Headphone Thread.

[Lbeuol]

I forgot how to read

[Dubsgalore]

lot of drumstep, progressive and melodic house, and trance

Mdrs would be fine for house and trance. I'm not too familiar with drumstep though. Am I right in saying it's a mix of "dubstep" (note "s) and the drums from drum & bass? If so then the mdrs would be fine. They're just bad when it comes to low, deep bass like this.

sounds good to me

[Tarzan]

Based on the recommendations here, I picked up a pair of Sennheiser HD598 headphones over the weekend.  Very nice listening experience!  My only other Sennheisers were HD205's, which were really tight fitting, and not nearly as comfortable as the larger over-ear cans.

These are my first open-back headphones, really have a spacious sound.  I've listened to various music types with them so far, and I haven't found a single area where they fall short of my expectations.  Tight bass, clear mid-range, and highs aren't metallic at all, very balanced and musical.  I've also used them for listening to movies, given me a whole new appreciation for end-credit music!

Using a Xonar DX sound card on my home PC, and the stock audio output on my work laptop.  Listening levels are perfect at less than 5% of total volume.

I did find to my chagrin that the outboard microphone I purchased for a gaming Skype setup wasn't actually necessary.  I was having trouble hearing player dialogue around the remote game table using the Turtle Beach X12 headphones, but the HD598s resolve speech wonderfully, I was able to hear even background chatter with no straining. 

[thegunner100]

Based on the recommendations here, I picked up a pair of Sennheiser HD598 headphones over the weekend.  Very nice listening experience!  My only other Sennheisers were HD205's, which were really tight fitting, and not nearly as comfortable as the larger over-ear cans.

These are my first open-back headphones, really have a spacious sound.  I've listened to various music types with them so far, and I haven't found a single area where they fall short of my expectations.  Tight bass, clear mid-range, and highs aren't metallic at all, very balanced and musical.  I've also used them for listening to movies, given me a whole new appreciation for end-credit music!

Using a Xonar DX sound card on my home PC, and the stock audio output on my work laptop.  Listening levels are perfect at less than 5% of total volume.

I did find to my chagrin that the outboard microphone I purchased for a gaming Skype setup wasn't actually necessary.  I was having trouble hearing player dialogue around the remote game table using the Turtle Beach X12 headphones, but the HD598s resolve speech wonderfully, I was able to hear even background chatter with no straining. 

Im glad that you like them! Great intro (a little past that) headphones that don't need an amp to shine.

[Moosecraft]

Lets see what I own:

Sennheiser  Hd558
Audio-Technica M50
Philips Fidelio X1
Sennheiser Hd600
Vsonic Gr07
Sony Mh1c( a couple of pairs)
Steelseries Siberia V1 and V2

Sources and Amps:
Epiphany Acoustics E-DAC(2)
Epiphany Acoustics O2(2)

I stopped buying as many headphones when I came here..

[thegunner100]

You're pretty much set with the o2/odac combined with the hd600 & gr07! But which are your favorite pair of headphones?

[Moosecraft]

You're pretty much set with the o2/odac combined with the hd600 & gr07! But which are your favorite pair of headphones?

Right now I'm enjoying the X1 very much, they make everything feel so alive with a slight V-curve. But if I only had to own one I think I would choose the Gr07 because I can take them anywhere. I use 4th gen Nano as portable player.

[thegunner100]

I've listened to the Fidelio L1 and wasn't impressed by it at all. It was overly dark for me. I'd like to try the X1, but unfortunately it isn't available in the U.S yet for some reason.

[Moosecraft]

I've listened to the Fidelio L1 and wasn't impressed by it at all. It was overly dark for me. I'd like to try the X1, but unfortunately it isn't available in the U.S yet for some reason.

I've tried the L1 and hated them so..
It is weird that they're not in the US yet,

[thegunner100]

LFF Paradox = full of win. Most neutral and clearest sounding headphone i've ever owned. It's hard to believe how a modded $100 headphone can sound THIS GOOD.

