looking for some amazing headphones
now i have never really owned some top quality headphones, always just used in-ear earphones such as the sennheiser cx series or just cheap pairs.
now i need a decent pair of headphones to replace my soon-to-be-sold earth shattering 7.1 surround system, i am only used to having amazing sound from well... speakers!
i was in comet yesterday and while i was there i had a demo of the beats by dr dre studio edition headphones and i was really impressed, really good quality sound - a bit pricey and a bit plasticy looking but great sounding.
any recommendations for some top quality headphones?
i will be using them from watching movies, playing pc games and listening to music from both my laptop and my mobile phone.
thanks in advance :clapping:
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
What is your budget??
Does sound leakage bother you??
What type of music do you listen to??
I also assume that you need a pair of headphones which is easy to drive.
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
What is your budget??
Does sound leakage bother you??
What type of music do you listen to??
I also assume that you need a pair of headphones which is easy to drive.
budget: £100 - £300
yes sound leakage would bother me as well as others around me
all kinds of music, but a lot of love for 90s hip-hop
not sure what you mean easy to drive?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jetfire
will definitely check these out, always hear good things about sennheisers
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
The Sennheiser HD650 does benefit from using a headphone amplifier and a decent sound source. When I said easier to drive it means that like loudspeakers some headphones simply need more power to run them them as the drive units are less sensitive.
I would look at a pair of Goldring DR150 or NS1000 headphones:
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/3928
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Elec...67|prd:8240767
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
+1 for the HD650s. Ive used nothing but Koss and Sennheiser cans all my life for hifi. Currently on HD600s and never looked back. About £285 at Amazon UK.
edit - ahhh you need closed cans..... Try the Koss Pro4AAT a pretty good evolution of the classic Pro 4 AA series, as used in just about every studio in thew world at one time.
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
Currently have HD-595's and love them to bits, though they do sound leak so maybe not ideal for yourself.
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
how about an AKG? http://www.whathifi.com/Review/AKG-K701/
Or the impressive grados, always solid for music http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Grado-SR125/
Im using a pair of audio technicas ad700's, at the lower end of your budget (i got mine for £100) but they are extremely good!.
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
I have the Grado SR80 and SR125 and they are pretty easy to drive but leak a lot of sound. Also the sound balance is quite different to the Sennheiser headphones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sp3n
i will be using them from watching movies, playing pc games and listening to music from both my laptop and my mobile phone.
Like I said before you need to get a pair of easy to drive headphones and TBH a pair of expensive headphones is somewhat wasted unless you are using a decent sound card or DAC.
On top of this I also assume that you have your music encoded at a high bitrate too.
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
@Hicks12: Seems like all the headphones you've listed are 'open' though (will leak sound - although I have to say that I prefer open headphones in general).
That said, I can vouch for the Audio Technica ATH-500. They aren't that hard to drive and I consider them 'all-rounders' (music, videos and games).
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
thanks for all the replies and advice
based on some reviews, im leaning towards these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Techni...ref=pd_cp_ce_1
is it worth getting a headphone amplifier too? this one seems decent: http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-E5-Port...mputers_text_b
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sp3n
Nice Cans !! the M50 are studio monitor class, so bear in mind they will NOT colour the sound, you will get the pure sound warts and all. Often people prefer the more audiophile cans for general listening as they will have a warmer sound and mask some imperfections in the sound.
I went for the Sony MDR-7506 for my studio cans as I prefer the styling, they're a bit more widely adopted and a lot cheaper, plus fold nice and small for transport.
Most headphone manufacturers that make both will have two seperate sites/sections, one for consumer, and one for studio/pro;
Sony Consumer
Sony Studio
Sennheiser Consumer
Sennheiser Studio
It depends what you're after, studio cans will certainly be comfortable for long periods of use, as that's what they're designed for, but you may need to be able to adjust the sound getting to them for entertainment use.
It depends on the source, most laptops sound better amped, except maybe Macs (very good sound cards), mobile phone - you'll look a bit daft wearing large studio cans walking around listening to your phone, movies - from a cinema amp ?
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Barakka
Nice Cans !! the M50 are studio monitor class, so bear in mind they will NOT colour the sound, you will get the pure sound warts and all. Often people prefer the more audiophile cans for general listening as they will have a warmer sound and mask some imperfections in the sound.
entertainment use.
hmm, maybe im not making the right choice here then.
i dont think i need studio headphones as i wont be mastering or remixing music any time soon! but i definitely want some closed ones...
my laptop has a pretty decent sound card and i suppose i can continue to use inear earphones for mp3s and my phone etc... these headphones are mainly going to be used for playing pc games and watching high def movies... so perhaps some headphones that 'colour' the sound would be a good idea? :help:
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
I would check out the reviews of the Goldring headphones I suggested earlier.
The NS1000 has noise cancellation too. Here is a review:
http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Goldr...se-cancelling/
Since Play are selling them for around £52 this is nearly half price.
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sp3n
hmm, maybe im not making the right choice here then.
i dont think i need studio headphones as i wont be mastering or remixing music any time soon! but i definitely want some closed ones...
my laptop has a pretty decent sound card and i suppose i can continue to use inear earphones for mp3s and my phone etc... these headphones are mainly going to be used for playing pc games and watching high def movies... so perhaps some headphones that 'colour' the sound would be a good idea? :help:
It depends you may not notice any difference, and I know a lot of the reviews on Amazon are from people using them for general hi-fi listening. Certainly if you want to be wearing them for >2 hours at a time it may be worth considering studio ones as that's one of the things they're designed for. But be prepared that they will usually come with a 3m coiled lead on them, so not very mobile.
Maybe something like the Sennheiser HD438 - they're closed back, and come with 1.5m and 3m cables so you can fit the one most appropriate.
The HD448 are the model above, and while they are superior, they really need an amp to drive them.
Sony unfortunately don't have a lot, most of their decent ones are wireless and that's not something you've listed....
HTH
Re: looking for some amazing headphones
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Umm, I don't really want to comment on headphones I've not personally used, but on paper at least the Goldring would quite a bit harder to drive than the Audio Technica ATH-500.
For what it's worth, the Audio Technica also got 5 stars (http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Audio-Technica-ATH-A500/) albeit with an 'against' which I agree though don't consider it an issue. I feel that a slight emphasis on bass/treble suits movie/gaming use, and the less mellow type of music. That's not to say that one can't enjoy jazz/classical/instrumental on the ATH-500, merely that there may be cans that synergies better (though I can only name open cans). Google doesn't bring up many comparisons between the two, though the only one I found leans toward the AT (http://www.avforums.com/forums/headp...0-81-99-a.html).
Not downplaying the value of the NS-1000. Based all the positive reviews, I'd be surprised if they aren't in the same category with differences largely subjective. At £50, I can believe it's a steal. So I'll just end by saying that it's always best, if you can, to try out the headphones. Unfortunately, Audio Technica does not have much of a presence in the UK (they are big in East Asia, especially in Japan though - where they are from) so it may be hard to try them out. Similarly, I think that Goldring may not have as much presence abroad, which probably explains why there are so few comparisons.