[Justinsane82]

I'm going to start off by saying that I'm not familiar with what top end headphones sound like or should sound like. As of right now, I'm using a pair of HD212Pro's as I really like my bass. That being said, I'm not happy with the output of these, or any headphones I've tried. A buddy of mine had a boostaroo amp laying around which he let me try out, and that did increase the volume, but from what I've heard, these 212's are supposed to have amazing bass.

Being that I'm really wanting to put on a pair of headphones and be blown away, I'm not sure what to do. Will I notice a difference if I invest in a good amp and will a good amp provide better results then this boostaroo thing? Should I just go with a higher end set of cans? I've been looking at the Grado line and have read great things, but at the same time, I'm sure I'll need a good amp to drive those.

 

[estreeter]

1. Yes, a good amp will give you a good result, but only with good cans and good sources.

2. Dont just buy the most expensive set of cans you can afford. I have been there, done that, and have the t-shirt : strongly recommend against it.

My advice is to dip your toe in the water : MS-1 or similar plugged into a good DAP (Cowon i7, for example) may give you a better overall experience than many of the more expensive combinations you will see listed here, but there are so many variables.

We need to know:

- what sort of music do you mostly listen to ? Be specific - speed metal isnt the same thing as 'hard rock', and baroque isnt the same as 'classical'

- is most of your music already on a computer ? The degree to which it is already compressed will limit the phones you should look at - its like turning up the brightness on your computer to get a better view of a grainy image : its tough putting missing pixels back in the image, and good phones will only magnify any deficiencies.

Long story short, you dont start rebuilding a car by installing a set of speakers and a subwoofer - you start with the driveline. Lets see if we can get you on the road

 

[paaj]

The Grado's you mention are fairly easy to drive, and will sound good even from a portable mediaplayer. They do like a good amp, but you can think about it later.
Try a lower-end model first (Alessandro MS1 or Grado SR60/80) and see if you like the sound of it. The more expensive models are better, but give a similar sound so that way you know what you're getting into without spending big bucks.

I personally wouldn't bother getting an amp for the HD212, that money could get you another good headphone and this way you can explore what sound you want before eventually moving up.

 

[Cool_Torpedo]

I mostly agree with previous comments. The 212 are barely decent phones for the price, there are many better, and much better cans out there. No headphone amp in the world will turn mediocre cans in excellent ones.
However that "being blown away" experience you're looking for, is possible no headphone can provide it for you. So be cautious and try to listen some other phones at stores, meetings... wherever you can. Avoid purchasing blindly -specially items whose price is expensive for you- just based on third party comments. Use the recommendations wisely just to make a shortlist of what you'd need to try.

 

[Justinsane82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by estreeter /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1. Yes, a good amp will give you a good result, but only with good cans and good sources. 2. Dont just buy the most expensive set of cans you can afford. I have been there, done that, and have the t-shirt : strongly recommend against it. My advice is to dip your toe in the water : MS-1 or similar plugged into a good DAP (Cowon i7, for example) may give you a better overall experience than many of the more expensive combinations you will see listed here, but there are so many variables. We need to know: - what sort of music do you mostly listen to ? Be specific - speed metal isnt the same thing as 'hard rock', and baroque isnt the same as 'classical' - is most of your music already on a computer ? The degree to which it is already compressed will limit the phones you should look at - its like turning up the brightness on your computer to get a better view of a grainy image : its tough putting missing pixels back in the image, and good phones will only magnify any deficiencies. Long story short, you dont start rebuilding a car by installing a set of speakers and a subwoofer - you start with the driveline. Lets see if we can get you on the road

I listen to a large variety of music which covers almost all genres, but I listen to a lot of bass driven music (Hip Hop) so deep bass is important to me, which is why the 212's were suggested to me.

The music is primarily on my computer. I gave up on cd's a very long time ago, but I get where you're going with this.

 

[estreeter]

OK, so at least we know that you are using a hard drive to store your music - the next step is how to get that music from the hard drive to your ears. Unless you have a good aftermarket soundcard with a decent headphone out, this might be your first hurdle. The headphone out on all of my laptops is crap, my desktop little better, and I ended up getting the X-Fi 'Go!' for the work laptop - not an audiophile solution, but cheap and it does improve the sound. I find that to be reasonable when I just need background to work with, but it may not make you happy further down the track - there are so many possible soundcards/standalone DACs available for a computer that I'll leave it to others to make suggestions on that.

The last recommendation I made for someone who wanted 'plenty of bass' was the Sony XB700, but there are plenty of other suggestions in that thread and I'm confident that most of them will give you more detail than the XBs. Again, resist the urge to leap in and buy the most expensive phones recommended to you - as noted ealier, you really need to audition several phones. Take your own music on a DAP, try to get into the store at a relatively quiet time, and go for it. Your initial encounter with 'bass' on higher end phones may leave you underwhelmed, but try to find something that strikes a balance between 'slam' bass and the tight bass that most Head-Fiers look for - end of the day, its what sounds good to you, not what a bunch of people on an internet forum want to hear.

Good luck.
estreeter