shadowdude77
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2009
- Posts
- 24
- Likes
- 10
So, I went to J&R this morning with my Motorola Droid loaded up with some songs to try and find some new headphones. Admittedly not the best-sounding thing, but I don't have a laptop I can carry around anyway, and I figure if I like the way something sounds on a just-decent sounding device, it should sound a lot better on my desktop where I can equalize to my heart's content.
I'm looking for circumaural headphones. As for open vs. closed, I really don't care. If a headphones strikes me as good-sounding and it's circumaural and within my price budget, I'll consider it either way.
My music was all in WAV format when I played these songs (the only lossless format the Android OS can play at the moment...
). My sample for each headphone was Waking the Demon by Bullet For My Valentine, which is the type of music I generally listen to. It's metal, so it was probably recorded terribly with cheap sound equipment. I was basically trying to create the most accurate situation in which I'd normally be listening to music. And here was my take on each headphone:
Grado SR-80i: Yeah, I know it's supraural, but I wanted to see what these things that everyone was raving about sounded like, and personally, the sound was pretty meh in my opinion compared to the other things I listened to.
Beyerdynamic DT770: I couldn't listen to the song through these. That's all I can say. Every time the drummer hit a cymbal I flinched cause it sounded like a TV's static. I don't know if it's supposed to be like that...
Sennheiser HD555: This was a bit of a special case. Since it has a 1/4" jack and for some godforsaken reason they couldn't find their adapter, I had to listen to their sample music. I'm sure it was better driven than my phone, and since it was a pop song, it was probably recorded with super-duper-expensive recording equipment. That being said, I really liked the sound of it, but it's probably an unfair comparison there.
Shure SRH-840: I was almost going to buy this headphone when it first came out, until someone told me it was no good for metal and that kind of turned me off from it. Well, I listened to Waking the Demon through these headphones today and I actually really liked the sound of it!
Beyerdynamic DT250: These sounded really pretty as well. I could probably only notice the advantages over the SRH-840s if I was concentrating. It's there, but I don't know if I can justify the higher price over the Shures.
So, for those of you who somehow managed to get through my wall of text (sorry, I tend to do that!), I'd really appreciate your feedback and maybe some pointers on what I should do to make the right decision. Thanks, you guys!
EDIT: Hmm, I felt like it might be useful to point this out. Right now I have a pair of decent IEMs, the V-Moda Vibes, which I've used for the past two years and love. And I like that quality of IEMs that the music is more "in your head" than projected around you. But IEMs aren't very comfortable in my opinion, and I'm looking for circumaural headphones that can do that same "in your head" thing that IEMs do without shoving pieces of silicone up my ear canal.
I'm looking for circumaural headphones. As for open vs. closed, I really don't care. If a headphones strikes me as good-sounding and it's circumaural and within my price budget, I'll consider it either way.
My music was all in WAV format when I played these songs (the only lossless format the Android OS can play at the moment...
Grado SR-80i: Yeah, I know it's supraural, but I wanted to see what these things that everyone was raving about sounded like, and personally, the sound was pretty meh in my opinion compared to the other things I listened to.
Beyerdynamic DT770: I couldn't listen to the song through these. That's all I can say. Every time the drummer hit a cymbal I flinched cause it sounded like a TV's static. I don't know if it's supposed to be like that...
Sennheiser HD555: This was a bit of a special case. Since it has a 1/4" jack and for some godforsaken reason they couldn't find their adapter, I had to listen to their sample music. I'm sure it was better driven than my phone, and since it was a pop song, it was probably recorded with super-duper-expensive recording equipment. That being said, I really liked the sound of it, but it's probably an unfair comparison there.
Shure SRH-840: I was almost going to buy this headphone when it first came out, until someone told me it was no good for metal and that kind of turned me off from it. Well, I listened to Waking the Demon through these headphones today and I actually really liked the sound of it!
Beyerdynamic DT250: These sounded really pretty as well. I could probably only notice the advantages over the SRH-840s if I was concentrating. It's there, but I don't know if I can justify the higher price over the Shures.
So, for those of you who somehow managed to get through my wall of text (sorry, I tend to do that!), I'd really appreciate your feedback and maybe some pointers on what I should do to make the right decision. Thanks, you guys!
EDIT: Hmm, I felt like it might be useful to point this out. Right now I have a pair of decent IEMs, the V-Moda Vibes, which I've used for the past two years and love. And I like that quality of IEMs that the music is more "in your head" than projected around you. But IEMs aren't very comfortable in my opinion, and I'm looking for circumaural headphones that can do that same "in your head" thing that IEMs do without shoving pieces of silicone up my ear canal.