[klminch]

Hey everyone, 
 
It's been a while since I've looked into getting new headphones, so I'm pretty out of touch with any new headphones in the past few years.
 
I'm looking to get a nice pair of headphones as a birthday gift for my boyfriend.  He travels quite a bit, and doesn't have a nice pair of headphones.  Also we both play video games a lot together, and he's mentioned needing a headset.  So I want to get him a nice pair of headphones and I'll give him a mod mic as well.
 
Details on what I'm looking for:
-Price Range- I'm looking to spend around $200 on the headphones- more or less is fine too, I just want a great value.  I'm not looking to spend an extra $100 for a tiny bit of extra audio quality, although I could afford it, yes.
- Comfortable with glasses: This is a concern for me. I don't want to spend too much on headphones, and then find they don't fit well with his glasses.  He sometimes uses my ATH A900s and doesn't seem to have an issue with them.  If anyone has glasses and can provide input on what is typically comfortable for you that would help a ton.
-Closed back/ noise cancelling? : I want to get closed back headphones, not open.  I guess noise cancelling would be a plus, but I don't really want to pay too much for that and would rather pay extra for audio quality.  I find that playing music with closed headphones more or less blocks out all/most outside noise anyway.     
-Good for Gaming- As I mentioned, we both play a ton of video games, so headphones with a great sound stage (for closed cans at least) would be great. 
-No Amp required/small portable amp?- These will be for travel as well, so no headphones with a very high impedence.  No amp is definitely the best bet, but if you can convince me a pair of headphones that might require a cheap portable amp is worth it, I will consider it.   
 
Music type:
I don't have much knowledge on what headphones play which type of music well, but he tends to mainly listen to a lot of rock music (classic and new). For example, a huge Journey fan =).  
 
Personally, I have a pair of Audio-technica ATH A900s, ATH m50x, and AKG Q701s.  I definitely want something better than the m50x. And I also don't want to give him the same pair of headphones that I already have (want to try something new).  But I do love the A900s for the sound stage despite being closed headphones, and of course I think they sound great.  I do like the Q701s more, but these are open of course, which isn't an option here.
 
Basically, you can see I have a very narrow experience in headphones, so I need some help here!!
 
Any recommendations with reasoning would be great. Thanks in advanced! =D

 

[BDT770]

Well you could look at the dt 770 pro / 32 ohm. 
They isolate very well while the sound quality is really good and are easy to drive. You got more than enough bass and everything you need. For comfort they are some of the best but can be better with the velour pads.. at some point . Those dt velour pads are simply fantastic.

 

[Malfunkt]

  Hey everyone, 
 
It's been a while since I've looked into getting new headphones, so I'm pretty out of touch with any new headphones in the past few years.
 
I'm looking to get a nice pair of headphones as a birthday gift for my boyfriend.  He travels quite a bit, and doesn't have a nice pair of headphones.  Also we both play video games a lot together, and he's mentioned needing a headset.  So I want to get him a nice pair of headphones and I'll give him a mod mic as well.
 
Details on what I'm looking for:
-Price Range- I'm looking to spend around $200 on the headphones- more or less is fine too, I just want a great value.  I'm not looking to spend an extra $100 for a tiny bit of extra audio quality, although I could afford it, yes.
- Comfortable with glasses: This is a concern for me. I don't want to spend too much on headphones, and then find they don't fit well with his glasses.  He sometimes uses my ATH A900s and doesn't seem to have an issue with them.  If anyone has glasses and can provide input on what is typically comfortable for you that would help a ton.
-Closed back/ noise cancelling? : I want to get closed back headphones, not open.  I guess noise cancelling would be a plus, but I don't really want to pay too much for that and would rather pay extra for audio quality.  I find that playing music with closed headphones more or less blocks out all/most outside noise anyway.     
-Good for Gaming- As I mentioned, we both play a ton of video games, so headphones with a great sound stage (for closed cans at least) would be great. 
-No Amp required/small portable amp?- These will be for travel as well, so no headphones with a very high impedence.  No amp is definitely the best bet, but if you can convince me a pair of headphones that might require a cheap portable amp is worth it, I will consider it.   
 
Music type:
I don't have much knowledge on what headphones play which type of music well, but he tends to mainly listen to a lot of rock music (classic and new). For example, a huge Journey fan =).  
 
Personally, I have a pair of Audio-technica ATH A900s, ATH m50x, and AKG Q701s.  I definitely want something better than the m50x. And I also don't want to give him the same pair of headphones that I already have (want to try something new).  But I do love the A900s for the sound stage despite being closed headphones, and of course I think they sound great.  I do like the Q701s more, but these are open of course, which isn't an option here.
 
Basically, you can see I have a very narrow experience in headphones, so I need some help here!!
 
Any recommendations with reasoning would be great. Thanks in advanced! =D

Actually, sounds like you do have some good experience. 

Really the A900, or the newer version A990z here may be one of the best bets. If he hasn't complained about comfort or sound, then really that is good fit. It is quite difficult find a closed-headphone that can work for gaming that ticks all those boxes. Also Audio-technica makes a dedicated gamer version ATH-AG1X. 

