[Lumos]

Hello people

I am about to buy open or semi open headphone for orchestra and opera music. Besides AKG K 240 studio and Audio-Technica ATH AD700 nothing is in my head... can you suggest if I have any more options?
 
Which one is more better semi open or open?
 
My price range is 100 $ -120$ (including apm, if necessary)

 
Thank you very much


 
Edit: previous experience is Audio-Technica ATH M-30 and I need cans which can handle wide soundstage, and produce clear high pitch opera songs.

 

[obobskivich]

Design typology means less than individual abilities by a headphone. The first headphone I want to suggest for you is the AKG K701, but that is probably above your budget. In the smaller budget range you have, the Audio-Technica may be the best choice. There are also some closed headphones that can produce a relatively large and dynamic image, like the Bose AE2 or Sennheiser HD 380 (the commonality being the angled driver design). The Sennheiser HD 558 or 598 should also be considered.

 

[Lumos]

Quote:

Design typology means less than individual abilities by a headphone. The first headphone I want to suggest for you is the AKG K701, but that is probably above your budget. In the smaller budget range you have, the Audio-Technica may be the best choice. There are also some closed headphones that can produce a relatively large and dynamic image, like the Bose AE2 or Sennheiser HD 380 (the commonality being the angled driver design). The Sennheiser HD 558 or 598 should also be considered.

 
Thank you

 

[Lumos]

Anyone Please any more suggestions any more ideas ?

 

[biggbenn74]

Well, I too would recommend the x701 series, but it seems like that is out of your price range. However, I'd suggest looking into the Audio Technica AD700. Great soundstage and instrument separation, which is great for classical music. Can be had for as little as $90. FiiO E5 would be a nice addition, just to emphasize the bass a bit more. Hope this helped.

 

[Lumos]

Thanks everyone for all replyes...
 
Just one more question... what about Sennheiser HD 238 Open Aire Stereo Headphones - Old Version?
 
I know that AKG and this are not same grade but I just stumbled this model and saw frequency response graph. I liked it much
 
Have anyone any experience about this Senn?
 
Thank you
 

 

[talisman42]

I didn't have a good experience with the HD238 - but it was a factory refurb. Basically, it had bass but even with major EQing, I couldn't get it sound balanced - let alone the mids. In other words, it sounded as though someone turned off the vocal frequencies. My guess is that the HD239 corrects this - but they're relatively pricey. I don't know of many compact open headphones though.

 

[vid]

Look for an AKG K 501 on the used market, should be about $100.

 

[Lumos]

Thanks for sharing your experience talisman42 

 
Just it is curious, if we rely on these graphs it seems that AKG K240s is more worst phone

 Sooo I am very confused now.

 

[FCO2013]

I would suggest the Superlux HD668B. I very much enjoy classical with them, I think they do classical well. A lot of people are going to disagree with me on this one, but hey. Cheap too, about $45, and you could a decent portable amp with the leftover cash. I felt that these cans really benefited from an amp, and classical sounds even better now!
 
Also the AKG K240 Studio is great choice. I've used it too, and it's absolutely fantastic for classical. Excellent soundstage, good mids, bass that's there, but not all up in your face, and trebles that are not bright, but not overly so. And super comfy too! These will also benefit from an amp. They are so good! Can't really go wrong with classical and K240s.

 

[machoboy]

That graph doesn't really show anything. If you just took it at face value then the 238 looks really flat and the 240 looks like it has spikey treble.
 
Reality is pretty much the opposite. The 238 has a more colored sound while the 240 is quite flat with rolled off treble.

 

[machoboy]

double post

 

[vid]

Quote:

That graph doesn't really show anything. If you just took it at face value then the 238 looks really flat and the 240 looks like it has spikey treble.
Reality is pretty much the opposite. The 238 has a more colored sound while the 240 is quite flat with rolled off treble.

 
How about like this?

 
To me the graphs for the 240 and 238 look equally bad with their cheapo bass humps.

 

[machoboy]

Yeah, I don't like the midbass humps on either one and the k 240 drops off really quickly with nothing below 100hz, but the flatness of the treble sounds completely inverse to what the graph shows.

 

[lejaz]

Quote:

Yeah, I don't like the midbass humps on either one and the k 240 drops off really quickly with nothing below 100hz, but the flatness of the treble sounds completely inverse to what the graph shows.

Huh? You're not reading the graph correctly. the k240 is above 0dB down to about 30hz from what I can see. There's a big upper/mid bass hump, but other than that they're great phones for the price.....probably the best mids you can get for that price and quite a bit over. I like them better than the k702 in some regards, though the detail and sound stage goes in the favor ot the 70X. If you can't afford the 70X with amp, I recommend the k240 very highly for most genres