Headphones

[DavidW]

I agree with Marc (those Sony's are decent).  And I think both of those Senns and the Koss are not worth the price.

Suzyq when you say you don't want earbuds, do you mean literally earbuds or are you incorrectly describing all earphones as earbuds?  That is to say are you open to in ear?

In-ear phones:


Earbuds:


Earbuds are earphones that sit on the outer ear.  The other earphones are inserted into your ear.

Consider that issue, because at your price range there are not many headphones to choose from but there are earphones.

Moving on, in general for bargain buying you have to choose whether you like bass or treble because nothing at that price is neutral.  They will favor one end or the other (usually to the detriment of the mids).  I can give you more specific advise if you can answer that question.

[Que]

Earbuds are earphones that sit on the outer ear.  The other earphones are inserted into your ear.

Because of the close proximity to your eardrums, either is bad new for your ears IMO....

Q

[suzyq]

Thanks for all suggestions,  I think headphones are what I'll go with.   

[hadimd]

I have had closed Beyerdynamics in the past (but not that model, I had the dt660) and it sounded bright, the polar opposite of Sennheiser, but works well for classical.  Most of their lineup works well with ipods.

I have DT660 and it's really perfect for classical music. My portable source is iBasso DX100

There is a review about DT660:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/559542/i-truly-believe-these-are-one-of-the-best-classical-music-headphones-ive-ever-heard

[Todd]

 


A couple recent purchases.  The Audio Technica ATH-AD700 is for work.  The rather awful appearance is more than made up for in a smooth, nicely detailed sound.  (It's no match for the Beyers described below, or even for my main loudspeakers, though.)  They're well balanced and create a good, well, soundstage, at least with smaller scale fare.  I was listening to some Schubert lieder with DFD, and the presentation sounded almost as though my speakers were playing.  I assume some co-workers may snicker at the appearance, and my wife expressed her dislike of the purple cover repeatedly, but for $100 they're hard to beat.  They are competitive with my Beyer DT880s.

The Beyerdynamic Tesla T1s are my exit level headphones for home use.  I really like the Beyer house sound, and the T1s are as good as it gets.  They have more bass than other Beyers, and the bass is as clean and detailed (and with great transient response) as I have heard from any transducer.  Mids are lusher than with other Beyers, and the highs more detailed without as much emphasis.  They are as detailed as other uber-headphone I have heard (the Sennheiser HD800, Audeze LCD2, and Grado PS1000 all got an audition, too), but the overall sound is more relaxing than the Senns or Grados, and not as dark as the Audezes.  Just about the perfect headphone for me.  I'm done.  Woo-hoo!

[mahler10th]

Ok, this might sound silly - I'm not as brilliantly clued as some of you on this subject, but my question may help others too.

When I am listening to my equipment, there is an acceptable distance between me and the speakers, and I get a good representation of the spaciousness (or not) in a recording, my distance to the speakers and their placement allow me to explore and experience the music with some sense of wonder (Rautavaara) or horror (Penderecki).  I get a sense of dimension and proportion which satisfys me from listening out of my little setup.   0:)  Oh, happy me...
  The thing is, I want to hear those same dimensions or similar naturalness when I put headphones on, but I never do.  The sound is 'too close' and I have a sense of it being clamped around my ears.  It is nothing like listening to it through open air.  I know this will lead to more expensive headphones than the lighweight, lower budget range Sennheisers I have at the moment.  But what are your suggestions...and wireless ones with the same natural spatial effect would be even better...   If anyone's got an idea about this, or if there is something else I could do to achieve this effect, give us a post!

[DavidW]

Open air headphones + crossfeed = better but never equal to speakers.  Try Sennheiser  hd518 or Audio-Technica ath-ad700 (and not a700 which are closed) for reasonably priced open air headphones with a good soundstage.

Crossfeed you can find with a plugin from foobar (and other programs) on your pc.  Also some headphone amps have it as well.

[mahler10th]

Open air headphones + crossfeed = better but never equal to speakers.  Try Sennheiser  hd518 or Audio-Technica ath-ad700 (and not a700 which are closed) for reasonably priced open air headphones with a good soundstage.

