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Does more $$ mean more headphone?

E

ellover009

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
1,911
Hi guys, I've been looking at some headphones, and decided to stretch the budget for awesome sound, so heres the magic question will a $250 headphone sound that much better than a $500 headphone. My boss let me try his Sennheiser HD 650 and they sound amazing, theyre also hooked up to an uber expensive receiver that cost 3k and hook up through USB to the pc. I've been looking at the Sennheiser HD 650, AKG K 701, beyerdynamic DT 880, AKG K 60. I was thinking connect them directly to my x-fi plat, or get an amp (can get a bit expensive for an balanced one), so should I spend on higher end headphones, or will i be ok with the $250 or cheaper set? They will be used for gaming, movies. Or should I get a logitech 5500, Klipsch promedia ultra, or S750 and call it a day?
 
A big part of a great sounding system is the electronics behind your headphones or speakers. If you're most happy using it with your x-fi, for movies and gaming, I don't know that spending the big big bucks on headphones would be worth it. In your situation, the Audio-Technica A700 would probably work very well, and would save a lot of money over those others. If you were going to use it for a lot of music, use lossless rips, and buy a headphone amp, then some of those more expensive cans begin to be worth the cost a bit more.
 
Or he could look at Sennheiser HD-580 headphones and a reasonably priced amp and get that great sound for a very reasonable price.
 
headphones will prolly be the biggest components by far to any system followed by the source,amp,cables etc etc. Depending on the brand and even the model, They can vary alot. Take, the senn 650, terrible without an amp and a crap source. However, the better sounding supporting gear you get ( generally more expensive but not necessarily), the better they get. The scalabilty of the 650 is off the chart. Now look at something like the A900LTD. Both the around the same ~300 price range but the A900LTD sounds way better out the box. However if you got a 3k source and 2k amp, they wont sound 100x better, more like 2x better.

It all depends on what u like and where you wanna go with. If you like senn 'house' sound, look around and see what it takes to make them shine. For me i loved AT sound and also the fact that i can plug it into anything and get decent sound if not outstanding sound. I dont care if its an ipod or pc or dedicated headpone rig. They all sound good and it only gets better. Senn and some other companies have a sorta min requirement ie needs amp. However once u get everything set up, the sound may be better to your liking overall than anything AT can produce.
 
whats the price of a good amp? I've seen them easily reach 500-3,000$ and what amps do u recommend?
 
Are you going to be listening to music? You only mentioned games and movies...

A "good" amp, like you've mentioned, can vary a lot in cost. It depends on how much you want to spend. You can get a nice amp like the PINT (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1074367) for relatively low price compared to the big stuff.
 
I was shopping around for some headphones a while back. I was looking at the beyer DT880, I would probably get those if I still had the money. All the reviews said they are some of the best around and are priced pretty well at about 200 bucks. I dont have the money to spend anymore, but if I was going to get some, i'd get the 880s.
 
A good and reasonably priced amp might be a Pimeta, and though there may be many other headphones out there at his price point, he has head and enjoyed the Sennheiser HD 650. A good bet might be to try out the HD 580 which are similar sounding, they will be a bit different, but close and cheap. And the best way to find out would be to listen to the headphones rather than just read reviews.

Though just for gaming and movies the Audiotechnica ATH-A500/700/900 or AD series might be to his liking as well without the requirement for an amp and while still maintaining a lower price point.
 
Well, if you want sound that is in the league as your boss's, start out with the HD580. Cost much less, and sound almost as good. Although some people prefer the sound signature's of the HD580's or the HD600's to the HD650's. Try them!
 
as far as good headphones, yes they will sound much better than cheap ones. I just got a pair of Senn HD595's and have been running them directly out of my X-fi. When choosing headphones if you are not going to be looking for amps then the impendance becomes very important.
Some of the ATH cans are 32Ohm and are very easy to drive out of a sound card or portable device, so you don't need an amp to get good sound out of them.

if you like the sound of the Senn HD650 then you should look into the Senn HD555's and HD595's they are both open like the HD650's and they are 50Ohms so they are much easier to drive and don't require an amp to sound good... but will improve with an amp.

