Upgrading! Help me decide what to! Maybe MS1?

[mikee898]

Hey,

When I first joined here I was looking for a reasonably priced, portable, well isolated and well rounded set of headphones. I decided on the MDR V7506 with your help, and I've really liked them up until now. I also recently bought the KSC75 which sounded great, though I havn't really had a chance to listen to them for very long yet.

At this point, I want to upgrade my headphones to something open, around 100$, though could be slightly more. I was listening to my friend's MS1s and really felt that they sounded much smoother and generally more pleasant than my 7506s. I have really been looking at the HD580s a lot. Though I've never listened to Senns, from what I hear they sound like what I'm looking for. However, the fact that you need a pretty decent, and expensive, amp to get a decent sound from the HD580s kind of scares me from them. I don't want to spend that much money at this point.

I listen to a lot of variety. Jazz, Classic Rock, some Rap though not a much, reggae, classical, acoustic guitar, folk, world music... My sources are nothing special, Ipod and computer. I have no amp.

I want a sound that is smooth, detailed, crisp, balanced, and hopefully has a sense of openness and space. This is why the Senn's appeal to me so much. The MS-1s seem like they fit the bill quite nicely. The only thing that kind of putts me off from them is the supposed lack of soundstage. It just seems like it would be so cool to have a kind of roominess to the sound, something which I have never really experienced but feel I would like. However, if there are no other phones at this price range, which are so smooth and nice and don't require an amp, then I guess the MS-1s will do just fine.

Any opinions? Any other headphones around this price that sound like what I want?

Also, since I will now have only an open set of phones, I would like something like I guess an IEM, for portability. What are some good ones for reasonably cheap, around 50$?

Thanks!

 

[mikee898]

I also have come across some threads on the DR150. This seems like a good option, since I guess it's possible to find these for around 100$.

But do these need an amp? And if so what is the cheapest way to get an amp for these that would do the trick?

Any other suggestions would be very welcome.

 

[mikee898]

bump?

someone must have some suggestions

 

[glac1er]

I personally think soundstage will help a lot if you're listening to different types of music.

The DR150 will do fine for you. It seems that you like MS1, and the DR150 has the same kind of in your face sound but with and added soundstage. They will do decent without amp, but a warm amp will help smoothen the highs. I tried it with a $250 Headfive and they work well together, I haven't tried it with any other amp though.

As for the HD580, I think it has a bigger soundstage and smoother sound. However, I don't think guitars are rendered quite as well. And the Senn is very amp dependent. IMO without amp you can get much better sound quality for comparably priced headphones. With a good amp, which is usually expensive, some people even prefer them to $250 headphones.

You should consider HD595 for a less amp-dependent Sennheiser's sound.