Crossfeed you can find with a plugin from foobar (and other programs) on your pc.  Also some headphone amps have it as well.

Many thanks.  I have had a look.  hd518 looks like exaclty what I am looking for, the other one also, but I like the Sennheiser design better.  Open air headphones...I'll check some more out.  Cheers.

[71 dB]

I constructed a "headphones adapter" that takes the signal from the B-speakers terminals of my AV-amplifier and attenuates it about 30 dB for my phones (Sennheiser HD 598). Crossfeed is implemented and the effective output impedance is only 1 ohm. The electric parts cost about 25 euros. The circuit is based on Linkwitz's and Chu Moy's acoustic simulator (impedance/signal level adaptation by me myself). The sound is damn good! Crossfeed makes most recordings sound better with headphones. Only some headphone-optimized (e.g. binaural) recordings sound best without crossfeed. The crossfeeder of my adapter has an ON/OFF switch for those.

[Holden]

I'll back David up on this one. From the sound of it you are using closed back headphones which let very little ambient noise in or out of the cans on your ears. They have one major plus in that bass frequencies tend to be more solid when compared to open back headphones. Alternately, their soundstage tends to be limited.

Open back phones are the opposite and give a more spacious feel to the music though bass impact tends to be lessened. I also feel that they sound far more natural but that's just my opinion. They won't match the soundstage of your speakers but they will come close in certain areas if you are prepared to spend a little bit of money.

As David has said, Sennheiser makes very good headphones but so do Beyer, Audio Technica, Shure, Sony, AKG, Ultrasone, etc.

If you want to check out what headphone users think then this is the best site.

http://www.head-fi.org/f/

I have closed and open back cans. My closed cans are Shure 840s and they are excellent. Shure now make open backed hp which have got excellent reviews - their SHR1440 and 1840 models.

For open backed cans I also own a pair of Sennheiser HD580s which were the top of Sennheisers range at one stage. They no longer make these but their HD600 is essentially an upgraded version of these in terms of sound signature. I just love their sound and ability to resolve detail. Sennheiser also has HD 650, 700 and 800 models but these are expensive. I suggest that you look into the 500s range The HD 555s and the HD 598s have been garnering praise from various quarters.

I'm not sure where you are based but you should be able to audition most of the above at a hifi specialist.

When you buy, check the impedance - especially with the Sennheisers. Any with an impedance of more than 50 ohms should be partnered with an amp so that they can be driven with full efficiency. Something from the portable Fiio range could easily suffice. Their E6 model can be had for as little as $25 and it will make a difference.

EDIT: You can also get cross feed from some media players if you use your HPs with your PC or laptop. JRiver MC17 has this facility and someone also mentioned Foobar. Will you be listening via your computer?

[DavidW]

btw I picked up some new headphones yesterday-- Sennheiser hd380s.  Neutral, closed headphones.  They are the best sounding and mosty comfy closed headphones I've had.  So much not like a vice that the 280s were.  I use it for early morning and late night listening.

At work I listen to Grado sr80is.  I love 'em, much better than the 60is.  (btw I didn't rec them to John because they are not good in the sound stage department, they are very forward).

[Holden]

btw I picked up some new headphones yesterday-- Sennheiser hd380s.  Neutral, closed headphones.  They are the best sounding and mosty comfy closed headphones I've had.  So much not like a vice that the 280s were.  I use it for early morning and late night listening.

At work I listen to Grado sr80is.  I love 'em, much better than the 60is.  (btw I didn't rec them to John because they are not good in the sound stage department, they are very forward).

I own 280s and auditioned 380s as a possible upgrade. They initially sounded great and then I tried them with piano music. To me the piano sound they reproduced was not natural. When I moved on to chamber music I experienced the same anomaly with string timbre. Orchestral works, voice, other instruments, rock music, were all reproduced beautifully but as 65% of my collection is piano I didn't feel I could live with these cans. It may be that I got a set of phones with a fault or that they needed burning in. It didn't matter anyway because I also auditioned a pair of Shure SRH840s at the same time and they won the contest hands down. These are so good for the money you pay for them I don't know how Shure does it.

