Audiophiles, show me your cans! (headphones that is)

ATHM50

AudioTechnica_ATH-M50.jpg


Absolutely love them. There are better "listening phones" out there, but nothing under $200 is as good for mix monitoring.
 
briefly, grado labs sr 225s through a headroom (the company) built external DAC/AMP combo.
 
T40RP_big.jpg


I've been using these. They are pretty good, but don't pick up parts of the mid very well. Or that might just be my ears.
 
Sprained my right hand (me = moron), so short post. I've had Grados, some of those Sony cans, but I've always preferred Sennheisers. Just beautiful sound, purity, whether for live shows or studio work. Worked in both for several years FWIW. Oh, and for recreational listening. Good value over the years. Still using a studio pair from 1990.

Ear buds: I love my Full Metal Jackets by SkullCandy. 11mm. Great bass, very good sound, good value, and as someone who has stepped on many pairs of buds, almost indestructible. Plus, in-line volume adjustment and the wires are covered in some weird rubber stuff that keeps them from tangling. + 1. Extra-good warranty too.
 
Except mine I saw 1 pair of Grados. I looked at this man like he was an alinen ;) Good to know there are other people digging their sound :)

As others do, I'll also add signal line:
(when I rip CD myself I encode to OGG or FLAC, when it's others rips I try to get best) -> Foobar2000 through ASIO -> Prodigy 7.1 HiFi (will try to change OpAmp soon) -> headphones

Haven't tried many other headphones than the ones I own, but when I briefly compared my Koss UR-29 to Sennheiser HD202 I liked the Kosses sound better. Still they don't sound too good when talking about mids and highs. Have to buy in some future some better electronic music headphones. I was thinking about Beyerdynamics or Ultrasones (people say that Ultrasones sound very uniqe, so this time I'll have to visit a shop). And something for portable use, because the earbuds that came with my Sony MP4 don't sound too good), and here between cheap and good I have basicly 2 options: Creative EP630 or JVC Marshmallow.

Why have I written this? Seems I'm a bit high :D
 
fcb56193488d091972925f4b037bb2e9.jpg


Denon HP1000 - For DJing atm. Bit too bassy right now for my setup. More geared towards beatmatching. Decent sound isolation.

Need to pick up some of the Senn HD25 IIs!
 
For rock/blues/strings:
Grado SR325i
supra-aural
~$300
b.jpg


Forward sounding, slightly fatiguing, notoriously uncomfortable and sibilant unless paired with a warm sounding amp. These are not cans for accurate reproduction of sound, they are designed specifically for musicality. That said, in my opinion they are the most detailed and generally best-sounding headphones for under $500, maybe more. The bass response is not overwhelming, but is very tight and sharp on the attack. Words cannot express how wonderfully the drivers reproduce electric guitar, specifically the decay of notes. They have a 32 ohm impedance, so unlike many of their peers, these phones can be driven sufficiently by an mp3 player and still sound pretty good. However, they won't come close to revealing their true greatness unless paired with a decent amp.Top-notch build quality too.

For hiphop / electronic:
Ultimate Ears Super.Fi.5 EB
in-ear
~$200
ultimate_ears_super_fi_5_eb-400-400.jpg


These in-ear phones have a separate sub woofer...and wow. It goes without saying that purists who desire a flat response should stay far, far away, but if you listen to primarily bass-heavy music there really is no better choice for anywhere near the price of these. The bass is POWERFUL, but not boomy or sloppy by any means. Furthermore, these phones accomplish this without sacrificing definition in the high end. They are slightly less detailed than the regular Super.fi.5's, but not very much so. I strongly prefer them, but they are not ideal for classical or folk. Then again, I don't believe any in-ears are really suitable for classical due to the lack of soundscape.

For classical / folk / Jazz (depending) / movies
Sony MDR-V600
circumaural
~$100

245014.jpg


These have a weak bass response, but their neutrality makes them particularly suitable for classical and folk. Not too colorful, some may find them boring. Still, they are accurate and reproduce acoustic strings very well. Above all, these are some of the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn, and so they are great for watching movies.
 
Smurfeh said:
ind7di.jpg
Click to expand...

Good ol' fashioned K701s for me as well.

I've got an OMZ DAC hooked up to the optical output on my iMac - this analogue signal is then amplified by a Triad Audio Lisa III headphone amplifier.

