A bit of help to decide please ?

[Teo]

I restricted somehow my research to some good offers that I spotted . More or less the same price , around 100-110 GBP :

AKG K551 32 Ohm

Sennheiser HD 598 50 Ohm

Beyerdynamic DT 990 250 Ohm

Beyerdynamic DT 770 80 Ohm

Audio Technica ATH M-50x 38 Ohm

I like a spacious sound , listening mainly jazz, vocals , acoustic ,a bit of progressive rock also .

For some lower price offer I could get a Grado 80i or a Beyerdynamic DTX 910 (what about these ?) around 60-70 GBP

I am going to use it straight from the tablet for the moment , until I'll get a small external DAC, but I have no intention to invest in a proper Headphones amplifier . So probably I shouldn't touch the 250 Ohm one ? I'll use the headphones for home use.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

I can only comment on the phones I have in your list namely: Grado SR80i and the Senn HD598. They both have their strengths and weaknesses but I prefer the HD598's for both sound quality, (excellent soundstage), and comfort, (can be worn for hours) - I've always found Grado's damned uncomfortable, and that's being polite. But you really need to audition, if possible, as my ears are not the same as yours.

If you can't audition then you'll end up with a collection of headphones similar to mine: Grado SR80 and SR225, Shure SRH840, Senn HD598 and HD650, (HD650's are my best headphones by a large margin).

 

[Teo]

Thank you for your opinion , Doug ! Grado 80i is already on the NO list ,you helped me decide on it . Should I add a pair of Sennheiser Momentum on ears ...

Some other experiences , please ?

 

[JoelSim]

Where on earth do you find a Beyer DT990 at just over £100? They cost more than double that from the official distributor.

The DT990 is a vastly superior headphone to the DT910, vastly. The A-T M50x is also very good indeed, a studio headphone with a neutral balance. The DT770 is also good but again not anywhere near as good as the 990. You are right in that 250Ohm is for home hifi use and not ideal for a portable player without some sort of amplification unless you like it quiet.

 

[JoelSim]

EDIT: You are looking at the DT990 Pro. Sorry, I was talking about the Premium which is more like £300. I haven't heard the Pro.

 

[Editors]

Would you (whf team/readers) suggest new Sony MDR EX650 (or any Beyerdynamic, Audio Technica models) for step up in quality to my current Soundmagic E10. Want to pair it with my new Sony NWZ A15 mp3 player.

Your opinion will be very much appreciated

 

[JoelSim]

Having heard the latest crop of Beyer earphones, I would say yes, although the Soundmagic is a great earphone for its price. I personally really really like the new DX160, DTX102 and MMX102. Less keen on the DX120 which has a thinner sound, but it doesn't really work for my music taste completely.

 

[Teo]

I was much thinking and researching also , there are a lot of conflicting opinions on the net ....Even if I'd like open design , this wouldn't help when the lady of the house preferes a tv program so , there would be more useful and a practical decision to choose a closed design .So , I'm stuck betwen the K550/551 and the DT 770 Pro , but each seem to have their weaknesses and strenghts as it's normal in this price bracket ( up to 120 GBP )

So,what other closed back models could get into discussion ,maybe better ?

 

[JoelSim]

Audio-Technica M50, A500x and WS77, Musical Fidelity MF-100. All very good indeed.

 

[Teo]

Thanks for the suggestions .... but using closed suppose that I should accept thhe solo voice in the middle of my head ,some instruments in the left ear and other in the right one ( more or less ) ? No proper spatial soundstage similar to that what I have using my Eposes ? *sad*

I have just half hour tested a pair of Bose around ear of a friend and didn't liked what I heared . No natural soundstage .Just left ear/right ear/middle of the head, along the headband. Like an old pair of Philipses made in Austria I had 30 years ago , that weren't at all my cup of tea and clamped like hell.Those made me run away from headphones.

I just realised that for me the spatial sound comes first .Don't know if this can be achieved with closed design in my price target ?

What models could give me such a natural stereo soundstage regardless design and price ?

 

[JoelSim]

Have a look at this review Teo.

https://www.avforums.com/review/audio-technica-ath-a500x-hi-fi-headphones-review.311

 

[ID.]

You are never going to get a proper soundstage from earphones like you do with speakers. Even headphones that are regarded as having a big soundstage like the Sennheiser HD800 don't compare to speakers in terms of soundstaging. It is very spacious, and well separated. better detail than speakers, but it doesn't lay it out in front of you. It tends to hang around your head. Maybe if all your music was binaural recordings...

Some Ifi products claim to have a solution, such as

http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/nano-ican/

Back to the above suggestions, I find the house sound for audio-technica to give a good spacious sound with good separation and I enjoy the 2 pairs of Audio-Technicas I own.

I also assume that you plan to get a combined DAC/headphone amp. The line level output of just a DAC isn't suitable for running headphones.

 

[Teo]

You are never going to get a proper soundstage from earphones like you do with speakers. Even headphones that are regarded as having a big soundstage like the Sennheiser HD800 don't compare to speakers in terms of soundstaging. It is very spacious, and well separated. better detail than speakers, but it doesn't lay it out in front of you. It tends to hang around your head. Maybe if all your music was binaural recordings...

Some Ifi products claim to have a solution, such as

http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/nano-ican/

Back to the above suggestions, I find the house sound for audio-technica to give a good spacious sound with good separation and I enjoy the 2 pairs of Audio-Technicas I own.

I also assume that you plan to get a combined DAC/headphone amp. The line level output of just a DAC isn't suitable for running headphones.

Thank you !

 

[dalethorn]

The various colorations that headphones have, even those that cost above £1000, are the biggest factors in killing the natural soundstage of music. If you feel curious, look at the correction curves for 52 headphones on my dalethorn website under Photos and Audioforge 1 to 3. Those are not comprehensive EQ curves - they are the most effective fixes I was able to do for those headphones, with the end result that the often narrow, constricted sound opened up and became very natural, all without sonic gimmics that work only with a few music tracks.

 

[Teo]

Thank you all , in th end I jumped in and ordered a pair of k612 !

 

[ark_esoteric]

Hi, I have the Beyer dtx900 and they are SO comfortable. Almost forget they're on. Beyers tend to be heavy on the low end. Grados are flatter, but tighter on my big head. Sennheiser hds are almost as comfortable as beyers.
I've only run them off my dac, so can't comment on how they sound off a tablet.
Not much info on the dtx, nice to hear it mentioned

 

[ark_esoteric]

Hi, I have the Beyer dtx900 and they are SO comfortable. Almost forget they're on. Beyers tend to be heavy on the low end. Grados are flatter, but tighter on my big head. Sennheiser hds are almost as comfortable as beyers.
I've only run them off my dac, so can't comment on how they sound off a tablet.
Not much info on the dtx, nice to hear it mentioned

 

[Teo]

Thank you allfor the help, the k612 came today .

Comfy ,it seems , so far.

Open cans , I hear everything out ! .....mmmmmm can hear the wife talking at phone near me, and the tv .I was much debatng open vs closed ,finally went this way...

Ok, anyway , I'll need at least an amplif -120 ohm - but even so , I can listen to them driven by tablet , until I'll get a dac and amp or at least an amp.