help me choose headphones ~$200

A

alex paik

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 2, 2005
Messages
392
im looking for headphones for around $200.. i dont really know much, but i want to get a set of headphones that after i learn about audio, i dont regret purchasing the set of headphones that i did..

i will MOST likely be using them for gaming (bf2, fear, cod2, etc.).. other than that, occasional tv show watching and movie watching on my computer.. i will probably eventually get a xfi sound card, but for now, onboard is all i have..

i would also like a recommendation on a cheap amp.. maybe something like an altoid box amp that i saw on show your headphones or something.. something small..

$200 is probably the limit im willing to spend on the headphones, so please help me choose a set..

can someone please explain the difference between open/closed and what they are both used for..


thanks in advance
 
Hmm.. off the top of my head

Sennheiser

HD580 ((Dark, Detailed, Laid back))
HD595 ((Detailed, more forward and bright then 580, but not overly so))
HD600 (( Better build quality and aesthetics then 580's, but basically same thing))

Beyerdynamic

DT880 ((Extreme Detail, similiar to HD595 but better across the board))
DT770 ((Bass Head))
DT990 ((Strong Bass, Better Mids then 770, not as clear/refined/detailed as 880))

Grado

SR125 (Forward, BRIGHT, lacks soundstage)
SR225 (Same.. but better)

Audio Technica

ATH900 (Easy to drive, good sounding can, slightly below HD595, which is slightly below DT880, similiar sound signature)

Everything from Sennheiser except the 595 pretty much requires an amp, all the beyerdynamic cans need an amp as well, the grado's don't need one and neither do the ATH-900's, though a good amp will make anything sound noticeably better.

Prices:

Sennheiser

580 ~130
595 ~160
600~ 200 refurb

Beyerdynamic

DT880~210-225
DT770 ???
DT990 ???

Grado
???

Audio Technica

ATH900~ 200$


Amps..

Go Vibe III (69$)
Portaphile X3 (109$)
Headroom Micro (300$)
Gilmore Lite (300$)
Custom Built Pimeta (90-150$)
Portaphile V2 (189$) V2^2 (234$)

Any of the above amps will suit your needs for the above cans, when it comes to amps you get what you pay for.. yes the more expensive ones are worth the extra cost. There are alot more options for amps, but those are some of the common ones that are of good quality.

Headphones.. you need to decide what kind of music you listen to. the HD580/600/650 is a strong contender it's price performance is excellent. It excells at everything except Hip-Hop, Rap and Rock. Great for games/movies and all other genres of music, it will do "admirable" in the area's that it is weakest in, at this price point they all sound pretty good for everything IMO. But there are other cans that will outperform them in rock/hiphop/rap. All of the Senn's and Beyers, and ATH phones have a great soundstage which means they are good for games/movies. The HD595, DT880 and ATH900 are very different sounding then the 580/600/650 from sennheiser and DT 770/990, and Grado's. Those 3 models are the best "All rounders" IMO, they are forward but not overly so, detailed and respectable in just about all fields, they are acceptable for rock, they are weakest in bass, but still very good at it, punchy and tight, well extended, but not really powerful or exagerated. The 770/990 are the best hip-hop/rap phones they are very bass heavy, not muddy or overblown per se, they just offer more bass then the other options. The 580/600/650 line is the sennheiser "house" sound it's very laid back and warm, they are also great all rounders with the above mentioned exceptions (rock mostly).
Grado phones are rock cans, that's what they do and they do it best, they are not so great for anything else.. not for movies or games (poor soundstage) but they are the best rock cans around.

I personally use Beyerdynamic DT880 and Headroom Micro(DM).. I love it.. but im biased :)

If you want entry level, hi-fi that will knock your socks off and leave a few bucks in your wallet my recomendation is HD580/Go Vibe III. This will set you back about 200 bucks for both the amp and phones and is an insane price/performance value. Keep in mind though, you need a good source, don't try to run these out of onboard audio.


edit: open phones leak alot of sound in both directions, if in a loud enviroment you hear it, and they hear you. Closed phones isolate you much better, not as much sound leakage and in a noisy enviroment you don't hear it as much. Open cans are generaly (but not always) more comfortable. Speaking of comfort all the above cans are comfortable except the grado's.

-Mike
 
I take offense that the HD580/600's aren't good for rock! :eek: :D

With proper amplification, they do punchy bass that isn't overwhelming or unbalanced, which is what good bass should sound like.
 
ok, can you recommend one of the following.. sennheiser hd595, audio technica a900, or the beyerdynamic dt880..

are they all open?
 
If you are a bass head DT 770 PRO definiatly. Any more bass and my ears will fall off :D.

And from what I hear they aren´t crap in other areas either. But I am quite obviously a bass head. It just doesn´t happen as much with other headphones...

So if you want to use them for gaming as well I don´t think it´s possible to go wrong with them. I find closed better for gaming and strong bass is really a must. I had force feedback headphones before. They got decent bass (for the price everything is relative) but the FFB did have quite a good impact on my gaming. But with headphones that goes down to 5 hertz and has such immense power as the DT 770 PRO they vibrate on their own. I have already felt that they put more pressure on my ear drums. Need to keep volume down a bit.

