Reccomendation for HD449 upgrade. less than £150. Closed back. Home use(mainly).

[tommyb]

I recently bought the Sennheiser HD449 headphones as the first good ones I've bought previously it's just been cheapy in ear ones.
I obviously was blown away by the quality of sound they made compared to what I've had before.
The only area I was disappointed in was the bass-not the quality of it but, In songs which are bass heavy it just sounds a bit pathetic!
So really I'm looking for a closed headphone(I like to be able to sometimes listen without disturbing the fam. at night etc.) with similar/better sound quality as the HD449 but with a much more prominent bass- I'm not a basshead and don't want it to blow my ears up or overpower the sound but those who have listened to the HD449s will hopefully know what I mean.
 
I am considering the AKG K550 which I can get of amazon for £124 though I have read differing reports about the bass.
 
I listen to music mainly from my PC(no dedicated soundcard but the motherboard is fairly high-end so on board isn't that terrible) at home(sometimes through an amp) and also when I can be bothered CDs on my old technics HD350-which is what i use as an amp.
 
I listen to a lot of hip-hop as well as a little bit of most other genres- I'm learning to play guitar so like listening to acoustic guitar recording-although as I'm not planning on selling the sennheisers I could use them for more this style?.
 
I probably won't use them on the move so cable length etc. isn't really an issue!
 
I'm also thinking about buying some open headphones separately. 
 
 
 
What do you guys think?
 
Cheers,
Tom

 

[SDBiotek]

Hi Tom, I don't know too much about bass-heavy headphones, but if you are looking for something with some midbass emphasis, most likely you will not like the AKG K550. It has very deep, fast bass, but not the more visceral impact you might want. I like it a lot, but many have issues with getting it to fit well, especially people with smaller or larger than average heads. Without a good seal, the bass suffers.

 

[tommyb]

Ok, thanks,
 
Just to clarify I'm not thinking of a bass-heavy one just one with more than the HD449!

 

[StoneJack]

I have same HD 449 as you and with USB sound card Creative Omni 5.1 with 600 Ohm headphone out it gives excellent bass. I didn't try HD from onboard audio but my impression that it might be less powerful and therefore, less bassy.