best headphones for opera/classical music?

[asjd]

Hello everyone, I'm a relative newbie when it comes to high end audio, so forgive me if I don't have all the vocabulary down yet. Basically, I'm wondering if anyone can give me advice for what the best headphones would be for listening to classical vocal music, i.e., opera, art songs etc.

I'm a big opera fan but basically I've been listening through my cheap Sony headphones for years, i.e., the ones I use when I go jogging. so I've decided to invest in a better pair to really get the most out of it.

I've been trying to do some research as best as I can, and I've been thinking about a pair of Sennheiser headphones. The only problem is whenever I read reviews, I have no idea what kind of music it is that they're talking about. For example, for me the most important thing is the clarity of being able to hear the voices, i.e., I don't really care about bass. And presumably some headphones that are best for rock probably won't be best for classical and vice-a-versa.

Anyway, if anyone could recommend me some headphones that are good for opera, I would really appreciate it. I'm willing to spend up to about $300, although if possible I would of course love to spend less. They don't need to be portable. Also I live alone so if they are open then that is fine as well.

many thanks in advance!

 

[Becky_Roberts]

Hi asjd

Can I ask what source you'll be using the headphones with: a portable music player/smartphone or a hi-fi system of sorts? Would you prefer over or on ears? And will you use it more in the home or on-the-go? There's more things to think about when buying headphones than you might think

I could give you more specific recommendations with these answers, though if you're after generally great-sounding headphones, can I suggest you take a look at these:

Beyerdynamic T51i (good portable on-ears, with in-line remote; very clear, direct way with voices - insightful, too)

Grado SR325e (open-back; very clear and well-organised sound, but also distinctly musical)

Philips Fidelio M1MkII (small, portable on-ears; tons of detail, space and clarity)

AKG K550 (large but light over-ears for home use, and the most affordable of the four, having dropped in price considerably of late; precise, open and dynamic presentation)

Hope this is of some help.

Becky
Staff Writer, What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision

 

[dalethorn]

Clarity of voices and instruments is basic to good neutral headphones, and the Beyer T51 series (for example) is the opposite of that. The AKG 712 is close to $300 if you check carefully for discounts at authorized dealers, and is excellent for your requirements. Believe it or not, I've reviewed over 100 headphones here on WhatHiFi, and they are also listed on my dalethorn site, and the K712 is the only neutral (or nearly so) headphone of all of those I know of near $300.

 

[Superaintit]

I have owned the sennheiser hd650 for about 5 years now, listened to grado gs1000 and gs500 and 325 and own the klipsch X10 in ears.

The best advice I can give you is simply this: go and listen. Just take our opinions as guidelines and judge for yourself. Just like a good meal is a personal taste a recommendation is just that.

My personal preference for classical music would be a sennheiser hd650 with musical fidelity headamp and cyrus cd player as source. Detailed, natural, dynamic, goose bump introducing greatness are a few words that spring to mind. Sennheiser is a bit 'dark' in presentation which goes very well with classical imo. I found the Hd650 better than the hd600 but sone disagree. The sennheisers are over ear and open backed so only for indoor use.

Grado I found to be very good, better than sennheiser at the gs1000 pricepoint. They would be my absolute favourite if money was no object. The 325i I found to be a very different proposition than the sennheiser: very detailed but also a bit 'thin' in presentation. Imo they become uncomfortable after 1+ hour use because they press against your ears. Ymmv some like grados others like sennheisers. Note that these kind of headphones do need a headphone amp to get the best out of them. If not you'd be better of with a 150 pound headphone that is easier to drive.

Finally for outdoor use I would recommend the bose 25 something noise cancelling or the b&o beoplay H8 wireless, noise cancelling headphones which I am about to listen to and probably buy...considering the presentation that I love from their beolab speakers. They are aptX bluetooth compatible and have a battery, so truly wireless; they also feature noise calcelling. As they are driven by their own build-in amps the only requirement for a source would be aptX compatibility.

 

[JoelSim]

I agree with Dale in that the Beyer T51 are not the best choice, for your choice of music I would absolutely recommend the Beyerdynamic DT880. That is where it excels, voice and passion.

 

[JoelSim]

Funnily enough as I typed this I received an order for some DT880s! Happy days on all fronts.

 

[Vladimir]

AKG K701, K702, Q701.

 

[Vladimir]

Clarity of voices and instruments is basic to good neutral headphones, and the Beyer T51 series (for example) is the opposite of that. The AKG 712 is close to $300 if you check carefully for discounts at authorized dealers, and is excellent for your requirements. Believe it or not, I've reviewed over 100 headphones here on WhatHiFi, and they are also listed on my dalethorn site, and the K712 is the only neutral (or nearly so) headphone of all of those I know of near $300.

Dale, which headphone in your opinion is better for classic rock, jazz and classical (more accurate listening), the AKG K712/K812 or Shure SRH1840?

