[delvance]

Hi all,
 
The bug has bitten argh! Well, somewhat..
 
I have decided to start seriously looking into a mainly home rig (but can still, with some effort, be taken around).
 
Let's say i have $1k AUD ALL UP i'm willing to spend, that would be inclusive of headphones, amp/dac, cables/IC's and any necessary mods/upgrades like pads etc (minus the DAP, i will get that seperately before this hit).
 
Requirements, if i may, are:
-Neutral'ish
-At least somewhat comfortable (more the merrier)
-Can be "portable" on the quite rare occasion
-Great for heavy metal and all it's variants (will be listening to some form of metal 90% of the time).. this also means they need to be secure-ish... should i decide to erupt in a violent fit of headbanging 

-Passable to ok/good for any other forms of music (classical, rock, chillout stuff etc)
-Preference towards a closed can but am slightly open to open (lol), or semi
 
I know $1k might not be heaps to get an almost complete rig that is considered semi decent, but being that it's metal i listen to mostly, i think? this allows it to be more reachable... i guess my train of thought on this is you can get a TOTL rig and an almost TOTL rig and listen to metal and not tell any/hardly any difference between the two due to metal's wall of sound and often dubious recording quality anyways (90's cradle of filth anyone?!)
 
Sooo... please spend my money ? 

 
Background info:
Currently listening on Samsung Gnex source/poweramp>e11>Senn Amperior with cable upgrade. Really really lovin' this for the music i listen to. The amperiors with cable upgrade and amp give a less fatiguing yet more detailed sound but bass is also improved - especially low bass, an area that the amperior at first was a little lacking. Punch has subsided a bit since burn-in which is missed however.
 
Have a sansa clip+ on it's way along with a nice mini to mini i/c for the e11. Considering getting a colorfly c3 once i trial out the sansa.
 
Headsize is average ahah.
 
THANKS! 

 

[davidsh]

I don't think you should spend too much money considering you listen to a lot of metal. Well, dunno.. Some options:
 

1. HE-400 (eq the treble down)
2. Alpha Dogs/ Mad Dogs
3. Phillips fidelio x1
4. Stax SRS-003/5

 
Personally, I am not much of a metal head due to the recording quality, but I do appreciate stuff like Master of Puppets by Metallica, South of Heaven by Slayer and Follow the Reaper by Children of Bodom etc.

 

[delvance]

Hi davidsh,
 
Thanks for your input - i appreciate it and sitting here right now am actually kind of agreeing too.
I have my portable rig on at the moment listening to some 90's melo-death and it's bringing out recording/production artifacts that i have never noticed before on this album up until now (first time listening to this album again since finishing the portable rig and enjoying music through it). The artifacts i heard, made me instantly try on two other pairs of headphone/earphones to verify and yep i can *just barely* hear it on lower grade headphones and only because i know it's there now =/
 
When i heard the artifacts, it instantly got me out of the zone and i started rewinding to double check... maybe this is good enough and i should be content. Ironic, i upgrade to enjoy my music more but it is now occasionally giving the opposite effect 

 
Perhaps i should just get a pair of senn momentums or something similar for when i want to kick back a bit and listen to some classical/soft rock/electronic etc.. hrmmm
 
Some good classics you mentioned there!

 

[davidsh]

Really used to like Machine Heads album the blackening, but the quality again.. The music is amazing.
I think I'd suggest the mad dogs over the momentums unless you really wanna go portable.

 

[delvance]

I find if the music is good enough, i manage to connect to it and get lost anyways (and the lack of quality at that point doesn't matter).. but only the really good stuff gets me in that addictive lost/connected zone
 
I had a look at the alpha dogs and really really like what i read. Incidentally, i bought some momentums today because they were on a very good sale so why not.. 
Thanks for the heads up on the alpha dogs btw, i really really like what i've read of them and people's first impression. I'll be looking to get these and a rig for it towards end of year, once the wife has simmered down a bit ahah.
 
Thanks again for the advice, it's really helped and probably saved me some money cheers!

 

[davidsh]

Don't think the momentums are a bad choice either, except I have a feeling they might be a bit too dull and slow-ish, but I dunno. At least they should be more comfortable than what you have now, and probably a generally better sound quality. Guess you can focus more on a desktop rig later, I suppose the momentums will satisfy your portable/closed needs for quite some time?
 
Remember to beware of hype here on head-fi.. I'm sure the alpha dogs are quite good, but just.. beware. Also, sound stage and such aren't exactly the most important for metal, as a lot of it is kinda like a wall of sound.. Another thing that can turn me off.
 
Have a look at Napalm Death's 'From enslavement to obliteration'. I'm not really into that stuff, but the recording quality is actually great! Hope you'll like the momentums, have never heard them personally, but they do look damn good.

 

[delvance]

Oh, i didn't get the momentums as a primary replacement - you're right though with the momentums sounding a little lifeless and slow for metal, especially when i come straight off the amperiors which is quite lively and really fast.
 
My amperiors are still the main ones, as metal honestly sounds really good on them and just gets me moving. The momentums i'll use when i just want to kickback to some relaxing music. This should satisfy me for some time now
 
Cheers for the advice, i'll keep that in mind and will also check out that album!