The OMZ DAC is a Zhaolu D2.5 DAC, with a fair amount of modification done by Ori Mizrahi-Shalom (Oritek Audio) to improve quality. I did a lot of research, and the consensus seems to be that it is of exceptional quality for its price (I don't have very much experience with DACs, but it sounds very good to my ears!).


These days I mostly listen to my near-field monitors, though (as I always have them hooked up to my DAC for the sake of my music production hobby). They're Yorkville YSM1P-II's - I got them for about $240 a piece, I believe, and they sound wonderful.

Now I'm all inspired to go hook up the Lisa/K701s though! :) I'll go look for an extra pair of RCA interconnects right now...
 
Sony MDR-7506. Never anything else.

MDR7506-large.jpg


These days I've been using my custom ear plugs with 10 dB filters while playing.

earplugs.jpg
 
Last edited:
rr, do you put a plug in your cue ear too? I've tried to use my custom plugs while playing a bunch of times and it always lasts about 30 seconds before i have to take them out.
 
Yes. I'd like to get some 5 dB filters, but I don't have the money at the time. The past few times I've played, the system I was on had 4 monitors, and the sound of that plus the sound bouncing off the walls in the room nearly crippled my hearing and made me ill. No joke.
 
Transcendence said:
For rock/blues/strings:
Grado SR325i
supra-aural
~$300
b.jpg


Forward sounding, slightly fatiguing, notoriously uncomfortable and sibilant unless paired with a warm sounding amp. These are not cans for accurate reproduction of sound, they are designed specifically for musicality. That said, in my opinion they are the most detailed and generally best-sounding headphones for under $500, maybe more. The bass response is not overwhelming, but is very tight and sharp on the attack. Words cannot express how wonderfully the drivers reproduce electric guitar, specifically the decay of notes. They have a 32 ohm impedance, so unlike many of their peers, these phones can be driven sufficiently by an mp3 player and still sound pretty good. However, they won't come close to revealing their true greatness unless paired with a decent amp.Top-notch build quality too.

For hiphop / electronic:
Ultimate Ears Super.Fi.5 EB
in-ear
~$200
ultimate_ears_super_fi_5_eb-400-400.jpg


These in-ear phones have a separate sub woofer...and wow. It goes without saying that purists who desire a flat response should stay far, far away, but if you listen to primarily bass-heavy music there really is no better choice for anywhere near the price of these. The bass is POWERFUL, but not boomy or sloppy by any means. Furthermore, these phones accomplish this without sacrificing definition in the high end. They are slightly less detailed than the regular Super.fi.5's, but not very much so. I strongly prefer them, but they are not ideal for classical or folk. Then again, I don't believe any in-ears are really suitable for classical due to the lack of soundscape.

For classical / folk / Jazz (depending) / movies
Sony MDR-V600
circumaural
~$100

245014.jpg


These have a weak bass response, but their neutrality makes them particularly suitable for classical and folk. Not too colorful, some may find them boring. Still, they are accurate and reproduce acoustic strings very well. Above all, these are some of the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn, and so they are great for watching movies.
Click to expand...

Dude, do you post on head-fi?
 
^ Indeed. Did you recognize the Grado pic from the 325i owner thread? It's actually not mine, I just thought it was a decent picture of the headphones. But yeah, I post under the name White Noise.
 
PM sent.

I could tell by the way you were describing things you knew what's up...
 
I paid a hundred for mine over 5 years ago.

The price is now down to about 50 or 60 dollars USD.

I'm more than happy with the bass they provide.

:)
 
Aye, another head-fier here as well. :) Not a very active poster, but it's got an incredible wealth of information, which I've used in the past to research and decide on audiophile equipment purchases.
 
Used to have Pioneer HDJ-1000, sold them to buy the Senheisser HD25-1 ll. Best decision headphonewise ever.
 
I'm about to buy my 1st set of nice headphones. Someone please sell me on what they think is the best value in the $80-100 range.

I was originally leaning towards the Sennheiser HD280, which no one has posted yet.

Oh, and for now they are gonna be running off this:

h532AVR520-F_MTp.jpg


Harman Kardon AVR 520 currently running a pair of bookshelfs on my desk, awaiting the day I get my own place and a home theater. That's being fed from a cheap laptop soundcard, I think Sigma Tel which is standard on my Dell Inspiron 6400.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top