[Tiemen]

Here's my, very subjective, opinion on some closed headhones.
All to my ears, with my gear, music and taste.

-BeyerDynamic DT 150: balanced and natural sounding, well defined and strong bass, powerful mids, can be a touch grainy, unrefined highs, little sibilance, good PRaT but they are not good with heavy rock, decent soundstage, good isolation, uncomfortable
-BeyerDynamic DT 770 2005 consumer edition: bright, airy and dry presentation, well defined and tight bass, detailed mids, piercing treble, sibilant, good PRaT, decent soundstage, great comfort, medium isolation
-BeyerDynamic DT 770/80 Pro: too much hard hitting and overwhelming bass, harsh highs, sibilant, mediocre soundstage, unrefined, medium detail retrievel, congsted, good PRaT, great comfort and isolation
-GermanMAESTRO GMP 250: clean sound, decent mids, a lot of bass that's sometimes a bit boomy, slightly rolled off highs, no sibilance, good PRaT (great rock cans), good soundstage, poor isolation, comfort depending on ear size, Beyer earpads (velour/ leather) improves both sound and comfort
-Kenwood KH-K1000: very smooth, clean and refined sound, decent detail retrieval, bass is sometimes too much and boomy, slightly rolled off highs, good soundstage, dull and boring, no sibilance, medium isolation, comfort depending on ear size
-Denon AH-D2000: rich sound, a lot of bass which can be loose and undefined, detailed mids, good soundstage, overall sound a bit dull/ slow, treble sometimes harsh and sibilant, vocals sounds sometimes recessed, great comfort (though a bit heavy), poor isolation.
-Sony MDR-CD 1700: airy, detailed, bright, sibilant, tight bass, great soundstage, good PRaT, perfect comfort, poor isolation
-AKG K271: tight bass, forward mids with an upper mid boost, rolled of highs, dull and boring, medium soundstage, great isolation, poor comfort
-AKG K 270 Playback: more or less the same as K271, except it has better PRaT and more bass, overall sound is balanced, comfort is slightly better due to more room for the ears, pad rolling can improve sound and comfort.

 

[lucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucky /img/forum/go_quote.gif AD700 - Great all rounder with a wonderful soundstage. My favorite phones. EP630 - Nice IEMs. Break every six months. Much better than earbuds. HD555 - Great all rounder. Wish it ended in a 1/8" plug instead of 1/4". K701 - Bright and overpriced, awful fit out of the box. Crisp. K27i - Too uncomfortable to use for more than one hour. Spark Plug - Awful fit, muddy bass, breaks every three months. Stay away. I can't remember the other things I've tried; I'll add notes for the RX700 soon.

Update:

RX700 - Great after the felt mod. Nice isolation. Good bass. Cheap!

I've got a pair of CX300s coming in the next week. Will add them too.

 

[Infernologic]

Anybody have any experience with Denon 1001K's or Audio Technica M50s in comparison to the Sennheiser HD280s?

 

[Bengt77]

I forgot one...

Portable

Shure SE210
Quite detailed. Highs are good, but the bass is lacking. It does isolate very well, though, which helps the sound quality a lot. In fact, if it wasn't for the isolation, the sound would have been severely lacking in detail and quality. Overall, it's... okay. Would love to get the SE530, though, as it's only about twice as expensive as what I got the SE210 for at the time.

 

[GaryPham]

this thread is awesome, keep it up guys

 

[Shoewreck]

AKG K501 - smooth overall, great headstage, lacks deep bass and has annoying midbass-lowmid hump.
AKG K240DF - neutral, detailed, good headstage, may sound harsh
AKG K240 Monitor - warm and bassy, nice male vocal grain. Much like DF, but everything less so, except bass.
Etymotic ER-6 - bright and forward yet reasonably neutral, extreme top rounded off, deep tight bass and good isolation with proper seal, great detail, but almost no headstage
Grado SR-80 - wrong but beautiful. Comfortable once headband is bent right. Punchy bass, sparkling highs. Extremely coloured yet balanced. Involving upfront sound.
Koss PortaPro - powerful midbass, sparkling highs. Not detailed but clean and smooth.
Koss KSC-55 - similar to PortaPro, with slightly less pronounced yet more defined bass and smoother highs. Uncomfortable headband.
Sennheiser HD-201 - Neutral but fails everywhere else - very harsh on highs, lacks bass and detalisation. Very boring.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Showstoppers:

