[cutflow]

you seemed pretty cool. i dont understand any of the threads i read on these forums. and everyone seems aggressive on here.
 
im trying to find out why my headsets sounds so freaking good even at a low volume i'm able to hear every sound and the bass is like....perfect.
 
headsets cost me about 80 bucks....8 years ago and they are still doing wonders today- i have worn a lot of headsets before and these are just perfect. and i would like to know why?
 
http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/steelseries-siberia-full-size/4507-7877_7-33949930.html?tag=specs
 
those are the ones. a little about me: i like house music and im learning how to produce music.
 
also i would like to know why all professionals dj's around the world use the headphones - Sennheiser HD25s (besides the fact that it has noise canceling)

 
im a newb so stick with newb language =] as i didnt understand any threads i read on here
 
 
the reason for the post besides my questions^ is because i want to buy headphones for my cuzin who is poor. and i like shopping at newegg.com cause i been doing it for years. and the headphones are described
[1] ohms
[2] Frequency Response
[3] Sensitivity
 
so out of the 3 options, my question there would be, how should i shop for headsets as a newb, which option will over all indicate best sound and what number(range) should i stick with?
 
now because i'm a newb, it might be easy to simplify this and say, "freq. res. is the most important setting than the other 2.... and only buy any headphones that has the freq. res. range of ## - ##". (this is just an example so dont reply back saying the downsides of buying by freq. res. because its not what i mean, i just want to know which option/method you would recommend for a newb to shop by)
 
i mean w/e works when you reply back. thanks for your time for reading this, understanding and taking the time to reply.
 

 

[1Time]

Welcome to Head-Fi. 
 
The best way to shop for headphones is to post a thread like this one. 
 
What's your cousin's budget for buying new headphones at Newegg? 
 
And what equipment will he be plugging it into? 

 

[cutflow]

well its my budget which would be 50 bucks and under since i dont make much  money. and its simple its like plugging it to comp speakers and being used to produce music. i was expecting you to mention mayb one of those 3 choices and #range i should follow but i guess its more than that
 
 
can you by any chance get around to my other questions ;]

 

[swbf2cheater]

you feel that those headphones you've owned were awesome because its possible that you havent experienced anything really nice to compare it to.  hopefully your time here at head fi will open doors for you, either that or you were using really nice gear already haha.
 
DJs love the HD25 and mark ii because they are very comfortable, very light and sound incredible.  They, along with the Phiaton MS400 are in my opinion the two best portable sets ever made for under around $250.  They both handle very high outpouts of power as found in DJ setups without blowing up while at the same time are very easy to drive, meaning you dont really need an amplifier to use them and get great performance.
 
Frequency is not the most important at all for a normal person, a non-audiophile.  Freq. Response means the range of sounds the headphones can pick up on.  Usually, not always, the closer to 1hz means it will have lots of deep responsive bass.  The wider the range, the better.  Most iems are 20-22khz or something similar, that doesnt always mean it will be bass lacking.  Sets like the AD700 have a 5-35hz range or something like that, but are lacking bass heavily.  In my opinion its always best to shop around for the best and widest range listed on the box or specs.  The wider the better.  
 
OHM rating is likely the most important for a normal person to understand.  The higher the ohm rating, the more likely you will need an amplifier just to use the headphones.  32ohm and under can be used by most any MP3 player and produce a loud sound.  If you are using a Sansa Fuze, a powerful mp3 player, you can likely use ( drive ) upwards of 60ohm headphones with ease.  Beyond that, there are sets that are 250ohm, and even some that are 600ohm.  Meaning you need a powerful amplifier, and sometimes even a pre-amp/dac along with your amplifier just to get max performance
 
hope that helped
 
-mike

 

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Quote:

you feel that those headphones you've owned were awesome because its possible that you havent experienced anything really nice to compare it to.  hopefully your time here at head fi will open doors for you, either that or you were using really nice gear already haha.
 