[Binge]

LFF Paradox = full of win. Most neutral and clearest sounding headphone i've ever owned. It's hard to believe how a modded $100 headphone can sound THIS GOOD.

I would love to meet up with you and compare the alpha dog pad mad dogs to your LFF Paradox headset!  They have exceeded my expectations and compared to the stock Fostex they are amazingly neutral/brilliant sounding.

[thegunner100]

Where do you live?

[Binge]

Where do you live?

Pennsyl-tucky   Land of... land.  And Amish

[thegunner100]

I see... thats probably not going to work out then xD

[raspiguy]

I wanted to get into headphones...but then i found keyboards xD
no money to buy a decent set of cans

..someday..

You'd be surprised how little you can spend and come away with an outstanding set / setup.  Specifically, the V-Moda M-80's that MSRP at $200 -- which most people even on head-fi would have to include in best entry-level bang-for-buck discussions -- are now down to $145-160 regular price on Amazon, and can occasionally be caught on sale there for $130 new.  Crazy good headphones for exactly the same price as a good mid/high-end stock mechanical keyboard.  Give up one keyboard you were planning on buying and "someday" could be next week's audio revelation.

If you want to take advantage of opportunity while it's there, go one step further and get in on the Massdrop going on right now for a Fiio E17 for $100 shipped, and pick up anything you need for using its digital input, and for $250 total, you are all set with a highly-portable/-versatile solution (for virtually any platform you choose, I might add - PC/Mac/Linux, x86/ARM).

I live in Oregon so that's pretty slim picking haha. I've looked around on head-fi but never pulled the trigger on anything.

I bought a V-MODA Crossfade LP2  awhile ago and I absolutely love them. That being said you should prob try an ad700 when you can Dubsgalore those are pretty amazing and comfortable for their price.

I got the Crossfade LPs in late 2011 as my first ever attempt at a decent pair and was generally really pleased for the price.  Really respectable if you're into bass-heavy music -- like a savvy consumers' secret for getting better Beats, at 75% off.

Then BF week '12 came along and I found the M-80s on Amazon on sale for $130 & couldn't help myself.  Long-story-short, the LPs have been sent to 'time-out' in the corner indefinitely, or until I can figure out why I bought them.  The M80s are that good, comparatively, for such a reasonably marginal cost.  I highly recommend, if you're interested in upgrading.  Only catch is you have to dedicate yourself to making on-ear work for you -- but it's worth it in the end.

[PointyFox]

Sennheiser HD555s with the 595 mod. I've considered marrying them.

You'd end up cheating on them with the HD600.

[Jack Karneval]

Sennheiser HD555s with the 595 mod. I've considered marrying them.

You'd end up cheating on them with the HD600.

I've done the same thing with my HD555s, and I love them to death, but as much as I'd love to get a pair of HD600s, I think my next pair of headphones will be the Ultrasone PRO750's. I want something with a tad more punch due to all that electronic music I listen to

[thegunner100]

Please for the love of god hi-fi... don't get ultrasones.

[Jocelyn]

Please for the love of god hi-fi... don't get ultrasones.

ROFL!!! (Well put) This^

[Jack Karneval]

Please for the love of god hi-fi... don't get ultrasones.

Hm, why not?

[thegunner100]

Please for the love of god hi-fi... don't get ultrasones.

Hm, why not?

Have you, personally, listened to any ultrasones before?

[Jack Karneval]

Please for the love of god hi-fi... don't get ultrasones.

Hm, why not?

Have you, personally, listened to any ultrasones before?

Actually yes, I've listened to the PRO 750 & PRO 900. I personally liked the PRO 750s more than I did the 900s, but whatevs.

