aquishix
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2007
- Posts
- 4
- Likes
- 0
Hello, head-fi. This is my first post.
I found this forum/website because I'm looking to get into the world of hi-fi headphones. Don't make fun of me for the gear that I have -- I know that it's crap, and I'm looking to move up in the world.
My problem is this: I live on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex, and I have a decent surround sound system that I put together myself from various parts...including a nice powered subwoofer. I'm sure that some people here would call me a 'bass head', but I would disagree with that. I just don't want significant dB drops on the lower end of my setup.
My subwoofer is quite powerful and adequate for what I listen to, but since I live in an apartment, I can't run it very loudly at all before the neighbors start marching upstairs to complain. Therefore, I need a good pair of headphones.
Per this need, I went to Fry's and picked up a pair of Sony MDR-V6s. After about a week of owning them and breaking them in, I came to the conclusion that they suck. Does that make me an audiophile at heart?...
Here's my list of things I loved about the V6:
* Obviously sturdy design. I think I could've stepped on these things and they'd have been ok.
* Long cord.
* Amazing clarity. I normally pick up things in the music even just going from my tower speakers to headphones, but these things were levels above any other headphones I've ever owned.
* Very deep bass response, even though there is a disappointing dB drop.
* Tight, clear bass.
* Very easy to drive. My little mp3 player powered off a single AAA battery was adequate, which surprised me. My PSP and GBA were acceptable as well.
* Appealing design. Nothing goofy looking about them...
Here's my list of complaints about the V6:
* There is a noticeable drop in the very low end of the spectrum (20-40Hz, say)
* There is a noticeable spike in the upper end of the spectrum which causes extremely painful sibilance on female leads. (That's where it's most apparent, at any rate.)
* Because of the above two things, I cannot stand to listen to these things at even moderately high volume, which is what I would otherwise be tempted to do in order to get satisfying bass out of them.
* The headband is very springy and clamps my head like a vice. I'm also 6'3" and have a head to match, so my ears and head are larger than normal... but seriously, these cans hurt my head, literally.
* The spring tension is so high on these things that whenever I take them off my head, they snap closed and I'm afraid that they'll get damaged if I'm not really careful every time I take them off.
* The pads do not fully envelop my ears (see complaint #4), which make them very painful to wear after about 30 minutes.
* The pads are obviously of low quality, as everyone on the web seems apt to point out.
* The pads are so thin that they don't keep my ears from hitting the driver, which causes pain and surely is going to make the driver surface get dirty and oily over time.
* The coiled cord gets tangled up and gets those annoying twists, just like every coiled telephone cord I've ever had.
So, I concluded that the bad outweighed the good, even though I got a decent price for them -- 80USD. If I'm going to spend a lot of money on headphones, I want to be fully satisfied.
My main concerns are the sibilance and the bass. I really cannot abide that sibilance issue, so I'm looking for some headphones that aren't plagued by that problem. The bass needs to sound just like the V6's, but louder -- no dB drops allowed.
Therefore, I went to a few stores looking for headphones, and ended up trying on 4 pairs at Guitar Center:
1) Sony MDR-7506, $100
2) AKG K240, $130
3) Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO/80, $200
4) Sennheiser HD280, $100
Here's a graph comparing the frequency response of the last 3 headphones: http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCom...Type=0&graphID[]=423&graphID[]=579&graphID[]=213
MDR-7506: Now, I've read up on the V6 and its history, so I knew that the 7506s should have been the same, and they were. I was just making sure
... It's pretty funny, too, because my pair of V6s had a red tab on one side and a blue tab on the other, betraying what other people have pointed out about the similarity of the two models.
K240: I thought these were nice phones, especially because there seemed to be less sibilance than with the V6s. The open design doesn't bother me, because I'm not trying to keep totally quiet -- my future pair of headphones will be used in my apartment for the purpose of keeping the sound leakage LOW, but not totally absent. However, the quality of the bass on these phones seemed to be lacking.
DT 770 PRO/80: These had a closed design, with circular ear pads and a nice head band. I think the bass was louder on these phones, but it wasn't as rich as with the V6s. I didn't think they were very comfortable because the pads aren't shaped to fit the human ear. The sibilance was also the same as with the V6s.
HD280: The bass was *seriously* lacking on these phones, and they seemed to be cheaply constructed compared to the V6s. However, the ear pads were GREAT! They gave my ears plenty of room and felt very comfortable. I think this is the only pair of cans I've ever worn that actually impressed me in this department. I think the sibilance was also annoying with these.
So given all that I've said, does anyone have any advice? The graph for the DT770s seems to indicate that there is a bass boom at the very low end, but that didn't seem apparent to me. It just didn't seem very high quality.
I want richness, tightness, depth, and volume from the bass on whatever headphones I end up getting...the rest of the spectrum is just as important, but I am not willing to compromise. I want as flat a frequency response curve as possible, with any accepted dips or spikes being NOT at the very low or very high ends. There's no reason to compromise when I'm spending hundreds of dollars on a pair of headphones. I want to be satisfied! My price range is wide, and I'm willing to save up my lunch money, so to speak, to make the proper investment.
