[Tclare]

Hey, 
 
 
I am interested in buying in buying myself a good pair of headphones. I've always enjoyed a wide range of music, but predominantly listen to Rock. I've been to the Apple Store a few times and tried out the Dr Dre Studios. This is where I first got the idea of buying a 'serious' pair of headphones. I thought I'd settled on the Studios until I read various reviews about poor build and sound quality. Now I'm at a total loss as to whether I should stick with the Studio's or purchase something else. I've been looking at the Grado SR80i, Shure SRH840s, Sennheiser PX310s, Sennheiser HD 25-1 IIs and the V-MODA Crossfade LPs. As you can see I'm a bit all over the place. I'm by no means an audiophile, all I want is something which sounds good, looks cool and has a 3.5mm headphone jack. My budget stretches up to the price of the Dr Dre Studios, which from my research in the UK appear to be the most expensive of all the products I've mentioned above. 
 
Thanks for all your help in advance. 

 

[Dev Avidon]

Welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet...
 
In order to better assist you, it helps to know what kind of music you like, how you're going to be using the headphones (i.e. portable, home or both, how good is your source material, mp3s or CD quality) and what you prefer in terms of a sound signature (i.e. do you like lots of bass, an aggressive colored sound, or do you want neutral, accurate and detailed?).  Just as a starter, I can say inherently I love both the V-Moda Crossfades and the Shure SRH840s.  The Shures especially I think are a really excellent starter can, because they sound fantastic and they're very versatile.  If you post with your preferences though, you'll get much more accurate recommendations.

 

[TheWuss]

it is simply that you can get a much better sounding and better built headphone for the $300 price tag of the beats. as Dev said, just tell us a little more about your listening habits and other stuff, and we can help a little more.

 

[Tclare]

Thanks for the initial posts. I will be mainly using these headphones at home so portability isn't a top priority for me. The music I listen to is mainly MP3, not CD and the majority of my music is 320 kbps. I'm not really into one definitive type of music, I listen to a lot of rock, rap and dance music. Perhaps a headphone which is adequate at playing most musical genres and not specialised on one would be most suitable? I do like a heavy bass, but prefer an aggressive coloured sound.
 
I hope these answers make some sort of sense and that they're not all conflicting. I'm totally new to this so thanks for all the help.  

 

[TheWuss]

audio technica m50. 
 
i just saved you $200. 

can we split it? 

 

[Tclare]

Why do you say those? 

 

[TheWuss]

the m50s have very nice bass.  not tooooo heavy, but a nice full bass response.  it also reaches down very far.
the m50 has a really nice sound.  it does well with rock, rap, dance, pop, etc.
the mids are just a tiny bit recessed.
 
the treble is good.  but not as good as its bass.
clarity is good.  detail is good.   instrument separation is good.
 
all this, and the m50 can be found for about $100 to $110.
 
they are a perennial favorite can around these parts for those reasons.
 
i have cans from $30 to $1500.  and the $100 m50 gets a lot of head time from me.
so.  that's why. 

 

[desktophifi]

Quote:

audio technica m50. 
 
i just saved you $200. 

Yeah, this is a good suggestion.  X2
They perform very good in most genres. 

 

[Dev Avidon]

Quote:

audio technica m50. 
 
i just saved you $200. 

can we split it? 

x3, sounds like a perfect phone for you.  The beauty of them as well is that they're not all that hard to drive (which means that you won't have too much problem just plugging them into your portable player, although they will benefit from amping if you ever want to go that route), and they will be a little more forgiving of your mp3s.  That also leaves you with cash, if you want, to get a nice little dac/amp unit, which will make them even better.  Something like the FiiO E7, which runs for about 100 bucks, will give you a nice little portable amp to use with something like an iPod, AND a bus powered usb dac to clean up your source a bit.  Or if you want something a little nicer, something like the HiFiman EF2a or Carat Emerald.  Trust me, it's money well spent.  The E7 is probably my recommendation for your preferences and those phones.

 

[JamesChappell]

Quote:

x3, sounds like a perfect phone for you.  The beauty of them as well is that they're not all that hard to drive (which means that you won't have too much problem just plugging them into your portable player, although they will benefit from amping if you ever want to go that route), and they will be a little more forgiving of your mp3s.  That also leaves you with cash, if you want, to get a nice little dac/amp unit, which will make them even better.  Something like the FiiO E7, which runs for about 100 bucks, will give you a nice little portable amp to use with something like an iPod, AND a bus powered usb dac to clean up your source a bit.  Or if you want something a little nicer, something like the HiFiman EF2a or Carat Emerald.  Trust me, it's money well spent.  The E7 is probably my recommendation for your preferences and those phones.

 
X4....I Agree
 
Nice recommendation for a budget setup. 
 

 

[Tclare]

Quote:

x3, sounds like a perfect phone for you.  The beauty of them as well is that they're not all that hard to drive (which means that you won't have too much problem just plugging them into your portable player, although they will benefit from amping if you ever want to go that route), and they will be a little more forgiving of your mp3s.  That also leaves you with cash, if you want, to get a nice little dac/amp unit, which will make them even better.  Something like the FiiO E7, which runs for about 100 bucks, will give you a nice little portable amp to use with something like an iPod, AND a bus powered usb dac to clean up your source a bit.  Or if you want something a little nicer, something like the HiFiman EF2a or Carat Emerald.  Trust me, it's money well spent.  The E7 is probably my recommendation for your preferences and those phones.

Thanks for all the help so far. The Audio Technica m50's sound like a really good solution, but the only problem is the price. In the UK they go for around £117 (around $185) which is ridiculous if you compare it to the US price. This coupled with the FiiO E7 becomes an expensive proposition. I would be willing to stretch to that amount, but just want to check that its money well spent. In the UK the Grado Sr80i's are cheaper, would these work well with the FiiO E7 and are they at all suited to my musical taste? Also what does a dac/amp unit do to the listening experience?   

 

[wmf]

Quote:

Thanks for all the help so far. The Audio Technica m50's sound like a really good solution, but the only problem is the price. In the UK they go for around £117 (around $185) which is ridiculous if you compare it to the US price. This coupled with the FiiO E7 becomes an expensive proposition. I would be willing to stretch to that amount, but just want to check that its money well spent. In the UK the Grado Sr80i's are cheaper, would these work well with the FiiO E7 and are they at all suited to my musical taste? Also what does a dac/amp unit do to the listening experience?   

 

why cant you just buy them from a eBay seller that will ship to the UK.. around the $100usdlr mark will get you some + shipping.
 

 

[faisal2003456]

I've also been considering the ATH-M50, but I've read in alot of places that the ATH-A700 and AD700 are superior for music. THey also say that the ATH-M50 is better for monitoring. 

 

[JayB18]

Quote:

I've also been considering the ATH-M50, but I've read in alot of places that the ATH-A700 and AD700 are superior for music. They also say that the ATH-M50 is better for monitoring. 

Well the AD700 is open so it does sound better overall.  Its just the bass response isn't emphasized like the M50. The AD700 has a clean, clear, detailed, fast, and spacious sound that is unbeateable for the price for acoustic, classical, orchestral, soft rock, instrumental, gaming, movies etc. as long as you don't need emphasized bass.  To the OP, consider the DT440, MS-1, and SRH440 as well.  All 3 are more balanced than the M50's since they don't have recessed mids or overly prominent bass (unless thats what your looking for).

 

[faisal2003456]

Thanks for the reply, I mainly listen to orchestra anyways. Only problem is I listen to rap a bit as well, so I'll suffer from the lack of bass. What would you recommend for orchestra and rap?