AKG K-1000
Sennheiser HD-650
Grado HP-2
Beyerdynamic DT48

Pretty damn good:

Everything else in my sig*

* (kinda suck):

Stax Aperio Alpha 1
AKG K-701

 

[KONAKONA]

Koss Portapro - Surprising bass impact and presence, mids and highs seem a little less detailed, but not covered up by the bass. Warm and fun

M-Audio Q40 - Kind of like a closed portapro, lots of bass (maybe occasionally boomy but I like it) mids and highs are more detailed, a bit of sibilance though.

M-Audio Q40 W/ E5 - Tons and tons of bass, but mids and highs loose detail. Somehow becomes a set of cans you just don't want to listen to.

Yuin PK2 - Cold, but delicious mids and highs (Ice cream buds!) but lows are rolled off beginning at mid-lows and next to no bass and sub-bass.

Koss Sparkplugs unmodded - Rolled off lows, tons of ugly midrange, and not much highs.

Koss Sparkplugs with the backs taped - More bass than should be acceptable for anyone, still over-emphasized mids and a wee bit of highs. No detail anywhere though. Isolates like ear plugs, both ways.

 

[Quitoman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kejar31 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will only list Headphones I have owned HD580 - Great headphone but boring HD595 - Great mids great soundstage a little anemic HD280 - My head still hurts CX300 - Crap PX200 - Crappier HD212 - Crappiest K501 - Great mids (best ever heard) great soundstage lacking in bass SR80 - Fun, fast and awesome for $90 SR325i - Razor sharp and super clean but a little two bright and lacks in overall texture RS2 - Fast snappy textured bass warm mids and a little grainy on the top end K240 Sextett's MP - Unimpressed DT770 Pro 80 - Horrible. Shure SE210 - Don't remember because I returned them within a week. KSC75's - Best $15 dollars ever spent D5000 - Just got them today so there not burned in, but so far - big bass (MarkL mod will be needed) good soundstage (after stuffing the ear pads) highs and mids a little muffled and laid back (but I have heard this goes away after burn in) This is the only bassy headphone I haven't hated, infact if the mids and highs clear up and I can get the bass under control with the MarkL mod this might be my favorite headphone yet.

From the headphones I've head on this list, I completely agree.

 

[Ares]

BeyerDynamic DT 770 2005 (250) - Comfortable, built to last, thin, probe to sibilance, very forward, harsh, decent sound-stage, but musical.

Grado SR60 - uncomfortable, edgy but not overly so, decent bass, poor sound-stage.

AKG K240s - Grainy, airy, bassy, laid-back

AKG K240 Sextetts - although improperly amped they sounded more like grados than akgs. Tight bass, decent mids, sparkling highs.

AKG K44 - unimpressed. tight but too thin to realize it. To add to the insult, very ugly. Decent for price.

Denon C551k - EQed, bassy, piercing highs, decent sound-stage, horrible fit - bit better with T400, fatiguing, fun at low volume levels

Apple IEM- Overpriced, anemic, dry, excellent fit - great comfort.

 

[Emooze]

PX200 - really far off and tiny sounding
CX300 - lacking in the highs and overly boomy bass
SR80 - Nice and bright, 100 ohm impedance adapter added much more definition to the bass
RX700 - Nothing outstanding, sounded great all-round
AD700 - Tons of lovely bass and excellent soundstage
SR325 - More kick and high end than the SR80, a lot lighter than I thought they'd be
HD650 - nice and dark sound, excellent bass, felt like my head was in a vice.

 

[Almoxil]

Everything I wrote below is based in my opinion, listening to the HPs through either my Cowon D2 or my CD Player + DAC/Amp combo. Added the Ultrasone HFI-550 to the list.