[DavidW]

Holden, I haven't tried 'em with piano yet.  But outside of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Chopin I don't listen to piano music.  I'll be listening to Beethoven string quartets soon though, maybe I'll hear what you're talking about.

So what is the problem, too dark (not enough treble extension or treble is rolled off)?

[Holden]

Holden, I haven't tried 'em with piano yet.  But outside of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Chopin I don't listen to piano music.  I'll be listening to Beethoven string quartets soon though, maybe I'll hear what you're talking about.

So what is the problem, too dark (not enough treble extension or treble is rolled off)?

David, it wasn't that, it was the instruments tone. I play piano and am used to the sound. This sounded different, it's hard to describe. The timbre of a string instrument also didn't sound like it should.

All that said, I did audition these using 256 kbps MP3s from my Sansa View.

[Mirror Image]

I own 280s and auditioned 380s as a possible upgrade. They initially sounded great and then I tried them with piano music. To me the piano sound they reproduced was not natural. When I moved on to chamber music I experienced the same anomaly with string timbre. Orchestral works, voice, other instruments, rock music, were all reproduced beautifully but as 65% of my collection is piano I didn't feel I could live with these cans. It may be that I got a set of phones with a fault or that they needed burning in. It didn't matter anyway because I also auditioned a pair of Shure SRH840s at the same time and they won the contest hands down. These are so good for the money you pay for them I don't know how Shure does it.

I've been using these:



Fantastic audio quality. Whether it be classical, jazz, or rock, these babies sound great. Here are specs for these (very affordable) headphones:

Specifications:

Type:
Around-Ear, Semi-Open

Frequency Range:
10Hz - 30kHz

Impedance:
32 Ohms

Connectors:
Gold-Plated 3.5mm Stereo Mini Plug with 1/4" Adapter

[DavidW]

All that said, I did audition these using 256 kbps MP3s from my Sansa View.

A rinky dink portable doesn't have enough power for those headphones.  Those headphones sounded significantly better plugged into my receiver than they did my iphone. 

But still with the same player and the same files did the 280 sound more natural?

[Holden]

A rinky dink portable doesn't have enough power for those headphones.  Those headphones sounded significantly better plugged into my receiver than they did my iphone. 

But still with the same player and the same files did the 280 sound more natural?

Yes, but to get the best out of the 280s I use amplification. I plugged my Sansa into a Fiio E7 and ran the 280s out of that and WOW! The Shure SRH840s can do it by themselves but they leak some sound. The 280s are the best cans I've ever used on a plane. Virtually no aircraft noise at all. The 280s are my traveling overseas headphones combined with a portable amp. The Fiio E5 works very well with them. The E6 is probably better but I haven't tried it. I have the PA2V2 and while it's a fraction bulky it gets the best sound out of the 280s and has amazing battery life while conserving the battery life of your MP3 player or phone.

[DavidW]

You're right Holden, the mids are sucked out.  The piano sounds unnatural, and on top of it the cans so trebly that I can hear the hiss of the noise floor on my receiver, when I never ever could hear it before.  It's not a flat response like the 280s.  I think that the 380s are more of a loudness curve response, which do a great disservice to classical music.  I have to drive back and return these.

[Holden]

Can I suggest that you audition the Shure SRH840s. They are a very neutral (to my ears) set of headphones. They are similar to the 280s in that way but with a far more solid bass and perform happily without amplification which the 280s don't.  They are almost perfect for classical music and seem to have a relatively wide sound stage for closed cans. The only downside, if you could call it that, is that they are very revealing of the recording source. If it's poor, such as a low bit rate MP3, you will definitely hear it. Some people also describe them as a bit heavy but it doesn't bother me.

Other GMGers may have other recommendations.

[DavidW]

So I finally received new headphones in the mail this week... I went with the 518s and they sound better than the 390s.  They are the only audiophile series (5xx) that I've heard that have the same dark, warm sound signature that the reference series (6xx) excepting the 580s.

They certainly have the bass but unlike the 380s the mids are not muddy, but clear and detailed, and the rolled off treble makes the sound not exciting, but certainly refined.

The soundstage is narrow but deep.  You can hear the layers of depth to the sound and it is awesome.  It is also works as well with my iphone as my Grados do.