[jerome]

let me set the background a bit: I'm an 18 year old, about to leave for university in about a month. I listen to music of most genres bar r'n'b, here are some of my favourite albums:
godspeed you black emperor - lift yr skinny fists like antennas to heaven, gatsbys american dream - volcano, converge - you fail me, fugazi - the argument, pg. 99 - .. #8, orchid - chaos is me, a silver mt zion - horses in the sky, sonic youth - daydream nation, neutral milk hotel - in the aeroplane over the sea, broken social scene - you forgot it in people.

i also tend to listen to some hip hop, jazz and such very occasionally too, so basically a very good 'all round' headphone set is required.

now, for the past year or 2 i've been listening to music on sennheisers px-200 and more recently shure e2c's, neither have been really satisfactory by any mean and i've always desired for more. but of course, the lack of money has been an issue till now. sort of at least, my budget is set at £120 (~$220-240)
and i'm looking to invest in a solid set that will last me a good while.

there's a strong dilemma involved though, i'm rather uncertain whether to go for an open pair or a closed pair. i'll predominantly be using the set i buy at my dorm, but may require it during long travels back and forth from home one weekend a month or so, this would imply i'd probably be best getting a closed set. however i've been put off both closed and open sets after reading reviews over this past week from this site and many others in that closed pairs have apparently got clearly worse sound quality (and i really don't want to feel unsatisfied again to be honest) and the notion of open pairs leaking noise / letting intrusions in is pretty horrific as well.

i'd like any help in making the next step up from my cheap, lowest grade 'good brand' phones to a full set that are still not exactly dear in cost but still of excellent quality. i'm edging towards Beyerdynamic DT660 - a closed set for £100, but am obviously looking to find better options if there are any, and for my dilemma with the open / closed issues to be given some advice on.

oh one last note, i'd rather not be recommended a pair requiring an amp because my budget is obviously tight and amps are generally not convenient anyway i believe?

 

[jerome]

okay obviously the huge chunk of text has put off people from reading this thread / responding, basically i'd like clarification on what would be more useful to me; open or closed headphones.

are closed headphones doomed to having significantly worse sound quality (namely the beyerdynamic dt 660)?

are open headphones doomed to be irritants to myself and all around me during journeys (namely sennheiser hd 595 / any grado model under £120 (~$240)?

 

[riceboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerome /img/forum/go_quote.gif okay obviously the huge chunk of text has put off people from reading this thread / responding, basically i'd like clarification on what would be more useful to me; open or closed headphones. are closed headphones doomed to having significantly worse sound quality (namely the beyerdynamic dt 660)? are open headphones doomed to be irritants to myself and all around me during journeys (namely sennheiser hd 595 / any grado model under £120 (~$240)?

For closed headphones I love the D2000's. I feel they are the best I've heard so far..

Open headphones will leak sound, but I love the way they sound. Depending on the volume you listen to, it won't be a irritant. My friend at work listens to his SR80s and I can't even hear it. He usually listens to loud volumes as he has a bumping car system, but for his cans he's learned to listen to them at lower volumes and still enjoy the music. As for me I listen to my GS1000s, RS1s and even the SR325i's at work and it can't be heard by others, but then again the volume on them isn't that loud. With an SPL meter they are around 70 - 75 at max but usually around 65 - 71.

Hope that helps and good luck