of Grado are worked out.
The earlier Grado are more harsh but funner. Like SR60/80/125
 
Get a Grado SR325i - which are less harsh because the bass is moved up. Don't do the 225i with woodies idea that's been floating around. If you're buying a good headphone, don't mod it.
Then pick up a 1/4 to 3.55mm Grado adapter here
Well worth it to go portable
 
I don't expect you to have a decent source, so pick up a Clip+ (any size)
And look at some Ibasso portable amps. The Ibasso D2 is good with anything and Grado don't need a amp, but they do get better with one.

 

[Gwarmi]

And be prepared to say good-bye to a few favorite recordings with a good Grado like the 325i.
 
I have resigned myself to accepting that an album like Metallica's Kill'em All was never a
stellar recording in the first place. A small part of me is hoping that a future DAC upgrade
or tube amp may resolve some of the harshness but some cross benchmarking on a few DAP's
like my ishuffle (in WAV) and on a Cowan revealed that the recording itself appears to be the
culprit.
 
Not a bad thing, just makes you appreciate the finer recordings even more.

 

[Clownzor]

Shure SRH940s are supposedly detail monsters, do some research into them. As for Grados, try before you buy as the Grado sound signature is quite bright, and if you have had previous problems with harsh highs then they might not be for you.

 

[Graphicism]

What are you listening too, in other words what's your source?

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

Shure SRH940s are supposedly detail monsters, do some research into them. As for Grados, try before you buy as the Grado sound signature is quite bright, and if you have had previous problems with harsh highs then they might not be for you.

I found the 940 to have a even brighter sound then my SR80i's

 

[kingoftown1]

I'm not trying to spark a debate, but with going through so many headphones so fast, did you give any of them a real chance to burn it/your mind to get used to them?  How long did you spend with each headphone?

 

[Parall3l]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidvanderbilt /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I am using a D4 mamba amp with FLAC files

Am I the only one that didn't miss that?
 

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Quote:

You've tried all of those headphones? So you are looking for a detailed headphone with some nice boosted bass right? Since you already have a nice amp, something like the higher end Denons or the higher end Ultrasones seems like somethings you would want to research a little.  

  Sure, thanks for the tip. I was just afraid that since i have the denon 1001's and don't like their  sound signature (i think the highs are too harsh), then i might not like the Denon 2000's or 5000's. I will look into it though as well as the ultrasones. I have been very adamant about using the frequency response chart on headroom to find the sound signature i want, but I don't feel like it is always accurate
 

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Quote:

What are you listening too, in other words what's your source?

 
I use FLAC files in Foobar ( with Asio) with the iBasso D4 mamba amp which i use as both my DAC and AMP.

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Quote:

I'm not trying to spark a debate, but with going through so many headphones so fast, did you give any of them a real chance to burn it/your mind to get used to them?  How long did you spend with each headphone?

 
 
Sure, well I guess i exaggerated a little bit, it wasn't exactly a week, it has been two now, and i burned each headphone in for about 100 or so hours before i made my final decisions, and after comparing them. But i agree, i probably should have spent more time with each one. I feel like i spent a day or so with each.
 
 

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Quote:

I found the 940 to have a even brighter sound then my SR80i's

Were the highs too bright? As in harsh?

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Quote:

If you don't have a preference of open/closed = Go Open
 
$500 is a great price. Let's try to get you a amp/DAC too!
 
Harsh sounds as if you're experiencing a evolution to basshead. What you might call harsh is the highs (treble) that are a little too far up there.
 
Gwarmi said Acceseroannahgoeoes, which are Grados that are tweaked: my favorite cans for anything.
Alessadros are what I find too tweaked and the personality of Grado are worked out.
The earlier Grado are more harsh but funner. Like SR60/80/125
 
Get a Grado SR325i - which are less harsh because the bass is moved up. Don't do the 225i with woodies idea that's been floating around. If you're buying a good headphone, don't mod it.
Then pick up a 1/4 to 3.55mm Grado adapter here
Well worth it to go portable
 
I don't expect you to have a decent source, so pick up a Clip+ (any size)
And look at some Ibasso portable amps. The Ibasso D2 is good with anything and Grado don't need a amp, but they do get better with one.

I've tried the SR 225i's and didn't really care for them. They were just too thin sounding to me. Maybe I didn't give them enough time to break in. I'll have to research if the 325i's have more bass. I am currently using a D4 mamba as my AMP/DAC combo.