 

[serman005]

As @Malfunkt points out, you have quite a few boxes you are trying to tick off for a closed headphone. The three that come to my mind are the AKG K553 Pro (or K550 Mk II), the NAD HP50 ( a bit more expensive), and the SoundMAGIC HP150. All three have very good stages for closed, for gaming, and for this price range. None requires an amp. All would be reasonably comfortable with glasses. Of the three, my rank order would be 1)NAD 2)AKG and 3) the SoundMAGIC. A few thoughts for you.

 

[klminch]

Thanks for the recommendations.
 
I did not know that they released a new version of the ath A900x, so the ATH A900z is a great/safe option.  I have thought about the AKG 553 pro actually, and this is an option. I hadn't heard of the NAD HP50 but I will look into these. 
 
I'm not interested in the dedicated gaming ones with the mic attached since these will be for travel as well.
 
I had been reading around a bit yesterday, and I am interested in the sennheiser hd 598 cs as well.  Does anyone know how these compare with the ones I mentioned above.  Are they good for the price?  I've read that the sennheiser hd xxxs are very comfortable in general, so I'm interested in these as well.

 

[carldun]

I'm on a $150 budget for closed headphones and so far my choices are:
1. Sennheiser HD 598cs ($140)
2. Sennheiser HD 380 ($150)
3. Pioneer HRM-7 ($160)
4. Pioneer HRM-6 ($170)
5. KRK KNS8400 - ($100)
6. SoundMagic HP150 - ($130)
7. Ultrasone 780 - ($160)
8. Beyerdynamic DT770 80 ohms - ($170)
9. AKG K553 - ($138)
 
I have to make a decision by tomorrow and so far my top 2 contenders are the Sennheiser HD598cs (seems like the safest option for my first set of headphones and since it has an international warranty of 2 years, it really puts me at ease since I live in the Philippines) and the Pioneer HRM-7 (they cost more than the HRM-6 although some sellers on Amazon sell them for $160 rather than Amazon's $200 price. I actually wanted the DT770 but they said it was a bit bass-focused so I looked for the next comfy looking headphones that has velour and found the HRM-7, sadly there's only a handful of reviews so really unsure).
 
To be honest I don't have ANY experiences with headphones, last time I used one was probably 7-8 years ago, I'm pretty satisfied with my monitor speakers but lately I've been having a hard time focusing with all the noise around and I believe wearing headphones would really put me in a safe and comfortable place, free from the outside world.
 
I'm sorry I can't give you any comparisons, hopefully my list would serve you of some help like expanding your options.

 

[NightAntilli]

I would say... The Beyerdynamic DT770, since it has a wide soundstage... But they are too hard to drive for you... 250 Ohms lol. There is a 32 Ohm version, but I don't know how they sound compared to the 250 Ohms one... It should sound similar though.
https://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-DT-770-PRO-32-Monitoring-Applications-32/dp/B008POFOHM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1489001860&sr=8-5&keywords=beyerdynamic+dt770
 
I don't know of anything that has better value in the $100-$200 range than the DT770... The ones below are sub $100 headphones that have good value...
 
Status Audio CB-1... The build quality is not the best... Sound is awesome for the price though. If you can find one... Check the reviews;
https://www.amazon.com/Status-Audio-Closed-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B01BDX1IVW/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1489001984&sr=8-12-spons&keywords=status+audio+cb-1&psc=1
http://thestatusaudio.com/products/cb1
 
And believe it or not, I'd recommend the M40x... Better soundstage than the M50x, and flatter. 

 

[klminch]

Thanks again for all  the recommendations.  I'm a tad hesitant with the DT770s- the consensus seems they're a tad bass heavy.  I'm leaning towards just getting the ATH A900z or the ATH 990z, with the AKGs in the back of my mind.  

 

[NightAntilli]

If I can believe this comparison (scroll down to "SOUND CHARACTERISTICS")
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/513393/guide-sonic-differences-between-dt770-dt990-models-more
 
 
The 32 ohms have less bass than the other versions, but also less soundstage. But if you feel more comfortable with the ATHs, go for it. 

 

[SAMplify101]

My main gaming headset is the well regarded audio technica AD700x, with my AKG k240 being the sets that I started with. And even before that, I had Kingston HyperX cloud 1 headsets which were decent suprisingly. But i didn't expect my sennheiser HD598Cs to sound decent for gaming! I use CS:GO with HRTF as my test and it's surprisingly decent for gaming. 

 

[carldun]

  My main gaming headset is the well regarded audio technica AD700x, with my AKG k240 being the sets that I started with. And even before that, I had Kingston HyperX cloud 1 headsets which were decent suprisingly. But i didn't expect my sennheiser HD598Cs to sound decent for gaming! I use CS:GO with HRTF as my test and it's surprisingly decent for gaming. 

Not sure what to feel about the word "decent", where does the HD598cs excel? Since I have around the same budget and wondering as well to buy for my first headphones.

 

[NightAntilli]

I'll leave this video here... Although it's a bit more focused on gaming, you might find what you're looking for in here... A bit old, and long, but still relevant and might help you.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63BxrNuXnYg