Help me choose a pair of headphones

[dugedug]

Love my Grado SR225s but Grados are not for everyone and more difficult to find overseas (search for Alessandros). Also, their build quality has a cheapness to them until you get above the 225s. The sound of the 225s through my tube headphone amp is amazing, can't wait till I get the 325s.

If your using an amp you may want to check out AKG k701s. For non-amped check out Senn HD 500 and 600 series. It is all going to boil down to personal preference and funds. head-fi is a great place to start your search.


I'm just getting into the earbud thing but take a look at what Shure, Etymotic, Sennheiser, Ultimate ears, and Head-direct has to offer.

[Drubbing]

Firstly, thank you to the moderator who moved my post to the correct sub-forum.

I didn't even know portable headphone amps existed - I've got my eye on a Fiio e5 (for it's USB chargability) among some other slightly more expensive ones - as well as a iPod line out adaptor to take full advantage of the amp.

Personally I think a Fiio and a line out is a waste of money - the line out to connect it will probably cost more than the Fiio and that's not smart spending. Super cheap amps like the Fiio are loud buttons and bass boosters and will only stuff with the signal, they are not true amps. Avoid cheap portable amps, they often make players sound worse. Laptops even more so, they are one of the poorest audio sources, and amping laptop soundcards will only demonstrate that very audibly.

There are plenty of great phones that don't need amps - amps don't add SQ, cheap amps only add volume, and that is not the same thing. Amps are to provide power to phones that need them to sound the way they should; volume is a side effect, not the objective.

Some of thep hone suggested here are not suitable for your current equipment, like the AKG701 (a very hard phone to drive to potential, and needs a powerful refined amp) and HD650 need very good back up gear; they are not plug n play.

Stick with an easy to drive phones that doesn't need an amp. That's basically anything designed for mp3 players, and plenty of good quality full size phnoes will suit.

THe more you spend on a phone, the more likely it will reveal the limits of your other equipment - great sounding phones demonstrate the audio cliche that SQ is only as good as your worst component - so don't overcapitalise if a player is your main source. Choose a phone to suit it, and you don't need that high a budget.

Grados are excellent, but open and not ideally portable. UK prices suck, in fact everywhere except the US prices suck. I waited til I got an opportunity to go to LA to get mine.

Shure SHR440 or 840 are very good closed phones and quite portable.
Audio Technica are quality, but big for travelling.

Beware the confusion that head fi can cause - ask one question, get 100 opinions, all of them different - and there is plenty of misinformation and people passing on whispers and posts they've read, as if it were their own experience. It can be very combative because of this.

Keep it simple, be aware of the limits of your current equipment and buy to suit it. Unless you plan on building a system around a great pair of headphones, don't spend too much.

[Pescara]

I'll second Drubbing re cheap headphone amps and alex re v-moda for earphones.

If you have a chance you really should try to find a shop where you can try on some cans. The difference in comfort is as great if not greater than the difference in sound.

I'm currently using Grado SR 60s (had SR125s that I foolishly gave up)and the AT ATH you're looking at -- it's all a matter of personal taste but I prefer the sound of the Grados. However, if you are going to be banging your 'phones around, I recommend the ATs. I've found all the AT stuff I've bought (head and ear 'phones and phono carts) to be very durable.

For specs and opinions, headphone.com is a U.S. retailer with a lot of useful info and headcase.org is head-fi's evil twin.

[Drubbing]

Oh, and BTW, it's a waste of time trying to get US Grado dealers to sell o/s - Grado restrict them from doing so. Unless of course, you have someone in the US who can forward on.

[ptyrider]

. . .
Shure SHR440 or 840 are very good closed phones and quite portable.
. . .

I was also looking for headphones and as a result of that suggestion, after reading reviews, I bought the Shure SHR440. And they great in every way. I absolutely love these! Thanks!

That said, although they work well w/ my MP3 player and are portable (fold up nicely into their own bag), they seem a bit large for wearing while walking around. I bought them for listening at home.

[Jslinger]

Grado' are incredible. But any high end headphone will surely impress.

[Huxley]

For hip hop etc i would avoid the grados, they tend to shine on rock material or anything classical but throw a good bass line their way will show up their shotcomings, plus they leak a lot of sound if that's an issue for you.

Personally, buy either the most expensive sennheiser you can, if you snoop around you might get lucky and score a hd600 or even the 650.

What about goldring dr150's half your budget and on par with the hd595's if not better.

What about ultrasone, they're meant to love hip hop, great at being spatial too so good for games or watching movies.

http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/headpho...Headphones.htm

[warlandsboy]

I have a pair of Westone UM1's (ear buds) which I use mainly for jogging. Great sound!