DJs love the HD25 and mark ii because they are very comfortable, very light and sound incredible.  They, along with the Phiaton MS400 are in my opinion the two best portable sets ever made for under around $250.  They both handle very high outpouts of power as found in DJ setups without blowing up while at the same time are very easy to drive, meaning you dont really need an amplifier to use them and get great performance.
 
Frequency is not the most important at all for a normal person, a non-audiophile.  Freq. Response means the range of sounds the headphones can pick up on.  Usually, not always, the closer to 1hz means it will have lots of deep responsive bass.  The wider the range, the better.  Most iems are 20-22khz or something similar, that doesnt always mean it will be bass lacking.  Sets like the AD700 have a 5-35hz range or something like that, but are lacking bass heavily.  In my opinion its always best to shop around for the best and widest range listed on the box or specs.  The wider the better.  
 
OHM rating is likely the most important for a normal person to understand.  The higher the ohm rating, the more likely you will need an amplifier just to use the headphones.  32ohm and under can be used by most any MP3 player and produce a loud sound.  If you are using a Sansa Fuze, a powerful mp3 player, you can likely use ( drive ) upwards of 60ohm headphones with ease.  Beyond that, there are sets that are 250ohm, and even some that are 600ohm.  Meaning you need a powerful amplifier, and sometimes even a pre-amp/dac along with your amplifier just to get max performance
 
hope that helped
 
-mike

 
yes it did helped, your reply was very newb friendly which i didn't expect. well maybe your right that this headsets sound great cause i havent experienced anything nice to it but im thinking when i buy the hd25's which is what all pro dj use at the club. maybe ill get some sick sound. but for now as a music producer and as i analyze other peoples music, these icemats are rly doing it perfectly, im not missing a beat or a click which the average person wouldn't catch simply because the average person ears are not as advance as someone who makes music.
 
what about dB levels? should i be concern with this? should i stay under a certain level?
 
is there a ohms that damages the ear? 10 ohms?
 
so 20-22 freq would be better than 5Hz-30KHz ? and what would be better than 20-22 ?
 
so freq res. would be important for someone like myself whos into music production and when i analyze someone else song to try to reproduce unique tricks- therefore freq. res. would be the important one in this case, so i may be able to accurately catch everything? high freq. res. = hear everything?
 
since you are rly cool. i have decided to post 3 youtube links below to the type of music im into and i hope you find it interesting, relaxing, relieving, puts a smile on your face and hopefully turns you into a new person =)
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99izRBCnek4 (lovely bass kicks in at 1:30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ejifm07hkQ (hypnotizing , forgot when bass gets in)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvKYR2Rf6RA bass lover
 
hope you enjoy the tunes, and if you can gimmie some comment since u have the pro sets let me kno how you feel after u heard them. lol

 

[Peetswee]

Get Koss portapros, they`re less than 50 dollars. 
[1] ohms
[2] Frequency Response
[3] Sensitivity
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ those things won't tell you much about how the headphones will sound.  So you can pretty much ignore all of them.  Ohms you probably won't have to worry about because headphones around 50dollars generally won't need an amp.

 

[swbf2cheater]

Quote:

 


 
yes it did helped, your reply was very newb friendly which i didn't expect. well maybe your right that this headsets sound great cause i havent experienced anything nice to it but im thinking when i buy the hd25's which is what all pro dj use at the club. maybe ill get some sick sound. but for now as a music producer and as i analyze other peoples music, these icemats are rly doing it perfectly, im not missing a beat or a click which the average person wouldn't catch simply because the average person ears are not as advance as someone who makes music.
 
what about dB levels? should i be concern with this? should i stay under a certain level?
 