The best ones:

Ultrasone HFI-780: Excellent sound. No sound tweaking at all out of my Cowon D2. Bass is punchy and tight. Mids and highs don't disappoint either. Rock, metal, hip-hop, rap, you name it. They all sound awesome on the 780s.
NEW! Ultrasone HFI-550: Still excellent, although less detailed than my 780s. No sound tweaking at all out of my Cowon D2. Bass is punchy and tight. Very involving and engaging. Great for rock, metal, hip-hop, rap and related genres. Less flashy than the higher models means you can wear them outside without calling much attention. At $110 - $120 (eBay prices), they eat my Q40s, which I bought for $100.
Alessandro MS-1: Sounds excellent with no EQ tweaking. Only sound enhancement I use on my Cowon D2 is Mach3Bass, which I usually have set to 8/10, giving them some slam to the bass.
AKG K271S: Excellent sound, but bass needs some help. Mach3Bass on my D2 or my home amp (Zero with rolled opamps) gives them some nice slam, but nowhere near my 780s or 550s.
FutureSonic Atrio M5: Great IEMs. Isolation is excellent once you get a good seal. Since their bass frequencies are a bit emphasized, I lower some of them via EQ, and set Mach3Bass to 5/10. Great sound.

Great ones:

Koss PortaPro: Excellent budget headphones. Bass is great (although I lower some frequencies via EQ, since it can get muddy sometimes), and there's plenty of detail to speak of, considering they're their price. The only reason I don't use them more often is because they're open.
M-Audio Q40: Sound is great, but too bassy sometimes. Overall great cans for the price.

Not so great:

Audio Technica ATH-AD2000: Detailed but "boring" (at least on my setup). Bass is deep but there's not much slam to speak of. Some jazzy stuff sounds awesome on them, but I haven't got many albums in those genres. It's a love/hate relationship. They don't respond well to EQ'ing or sound enhancements...
Audio Technica ATH-ESW9: Overemphasized mids get to my nerves sometimes, but overall great cans. Since I have better ones, I rarely listen to music through them.
Audio Technica ATH-SJ5: Honest performance for the price, but there are better cans in their price range. As with my other AT cans, they're bass-shy and need some tweaking to sound reasonably involving.

 

[Fortgammon]

$5 Koss Lightweight Stereo Headphones KPH/6: First preferred headphones over the $1-$2 from 99 cent stores and supermarkets I use to buy before Hand, Lost count on how many times I bought these over the course of my music listening, Just bought another pair yesterday for a super quickie replacement for my dead SR80, with a Ksc75 or even PX100 in mind over the coming week

$10 Black Koss Stereo Headphones: "Permanently borrowed" from my Mom's friend, better sound than the $5 Koss, didn't figure that out until these broken and I gone bought another the $5 Koss

Koss Ksc75: Bought at a radioshack while searching for the $10 Koss, first step into the HI-FI audio luckily since at the time spending $25 on headphones was insanity

Koss Titanium Headphones: Basically same sound quality, but I liked the look better and I always preferred Headbands vs. Clip ones

Sennheiser PX100: bought from circuit city over a year ago, Very Sleek and you can feel the quality and it fit firmly on my head, probably best lightweight stereo Headphones
you can buy in stores

Grado Sr80: First and only headphone and Ebay purchase online, enjoyed for 4 months before needing repairs and last over another year after that. Best sounding headphones I ever owned at, that point I didn't mind the $93 I eventually cost me to receive it

Sorry I didn't gave sound descriptions, don't remember exactly how they sounded expect for

Samson CH70: bought while my SR80 were being repair, bad choice Bass was way too strong for my taste, it sounded ok once I replaced the cup pads with normal replacement foams pads from the $5 Koss, luckily I bought these for $30 while on sale instead of the $40 retail, should of bought the Koss titanium instead

 

[kejar31]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quitoman /img/forum/go_quote.gif From the headphones I've head on this list, I completely agree.