But since what I have heard the DT 880 PRO is kind of semi closed they may be even better :D. Of course hearing fans and other shit is not optimum while gaming or listen to music...

The DT 770 PRO are extremely comfortable and incredibly light weight if you look at the size of that things... Considerably lighter than other even physically smaller headphones I have used.

Mine went for 150$ with shipping approx. found them through ebay so was a bit cheaper that way... However I also got an amp to go with it for 90$ and some cable for 80$... I haven´t tried yet running without an amp will see what difference it makes :).

But I have done some gaming with it as well. GTR and GTL you have probably haven´t heard of it but have extremely well made sound. www.gt-legends.com. I can say GTL was a completely different thing while GTR there was less difference in. It depends much on the car you drive of course they all have their individual sound recordings.

Next thing is to try surround but need to get my real computer going have an X-Fi in it and only an Audigy 2 in this computer :).

But seriously if you get headphones for this amount of money for god sake ditch onboard audio. An amp you can save and get later if you feel you need it. I just tried without I must say there isn´t that much of a difference it seems
 
Ok I take it back there is definiatly a difference in bass response but they sound great also without amp. You just need to crank volume to max so it´s on the limit...
 
hehe.. you can't listen to it unamped for 5 minutes and make an informed choice, amps make rather large differnces across the spectrum. (Bass, Mid, High). It might not be immediatly apparant, but listen to your favorite songs unamped for an hour or two then amp them and the differnces will jump out at you pretty quick.

As to the 580 line sounding good with rock.. all of these cans sound "Good" with everything, but other phones can sound "Superb" in their respective genre. That said, i've never heard 580's, im only going with the widely reported performnace of the product, did a ton of reading about all of the above options when I purchased my amp/phones.

To answer your question about the 3 phones, DT880 is arguably the "Best" sounding of the 3, technically. Followed by the 595 and ATH900. They all have their respective price/performance and niches. The 880s are the most expensive at 210 (Meier Audio, not sure how long that price will last), followed by the ATH-900's at 200$ then the 595's at 160$. If your going to be using them unamped alot definatly get the 900's. The 595's sound great without an amp, and improve considerbly with an amp, don't even think about runing 880's unamped.

Regards,
Mike

edit.. reading back to your orginal post, I dont' recomend altoid tin Cmoy's off ebay. The quality is questionable, and the Go-Vibe III will trump almost any cmoy. Though it's based off a modfied CMOY design, it uses quality components and workmanship, and comes in somthing more durable then a tin can.
 
That said, i've never heard 580's, im only going with the widely reported performnace of the product, did a ton of reading about all of the above options when I purchased my amp/phones.
Click to expand...

How many of the other phones you posted comments about does this apply to?
 
Eh.. I knew someone would bust my chops on this... I've only heard the DT880s. But if you read reviews, read user opinions, read head-fi.. you'll find out what I said was pretty accurate if not dead on. Nothing I said about any of the phones was "outlandish" or "controversial" well it's all subjective, but those are the widely accepted "opinons" of the masses, I just catagorized it. Im just trying to save this person the hours of research. Of course if you have a hi-fi shop in your area the best thing you can do is listen for yourself and decide what YOU like. Im a novice as well im not trying to pretend not to be. Sorry if my post came off "Iron clad".

Regards,
Mike
 
How about HD280 Pro's? They are 200 bux on the dot, and I hear they sound pretty good...
 
rayman2k2 said:
How about HD280 Pro's? They are 200 bux on the dot, and I hear they sound pretty good...
Click to expand...

Err... you can get that $100 (new) or about $60 on headfi (used).
 
The 280's are not in the same league as any of the cans I mentioned previously. They are good cans don't get me wrong, but they are more "mid-fi" then "hi-fi". 200$ is waay overpriced.
 
The Speed Link Medusa 5.1 headsets are pretty good for gaming. If that constitutes a lot of what you'll be doing with phones, then they are not a bad choice and are more 'application-specific' than a pair of phones. If you don't have an X-Fi yet and are using onboard 5.1 audio, the chances are that the Medusas will be more effective than using any of the above in terms of positional audio. With the CMSS-3D in the X-Fi which is very effective, the gap is narrowed but I think the Medusas still come out a bit better.
 
Hearty vote for a900s, the bass is very nice, and they can be nicely driven by even an ipod.
 
beyerdynamic dt880.. i think i will wait for the new 2006 versions of these headphones.. im weird like that and like to have the newest crap..

can anyone recommend a decent amp to go with this with a not so high price?

maybe like a mini amp or something? something small like altoids box..
 
Sony MDR7506s, or better. I use these in the studio (DJ and recording). Great specs, and they don't need an amp to sound great. Frequency resp. is 5Hz-15kHz, IIRC. They get loud easily, and take it all :). Amped they're even better sounding also. Great great all around headphones, and they'll leave you a lot of spare change in your pockets. I used them for 2 years now, absolutly slammed them while DJing and recording, and they sound just as good as they did on day 1. Just my $0.02
 
Eulogy said:
Sony MDR7506s, or better. I use these in the studio (DJ and recording). Great specs, and they don't need an amp to sound great. Frequency resp. is 5Hz-15kHz, IIRC. They get loud easily, and take it all :). Amped they're even better sounding also. Great great all around headphones, and they'll leave you a lot of spare change in your pockets. I used them for 2 years now, absolutly slammed them while DJing and recording, and they sound just as good as they did on day 1. Just my $0.02
Click to expand...