[thegunner100]

I can't say much about the pro 750 but here's what I have to say about the ones that i've heard:

Pro 900 - overwhelming bass with super harsh treble. "The 5 sec rule is safer than 5 secs listening to these" -purrin
HFI-580 - sounded okay-ish... but mids were kinda weird and still had harsh treble.
HFI-2200 - ^same crap.
DJ1 pro - Possibly the worst headphone I've ever heard. I'd rather take beats than the DJ1 pro. Vocals on these headphones sound like they were bouncing off walls in a cave. A CSD plot will show you why.
Edition 8 - Eh... sounded okay, but still had the ultrasone treble. More overpriced than beats.

Edition 10 -

<-nuff said, great lulz.

If you really want more bass impact for electronic music, go hd600 or go ortho. Even a dt990 would do, providing you with great bass while having smoother treble than any ultrasone would have.

[Jack Karneval]

I can't say much about the pro 750 but here's what I have to say about the ones that i've heard:

Pro 900 - overwhelming bass with super harsh treble. "The 5 sec rule is safer than 5 secs listening to these" -purrin
HFI-580 - sounded okay-ish... but mids were kinda weird and still had harsh treble.
HFI-2200 - ^same crap.
DJ1 pro - Possibly the worst headphone I've ever heard. I'd rather take beats than the DJ1 pro. Vocals on these headphones sound like they were bouncing off walls in a cave. A CSD plot will show you why.
Edition 8 - Eh... sounded okay, but still had the ultrasone treble. More overpriced than beats.

Edition 10 -

<-nuff said, great lulz.

If you really want more bass impact for electronic music, go hd600 or go ortho. Even a dt990 would do, providing you with great bass while having smoother treble than any ultrasone would have.

Interesting, and that video was bloody hilarious, yet kind of hard to watch lol. I've read things about people not liking Ultrasone's patented S-Logic stuff that they put in their headphones, so I imagine that's probably what doesn't appeal to you as well as the general sound of the headphones. Also, it's rare that I actually like any headphones I buy off the bat, it took me a year or two to really appreciate my HD-555's. With the PRO 750s though I thoroughly enjoyed them within a couple of minutes, although this was at B&H Photo in NY where the headphones may have undergone some serious burn-in prior to me actually having a chance to listen to them. They were also extremely comfortable as well, but not as comfortable as Beyerdynamics lol.

Ultimately, I don't know what I'll buy next, headphones aren't really high on my priority list right now. I'd much rather invest in a shiny new keyboard

[thegunner100]

dt990/250 pro just $172.98 + tax direct from amazon! B&H has them for $ 167.50 + tax as well. Give them a try if you go to B&H next time. Beyers do sound better on a tube amp though, imo. I wish B&H had a seperate room for their headphones section; its hard to listen a an open headphone properly in such a noisy environment.

And that's understandable, this is a keyboard forum after all. 

[sameer.wahid]

Just beware! It's a trap. I already have six pairs of headphones at this point (and planning to get IEMs and probably two amps), and you may find yourself listening to sounds rather than music.

This. I poured too much money into headphones after joining Head-Fi a while ago. There's a lot of hype around headphones that I was completely suckered into...

I need good isolation at work (I share an office with others) and my current IEMs aren't blocking enough. I ordered custom IEMs from Westone, but instead of burning a grand on the ES5, I decided to try the ES1 (under $400), since I really wanted them for improved isolation, not sound. Just had the molds done last week, but from what I've read they are among the most isolating IEMs.

Anyone know of other good IEMs in terms of isolation? Over ear headphones are not an option for me.

[thegunner100]

There's definitely a lot of over-hype and BS going on in head-fi. Perhaps get the Etymotic ER-4S? Anything with tri-flange tips will probably work well.

[sameer.wahid]

I actually did have Etymotics for a few days - they sounded great but I could not stand the feeling of the triflanges in my canals (it's even worse with the tri-flanges that came with my Shure IEMs).  So far, the best have been either Shure Olive or Comply foam tips. However, while those are good enough to block the noise during my commute, they don't block voices as well.

[thegunner100]

I see, well wait for your ES1 I suppose. If a acrylic shell is not enough isolation for you, you may want to get a silicone shelled CIEM for even more isolation.

