Headphones

**Danny** · **07-22-06, 06:37 AM**

I'm looking at buying a good pair of Beyer Dynamic headphones, around the $250 (Australian) mark. At the moment I don't have a lot of spare time to listen to lots of these so can anyone recommend a few good models? replacable parts would be an advantage considering how I knock them around.

Cheers

Dan

**Phil M** · **07-22-06, 08:06 AM**

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/forum...p?s=&forumid=2

Dan, try the above link - the forum specialises in head phones.
The guys on this forum are fanatics, so they really put head phones through their paces.

NB
Stereophile have just reviewed and rated AKG K701, but these are $450 US.

**nm2285** · **08-05-06, 09:54 PM**

Any reason you're limiting yourself to the beyerdynamics?

I had owned the DT880s until the AKG K701s entered my life. They are a very good headphone - dry, but lively with a good tonal balance. My one complaint is that they dont image well (not that many headphones do) and they tend to sound cluttered in passages with lots of different instruments/voices (instrument separation isn't always the best).

I've also heard the DT531. They're really wonderful for budget headphones. VERY mellow - maybe the most I've heard (not dark, just chill). But, because of this, they offer a very smoothed sound and detail and transparency suffer. Great for casual listening, not for analytical.

**Danny** · **08-07-06, 05:42 AM**

Quote:

nm2285 wrote:

Any reason you're limiting yourself to the beyerdynamics?

Yeah I can get them cheaper than the other headphones, may go to other brands though if the quality is better.

**nm2285** · **08-07-06, 11:22 AM**

I dont think you'll find that other headphones are of significantly better quality, just a different sound. If they're the cheapest, then I'm sure they'll be the best value for you.

**Ayreonaut** · **08-07-06, 12:27 PM**

I have the K701 and find them to be excellent if you like a lean and natural type of sound.

The K701 has a bass roll off just like every headphone does. The midbass is not overblown like some, so its generally percieved as being a bit bass shy. I'd never increase the midbass, but the LF extension can use a little propping up. It also has an exaggeration in the 6K-10K range. I tame it a bit. Of course the FR graphs are to be taken with a grain of salt. But they're useful for getting a geneal idea of what needs to be addressed.

I'm using WinAmp right now because of one great EQ plugin, Shibatch SuperEQ. This plugin has a parametric EQ feature that lets me adjust exactly what I want to. I've flattened out the bass using 1/6 octave bands and tamed the treble hump down by 3dB. My parameters look like this:

22.4-20.0Hz +4.0dB
25.2-22.4Hz +3.5dB
28.3-25.2Hz +3.0dB
31.7-28.3Hz +2.5dB
35.6-31.7Hz +2.0dB
39.9-35.6Hz +1.5dB
63.2-39.9Hz +1.0dB
79.6-63.2Hz +0.5dB
100.2-79.6Hz +1.0dB
112.5-100.2Hz +0.5dB
10000-6000Hz -3.0dB

The predicted FR is this:

I can't measure it, but it sounds like that. I'm not hearing any junk. I usually find that all DSP enhancements mess things up. But this just gives the K701 bass the authority I was looking for. No bloat or over exaggeration. And the slight taming of the treble hump is welcome, and takes the slight edge off of the forwardness sometimes heard.

P.S. Shibatch SuperEQ does use a cache, so whenever you stop and change tracks you'll hear a fraction of a second of the last track you were listening to. A very minor annoyance, and well worth it. If you know of a great parametric digital EQ that has zero drawbacks, please tell me.

I credit my headphone rig for teaching me to be a discerning listener. It takes a of a loudspeaker system to get the better a good headphone rig (in some departments, not all. But my HT is winning now, yay!)

**JCD** · **08-07-06, 03:33 PM**

I started this post earlier in the morning, so some of the points may already have been covered, but here you go..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure what the conversion rate works out to, but the DT880's are the best BeyerDynamics has -- which probably breaks your budget by a little bit. I think BeyerDynamics next level down would be the DT770's. They can be had for $200 online here in the US.