Please, I'm in need of expert opinions...
I found this forum/website because I'm looking to get into the world of hi-fi headphones. Don't make fun of me for the gear that I have -- I know that it's crap, and I'm looking to move up in the world.
My problem is this: I live on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex, and I have a decent surround sound system that I put together myself from various parts...including a nice powered subwoofer. I'm sure that some people here would call me a 'bass head', but I would disagree with that. I just don't want significant dB drops on the lower end of my setup.
My subwoofer is quite powerful and adequate for what I listen to, but since I live in an apartment, I can't run it very loudly at all before the neighbors start marching upstairs to complain. Therefore, I need a good pair of headphones.
Per this need, I went to Fry's and picked up a pair of Sony MDR-V6s. After about a week of owning them and breaking them in, I came to the conclusion that they suck. Does that make me an audiophile at heart?...
Here's my list of things I loved about the V6:
* Obviously sturdy design. I think I could've stepped on these things and they'd have been ok.
* Long cord.
* Amazing clarity. I normally pick up things in the music even just going from my tower speakers to headphones, but these things were levels above any other headphones I've ever owned.
* Very deep bass response, even though there is a disappointing dB drop.
* Tight, clear bass.
* Very easy to drive. My little mp3 player powered off a single AAA battery was adequate, which surprised me. My PSP and GBA were acceptable as well.
* Appealing design. Nothing goofy looking about them...
Here's my list of complaints about the V6:
* There is a noticeable drop in the very low end of the spectrum (20-40Hz, say)
* There is a noticeable spike in the upper end of the spectrum which causes extremely painful sibilance on female leads. (That's where it's most apparent, at any rate.)
* Because of the above two things, I cannot stand to listen to these things at even moderately high volume, which is what I would otherwise be tempted to do in order to get satisfying bass out of them.
* The headband is very springy and clamps my head like a vice. I'm also 6'3" and have a head to match, so my ears and head are larger than normal... but seriously, these cans hurt my head, literally.
* The spring tension is so high on these things that whenever I take them off my head, they snap closed and I'm afraid that they'll get damaged if I'm not really careful every time I take them off.
* The pads do not fully envelop my ears (see complaint #4), which make them very painful to wear after about 30 minutes.
* The pads are obviously of low quality, as everyone on the web seems apt to point out.
* The pads are so thin that they don't keep my ears from hitting the driver, which causes pain and surely is going to make the driver surface get dirty and oily over time.
* The coiled cord gets tangled up and gets those annoying twists, just like every coiled telephone cord I've ever had.
So, I concluded that the bad outweighed the good, even though I got a decent price for them -- 80USD. If I'm going to spend a lot of money on headphones, I want to be fully satisfied.
My main concerns are the sibilance and the bass. I really cannot abide that sibilance issue, so I'm looking for some headphones that aren't plagued by that problem. The bass needs to sound just like the V6's, but louder -- no dB drops allowed.
Therefore, I went to a few stores looking for headphones, and ended up trying on 4 pairs at Guitar Center:
1) Sony MDR-7506, $100
2) AKG K240, $130
3) Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO/80, $200
4) Sennheiser HD280, $100
Here's a graph comparing the frequency response of the last 3 headphones: http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCom...Type=0&graphID[]=423&graphID[]=579&graphID[]=213
MDR-7506: Now, I've read up on the V6 and its history, so I knew that the 7506s should have been the same, and they were. I was just making sure
K240: I thought these were nice phones, especially because there seemed to be less sibilance than with the V6s. The open design doesn't bother me, because I'm not trying to keep totally quiet -- my future pair of headphones will be used in my apartment for the purpose of keeping the sound leakage LOW, but not totally absent. However, the quality of the bass on these phones seemed to be lacking.
DT 770 PRO/80: These had a closed design, with circular ear pads and a nice head band. I think the bass was louder on these phones, but it wasn't as rich as with the V6s. I didn't think they were very comfortable because the pads aren't shaped to fit the human ear. The sibilance was also the same as with the V6s.
HD280: The bass was *seriously* lacking on these phones, and they seemed to be cheaply constructed compared to the V6s. However, the ear pads were GREAT! They gave my ears plenty of room and felt very comfortable. I think this is the only pair of cans I've ever worn that actually impressed me in this department. I think the sibilance was also annoying with these.
So given all that I've said, does anyone have any advice? The graph for the DT770s seems to indicate that there is a bass boom at the very low end, but that didn't seem apparent to me. It just didn't seem very high quality.
I want richness, tightness, depth, and volume from the bass on whatever headphones I end up getting...the rest of the spectrum is just as important, but I am not willing to compromise. I want as flat a frequency response curve as possible, with any accepted dips or spikes being NOT at the very low or very high ends. There's no reason to compromise when I'm spending hundreds of dollars on a pair of headphones. I want to be satisfied! My price range is wide, and I'm willing to save up my lunch money, so to speak, to make the proper investment.
Please, I'm in need of expert opinions...