[Mysteric]

Need some circumaural headphones for dance, trance, dubstep and pop. Comfort is very important to me. DT770 Pro 80s sounded too distant and were uncomfortable on my jaw but fine on my ears and the M-Audio Q40s clamped my jaw like a vice grip even after I stretched them. Any advice on headphones for £150 GBP or below?

[thegunner100]

Too distant in what way? Perhaps with vocals? Amped or unamped?

[sameer.wahid]

I see, well wait for your ES1 I suppose. If a acrylic shell is not enough isolation for you, you may want to get a silicone shelled CIEM for even more isolation.

Thegunner100 - The ES1 are actually a nifty silicone/acrylic hybrid (silicone at the tip), which was what drew me to Westone.

[thegunner100]

I see, well wait for your ES1 I suppose. If a acrylic shell is not enough isolation for you, you may want to get a silicone shelled CIEM for even more isolation.

Thegunner100 - The ES1 are actually a nifty silicone/acrylic hybrid (silicone at the tip), which was what drew me to Westone.

Ahh okay, I didn't notice that from just looking at the product page's picture

[sameer.wahid]

Need some circumaural headphones for dance, trance, dubstep and pop. Comfort is very important to me. DT770 Pro 80s sounded too distant and were uncomfortable on my jaw but fine on my ears and the M-Audio Q40s clamped my jaw like a vice grip even after I stretched them. Any advice on headphones for £150 GBP or below?

Mackem, I would suggest ATH-M50s. I had a pair for a while, and found them to be comfortable and with good sound for the price (much less than 150GBP).

[Mysteric]

Too distant in what way? Perhaps with vocals? Amped or unamped?

I was running them through a Xonar DX soundcard but everything just sounded hollow / distant

[thegunner100]

You could give the m50s a try, but I didn't find them too comfortable until you stretch out the headband, and swap the pads out for the dt250 pads in addition to taping the holes on the pads. They're a fairly balanced sounding headphone that don't require an amp. Alternatively, there's the hd598 but I'm not sure if it has enough bass impact for your music. Maybe check out the srh840 as well? It's a bit harder to recommend something since I don't know how headphones are priced in the UK.

I also find that a nice tube amp helps with the mids on Beyers, but that might not be something you want invest in right now.

[rootwyrm]

I need a headphone amp that doesn't suck at top end - I don't listen to stuff that's mastered at 20kHz top often and I hear up to at least 26kHz. Yes, that means the FiiO E17 is pretty much right out. If it's not reasonably flat on distortion through at least 22kHz, nope! Portable is best but I can live with desktop. I can't live with the insane $600+ gold-plated deoxygenated snake-oil crap though.

It'll be driven by various, but mostly an HT Omega Claro Halo (non-XT, so no amp), Claro II and mediocre juryrigged mixing board (which includes a Prophet 2k8) - could use some OpAmp recommendations as well for the Claros.

Halp?

[thegunner100]

So you really hear up to 26khz eh...? Please tell us how it sounds like up there, cause I can barely hear past 19.4khz on my hd600 + UHA-6S using audacity's tone generator.

[Binge]

I need a headphone amp that doesn't suck at top end - I don't listen to stuff that's mastered at 20kHz top often and I hear up to at least 26kHz. Yes, that means the FiiO E17 is pretty much right out. If it's not reasonably flat on distortion through at least 22kHz, nope! Portable is best but I can live with desktop. I can't live with the insane $600+ gold-plated deoxygenated snake-oil crap though.

It'll be driven by various, but mostly an HT Omega Claro Halo (non-XT, so no amp), Claro II and mediocre juryrigged mixing board (which includes a Prophet 2k8) - could use some OpAmp recommendations as well for the Claros.

Halp?

There's a lot of analog devices and Ti opamps I love, but I mostly use mono opamps for the purpose of guitar amplification/overdrive.

[rootwyrm]

So you really hear up to 26khz eh...? Please tell us how it sounds like up there, cause I can barely hear past 19.4khz on my hd600 + UHA-6S using audacity's tone generator.