Thanks for the kind comment Quitoman!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kejar31 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will only list Headphones I have owned HD580 - Great headphone but boring HD595 - Great mids great soundstage a little anemic HD280 - My head still hurts CX300 - Crap PX200 - Crappier HD212 - Crappiest K501 - Great mids (best ever heard) great soundstage lacking in bass SR80 - Fun, fast and awesome for $90 SR325i - Razor sharp and super clean but a little two bright and lacks in overall texture RS2 - Fast snappy textured bass warm mids and a little grainy on the top end K240 Sextett's MP - Unimpressed DT770 Pro 80 - Horrible. Shure SE210 - Don't remember because I returned them within a week. KSC75's - Best $15 dollars ever spent D5000 - Just got them today so there not burned in, but so far - big bass (MarkL mod will be needed) good soundstage (after stuffing the ear pads) highs and mids a little muffled and laid back (but I have heard this goes away after burn in) This is the only bassy headphone I haven't hated, infact if the mids and highs clear up and I can get the bass under control with the MarkL mod this might be my favorite headphone yet.

Update on my D5000's now that I have had them for a month

D5000's (MarkL modded by me)

1. Without stuffing in pads - Tight accurate strong bass (just right if you ask me and trust me I am no bass head) warm upfront mids with ever so slightly sibilant highs. Soundstage is good for a closed can. Overall a great headphone

2. With stuffing in the pads - Its almost crazy how much this changes the sound. Tight accurate bass with slightly less impact, recessed mids and sibilant highs (almost as sibilant as the 325i's). Great, wait no, unbelievable soundstage and instrument separation.

In the end I kept the stuffing out of the pads although if I could just get control over the highs I would put the stuffing back in in an instant.

 

[Pianist]

Koss KSC75 (stock) - Great for the price. A nicely balanced, smooth sound. Bass is a bit boomy and highs are a bit over the top. Very good midrange. Tonality is quite inaccurate, but there is nothing better for the price.

Senn HD202 - An artificial, honky sound typical of cheap closed cans. Uneven, grainy, inaccurate treble. Very good for the price though, especially the bass. Sounds quite airy for a closed can.

Yuin PK3 - Great headphone for the price. The best I've heard in the price range. Punchy, fun sound with very good clarity and decent accuracy. Natural mids. Bass lacks extension but is sufficiently tight - tighter than stock KSC75. Treble is a bit plasticy sounding but improves with a good amp.

Yuin PK2 - Not as good for the price as PK3. Less natural mids than on PK3. Bass is tighter, but still lacks extension. Highs are more detailed, but somewhat grainy and lacking accuracy and extension in the highest frequencies.

Audio Techinca ATH-CM700 - Very accurate and deep bass, but a bit lacking in quantity. Very good clarity and detail in the mids. Big soundstage for an earbud with great imaging. Treble lacks clarity and delicacy compared to PK2, but is more even.

UE Super.fi 3 - Great IEM for the price. Balanced frequency response and decent extension both high and low. Very good clarity. Decent detail. Good speed. Good tonal accuracy. Sounds quite full for a single BA, but just a tad harsh in the upper mids/low treble and a tad dryish.

M-Audio Q40 - Pretty accurate and deep bass, especially for the price, although just a tad slow and sloppy compared to good BA IEMs and more expensive quality dynamics. Sweet low midrange. Good detail. Soundstage is very limited compared to open full-sized cans, but still better than on many IEMs. Upper mids/low treble exhibits some harshness. Treble is rolled-off and lacks clarity compared to ATH-M50 and other more expensive monitors.

Audio Technica ATH-M50 - Terrific tonal accuracy for the price! Bass extends very deep, and is pretty accurate, although like Q40 bass, it can get a bit slow and sloppy at times. Upper mids are a bit recessed. Treble is detailed, but a bit unnaturally sharp (not harsh, just sharp, thin) compared to good open cans, good IEMs, or really good closed cans. Mids are very accurate, but lack detail compared to the best. Soundstage is very good, but a bit congested compared to good open headphones.

Yuin PK1 - Great earbud! Bass is the deepest of any earbud I've tried. Accurate, yet fun, lively sound. Soundstage is very wide, but not very deep. Great detail overall and a very refined treble. Bass is not as tight as that of CM700, but is bigger and more natural. Very natural mids.

Sleek Audio SA6 - A beautiful, warm, lush sound, especially in the mids. Very musical. Very detailed. Very good accuracy with some extra warmth and sweetness added in the mids and treble. Clarity is amazing! Soundstage is pretty wide and deep. Dynamic range is not that great though. One of my favorite IEMs.

Ok, I've heard many more headphones, but can't describe all of them now. Will do that eventually.