The equivalent from Sennheiser is the HD650's. Those usually run a little bit more, around $300 online. They're supposed to have a good low end. The 600's used to be their top of the line headphone, so that would be a good alternative -- they run ~$250 online. If that's still too much, then the 595's (I think) are the next level down. Those can be had for ~$160.

Then there are the AKG701's. These were my present to myself for surviving tax season. I have to admit that I haven't heard the DT880's, but I did like the 701's better than the 650's. Overall, they're great. They're not going to block out much noise, and they leak (just like all of the above), but man they sure are sweet. These can be had for $300 online as well.

Also, I second taking a look over at head-fi.org. There are a LOT of people that frequent that forum that know a LOT more than I do. And fanatical can be an understatement. I went to one of their local get togethers (I wanted to try out some headphone amps). Everyone was really nice, and there was a lot of cool equipment. Including a one of these:

Retail price: $15,000

Were they good? Of course. Were they $15,000 good? Can't say that I thought so. They were sexy as sexy gets though.. well, in electronics.

Another resource I'd take a look at is headphone.com. It's an online store that just sells headphones and headphone related paraphanalia., They've got some excellent writeups on most of the headphones out there. If you were located in the US, I'd even suggest sending them an e-mail -- they've got great pre and post purchase support.

Note: for those in the US, I think it was worth the extra few $$ to buy from these guys just because they do have great customer support.

To sum up -- if you can, I'd try to get the DT880's if you can get a break on BeyerDynamics. If those are above your budget, then the DT770's would be my next suggestion. That being said, I'd take a look at the offerings of Senneheiser and AKG as well as visiting head-fi.org and headphone.com. This all assumes that you're getting the best sounding cans as opposed to getting some that isolate you from the world. If you want a closed (blocks out noise and prevents leakage) set of cans, then we have to start all over

Oh, and all prices above are in US dollars.

JCD

**Ayreonaut** · **08-07-06, 04:55 PM**

The Beyerdynamic DT-770 is a good closed headphone. I listened to them and they were good, with lots of bass, if you like that.

I looked around and found another EQ that works witih Winamp, this one is crossfeed_eq. I'm not using the crossfeed, but it gives you three bands of parametric eq with Q, frequency, and gain. I only needed two bands to get the desired results with the K701. Very nice. Shibatch just got replaced.

**JCD** · **08-07-06, 05:08 PM**

I had forgotten that the 770's were sealed.. that could be a good thing if you don't want any noise pollution coming in or out.

Looking on headphone.com, it looks like another possible candidate from Beyer would be the DT 250-80's.

For a summary of the various offerings from Beyerdynamic, look here.

JCD

**Danny** · **08-10-06, 06:34 PM**

Closed/Sealed would probably be the best most of the time when i'm listening, it's not quiet, and I also want to be able to use them while i'm mixing.

**JCD** · **08-15-06, 03:40 PM**

So, have you pulled the trigger yet?

JCD

**Danny** · **08-15-06, 06:06 PM**

no not yet, just spent close to $500 on amps and other gear so i'll be getting the headphones next time I have some spare cash.

**Chrisbee** · **09-17-06, 04:46 AM**

I know it doesn't help this thread along but I just bought a pair of Sennheiser 420SLs at a garage sale for about a dollar (equivalent) Very pleasant they are too on the end of the SB Live!

I just tried them plugged into my Marantz CD player on The Blue Man Group. Very nice they sound too.

Old Sennheisers tend to have the foam turn to dust over time. This happened to my HD40s. Not that I ever used them much as I never needed to worry about noise levels from speakers in my rural situations.

I never much liked closed headphones. Though I started wearing closed, radio/ear-defenders in the workshop. For warm climates I really would not recommend closed headphones! Above 80F it feels as if the wax is running out of your ears and down your neck! They add at least 10F to how uncomfortable you feel in my experience. Though I hate anything much over 80F anyway. Open headphones don't have the same heating effect as closed. Worth bearing in mind if you don't like the heat.

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