[jakko]

for cans, at your price range, like many people said.. grados sr 60 and sr 80.
For IEMs, you can try the v-moda vibes and the etymotics er-6. Vibes are good in the bass response while er-6 have this superclean sound (not that stellar for hiphop and trance but excels in classicals and pop)

[svarog]

I still haven't decided which pair of headphones I'm going to choose... at least I know that the ones I'm looking at are of a decent standard. I'll pay closer attention to the open/closed issue (although I noticed that the AKG's were "semi-open"... what does that even mean? lol).

PS: I listen mainly to hip-hop music... if that at all allows for more tailored suggestions.

For open, close design, supraaural, circumaural etc. see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones

For the music you prefer, I wouldn't recommend Grados, they are bright sounding headphones and would not perform very good with bass heavy, synthetic music. (while they are mostly brilliant in acoustic, jazz and rock genres. btw. Grado sr80 paired with tube amplifier are my main headphones)
Same refers to AKGs 501/601/701/702 (besides that, they demand headamp, unlike Grados).
For your music preference I would suggest Beyerdynamics dt990pro, if we are talking about full sized open headphones. Or Sennheiser hd600, if you plan to have an amplifier.

[wilsondude]

The Klipsch S4 in ear phones(this is my favorite type as an all occasion headphone) are the best I've ever used in that price range. Just outstanding with an iPod. Check on CNet reviews. Westone also makes great in ear phones, albeit at a higher price, but well worth it

[Walt Whitman]

I suggest three:

• Grado 125 - For a "relatively" thrifty budget, these overachievers can be had for about $150.

• Sennheiser 600 - These were heralded for years by the audiophile press as the best of the best. Since the emergence of the Senn 650 and Senn 800, the Senn 600 has moved to the sweetspot of great performance for a reasonable price. One caveat, I have not test driven the 650's or the 800's, so I can't vouch for their superiority over the 600's, or the price premium. As always, YMMV. I find the highs a smidge rolled off in the 600's; they are a whale of a set of cans, though they need an amp with some "ass" to drive them (300 ohms).

• AKG701 - My current fave. Sparkling highs, a great grip on bass. A very real presentation in terms of soundstage and frequency response accuracy. My only problem with these is the leather headband gives me headphone fatigue after about an hour (this could be from my pointy head ) These are also tough headphones to drive (300 ohms).

I drive these with a Musical Fidelity X-Cans V3 Tube amp (phenomenal) and a portable amp bought from headphonia.com (discontinued, but great - drives all three cans) and my iPod (only the Grados).

Good Luck in your quest for audio nirvana. Quality headphones and a quality headphone amp represent some of the best value in the audiophile universe.

[maxman]

I have the Sennheiser HD555's and I love them. Yes they are open, but when I use them, then i'm just sitting listening to music (no background noise) so the open design doesn't bother me.
The sound for the price can't be beat.
My father uses Grado SR80i's and loves them.
When i'm on the move, I use the Grado igi in ear buds. They offer a nice sound, but they're not head and shoulders above the competition. I have a high end pair of Sony's that sound just as good.

[cdenton]

Grado sr-60 for over the ear. (not the most comfortable, but they do sound good). about $60

Sennheiser HD212 over the ear super cheap and sound good...$25ish

But, I really reccomend that you get yourself some etymotics. I have the 4p and bought my dad the er-6i. His were half the cost of mine yet give most of the performance. The only situation I would not reccomend them for is cycling on public streets as their level of noise isolation is dangerous for such activities. With 30db of attenuation nothing else can even come close. Seriously, you are making a mistake if you pass these by.

[Jake]

I imagine you've been over to Head-fi.

[Kouros]

Love my Denon AH-D750's.

[Gaston]

I ended up buying a pair of Koss Pro/4AA a couple of years ago. I tried some of the mid-range Sennheisers, etc., but they were all a bit "boomy" to my ears. I won't say that the Koss are comfortable - they're heavy, and could use a bit more "plush" in the padding, although that aspect is acoustically more than adequate - but, they sound true to me, and there's a certain nostalgic draw to them since years ago I was a radio announcer and our engineer guarded his Koss earphones jealously. We ran an FM station on an ancient but high-quality tube board and it could only be equalized by replacing resistors in the feedback loops - so it was crucial for him to be able to trust his headphones' fidelity. They are a lot like the old Dynaco tube amp and pre-amp I bought in the 70's from ProMusica - butt-ugly, awkward looking, tone controls deliberately bypassed, but they let you hear what is really on your vinyl/CD's. You will likely find that your musical tastes change a bit when you hear it just as it was recorded, and not coloured by your personal tastes in equalization. A good recording fairly jumps out at you; a lot of music is just flat without the EQ boost.

There are probably many better 'phones out there for the price, but I enjoy these very much. They're kind of the Gillette Fatboy of headphones, and I find that aspect appealing.