Nah, DB = decibel and means the intensity of the sound, loudness.  the higher the DB rating the louder the headphones will go without blowing out.  Which is why DJs love the HD25-ii because of its high DB rating.  They are unique in that they get to high volumes and almost no distortion appears at all.  That all combined with excellent isolation.
 
is there a ohms that damages the ear? 10 ohms?
ohm only means how much power is required to use the headphones.  DB rating is what would be damaging.  The Rating itself means nothing for your ears, the volume in which you set the audio at is, lol.  If your headphones have a high DB rating, and you crank that volume up, you could easily go def.  Well, crank the volume up too high on any set of headphones and you will damage your ears.  
 
so 20-22 freq would be better than 5Hz-30KHz ? and what would be better than 20-22 ?
 
the 5-30Hz range would be better, the WIDER the better meaning the more numbers in between them, the better.  But thats just my opinion.  As I said, some sets have a small range, 20-22 and still sound awesome.  So its not always true, but 90% of the time it is the bigger range, the better the headphones.  The closer to 1hz, the more bass response.  That doesnt mean MORE BASS, that means it will pick up on very low bass notes and you will hear it.  
 
so freq res. would be important for someone like myself whos into music production and when i analyze someone else song to try to reproduce unique tricks- therefore freq. res. would be the important one in this case, so i may be able to accurately catch everything? high freq. res. = hear everything?
 
Exactly.  If you are mixing audio, I would never use anything without a nice wide Frequency response.  Also, you need to likely look to Monitor style headphones like the Shure 840.  Headphones branded as monitors will not exaggerate your audio, so you will be able to hear the pops, cracks and things that shouldn't be there.  A set like the Shure 750DJ, while it says its a monitor really isn't at all great for mixing.  It exaggerates heavily and will cover a lot of the low end abnormalities that an audio track could likely have, and you would never hear it.  Best to ask around for sets that are accurate and do not exaggerate much.
 
since you are rly cool. i have decided to post 3 youtube links below to the type of music im into and i hope you find it interesting, relaxing, relieving, puts a smile on your face and hopefully turns you into a new person =)
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99izRBCnek4 (lovely bass kicks in at 1:30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ejifm07hkQ (hypnotizing , forgot when bass gets in)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvKYR2Rf6RA bass lover
 
hope you enjoy the tunes, and if you can gimmie some comment since u have the pro sets let me kno how you feel after u heard them. lol

 

 

[1Time]

There's not much of a selection on Newegg in your price range for music production. The ATH-M30 sells for ~$53 shipped. 

 

[swbf2cheater]

the jvc harx700 are the best on newegg for that price, but they are huge
 
the best portable is the JVC has700

 

[cutflow]

swbf2 thanks a lot for your reply, you haven't told me if you heard or liked the songs or what not so wasnt sure if i would give you anther great cookie if im not aware if you ate the first 3 lol. =P
 
so to summerizes a few things
 
the pro djs like the hd25 because of the high dB so for example if you had 2 sets....set-A with 90 dB and set-B with 106 dB, if you set both @ volume 8. you'll notice set-A will sound distorted and set-B would sound clearer than set-A , is this correct? what im understanding from what you explained. (want to make sure im on the same page)
 
 
and for the damaging ears thing- i'm guessing it would be good to own set-B(106dB) rather than set-A(90dB) because with set-B you can set vol: 4 n get full benefit where with set-A you'll have to boost it more than vol 4, to try to match volume which will damage the ear all together? (same page as what u said?)
 
 
finally the big one im concerned with.....freq. res. your saying that with a wider range i will be able to hear all the hidden/low vol'd basses going on, -this very important to me since i'm a bass person. and it looks like you caught that quick from my 1-2 posts, and dood i have spent 4 hours analyzing one track and i WAS SO SURE that there was a hidden bass somewhere in the beginning but when i told myself, "ok lets focus, lets get serious" then i would not hear it but when i start dancing n rly feel the song then its like my instinct told me there was a hidden bass, it was just very clever one to spot. which i dont think it should because when the song is played in the club then what? well idk about club equipment but i guess it would be heard.
 
so 5-30 would be better, what about 5Hz-35KHz? would that come next as in better after 5-30. so the first number [5] is lower /closer to 1 then that means best? does 1-25 exist? or lower than 5? i dont see it on newegg.
 
also i saw the shure one you showed me 5-25,000....now when you compare it to this one 5-29,000 , why wuld this one not be as good as the shure - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826621004
 
maybe i should buy my cuzin those jvc and for me get the shure, only thing is, i would like for it to cover my ear, how would i know if it does so?

