derin38
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2012
- Posts
- 3
- Likes
- 0
Hello Head-Fi!
I'm very new, I started following this forum around a week ago in hope of learning about headphones until the day comes when I will buy one myself. Nevertheless, the day of choosing a headphone has come and I need your advice.
I can begin with introducing my musical taste.
My taste in music is very broad. I can say that I have two sides. One side which covers Classical music, Opera and Jazz. My other side loves Blues, Rock n Roll, Rock (60-70s), Soul, yea, every kind of music of that time, even disco
. Even though I may like most of the music out there, my taste never 'stretches' out to Heavy Metal, Skrillex-type-of-music and "heavily-manipulated" instruments (everything computer-made).
Now back to topic.
I am looking for a new pair of headphones. My first open ones actually. Living on closed ones my entire life, I think you realise how hungry I am for open ones. The headphones I have now are Sennheiser HD201 and Brainwavz HM3. I actually never cared for good headphones until I sat one day and realised that music actually is very important to me and that a good pair of headphones wouldn't be bad.
I know there may be millions of threads like this and believe I have almost read them all but still want direct advice.
I have chosen some candidates and I want you to comment on them and say which one you prefer. I am more than open for suggestions. And I hope you help me out. They are ordered depending on the price class.
Headphones:
As you can see there is a big contrast between HD598 and HE-400. Now to my thoughts about them:
HD598 look cool, they look nice. But... they look "fake". Don't take me wrong they look probably very nice but they don't look as they will sound as good as they look. It feels that the look has been focused too lot which will result in worse sound. But I've heard many say good things about them and they may actually sound good. HD600 is above HD598 in price class but I hear HD598 has a better soundstage and bass.
I've seen millions of posts comparing HD600 to HD650 and, even more, to DT880. People say HD600s are more neutral than 650. I also hear that DT880 are analytical, a bit too much. Now, I do not know what that means but I suspect that it means that there are too many details (?) which will disrupt the pleasure in listening. I also hear that HD600 has veil. I didn't know what that meant at first but one user described it as putting on some Jazz at high volume on speakers and then go out of the room and listen to it through the wall. That sounds pretty worrying. But I also hear that DT880 is not good for classical music.
Then there is the HE-400, from a relatively unknown brand (to me atleast) though I tend to like unknown quality-brands. These are a bit more pricey and I will only consider them if they are alot better. They appear to have a different type of driver than the other headphones and they actually look better. They look like a professional quality product. They also have the lowest impedance which I take as a bad thing. I've associated higher impedance with better sound quality though the fact is that I do not have an amp but will probably buy one. If HE-400 sounds better and don't need as much amplifying as the HD600 and DT880 they could be a good choice.
To summarize everything, I think that, in the end, the candidates left are HD598 and HE400. HE400 is double the price of HD598 and they are both easy-driven. I may buy Xonar DG and maybe a tube amp later on.
Now this is where you guys come into the picture. I need your help. Of the 4 I've listed and those you may suggest, which would suit me best?
I'm very new, I started following this forum around a week ago in hope of learning about headphones until the day comes when I will buy one myself. Nevertheless, the day of choosing a headphone has come and I need your advice.
I can begin with introducing my musical taste.
My taste in music is very broad. I can say that I have two sides. One side which covers Classical music, Opera and Jazz. My other side loves Blues, Rock n Roll, Rock (60-70s), Soul, yea, every kind of music of that time, even disco
Now back to topic.
I am looking for a new pair of headphones. My first open ones actually. Living on closed ones my entire life, I think you realise how hungry I am for open ones. The headphones I have now are Sennheiser HD201 and Brainwavz HM3. I actually never cared for good headphones until I sat one day and realised that music actually is very important to me and that a good pair of headphones wouldn't be bad.
I know there may be millions of threads like this and believe I have almost read them all but still want direct advice.
I have chosen some candidates and I want you to comment on them and say which one you prefer. I am more than open for suggestions. And I hope you help me out. They are ordered depending on the price class.
Headphones:
- Sennheiser HD598
- Beyerdynamic DT880
- Sennheiser HD600
- I've heard good things about Hifiman therefore I am going to put HE-400 here.
As you can see there is a big contrast between HD598 and HE-400. Now to my thoughts about them:
HD598 look cool, they look nice. But... they look "fake". Don't take me wrong they look probably very nice but they don't look as they will sound as good as they look. It feels that the look has been focused too lot which will result in worse sound. But I've heard many say good things about them and they may actually sound good. HD600 is above HD598 in price class but I hear HD598 has a better soundstage and bass.
I've seen millions of posts comparing HD600 to HD650 and, even more, to DT880. People say HD600s are more neutral than 650. I also hear that DT880 are analytical, a bit too much. Now, I do not know what that means but I suspect that it means that there are too many details (?) which will disrupt the pleasure in listening. I also hear that HD600 has veil. I didn't know what that meant at first but one user described it as putting on some Jazz at high volume on speakers and then go out of the room and listen to it through the wall. That sounds pretty worrying. But I also hear that DT880 is not good for classical music.
Then there is the HE-400, from a relatively unknown brand (to me atleast) though I tend to like unknown quality-brands. These are a bit more pricey and I will only consider them if they are alot better. They appear to have a different type of driver than the other headphones and they actually look better. They look like a professional quality product. They also have the lowest impedance which I take as a bad thing. I've associated higher impedance with better sound quality though the fact is that I do not have an amp but will probably buy one. If HE-400 sounds better and don't need as much amplifying as the HD600 and DT880 they could be a good choice.
To summarize everything, I think that, in the end, the candidates left are HD598 and HE400. HE400 is double the price of HD598 and they are both easy-driven. I may buy Xonar DG and maybe a tube amp later on.
Now this is where you guys come into the picture. I need your help. Of the 4 I've listed and those you may suggest, which would suit me best?