I currently have some Senn HD595's that I use connected right to my X-fi and they sound great. I did get a little dot micro+ amp in the mail today so I'll have to try that out and see if it helps... but at 50Ohms the difference may not be huge because it's only a $70 amp.

as far as amps go you can get a cmoy amp for cheap or a PA2v2 for around $60. the PA2v2 is probably the best entry level amp, but I decided to try the little dot micro+ because I got it used for cheaper.
as far as better amps you can look at the Headroom portable amps (about $150) and the little dot amps. You can also get a primeda for about 100
 
aZn_plyR said:
Well, if you want sound that is in the league as your boss's, start out with the HD580. Cost much less, and sound almost as good. Although some people prefer the sound signature's of the HD580's or the HD600's to the HD650's. Try them!
Click to expand...

ya i actually prefer the 580's to the 600/650's...

headroom has a nice deal if you want to jump in head first...

http://www.headphone.com/products/packaged-systems/

for $995 you get

K701 - $299
Headroom Desktop Amp - $599
Headroom Desktop Amp DAC Upgrade $249
so it would normally be like $1147

plus the dac has optical/coaxial in for a dvd player or game system... plus USB so you can use it as your computer source... so its not a bad little kit to start off with... and the 701's are nice headphones imho
 
I also prefer the sound of the 580s to the 650s. Especially if you have a 650 cable on the 580s (dirt cheap from sennheiser for the cable upgrade).

You may enjoy the experience more if you told us what kind of music you were listening to? Or if you are going to game with them or not.

Of course, there is a point of dimishing returns, but that point is personal. Some will say it is near the HE90s others, the A900LTD, still others even cheaper.
 
Well, I listen to a some regeton but honestly I don't listen to music much, I'll be mostly movies and gaming, ammong recent movies I saw that I like are Tim Burton's the Corpse's Bride, as for games thats what i do a lot, i tried prey demo, it rocked, I have battlefield 2, Call of duty 2, guild wars, nfs most wanted ect. Clarity and comfort are a big thing with me, I also want headphones with good long wiring, you wouldn't belief how many KOSS cheap headphones i've killed (3) and it was all due to wire being short and me pulling on them. I am willing to invest in a good set of cans and a good amp in exchange of good quality and clarity.
So far looks like I do need an amp, i've heard headroom sells some good amps, to be honest I'm computer friendly, I've built my last rig but when it comes to amps I don't know jack (I actually have limited knowledge in this field. Whats the deal with balanced amps, do they deliver more quality? it looks like a good set will cost an arm and leg.
 
A balanced amp requires balanced headphones, and a balanced source. Your X-Fi is not a balanced source, so I don't see why you would need to spend all that extra money on getting a balanced amp and headphones.
 
Rawr said:
A balanced amp requires balanced headphones, and a balanced source. Your X-Fi is not a balanced source, so I don't see why you would need to spend all that extra money on getting a balanced amp and headphones.
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lmao, that's funny! A can that's weak on the bass can be used with a bassy amp to give a good balance! or w./e lol
 
lok, I have a very good headache right now, and that link you linked made it worst. Seriously :D
 
stay away from anything that is balanced. You dont need a balanced setup for movies and games. Why spend hundreds/thousands more which is essentially making a ground channel seperated when 'single ended' aka regular rigs can sound really good and still cost thousands. Going balanced is one of the last steps you do when throwing money at your rig wont improve sound just change it. For the sake of this discussion, ill compare it to computers. Going balanced with a $200 headphone is like going quad sli with a 17 inch monitor vga only. Its a complete waste of resources.

now for 'balanced presenation' cant go wrong senn house sound 580/600/650 , akg701, beyer dt880. A lot of people like these for critical listening. However ur looking for good cans for movies and games correct? id recommend the A900,dt770 with amp, senn 595 because they have nice bass response. Of the three, the hd595 is the only open of the 3.
 
I was looking at the 650 senn, my friend is gonna bring in some akg he owns, I got a friend whos making me an offer on the 650's, well take care off.
 
ellover009 said:
I was looking at the 650 senn, my friend is gonna bring in some akg he owns, I got a friend whos making me an offer on the 650's, well take care off.
Click to expand...


you'll want to use a good amp to really get the most out of those cans
 
soloz2 said:
you'll want to use a good amp to really get the most out of those cans
Click to expand...

What amp do you recommend?, what budget will get me a good amp? $500-700? what amp do you recommend?
I've looked at
HeadRoom Desktop Amp

I am not necessarily looking at a compact amp, anything smaller than a reveiver will do. Don't wanna sacrifice features for size.
 
ellover009 said:
What amp do you recommend?, what budget will get me a good amp? $600-700?
Click to expand...
Nice budget :) I'd recommend a "maxed out" PPA ($700 should be enough for all the bells & whistles), used Dynahi (can sometimes be found for <$700), Headroom Desktop, or a Singlepower PPX3 if you like the tube sound.
 
HeadRoom Desktop Amp runs around $500, I think it's a good built amp, many options. Maybe I can find it cheaper somewhere else. I think saturn was refering to a loaded one with all the bells and whistles, amps can get costly. I want recommendations, any good amp $300-600max. Amps can get expensive expecially upgrades like Module upgrades, Digital to analog converter, Stepped Attenuator can bring a stock amp from affortable to neck breaking prices.
 
get a headroom mini stack: mini DAC and mini amp. then run it from the digital out on your sound card. that's $600 and will give you great results
 
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