[DigitalVeil]

Hello everyone,
 
First off this forum is great for research! However, I have run into a rut. I finally found a GREAT deal on BeyerDynamic DT 880 Premium 600 ohm headphones, but I then realized that they are open back. I am in need of closed back as I use these to study and don't want to disturb my wife when listening to it loudly. I am looking for something that can produce natural sound across multiple genres. I heavily listen to metal (death, thrash, nu, melodic, etc), eletronic, movie scores, classical, and jazz. I have narrowed my search down to some alternatives but looking for something with a higher impedance. Trying to keep my budget below $400-350 as I try to find lightly used products for a better price.
 
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 250 ohms
Beyerdynamic DT 150 250 ohms
Sennheiser Momentum 18 ohms
Audio-Technica ATH-M50S 38 ohms
 
Suggestions? Your help is much appreciated.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Why high impedance headphones?
My ATH-W1000X headphones to me are my best sounding headphones and they are only 40-Ohm.

 

[DigitalVeil]

Hey PurpleAngel,
 
Funny, just came across some of your other posts. I just started looking into the Audiophile community so I have had to do a lot of research to find what can offer the best sound. From what I have read and asked friends who have more experience with this, a good set of higher impedance headphones offers a more natural sound (among other Audiophile jargon I don't remember at the moment).

 

[DigitalVeil]

I think I've decided to go with the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 250 ohms with a Schiit Magni/Modi combo

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hey PurpleAngel,
 
Funny, just came across some of your other posts. I just started looking into the Audiophile community so I have had to do a lot of research to find what can offer the best sound. From what I have read and asked friends who have more experience with this, a good set of higher impedance headphones offers a more natural sound (among other Audiophile jargon I don't remember at the moment).

 
It is though that the more voltage used, the better control over the diaphragm, and so having more impedance requires more voltage to function.
 
From my understanding, high impedance headphones work well in a music studio, something about it making it easier to plug in a lot of headphones into something, or some such thing.
Also high impedance headphones work well with main stream (mass market) A/V receivers, as their headphone output usually have a high output impedance (50-Ohm? or 100-Ohm? or other?),
So you need even higher impedance (250-Ohm, 300-Ohm, 600-Ohm) headphones for plugging into A/V receiver, for the headphones to work well with a receiver.
Tube amplifiers output a lot of voltage and people like the "tube' sound, so it makes it easy to used high impedance headphones.
 
With portable audio players, your running off a battery, so you have to conserve on voltage.
But it seems they have to increase current, when dropping voltage (which is beyond my tech knowledge)
I'm sure up until the iPod came out, there was no real (not much) market for lower impedance "quality" headphones.
but now that everyone is spend hundreds of dollar for quality portable audio players, there is a lot more demand for low impedance quality headphones.
I'm guessing headphone manufacturers are willing to spend the R&D to make headphones that sound good using less voltage.
For best sound, you want the diaphragm to be as strong (hardness) and as light as possible (light as in as thin as possible).
So headphone manufacturers have to use more expensive material to make the diaphragm as light as possible.
So you want the diaphragm to be as close to diamond hardness as possible, but have the weight of (or weight less then of) aluminum. 
 
Shure high end IEM, the SE846, is only 9-Ohms, which is a low impedance then their cheaper IEMs (which are 20 to 30-Ohm).
So Shure must be using a very light weight and costly diaphragm, in the SE846.
 
All this stuff is my best "guess" for headphone stuff.

 

[DigitalVeil]

Thanks for the info PurpleAngel. I will be using this with my computer but occasionally on my Onkyo receiver to listen to music (ALAC) and blu-ray movies. I think the DT 770 will do the job

. Per chance do you know of any good DAC Amp combo units under $200? If not I'll start a new thread.

 

[Makiah S]

  Thanks for the info PurpleAngel. I will be using this with my computer but occasionally on my Onkyo receiver to listen to music (ALAC) and blu-ray movies. I think the DT 770 will do the job

. Per chance do you know of any good DAC Amp combo units under $200? If not I'll start a new thread.

ehhh E18 might do the trick, it'll work with you Cell Phone and a PC, go E17 if u dont use your phone, or you could go 
 
Beringher UAC 202 [$30] and Schiit Vali/Modi for like $130 

 

[DigitalVeil]

If I'm not mistaken E18 is Fiio? I'm not terribly confident in their products. I've owned some and they are ok. I'm willing to go around $200 if it's with it

 

[Makiah S]

If I'm not mistaken E18 is Fiio? I'm not terribly confident in their products. I've owned some and they are ok. I'm willing to go around $200 if it's with it

Yea it is Fiios not a bad company, not the best but they make portable gear, if you wanted you could also go for something from JDS Labs, their C5D Amp dac is around $250, you may find one used for a little bit less here on head fi. But in terms of build quality JDS labs is overall better than Fiio but costs more 
 
If you don't want something portable, then I think the Schiit Vali/Modi and the Beringher UAC 202 dac would work well for u