On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being worst and 10 being best...

[daycart1]

Quote:

Originally posted by LobsterSan Fun thread -- i missed i the first time around. i didn't know so many people on the board had orpheus'... i am wowed and incredibly jealous now.

Hardly anyone has the Orpheus; a lot of us got to listen a little during the Headroom tour.

 

[LobsterSan]

Quote:

Originally posted by daycart1 Hardly anyone has the Orpheus; a lot of us got to listen a little during the Headroom tour.

lucky lucky! i want another headroom tour! i joined too late...

well, i didn't know eric owned the orpheus, and there was a post by jatinder in the 'post a pic of your rig' with an orpheus in there... actually, i was surprised there weren't more people with the orpheus on this board, but i think now that they just don't post as much as us. probably too busy enjoying the music!

 

[eric343]

I only own the Orpheus headphones, not the amp... hence I refer to them as HE90s (the Senn model number/name, i.e. HD600)

 

[psyco1]

Senn HD-590 - 8
Grado SR-125 - 8(with cut senn414 pads)
Grado SR-125 - 6(Bowl pads)
Sony MDR-V4 - 3.5

 

[phonatic]

Another newbie. Fun thread - thank you.

10 being perfect, 5 being acceptable, 1 being a catfight or other unpleasantness:

Sennheiser HD580 9/10
Sennheiser HD 497 7/10

Grado SR-60, Sennheiser pad mod 7/10
Those yellow Sennheiser pads finally made me appreciate the SR-60s. I sold mine anyway.

Grado SR-60, donut pads 5/10
Grado SR-60, factory pads 4/10

AKG K240M 6/10

Koss Sportapro 6.5/10
Koss UR-20 2/10

Phones I don't own but have had the chance to try out:

The entire Grado line all the way to the RS-1, at a Palo Alto hifi store, through fancy headphone amps. Nothing between the SR-60 and the RS-1 particularly impressed me as being worth the difference in price. The RS-1, though... nice cans. 9/10.

 

[carlo]

Grado HP-1 - 9.5
Sony R10 - 9.0
Stax 303/SRM-1 - 8.5
ATH w2002 - 7.5
Sennheiser HD600 w/Cardas - 7.3
Sennheiser HD580 w/Cardas 7.0
Grado SR-225 - 6.5
Sennheiser HD600/580 w/stock cable* - 6.5
Grado RS-2 - 6.0
Grado SR-60 - 5.0

(my criteria)
9.0+ - my first thought isn't "i miss my speakers"
8.0+ - very good, needs more (in the case of the Stax: weight and slam).
7.0+ - i really, really miss my speaker rig.
6.0+ - only good with specific recordings. wouldn't be my primary headphone.
5.0+ - good enough to get by.



* - I prefer the HD600's tightness with bass lines compared to the HD580, but to my ears there isn't enough difference between the two with the stock cable to warrant different ratings.

[size=xx-small]edited because I listed the wrong Stax system.[/size]

 

[Geek]

My desire with audio: Natural sound reproduction.
Rating scale: 1/2 based on sound, 1/4 on comfort, 1/4 on overall practicality. 10 assigned to best headphone heard. Anything below 3 is considered horrid.

HD600 10.0
(best headphone heard, very comfortable)

HD580 9.0
(grainy and less coherent compared to HD600s but otherwise identical)

DT770-250 7.5
(good sound, comfortable, useful sealed design)

DT250-80 7.0
(more balanced sound than the 770-250 but midrange sounds harsh and abrasive when listened to at normal volumes or higher; intolerable in noisy environments due to this flaw, but otherwise a good design)

Sony MDR-CD180 3.5
(cheapie; serious sonic and comfort flaws but non-audiophiles will get a tad of enjyoment out of them)

Cheers,
Geek

 

[Nights_85]

ok.. lets see I haven't used all that much compared to some people in here

Sony CD780 - 8.99 (it'd be a 9 but the trebles are just too annoying)

Sony V500 - 6

Sharp HP-400H - 8 (who said two way headphones were bad?!)