How much $$$ are thoes?
 
We did everything at the studio, from hip-hop to heavy metal. Trust me when I said these things were absolutly slammed. High sustained volumes for hours on end, throwing notes that you can't even hear through them for extended periods of time (ultra low notes are the main cause for killing speakers, etc.). If you're around Daytona, feel free to drop me a line and I'll letcha listen to these things in a professional studious enviroment :).
 
Eulogy said:
We did everything at the studio, from hip-hop to heavy metal. Trust me when I said these things were absolutly slammed. High sustained volumes for hours on end, throwing notes that you can't even hear through them for extended periods of time (ultra low notes are the main cause for killing speakers, etc.). If you're around Daytona, feel free to drop me a line and I'll letcha listen to these things in a professional studious enviroment :).
Click to expand...

hehe i am not anywhere near daytona and probably never will be :)/) but thanks for being so kind :) your talking about these cans made me do a few google searches, and i ended up finding the mdr7509, apparantly the big brother, priced around 200$.. do you know anything about these?
 
hek1 said:
hehe i am not anywhere near daytona and probably never will be :)/) but thanks for being so kind :) your talking about these cans made me do a few google searches, and i ended up finding the mdr7509, apparantly the big brother, priced around 200$.. do you know anything about these?
Click to expand...
We have those in the studio, and I've used them on several occasions (when I'd forget mine, or something stupid like that). Are they better? Oh my yes. Are they $100 better? Ehhhh, starting to get to diminishing returns for what the OP was doing (in the studio it's somewhat noticeable and such though). Before I bought mine, I A/Bed over 200 different sets of headphones from every major company over a period of 5-6 months. My budget was up to $200 also, just like OPs. I went with the 7506s due to the performance they offered for the price - it's absolutly unbeatable for me. Given the choice again, I would still stick with the 7506s, even though it seems Sony decided to drop them. If I knew I'd be staying in the recording/DJing business I would think twice about the 7509s, though - knowing that I don't need the kind of audiophile grade they give, I went with what was better for me.
 
I thought the 7509 was much closer to the MDR-V700DJ (which many supposed audiophiles will slam) than any other phone on the market. They're almost identical in the way they sound. Very comfy. The 7506 are good phones and are rated by studio guys as above for their durability and decent sound. In absolutes though they can sound a bit strident (shrieky) but they have lots of pace, decent detail, dont need amping as Eulogy said and are good portable full-size cans as they fold into a compact package. Considering gaming? Not the best, but usable. The soundstage on these is very much closer to the head than the likes of the DT770 and A900, but positioning is not too bad.
Anyway, the DT880 doesn't sound like such a hot choice for predominantly gaming, Good for analytical listening of music with top-drawer gear, but I personally woudn't pair them with especially low-end amps. The HD650's better for that as they're less fussy. And if it's mostly gaming, I'll still throw in the Speed Link Medusa as an alternative, especially if it's going to be a while before you get the X-Fi.
 
Ronco said:
I thought the 7509 was much closer to the MDR-V700DJ (which many supposed audiophiles will slam) than any other phone on the market. They're almost identical in the way they sound. Very comfy. The 7506 are good phones and are rated by studio guys as above for their durability and decent sound. In absolutes though they can sound a bit strident (shrieky) but they have lots of pace, decent detail, dont need amping as Eulogy said and are good portable full-size cans as they fold into a compact package. Considering gaming? Not the best, but usable. The soundstage on these is very much closer to the head than the likes of the DT770 and A900, but positioning is not too bad.
Anyway, the DT880 doesn't sound like such a hot choice for predominantly gaming, Good for analytical listening of music with top-drawer gear, but I personally woudn't pair them with especially low-end amps. The HD650's better for that as they're less fussy. And if it's mostly gaming, I'll still throw in the Speed Link Medusa as an alternative, especially if it's going to be a while before you get the X-Fi.
Click to expand...
They do catch a lot of flak actually (the V700s), and if you ask me UNrightfully so. I have never noticed my 7506s to be strident/shrieky, nor the pair at the studio to be - BUT that doesn't mean that they aren't! As with any audio-equipment, when going for audiophile quality, try the actual unit you plan on buying, and try multiple ones of the same model. Things vary enough even when it's the same model that one may not sound as great as the one sitting under it :). Trust me, I've been there and done that!
 
Eulogy said:
I have never noticed my 7506s to be strident/shrieky, nor the pair at the studio to be - BUT that doesn't mean that they aren't!
Click to expand...

There's QC and there's also relative experience. To me, as someone who's had a number of phones, it appears strident due to a midrange hike. The trebles are also pretty rough when looked at in isolation. But for the money and the practicality it gives you, it's pretty hard to beat for sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top