[insertwordshere]

Hi! My name is George and I am a student. I am a new head-fier and you guys are a awesome community. I enjoy listening to hard rock by a7x and pogressive rock by muse. also alternative rock by arctic monkeys. FYI i'm NOT an emo.
so. I want to buy an entry level, <$100 pair of headphones. Although i am into rock and gaming, I don't think i'm a basshead and i'd rather listen to crispy cymbals or flat response headphones and fine tune the bass with the EQ if i have to (to save a quick buck).
I want my headphones to have 50mm or above cans for gaming and movies. I NEED closed cans to isolate noises that i don't like. due to the "slight" mental problems i have.
It would be nice if the headphones are ultra portable. so that i can bring them to school.
THe headphones i have in mind are currently
ATH-m-series
I can't decide between m40 and m50. if the m50 doesn't have a HUGE improvement compared to the m40, i don't think i should pay double the price for it.
Grados sr60i.
People said they are very good for rock. But i don't know.
i know i can try them at the store, but the store that sells those are really far apart.
 
THANKS for the advices!

 

[cel4145]

Grados are open and leak sound both ways. Not for portable use at all. But do well with rock music. Really make guitar sound great because of their mids and highs and good transient response.

I haven't heard the M40X, but I hear good things about them. I definitely say keep researching them.

Look into the Sony MDR-V6. Built like tanks. Not too big to throw into a backpack.

 

[insertwordshere]

Thanks! I will certainly look into the Sony. Why didn't you vote?
Posted on my BlackBerry Passport

 

[insertwordshere]

Oh. I researched the Sony. The m40 is better in terms of specs. Also personally I think the m40 looks better.

 

[Music Alchemist]

50mm is pretty big. I don't think any of the headphones mentioned have drivers that large. Is this a requirement?
 
Anyway...I'll try to provide a brief summary of the ones I've owned.
 
M40x Most neutral, but I had some issues with the tonality.
 
MDR-V6 Slightly better than MDR-7506, notably in terms of bass, but still has most of its tinny harsh brightness.
 
M50x Has boosted bass that can come off as overwhelming and muddy; otherwise passable.
 
I haven't heard the original M40 and M50, but wouldn't be surprised if they had the same type of differences.

 

[insertwordshere]

As i am quite a noob (the siberia v2 was the only experience i had)
Any big, open cans that matches my budget and sound good?
my siberia v2 have little bass, crap treble and colored mids. any good ones?

 

[obobskivich]

Driver size isn't a good indicator of performance. You mentioned flat/cold in the original post - Sennheiser HD 280Pro is where I'd start. M-Audio Q40 would be a close second. I haven't heard M50X, but the original is a tad warm, and very bassy - I didn't like them very well overall (sacrilege, I know!), but definitely not with rock or other acoustic genres.

 

[insertwordshere]

But driver size decide the size of the cups. My fairly large ears requires a bigger cup cover.
I am looking into the hd280. It's not too expensive either. I can afford that. Besides it's also collapsible for portable use. Thanks for the recommendation!
By the way, what do you think of the shure srh440?
If you think that's a good pair of headphones please tell me and describe their sound signature?

Shure is a good brand for Shure. Pun intended.

 

[obobskivich]

But driver size decide the size of the cups.

Not really, no.

I am looking into the hd280. It's not too expensive either. I can afford that. Besides it's also collapsible for portable use. Thanks for the recommendation!
By the way, what do you think of the shure srh440?
If you think that's a good pair of headphones please tell me and describe their sound signature?

Shure is a good brand for Shure. Pun intended.

Haven't heard the Shures, no idea.

 

[ZoNtO]

I don't think you could go wrong with your budget with the V6 or 7506. I've been demoing both recently and they are my favorite cans I've heard under $100.

 

[insertwordshere]

The problems are the stores are miles away from each other. I can't just go try one and walk for another hour just to try them on. So I tried the audio samples on sonicsense.com. And I think the senn sounds better (imo)

 

[cel4145]

Comparing headphones via sonicsense is not a very good idea. Whatever you listen to will be colored by your current headphones/speakers. And then it's not going to give you a good sense at all of soundstage and imaging. So you are likely to get mislead by what you hear as much as you are to learn anything.

 

[Music Alchemist]

The Philips SHP9500 is my favorite open headphone under $100. Very large and comfortable too. (Mentioning this because you now said you wanted open headphones.)
 
If you're still looking for closed headphones, avoid the Sennheiser HD 280 PRO and Sony MDR-7506/V6. They sound awful.

 

[insertwordshere]

Comparing headphones via sonicsense is not a very good idea. Whatever you listen to will be colored by your current headphones/speakers. And then it's not going to give you a good sense at all of soundstage and imaging. So you are likely to get mislead by what you hear as much as you are to learn anything.

True. So my best bet is to get 100 bucks, and try them on. At t store.

Music alchemist, you just said something about the senn and Sony being awfully awful. But how awful? Also, if I want closed cans, which ones would be the best?

 

[insertwordshere]

I'll get the m40x. Although the bass is boosted but it shouldn't be horrible to listen to. After all, this is the cheapest one.
I'll try the senn and the Sony at the store.
The m40x is 30 dollars cheaper (at least in my residence that is NOT mainland china)
What do you think?