 

[swbf2cheater]

Quote:

swbf2 thanks a lot for your reply, you haven't told me if you heard or liked the songs or what not so wasnt sure if i would give you anther great cookie if im not aware if you ate the first 3 lol. =P
 
lol no prob, i wasnt too wild about the songs lol, not that they are bad, im just more of a jazz man and never listened to that genre
 
so to summerizes a few things
 
the pro djs like the hd25 because of the high dB so for example if you had 2 sets....set-A with 90 dB and set-B with 106 dB, if you set both @ volume 8. you'll notice set-A will sound distorted and set-B would sound clearer than set-A , is this correct? what im understanding from what you explained. (want to make sure im on the same page)
 
No, that is not correct.  Just because its got a higher DB rating doesnt mean it will be less clear.  It means it can reach higher volumes.  The set with 106 db can reach a higher output volume than the 90DB set.  But again, people like the HD25-ii because it has high DB rating and doesnt distort much at all at really high volume, and it can handle high volume for long time without blowing out like other sets will.  Just because it has a high DB rating doesnt always mean it can withstand prolonged high volume.
 
and for the damaging ears thing- i'm guessing it would be good to own set-B(106dB) rather than set-A(90dB) because with set-B you can set vol: 4 n get full benefit where with set-A you'll have to boost it more than vol 4, to try to match volume which will damage the ear all together? (same page as what u said?)
 
that is only true depending on what set you are using, its not always that way as i said above.  If set A has a low 32ohm rating, and is 106db, and you set your volume level at 5 and then compare that to set B with has a 64ohm rating and 90DB rating, set A will appear much louder at the same volume level.  DB rating isn't something to shop by, at 90DB i think you can easily go def, nobody ever listens to headphones at that high of a volume, your ears could bleed and you will without question lose your hearing forever.  Any and all headphones will have DB ratings like that and like i said it only means how loud they can get. 
 
 
finally the big one im concerned with.....freq. res. your saying that with a wider range i will be able to hear all the hidden/low vol'd basses going on, -this very important to me since i'm a bass person. and it looks like you caught that quick from my 1-2 posts, and dood i have spent 4 hours analyzing one track and i WAS SO SURE that there was a hidden bass somewhere in the beginning but when i told myself, "ok lets focus, lets get serious" then i would not hear it but when i start dancing n rly feel the song then its like my instinct told me there was a hidden bass, it was just very clever one to spot. which i dont think it should because when the song is played in the club then what? well idk about club equipment but i guess it would be heard.
 
so 5-30 would be better, what about 5Hz-35KHz? would that come next as in better after 5-30. so the first number [5] is lower /closer to 1 then that means best? does 1-25 exist? or lower than 5? i dont see it on newegg.
 
Im not sure if lower than 5hz exists in headphones lol, maybe.  A google search would end that question.  All I can say is the wider the range, the better.  You wouldnt ever want to mix tracks or do serious editing with a set that has a 20-20khz range.  Even if that set is crystal clear, odds are strong it wont respond well to the low end, it could have very powerful bass, but not responsive bass.  It wont accurately reproduce that low end. 
 
also i saw the shure one you showed me 5-25,000....now when you compare it to this one 5-29,000 , why wuld this one not be as good as the shure - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826621004
 
Frequency Range has nothing to do with overall clarity.  There are sets that have massive range, but sound like crap.  Muffled, echoing, overall bad quality.  You ahve to be the judge and test for yourself on whatever set you take the chance on.  Best to do a search right here on head fi for the set you want to buy and see what the people say about it. 
 
maybe i should buy my cuzin those jvc and for me get the shure, only thing is, i would like for it to cover my ear, how would i know if it does so?
 
It's always listed on the specs portion of the ad.  Circumaurial means it will cover your ears fully.  Supraurial means it will be an on ear set, resting on your ears and not fully over them.  The JVC-has700 is VERY small.  Its earcups are stated to be circumaurial and its true if you are a smaller person.  If you are a larger person you might have trouble getting them around your ears.  The Shures are very big and will fit fully around almost anyones ears.