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Riddleofsteel

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I have a soundcard coming in the mail, now I want to upgrade from my sennheiser 555 headphones. What is the best buy for $200 or thereabouts?

I listen to mainly flac files of classic rock and metal. I also do quite a bit of gaming. Thanks, I realize there are a lot of headphones to choose from, so I am just looking for a general idea.
 
Riddleofsteal: I have the 555s and they are ok but I really love my Akg 271s and I think they are in your price range.
 
Beyerdynamic DT990pro, You can get them for $209.00 on amazon.com but the company that sells them there are eletronicadirect who I had a bad experience with so don't recommend buying from them. I would go to B&H Photo in NY to order from online for a similar price. Oh, and don't let anyone tell you the DT990 consumer edition which costs $299.99 are better sounding. They use the exact same driver and have the exact same specs. All that's different is cosmetic.

My previous headphones were HD595 and I now use DT990pro. I bought them from those asswipes at electronica direct. I ordered DT990 consumer edition at $299.99 and they sent me DT990pro even though their website showed that model out of stock. I decided to keep them because sending them back from Canada to the U.S. was more of a hassle that I wanted to go through. I told them I would keep the wrong model they sent at their advertised price of $199.00. They refused to sell them to me for that price and wanted to charge me the full $299.99 price. They even went so far to remove the DT990pro ad. After two weeks of arguing with them they finaly gave me a lousy $30.00 back. That means I paid $269.99 for headphones they are selling for right now for $209.99. That makes them thieves and it is now my mission to give them bad feedback where ever I go. Do not buy from electronica direct, use B&H Photo instead.
 
Preferably, yes. They are 250ohm headphones. I ran them out of my EUM 0404 USB headphone amp which is not all that powerful but am now using a Lunchbox pro tube amp which gives them lots of headroom. A soundcard like X-Fi will run them but you would like them better with a headphone amp or even a decent stereo amp. They sound good out of my Onkyo SR505 surround receiver.
 
Well, don't let the onboard sound stop you, just upgrade to external DAC/headphone amp later. All headphones sound better with external DAC/headphone amp no matter their impedance and sensitivity rating. The Denon D2000 suggestion would be a good upgrade too.
 
Another suggestion: Ultrasone HFI 780

They're very highly rated, designed specifically for gaming and music. You can find the 780 for $170 - $200. I love mine. One caveat: they have a snug fit, which I like. If you prefer a looser fitting set of cans, the Denon might be better for you. You can't go wrong with either one.
 
HFI-780 gets my second vote.

The DT990 are really good, but I find them to be a bit bright.

The D2000 are good, but I find the bass is a bit bloated/boomy without mods. You can actually send your headphones out to pros to get your headphones modded and they will come back as one of the best dynamic headphones in the market. So if you have a long-term vision in your headphone's life, get the D2000.

Otherwise, the HFI-780 (these can also be modded and recabled to be one of the best dynamic headphones under $400).
 
Once I get the HF-780's should I get an external DAC/amp for them or use a receiver? I'm still trying to figure that part out. Thanks.
 
No receiver for headphones. Generally receiver headphone out isn't very good. Get an external.
 
Alai said:
The DT990 are really good, but I find them to be a bit bright.
Click to expand...

Yes, if you don't like extended highs then they are not for you. But you can tone that down with EQ. Headphones with extended highs are great with classical and acoustic guitar though.
 
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