Sony EX70 - -300! (el crapola!) except when listening on something sony then i give it 5

Bang & Olufsen A8 - 8.5 (no isolation really)

Sony E888 - 7

And there you have it, my collection is basically nothing compared to what others have.. I really want to buy something high quality but I'm stuck deciding whether i should be the etys or shure. or a really nice pair of headphones for my portable... closed ones prefered as i want to hear the music and not the bus motor when traveling to college

 

[krayzie]

Aiwa HP-V9 = 9.9 (Amorphous Diamond, LC-OFC, 15-40,000Hz)
This is the closest thing to perfection in terms of earphones for me, haven't heard anything else better or as great as these yet, its cheap looks are very very deceiving..

Sony MDR-E484 = 9.0 (Amorphous Diamond, LC-OFC, 8-27,000Hz)
These are great, but not as balanced as I would have hoped for them to be, primarily being the bass king, what I used to think as being closed to perfect before finding the above..

Aiwa HP-D9 = 8.5 (Amorphous Diamond, LC-OFC, 5-30,000Hz)
Also used to think this is close to perfect too, now I just find them too raw sounding, not balanced at all, this the is the treble king though, bad fitting in ear makes it less favorable than the above, my first ever high-end earphone that got me onto headwize and head-fi and meeting a lot of online gurus..

Aiwa HP-D8 = 8.0 (Amorphous Diamond, LC-OFC, 8-25,000Hz)
This is more balanced at a cost of detail in the highs, still one of the best I've ever heard, seems to perform better with most machines than the sister model above..

Sony MDR-E888 = 7.5 (Bio Cellulose, LC-OFC, 8-27,000Hz)
Used to think they are the best since I couldn't find anything better around the local neighbourhood, but it is quite dissappointing when you consider what the older stuff above can do, but very comfortable fitting and best looks..

Sony MDR-E472 = 7.0 (Amorphous Diamond, OFC, 10-24,000Hz)
Not bad for a stock earphone, just not enough detail in the highs to even fight the above, but probably the best stock earphone ever made..

Sony MDR-E741 = 5.0 (Sapphire Evaporated, OFC, 10-23,000Hz)
Use to think this is the only earphone available for Sony remotes, I've used this exclusively for years before I begin to see the world out there, pretty good in its own merit as it puts the model below to shame..

Sony MDR-EX70 = 0.1 (PET, OFC, 6-23,000Hz)
I don't even want to talk about this, gave me so much excitment when waiting for a friend to bring these back from Tokyo the month it came out, just pure dissappointment and nasty sounding..

Misc Crap: Aiwa HP-01 (Probably Aiwa's first ever earphone model)

Will update this as soon as my MDR-E282 arrives in the next few weeks hopefully, the earphone hunting project continues......

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Just from what I have here:

Senn HD525... 6 (too laid back. would make good monitoring phones)

Sony D66SL... 5.5 (fun and natural for what they are - portables)

Sony EX70... 4 (after the mod) 2.5 (before mod)

Grado SR-80... 7.5 (I know their faults, but they are fun to listen to)

Sony V6... 6.5 (easy to drive. a tad bright, but pretty good)

 

[pbirkett]

Well, out of the ones I've heard / own...

Beyerdynamic DT931 - 8.5 (out of my headphone jack of my Rotel amp, could do with just a touch less treble, and a touch more bass - perhaps I need a Corda

)

Grado SR-80 - 5 (Uncomfortable, grainy, harsh, but exciting)

Sennheiser HD497 - 5 (Not the best comfort, laid back, lacks detail, veiled, but relaxing)

Sony EX70LP - 3.5 (Not bad for in-ear designs, but on the grand scale of things, very bright and boomy bass, but much, much better than standard earplugs).

Sony MDR-CD280 - 4.5 (Not that bad for the price, but not that great either).

