[Xetheon]

I'm looking to upgrade to some new over-ear phones. I love the sound of the 518's but i want more! I've been looking at the Shure 1440 / AKG 701 / HiFiMan HE-400 and a few others. So thats my price range. I could possibly push it out to the HE-500 or the Shure 1840 or an equivalently priced headphone. AUD $700ish Max! But only if it's absolutely worth it. I'd prefer something under $500. I'll be running the headphones through my PCs onboard soundcard for now, i'll be buying an ASUS Xonar ST soon as well. Unless you guy's have a better suggestion.
 
I want some headphones that'll bring my music alive
 
In terms of music preference, i'm listening to music along the lines of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, Beatles, Tool, Rage Against The Machine, Foo Fighters and some occasional Trance/Dance/Psy Music. All FLAC, i won't be playing much low quality files.
 
Any suggestions or advice about the phones i mentioned would be awesome.
Cheers!

 

[nooz]

after long research I will go for the shure 1840's as they seem the most suited for me...
+ easiest to get for me here in europe...

EDIT: changed my wishlist from the 1840 to a grado 325is... Might want to try the shure's later...

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

I'm looking to upgrade to some new over-ear phones. I love the sound of the 518's but i want more! I've been looking at the Shure 1440 / AKG 701 / HiFiMan HE-400 and a few others. So thats my price range. I could possibly push it out to the HE-500 or the Shure 1840 or an equivalently priced headphone. AUD $700ish Max! But only if it's absolutely worth it. I'd prefer something under $500. I'll be running the headphones through my PCs onboard soundcard for now, i'll be buying an ASUS Xonar ST soon as well. Unless you guy's have a better suggestion.
 
I want some headphones that'll bring my music alive
 
In terms of music preference, i'm listening to music along the lines of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, Beatles, Tool, Rage Against The Machine, Foo Fighters and some occasional Trance/Dance/Psy Music. All FLAC, i won't be playing much low quality files.
 
Any suggestions or advice about the phones i mentioned would be awesome.
Cheers!

 
Heya,
 
Before you start spending that much on headphones, consider you just said "PC's onboard soundcard". I would get a mid-fi headphone and put a budget for either a proper sound card (STX, Claro Halo), or a good discreet DAC/AMP unit. Alternatively, ensure the headphone you get is really efficient so that you can avoid needing powerful amplifiers so you can just get a good clean DAC unit with a small amplifier built in so that you can put more towards the headphone. An example of such a thing would be a Denon D5000 or Denon D7000 and use a simple Fiio E10 DAC/AMP or E17, or something similar. I would not even get the Xonar ST unless you just need it for some reason. Which you shouldn't. You can output from your motherboard's optical spdiff as a passthrough to something else and have it rendered that way.
 
I would put stress on considerations including:
 
Hifiman HE-400
Ultrasone HFI 2400 & PRO 2900
Denon D2000 & D5000
Beyer DT990 & T90
AudioTechnica A900X
AKG Q701
Sony MA900
Sennheiser HD650
Fostex T50RP (modded; like Mr Speakers Mad Dogs)
Grados (if comfort is not an issue, any Grado will do here)
 
Source units to consider:
 
Soundcard Xonar STX
Soundcard HT Omega Claro Halo
Fiio E10 & Fiio E17
NFB 12.1, & 15.1
JDS Labs O2 & ODAC
 
Very best,