Enjoying your review here.

 

[asjd]

Can I ask what source you'll be using the headphones with: a portable music player/smartphone or a hi-fi system of sorts? Would you prefer over or on ears? And will you use it more in the home or on-the-go? There's more things to think about when buying headphones than you might think

Mostly I listen to recordings of live broadcasts. So I almost exclusively listen straight from my computer. I was planning on using them mostly at home, so as I said, they don't necessarily need to be portable.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the recommendations. I will have to take a look at them all and somehow pick one. looks like there are a lot of great choices.

 

[dalethorn]

Clarity of voices and instruments is basic to good neutral headphones, and the Beyer T51 series (for example) is the opposite of that. The AKG 712 is close to $300 if you check carefully for discounts at authorized dealers, and is excellent for your requirements. Believe it or not, I've reviewed over 100 headphones here on WhatHiFi, and they are also listed on my dalethorn site, and the K712 is the only neutral (or nearly so) headphone of all of those I know of near $300.

Dale, which headphone in your opinion is better for classic rock, jazz and classical (more accurate listening), the AKG K712/K812 or Shure SRH1840?

Enjoying your review here.

K712 for sure - the K812 has a really strong output at 4 khz or so that makes for a hard or glassy sound. Some music may be OK with it, but it's a narrow range I think. Now the 1840 is a big favorite of mine, having only 2 flaws - the "presence" area where you get liveliness (2-4 khz maybe?) is a little recessed, which I could accomodate, but the deep bass - oh my! Get a copy of Jennifer Warnes' Rock You Gently and play the opening drum hits on the 1840 - yikes! Still, I like it a lot.... So maybe the K712 isn't perfect - bassheads definitely needn't apply, but the mids and treble are good, neutral pretty much, but never bright, sibilant, or glaring.

 

[dalethorn]

Funnily enough as I typed this I received an order for some DT880s! Happy days on all fronts.

I always wanted an 880, but the budget suffers. I ordered a Grado PS1000e yesterday. Edd of NobleHiFi who used to post here, has been a big fan of the DT880.

 

[Vladimir]

K712 for sure - the K812 has a really strong output at 4 khz or so that makes for a hard or glassy sound. Some music may be OK with it, but it's a narrow range I think. Now the 1840 is a big favorite of mine, having only 2 flaws - the "presence" area where you get liveliness (2-4 khz maybe?) is a little recessed, which I could accomodate, but the deep bass - oh my! Get a copy of Jennifer Warnes' Rock You Gently and play the opening drum hits on the 1840 - yikes! Still, I like it a lot.... So maybe the K712 isn't perfect - bassheads definitely needn't apply, but the mids and treble are good, neutral pretty much, but never bright, sibilant, or glaring.

Interesting. I just saw few measurement graphs of the 1840 and it seems like a more neutral, flat tonal presentation than any AKG on the market.

Shure SRH 1840

AKG K712

I can really hear that 2kHz and 8kHz spike in AKGs. Real tinitus pusher. IME compared to that any headphones feels a bit recessed in the mids.

 

[dalethorn]

K712 for sure - the K812 has a really strong output at 4 khz or so that makes for a hard or glassy sound. Some music may be OK with it, but it's a narrow range I think. Now the 1840 is a big favorite of mine, having only 2 flaws - the "presence" area where you get liveliness (2-4 khz maybe?) is a little recessed, which I could accomodate, but the deep bass - oh my! Get a copy of Jennifer Warnes' Rock You Gently and play the opening drum hits on the 1840 - yikes! Still, I like it a lot.... So maybe the K712 isn't perfect - bassheads definitely needn't apply, but the mids and treble are good, neutral pretty much, but never bright, sibilant, or glaring.

Interesting. I just saw few measurement graphs of the 1840 and it seems like a more neutral, flat tonal presentation than any AKG on the market.

Shure SRH 1840

AKG K712

I can really hear that 2kHz and 8kHz spike in AKGs. Real tinitus pusher. IME compared to that any headphones feels a bit recessed in the mids.

The 1840 is good from maybe 70 hz up, but that breakup below 40 hz is real, and it's bad.

The AKG K712 I had didn't have spikes - in fact here's the EQ curve I worked out for it (note: not an absolute, but compared to many, many headphones:

http://dalethorn.com/Photos/Audioforge/Akg_K712.jpg

 

[SteveR750]

I would have thought for opera a flat frequency response and detailed mid range is essential, the beyer DT880s, 990s, 770, and Sennheiser HD650, 700 should all work, though you'll need to listen to them to decide which you prefer as they're all slightly different in presentation.

Dale's reviews are excellent by the way, it's well worth spending the time reading them. The problem is many phones seem to adopt this "V shaped" frequency response, which makes them sound artificially exciting when compared in a line in a shop.

