guitarlp
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 15, 2013
- Posts
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I've been on my search for the "prefect" can and I'm hoping you guys can provide some input. I primarily listent o modern and classic rock, but I also through in some other genre's from time to time. Recently I've started getting into jazz, and I also listen to metal from time to time as well.
Here's some headphones I've tried and my impressions:
HD800's - My favorite of all of them so far. Soundstage is amazing and they're super comfortable.However, there's two big things I don't like about these cans. The soundstage is so impressive that I often find myself being taken out of the music and it becomes to analytical. For example, with these cans, when I listen to an acoustic rock song, I can sometimes here the sound of the pick hitting the guitar. It's not that I just hear the sound, it's that the HD800's throw the sound in my face so to speak. For some genre's I can see that being a good thing, but for me I'd prefer something with a smaller soundstage. My other nit-pick is that they lack "life." What I mean is, while they sound good, they don't get my feet tapping like other headphones do.
LCD2's - Didn't care for these at all. Besides being very uncomfortable on my head, they really lacked in the treble department. Bass was amazing (best of any headphone I've heard), but they sounded empty and unsatisfying on the high end of things. Even if I liked them, they hurt the top of my head after an hour of use so they were a no go.
HE-500's - I thought these were a great value for the money. They were a good all-round headphone but they lacked a little on pretty much everything compared to something like the HD800's. The HD800's were simply better at almost everything. I did prefer the warmth of the HE-500's though, as well as the ability for these cans to get me "into" the music and get my feet tapping.
So that's where I'm at so far with my testing. I have a few more days left on my HD800's before I can no longer return them to Amazon for a refund. I really do like them, but I just don't find them enjoyable for the types of music I listen to. I think the majority of the people that recommend them typically listen to jazz, orchestra, and classical and for those genre's where you need that soundstage and instrument separation I could see them as being amazing. But in my case, that huge soundstage is pulling me out of enjoying the music and it's picking up on some of the negative things in some of the more modern music.
So where do I go from there? I'm thinking the T1 may be a good can as it sounds like it's similar to the HD800's with maybe a little more warmth and less of a soundstage (which is closer to what I'm looking for). The D7000's seem to be well reviewed as being more fun and better with modern rock, but it looks like Denon discontinued that and the D71000 isn't getting good reviews. The HE-6 also looks really good but I'm worried about the amping requirements. I have a Schiit Lyr which sounds like it will power them find, but if I wanted to use them in my living room out of the Headphone out of my Denon receiver, they probably wouldn't be driven properly.
Based on my experience with the above headphones, what would you guys recommend I try?
Here's some headphones I've tried and my impressions:
HD800's - My favorite of all of them so far. Soundstage is amazing and they're super comfortable.However, there's two big things I don't like about these cans. The soundstage is so impressive that I often find myself being taken out of the music and it becomes to analytical. For example, with these cans, when I listen to an acoustic rock song, I can sometimes here the sound of the pick hitting the guitar. It's not that I just hear the sound, it's that the HD800's throw the sound in my face so to speak. For some genre's I can see that being a good thing, but for me I'd prefer something with a smaller soundstage. My other nit-pick is that they lack "life." What I mean is, while they sound good, they don't get my feet tapping like other headphones do.
LCD2's - Didn't care for these at all. Besides being very uncomfortable on my head, they really lacked in the treble department. Bass was amazing (best of any headphone I've heard), but they sounded empty and unsatisfying on the high end of things. Even if I liked them, they hurt the top of my head after an hour of use so they were a no go.
HE-500's - I thought these were a great value for the money. They were a good all-round headphone but they lacked a little on pretty much everything compared to something like the HD800's. The HD800's were simply better at almost everything. I did prefer the warmth of the HE-500's though, as well as the ability for these cans to get me "into" the music and get my feet tapping.
So that's where I'm at so far with my testing. I have a few more days left on my HD800's before I can no longer return them to Amazon for a refund. I really do like them, but I just don't find them enjoyable for the types of music I listen to. I think the majority of the people that recommend them typically listen to jazz, orchestra, and classical and for those genre's where you need that soundstage and instrument separation I could see them as being amazing. But in my case, that huge soundstage is pulling me out of enjoying the music and it's picking up on some of the negative things in some of the more modern music.
So where do I go from there? I'm thinking the T1 may be a good can as it sounds like it's similar to the HD800's with maybe a little more warmth and less of a soundstage (which is closer to what I'm looking for). The D7000's seem to be well reviewed as being more fun and better with modern rock, but it looks like Denon discontinued that and the D71000 isn't getting good reviews. The HE-6 also looks really good but I'm worried about the amping requirements. I have a Schiit Lyr which sounds like it will power them find, but if I wanted to use them in my living room out of the Headphone out of my Denon receiver, they probably wouldn't be driven properly.
Based on my experience with the above headphones, what would you guys recommend I try?