Standard earplugs with most portable devices - 0

 

[Steve999]

I have a couple of new phones, and some changed impressions, so here's an update:

Sennheiser HD 580 - 10
Grado SR 60 - 9
Sony MDR-CD580 - 9
Sennheiser HD 497 - 8.5
Sony MDR-V6 - 8.25
Koss KSC-35 - 8.25
Sony Eggos D66s - 8.25 {New!}
Sony MDR-85 - 8.25
Philips HP 170 - 8 {New!}
AKG 240M - 7.5
Sennheiser PX100 - 7
Koss KSC 50 - 7
Sony MDR-CD180 - 5.5
Koss KTX Pros 1 - 5.5
Sony MDR-605 - 5

8 or above: I like it.

6 or 7.. I respect it, could do in a pinch, has some nice qualities, might need to fool around with the EQ

5 or below.... yuck

 

[Lisa]

10 - 5 = very good - decent
5 and below = just not good enough to be half decent
1= 1 point for the efford.

Seeing that the best I've ever heard are the PX100s the ratings will be high on lower -fi headphones.

PX100 8.5...............(loses points for being to dark)
MX500 8.................(less detail but better overall balance)
MX300 5.5..............(decent earbuds in comparison to others in same pricerange)
E848 4...................(the midrange is decent but where's the rest?)
ChromeX buds 2.5 .(could be worse)
some stock buds 1 .(for the efford of the people who have to put them toghether and package them)

 

[bangraman]

OK, based on headphones I've had within the last three years (my audio memory of phones is totally unreliable beyond that), not auditioned for an hour, listened on my cousin's uncle's son's setup, etc:
Scores on an overall basis, excluding comfort, which I've found is too personal a thing to consider. Absolute sound quality may not enter into the comparison, other things like practicality and cost/performance, etc being considered also. And of course it's all my taste. I don't have a 9 or 10 yet. The spots are provisionally reserved for the K1000, Stax and R10.

EIGHT (Damned good)
Audio-Technica W2002
Sony MDR-CD3000

SEVEN (Very good)
Audio-Technica ATH-A1000
Audio-Technica W1000
Sennheiser HD600

SIX (Pretty good)
Audio-Technica ATH-W100
Audio-Technica ATH-A900
Sennheiser PXC250
Sony MDR-CD1700
Sony D66 Eggo

FIVE (Good)
Audio-Technica ATH-A100Ti
Beyerdynamic DT770
Grado SR80
Grado SR325
Sennheiser HD280
Sennheiser HD25
Sony MDR-7506

FOUR (OK)
Audio-Technica ATH-EM7
Beyerdynamic DT250-80
Grado SR60

THREE (Fundamentally flawed but have their moments)
Audio-Technica ATC-H5
Sennheiser PX200
Sony D22 Eggo
Sony MDR-7509
Sony MDR-V700DJ
Technics RP-DJ1210
Technics RP-FDA100 / Panasonic RP-HDA100

TWO (Acceptable. Just.)
Sony MDR-EX70

ONE (Not acceptable)
Sennheiser HD212
Sony MDR-G57G
Technics RP-FT30

I might have missed a few

And I'm not joking...

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally posted by elrod-tom OK...here goes: AKG K340: 8.5 Grado SR225: 7 (with the correct amplification) AKG K501: 7 AKG K240M: 6.5 (but like a comfortable pair of slippers) I've heard enough of others to know that there is better out there. Oh well, sorry about my wallet.

Add to this:

AKG K145: 6.5 (nice soundstage, but missing something)
AKG K1000: 9.0 (will probably do even better when amped with tubes.

I'd also like to revise my opinion of the AKG K501 upwards to 7.5, with a clear upward trend. I'm currently using these cans with a Headroom Max, and it's extra bass is most welcome with these cans.

Finally, I'd like to revise my opinion upwards re) the K340. When paired with the Corda Prehead, this headphone sings like a magical bird. I give it a 9.0, again with an upward trend.