 

[Vladimir]

Dale is a huge asset for us here and both on Youtube.

 

[Vladimir]

Now the 1840 is a big favorite of mine, having only 2 flaws - the "presence" area where you get liveliness (2-4 khz maybe?) is a little recessed, which I could accomodate, but the deep bass - oh my! Get a copy of Jennifer Warnes' Rock You Gently and play the opening drum hits on the 1840 - yikes! Still, I like it a lot....

The 1840 is good from maybe 70 hz up, but that breakup below 40 hz is real, and it's bad.

Wow. I really haven't noticed any breakup on the 1840 in the bass region. Maybe I haven't played them loud enough with drums.

 

[Superaintit]

Re my recommendation on the b&o H8: not so sure now that I listened to them. Dynamics is not their strong point, chamber music is. Could be that they were new. Anyway, this goes to show that we should always listen before buying.

 

[dalethorn]

Now the 1840 is a big favorite of mine, having only 2 flaws - the "presence" area where you get liveliness (2-4 khz maybe?) is a little recessed, which I could accomodate, but the deep bass - oh my! Get a copy of Jennifer Warnes' Rock You Gently and play the opening drum hits on the 1840 - yikes! Still, I like it a lot....

The 1840 is good from maybe 70 hz up, but that breakup below 40 hz is real, and it's bad.

Wow. I really haven't noticed any breakup on the 1840 in the bass region. Maybe I haven't played them loud enough with drums.

The Jennifer Warnes track will do it, unfortunately I had to buy the whole album to get it, and the rest of the album isn't very good.

 

[dalethorn]

The problem is many phones seem to adopt this "V shaped" frequency response, which makes them sound artificially exciting when compared in a line in a shop.

Thanks - yes, that seems to be the rule these days, to spike up the bass especially, to make the smaller cheaper headphones sound -- well, bigger...

 

[Vladimir]

The Jennifer Warnes track will do it, unfortunately I had to buy the whole album to get it, and the rest of the album isn't very good.

Ah, can't try them now. I had them briefly just to give them a spin. They did get a bit fuzzy at loud listening levels, but they were very very good with normal listening levels (sub 85dB). The midrange was almost planar like.

The Chinese made AKG K701 I had for a test had terrible breakup at sub bass level. Something that didn't happen on Austrian made AKGs.

 

[dalethorn]

The Chinese made AKG K701 I had for a test had terrible breakup at sub bass level. Something that didn't happen on Austrian made AKGs.

That's scary - not a good thing at all. I don't have a problem with AKG producing in China if they maintain quality control. Of course there are a lot of fakes being made, and unless you have the original everything including packaging, you might not know.

 

[Vladimir]

That's scary - not a good thing at all. I don't have a problem with AKG producing in China if they maintain quality control. Of course there are a lot of fakes being made, and unless you have the original everything including packaging, you might not know.

I bought B&W speakers made in China and they were excellent quality, 10/10. I own Chinese SMSL DAC and amp, I love them. The AKGs I bought (from authorized dealer in Las Vegas USA) felt sooo cheap, so bad, plastic crackling constantly. The leather band (if it was leather at all) felt like cheap plastic imitation. I undrestood at that moment why people who bought Chinese AKGs unknowingly (thinking they were buying Austrian made ones) thought they were scammed with fakes. They are not fakes, they are just that bad.

I created a frequency sweep wav file (10Hz-100Hz for 10s) and tried this test I saw on youtube and it is true. Terrible breakup at 20Hz, which doesn't happen with my other AKGs made in Austria.

The AKG K712s are now made in Slovakia, which means they are determined to milk out more profit but wont dare to sell the PRC cr*p at K712 premium prices ($400-$600). The whole idea why someone would buy from AKG is no nonsense neutral sound, pro quality robust build, replaceable parts, Made in Austria, will last more than 30 years before needing refurbishing and continue to last. No reason to buy from AKG now.

Well done Harman.

 

[JoelSim]

Funnily enough as I typed this I received an order for some DT880s! Happy days on all fronts.

I always wanted an 880, but the budget suffers. I ordered a Grado PS1000e yesterday. Edd of NobleHiFi who used to post here, has been a big fan of the DT880.

When you say the budget suffers, they are less than £250 now as Beyer have reduced their prices. Out of all the headphones I've sold I've had the most emails from customers about the DT880. That may be because I have recommended them to a few people and they have fed back, but there are a few who have emailed me off their own back. I've said before on here too that I prefer the 880 and 990 to the T70 which is £100 more. What you get is just beautiful, close your eyes and dream. Forget measurements. the proof is in the pudding. I have some headphones for my preferred electronic music but I really want some of these Beyers too, just for audiophile moments.

 

[BigMartin]

I quite like Philips Fidelio X1/28 when I listen to my classical music and this might fit into your budget! Read a review or two to give you an insight on how great it is for this genre...