[peter312]

I'm in the market for a new set of headphones. I'm looking for a set that I can use at home - I don't need them for portable use.

I had an old set of Sennheiser HD465 Expression Lines that recently bit the dust - they were ok but I felt sounded a little distant and had a "veil" over the sound. As purely a temporary measure, I picked up a pair of unused old stock HD455 Expression Lines (for about £15) but these seem far more distant than my old HD465's. The trebles also sound like thizzzzzz! I realise that I haven't burnt them in much yet but even so, I'm sure I can do much better.

My son has a pair of HD575's - whilst they're comfortable, I'm afraid I really don't like them either - to distant and zzzzzz again. They also seem to leak alot more sound than the HD465's and HD455's.

I currently don't have a dedicated headphone amp - I use the headphone socket on my Arcam A90 amp - but I guess I'll be either buying or making one some time next year.

I'm looking for a set of headphones that

• are comfortable
• have a clean, extended treble with no ssssss or zzzzzz
• are neither bass heavy nor bass light
• maybe don't leak a large amount of sound (like the HD575's)
• work well unamped

I'm going to attack the January Sales and would appreciate some pointers as to what headphones I should consider. My budget is up to £150. I've seen some new HD595's for £79.99 (which is £70 off and sounds an excellent bargain) but am concerned that they might still be veiled or distant.

Any help greatly appreciated.

regards
Peter

ps I have fond memories of some Koss Headphones I had 20 to 25 years ago. They replaced My first set (some K6ALC's (?) ) and I think were HV/1A's - they were definitely black with some silver trim and grey foam earpieces.

 

[peter312]

a hopeful bump.

squeak!

 

[jagged]

Do a search on the forum, you'll find every answer to your questions!

 

[sgrossklass]

HD595s certainly wouldn't be bad, and that kind of pricing seems reasonable. If these still are too laid-back for you - they certainly are not compared to other Senns -, try a known-good amp (even a decent sound card may do) and see if that improves things. (Too high an output impedance will result in a big bass hump and generally rather warm sound, and the lower in impedance the cans the worse it gets.)
The main concerns seem to be sibilance (caused by peaks in the high mids) and tizziness (typically a result of peaks in the lower highs), and HD595s shouldn't be plagued by either. If you still consider those too laid-back out of a good amp, you might like a Philips SHP895 - but don't complain if you find the lower mids somewhat missing (V-shaped EQ). What else, well, perhaps a Beyer DT660 (provided you don't mind their comfort and that they're closed); the DT880 is better but needs an amp to shine. You could even try to get some Grados, but these tend to be overpriced outside the US.
BTW, most good open headphones are very leaky - generally you'd rather have the sonic waves emitted by the back of the drivers outside than bouncing around in the earcups and interfering with the desired front waves. Lesser cans typically use foam for damping, which apparently allows the use of less ideal grille forms, but I have the suspicion that it reflects a bit.