"Bright! It sounds bright!"
But no, seriously, most of what you listen to is mastered to 20kHz at most - anything above 20 gets cut - and more often than not it's poor workmanship and deliberate trimming above 16. But when you listen to, say, something that was recorded on Ampex 2" without a high cutoff of 20kHz and not much muddling? There's mostly just beautiful subtleties above 22 - up to 22 gets you more out of analog synthesizers and certain percussion elements have better definition. TBH anything above 22kHz is a waste, but hitting 22 is hard, so most 20kHz+ headphones and speakers are over by a fair amount to a ridiculous amount. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but super-tweeter versus ribbon, I'll take the ribbon thanks.

There's a lot of analog devices and Ti opamps I love, but I mostly use mono opamps for the purpose of guitar amplification/overdrive.

Yeah, I was considering LME49720 or good old OPA2134 since it needs to be two channel, but I'm not well versed in OpAmps. Trying to find something with a very low voltage offset drift, due to high temperatures.

[Binge]

Yeah, I was considering LME49720 or good old OPA2134 since it needs to be two channel, but I'm not well versed in OpAmps. Trying to find something with a very low voltage offset drift, due to high temperatures.

I've used the mono version of the OPA2134 in all kinds of head/cold due to weather conditions, but I have not used it in something that generates its own heat.  Sounded great the whole time.

[rootwyrm]

Yeah, I was considering LME49720 or good old OPA2134 since it needs to be two channel, but I'm not well versed in OpAmps. Trying to find something with a very low voltage offset drift, due to high temperatures.

I've used the mono version of the OPA2134 in all kinds of head/cold due to weather conditions, but I have not used it in something that generates its own heat.  Sounded great the whole time.

Yeah, when it's not a huge amount of heat it's not a concern. Problem is, some of them are going right next to serious heat generators. Open air thermistors register around 45-50C typical with free air. Free air's going away with another heat generator, so call it 55C probably. Makes me a little concerned.

For the curious - this is for AKG K712 Pros and the OpAmp sensitive output is to Koss Pro4AA's and others I can't disclose (review sample.)

[Badwrench]

Re-sleeved my Ath-ad500's with some violet mdpc-x and added a Rean 3.5mm plug.  Shortened the cable about a foot.  Doing my Ha-Rx500's tonight and am gonna shorten those about 4ft (cable is 10ft long). 

[noisyturtle]

If you strap two ducks to the side of your head you will never hear echos. FACT.

[Jack Karneval]

Re-sleeved my Ath-ad500's with some violet mdpc-x and added a Rean 3.5mm plug.  Shortened the cable about a foot.  Doing my Ha-Rx500's tonight and am gonna shorten those about 4ft (cable is 10ft long). 

(Attachment Link)

Beautiful set of cans you got there!

[Badwrench]

Re-sleeved my Ath-ad500's with some violet mdpc-x and added a Rean 3.5mm plug.  Shortened the cable about a foot.  Doing my Ha-Rx500's tonight and am gonna shorten those about 4ft (cable is 10ft long). 

(Attachment Link)

Beautiful set of cans you got there!

Thanks.  Now if I could just get someone to trade the purple grills from the 700's for my Silver grills, and I would be good to go.

[velvetdon25]

Re-sleeved my Ath-ad500's with some violet mdpc-x and added a Rean 3.5mm plug.  Shortened the cable about a foot.  Doing my Ha-Rx500's tonight and am gonna shorten those about 4ft (cable is 10ft long). 

(Attachment Link)

Wooo. I would definitely like to get mine threaded and shortened like yours Badwrench 

May I ask how you managed to shorten it?
Here's mine sitting on my lamp.

[Jack Karneval]

Anybody know how to go about re-cabling a set of HD-555s?

[Moosecraft]

Anybody know how to go about re-cabling a set of HD-555s?

Look up how to disassemble them on youtube or head-fi. Should be pretty easy from there if you know how to recable already.

[xSpartanCx]

Titanium HD to HD558s