[Cheffy]

Hi all,

I've been a closed headphone guy for a while. My first set of decent cans were (of course) the ATH-M50s, followed by Brainwavz HM5s, and eventually the NAD VISO HP50s. As you can see, I'm a budget minded purchaser. I'm pretty much "done" with my ATH-M50s, the sound signature grates me and the HM5s serve as my "all-round do nothing great nothing poorly" headphones used for watching movies and some music at home.

Now my HP50s are my babies - they are just sonic magic and what I use when I really want to listen to music. I love the very slightly warm and rich sound with crisp but not bright highs. They're quite detailed with not bad soundstage (for closed phones) and vocals are pretty good, especially when paired with my dragonfly black. But I find they don't do some genres of music justice, like piano-based classical or anything really driven by mids and lower treble. And I'd like something with more soundstage and better imaging - adding the dragonfly to my setup really opened my eyes to how amazing soundstage can be by giving me a little taste.

So clearly my next option is something open-backed. These will be for home-use of course since they leak. I've been doing a lot of reading on what cans I would be interested in. I want something with better detail and imaging than my HP50s, yet something that still has a little warmth and flavour. It seems like most open-backs lean to a cooIer and brighter sound with more forward highs. I do love a "crisp" sounding treble, but I have issues with tinnitus and sensitive hearing at higher frequencies, and can't tolerate overly bright and sibilant headphones. That said, while I'm not using them analytically, I definitely want some of that cleaner and clearer sound that open-backs like the HD-600s and HE400i are known for.

So I'm cautious about picking up open-backs. I've contemplated just picking up the Phillips SHP9500s to get a feel for open-back first and decide whether it's worth investing more. They're really cheap and generally very well reviewed. But I suspect I'm going to find them underwhelming based on my expectations coming from my HP50s.

In summary, I'd like the following from some open-backs:
-Good detail, imaging, and soundstage - I want to visualise the spatial positioning of instruments
-Detailed sounds throughout the range, crisp highs and mids and tighter bass that still offers some punch and weight
-A touch of warmth and a sound signature that leans slightly towards "fun" over analytical - neutral leaning to warm but definitely not dark

Budget: $150-200 USD but may be a bit flexible depending on the "value" of the product. Open to used headphones. I'm in Canada and need to take the terrible exchange rate into consideration as well as shipping, duty, and ease of returns to retailers.

My main options I'm considering are as follows:

PhillipsSHP9500s: $50 USD Cheap, well-reviewed, but pretty neutral and anemic bass. Potentially not detailed enough, but good soundstage depth of field.

HE400i/s: $200-$220 USD: Prices have dropped making these affordable to me. I like the idea of planar magnetic phones with their faster, tighter details, especially in the bass. The HE400s with focal pads is noted to be slightly warmer than the HE400i, which I'm concerned will be too analytical and bright in the highs.

AKG-7xx/712 pro: $200-250 USD - These sound like they might be a good fit for signature, with a slight warmth, good bass extension, and amazing soundstage. But they're a little expensive (well the 712 pro anyway) and harder to drive - would the dragonfly black or red be enough to make these worthwhile?

Phillips fidelio X2: Good bass but perhaps overly dark and too coloured. I can't seem to even find these for sale anywhere.

Monoprice M565: $150 USD - Inexpensive, planar magnetic. Limited and really mixed reviews - loved by some, despised by others (too dark, too "noisy/busy" sounding).

Right now I'm leaning to the HE400i/s with focal pads or AKG-7XX from massdrop.

Please advise!!

 

[YJX94]

Based on your needs I'd say it's a toss up between the K7XX vs K712 vs HE400i vs HE400s.

HE400i vs HE400s - I've heard the 400s is easier to drive but it has less appealing bass than the 400i.
K7XX vs K712 - K7XX has more bass but K712 has better bass but still plenty to enjoy, other than that they're the same.

I'd say choose between the K712 and HE400i. I've heard them both but I only own the K712, you can't go wrong with either. I only got the K712 because it was cheaper otherwise I would have no issue having the HE400i. They both meet your needs perfectly within your budget.

Oh and a Dragonfly Red will run K712 and HE400i perfectly fine.

 

[Cheffy]

Thanks for that input! I'm probably leaning to the 7xx over the 712 based on price, especially if they're quite similar. I quite like the massdrop red model currently available. I saw someone based out of Canada selling the HE400s for $160 USD delivered with focus pads, which would probably make them about 2/3 the price of the 7xx after taxes and currency exchange etc are considered. They apparently have similar or better bass response than the 400i when using focus pads, so that's pretty tempting!

 

[Buho]

Philips Fidelio X2 is super i love it so cosy sound

 

[buke9]

HE-400S with Focal A pads is my choice of those as it needs no amp and sound great and are very comfortable.

 

[YJX94]

Thanks for that input! I'm probably leaning to the 7xx over the 712 based on price, especially if they're quite similar. I quite like the massdrop red model currently available. I saw someone based out of Canada selling the HE400s for $160 USD delivered with focus pads, which would probably make them about 2/3 the price of the 7xx after taxes and currency exchange etc are considered. They apparently have similar or better bass response than the 400i when using focus pads, so that's pretty tempting!

Fidelio X2 is great as Buho says but it's not a super detailed headphone and the others would be a much better choice.

And as @buke9 suggested, I totally forgot that with a pad change the HE400s becomes so much better and is easy to drive as well.

 

[Cheffy]

Hmm well I'm going to look more closely into the HE400s option! That said, I am strongly leaning to the AKG-7xx as a better fit. Not going to lie, I quite like the way the K7XX look too, while I find the look of the HE400S cheap looking with the metallic plastic finish. SQ is most important to me, but at these prices I feel looks account for something.

 

[Cheffy]

I've decided to play it safe for now and ordered the SHP9500s. I really don't know how much I will enjoy open backed phones and while these have several criticisms, they're darn cheap and can be EQ'd and modded easily to help me discern what I like best. Depending how things go, I may look to upgrade in time when I get a chance to actually demo some other phones in person. Thanks for the input all.

 

[buke9]

Hope you like them it is your ears and your money after all.