Headphone Help

[Carnecerro]

After lurking this forum for the past few months and seeing all there was to offer in headphones I decided to pick myself up a pair of nice headphones. I had the normal "Which pair do I buy" question so I headed to my local Guitar Center to try some out. I ended up walking out (after two hours of talking with the salesperson) with a pair of Sennheiser HD280's, a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT770 Pro's, and a pair of Shure E4C's.

I was planning on bringing both sets of cans home and trying them in my environment and then selling the one I liked the least. My question is this. Many of you have multiple pairs of headphones, why? Do you use different ones when doing different things ie. different kinds of music, movies, or games? Is it simply the thrill of collecting? I'm obviously new to this and the thought has occured to me to simply keep both....

 

[AMD Man 129]

na i dont think you need multiple pairs of headphones... the reason people get multiple pairs of phones is for different typed of audio (music, gaming, general use, etc.) i think you only need one pair of headphones if you find a good, all around pair of phones.... try our your different phones on different things (music, gaming, etc.)...

hope that helps

 

[soloz2]

the Senn HD595's are very good all around cans

 

[schapman]

I use my a900s as my all around cans. The MS-1s get brought out for those times I feel like listening to straight rock music for a while. I can't keep them on for more and a couple hours without getting bad ear fatigue though.

 

[FooTemps]

I'm planning on having multiple cans. I'm getting some Grado SR325i's soon for music listening, and then I'm picking up something else for games/movies

I believe you only really need 2 if you don't have a really diverse selection of music.

 

[Carnecerro]

Well I have been trying both out in a multitude of situations. The Beyer's are much better for Classical, Country, Jazz, Ska. The Senn's seem to have a better bass response for the techno and Hip Hop. The Beyer's are much more comfortable. The Senn's seem to isolate outside sounds a bit better and therefore create a better gaming environment. I don't see myself selling either pair at this point. They do have quite a bit of difference between them but both seem to have their strengths.

 

[towert7]

The Senn's seem to have a better bass response for the techno and Hip Hop.

Hm

I'm not sure what source you are using, or what quality everything upstream from the headphones is, but the beyers *should* have a much fuller and more impactful bass than the HD280pro provided they have decent amplification. The bass on the HD280pro is there, and it goes deep, but its just lacking and dry sounding to me.

Give both the headphones some time to burn in, as well as your ears. Don't really compare them critically at first, just get used to each sound. Then after a week or two, compare the bass again and see if you notice a difference.

- - - - - - - - -​

As for your actual question, I have one set of headphones for my desktop rig, and another for a portable setup. Still, I can see why people would have multiple headphones for even just their main setup, because different headphones sound so different.

 

[Carnecerro]

Hm

I'm not sure what source you are using, or what quality everything upstream from the headphones is, but the beyers *should* have a much fuller and more impactful bass than the HD280pro provided they have decent amplification. The bass on the HD280pro is there, and it goes deep, but its just lacking and dry sounding to me.

Give both the headphones some time to burn in, as well as your ears. Don't really compare them critically at first, just get used to each sound. Then after a week or two, compare the bass again and see if you notice a difference.

- - - - - - - - -​

As for your actual question, I have one set of headphones for my desktop rig, and another for a portable setup. Still, I can see why people would have multiple headphones for even just their main setup, because different headphones sound so different.

Thanks for the great advice. I intend to do just that. The source I am listening to is simply my PC with an Audigy 2. I also plugged both pairs up to my receiver (Onkyo TX-SR703) and the Beyer's were much more responsive in just about every kind of music I played. Thanks again though.

 

[FLECOM]

Many of you have multiple pairs of headphones, why? Do you use different ones when doing different things ie. different kinds of music, movies, or games? Is it simply the thrill of collecting? I'm obviously new to this and the thought has occured to me to simply keep both....

different headphones just sound different... if you can find one that you feel is great for everything you use headphones for then great, keep them and be on your merry way

I cant speak for everyone with multiple headphones but most of my headphones I have becuase I enjoy the way they sound, even though they all sound different... so depending on what I am doing, or what my mood is, i will pick up a different pair...

the DT770s really need an amp to sound their best, like pretty much all the beyer cans

 

[Carnecerro]

Any type of recommendation on amps? ....off to do some research on amps.

 

[strid3r]

different headphones just sound different... if you can find one that you feel is great for everything you use headphones for then great, keep them and be on your merry way

I cant speak for everyone with multiple headphones but most of my headphones I have becuase I enjoy the way they sound, even though they all sound different... so depending on what I am doing, or what my mood is, i will pick up a different pair...

QFT.