Headphones

[admin_exported]

Ok had a walk down to Vickers yesterday. Unfortunatley they don't stock Goldring or the Grado's!

They did have a few for my to try though. Listened to a few, noted 3 down.

Beyerdynamic DT990 - £169

Audio Technica ATH AD700 £95

Sennheiser HD555 - £89

Massive Attack Mezzanine was my album of choice. Enjoyed listening to them all. Still want to try the other reccomended sets though so going to try Sound Organisation today.

 

[Anonymous]

From your list I'd buy the Beyerdynamic. I have a pair and am quite happy with them. The HD 650 are great...not a fan of the HD 555. Be careful of the Sennheiser products as the wires tend to need replacing every 6 months (if used every day).

 

[Anonymous]

Good point about the wires, i'll check on those.

The Beyerdynamic were good but much more than my initial budget allows even though they were at a huge discount.

Listened to the RS80's today. Best sounding so far but I just can't get over the look of them. Bloody horrible is a polite way of putting it.

They also had Goldring in stock but maybe to my peril I didn't try them. They have a real plasticy cheap look about them and it just put me right off. I may go back if they get a pair of 100's in as they only had the 50 and the 150.

I know it's not a vast ammount of money in hi-fi terms but I do think it's enough to warrant a product looking, feeling and sounding good. One out of three just isn't good enough imo, got to be the full package.

 

[Drummerdave]

[quote user="Black Knight"]
Good point about the wires, i'll check on those.

The Beyerdynamic were good but much more than my initial budget allows even though they were at a huge discount.

Listened to the RS80's today. Best sounding so far but I just can't get over the look of them. Bloody horrible is a polite way of putting it.

They also had Goldring in stock but maybe to my peril I didn't try them. They have a real plasticy cheap look about them and it just put me right off. I may go back if they get a pair of 100's in as they only had the 50 and the 150.

I know it's not a vast ammount of money in hi-fi terms but I do think it's enough to warrant a product looking, feeling and sounding good. One out of three just isn't good enough imo, got to be the full package.
[/quote]

Are you really worried who's going to see you wearing a set of Grado's? If the sound quality is the "best sounding so far" go for it.

 

[Anonymous]

It's not who'll see me wearing them, I just don't like the design.

You don't see the exterior of your car whilst you drive it, don't mean you should disregard the styling when you purchace it.

Pity, as they did sound damn good!

 

[Anonymous]

if you like audio technica try the ATH-ES7 I had a chance to try them with the grados both at £100 and i found the to be very very close the diference is the grados have amore open sound and better sense of space the ATH have better bass and much better sound retention as thye are closed cans if you use them for going on the train bus or noisy enviroment then try the ATH but for pure home use the grado are just a bit better

 

[professorhat]

[quote user="Black Knight"]You don't see the exterior of your car whilst you drive it, don't mean you should disregard the styling when you purchace it.[/quote]

Agreed, but surely that is because other people will see you driving it and that affects your decision (consciously or not). If no one ever saw you driving your car (and that was the norm so it wouldn't even enter your thoughts about how good you looked in it) surely you would choose the best car in your price range on how it was to drive? (although personally, this is what I would do anyway!).

Not meaning to be confrontational at all - just putting this idea out there!

 

[Drummerdave]

[quote user="professorhat"][quote user="Black Knight"]You don't see the exterior of your car whilst you drive it, don't mean you should disregard the styling when you purchace it.[/quote]

Agreed, but surely that is because other people will see you driving it and that affects your decision (consciously or not). If no one ever saw you driving your car (and that was the norm so it wouldn't even enter your thoughts about how good you looked in it) surely you would choose the best car in your price range on how it was to drive? (although personally, this is what I would do anyway!).

Not meaning to be confrontational at all - just putting this idea out there!
[/quote]

Exactly - nobody will see you wearing the headphones so they should be bought purely for performance.

 

[John Duncan]

I could live with the looks, I just think the design makes them uncomfortable. Sennheisers for me.

 

[rich51080]

Look I am so suprised noone has mentioned the best phones for the money - Alessandro MS2i or MS1.

They are built by Grado but free shipping from USA. Hence you get more for your money. The MS2i which I own is nearly as good as the Grado RS1. It easily beats the Grado 325i hands down. As it was fine tuned by George Alessandro who also makes guitar amp expect the phone to playback guitars like u never heard.

Look everyone have a look at the site. Shipping took less than a week. Ans i didnt pay customs duty

Forget Grado and buy Alessandro. They are highly rated on www.headfi.org

http://www.alessandro-products.com/headphones.html What Hifi should review them.

I tried Grado,Sennheisser and Beyerdynamic but nothing competes with the Alessandro.

I am now going to buy the Mspro.

 

[Anonymous]

The Grado's design might not be everyone's cup of tea but to reject them for being unpleasing aesthetically is crazy!

I can understand people being put off by their comfort or the fact that they're open-backed thus not suitable for many, but the look?!?

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Black Knight"]
Good point about the wires, i'll check on those.

The Beyerdynamic were good but much more than my initial budget allows even though they were at a huge discount.

Listened to the RS80's today. Best sounding so far but I just can't get over the look of them. Bloody horrible is a polite way of putting it.

They also had Goldring in stock but maybe to my peril I didn't try them. They have a real plasticy cheap look about them and it just put me right off. I may go back if they get a pair of 100's in as they only had the 50 and the 150.

I know it's not a vast ammount of money in hi-fi terms but I do think it's enough to warrant a product looking, feeling and sounding good. One out of three just isn't good enough imo, got to be the full package.
[/quote]I have the senn 650 now for about 2 years. Never had any problem with the wires! They look very sturdy to me, too. Only reason for changing them is that allegedly the cardas headphone wires sound better. Anyway, just my two cents, maybe brock boogie meant a different Sennheisers headphone.Before I decided to take the sennheisers I had a listen to some Grado RS2, but the conditions were far from ideal. The dealer had them fresh out of the box, plugged directly in the headphone output of the cd-player. To make a long story short: I couldn't go for the Grado, because it still felt like a blind purchase (besides I did have a good listen to the sennheisers and they really impressed me with their natural sound)! I kinda liked the look of the Grados though. It's more or less what fighter pilots during the second world war used to wear. How can that not be cool!?

 

[John Duncan]

[quote user="Solomon1"]It's more or less what fighter pilots during the second world war used to wear.
How can that not be cool!?[/quote]

Indeed:

 

[Anonymous]

I've used many senns in production studios over the years and the wires always tend to rubbish out (for lack of a better term) after a few months of extensive use. The HD 650 is probably the only set of Sennheiser cans that we haven't had this problem with.

 

[John Duncan]

And I'm on my third pair. Not 650s though...........

 

[Anonymous]

My SR60's weren't the prettiest cans around but their sound was so good, I just h d to wear them outside. This wasn't ideal though, my portable cd player didn't drive them properly, and the Grado's don't isolate at all.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Jan Hibma"]My SR60's weren't the prettiest cans around but their sound was so good, I just h d to wear them outside. This wasn't ideal though, my portable cd player didn't drive them properly, and the Grado's don't isolate at all.[/quote]

grado's sound > their looks. i dont have any problems with the comfort of my SR125's though. the only thing i would sontemplate replacing them with is another pair of Grado's!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="brock_boogie"]
I've used many senns in production studios over the years and the wires always tend to rubbish out (for lack of a better term) after a few months of extensive use. The HD 650 is probably the only set of Sennheiser cans that we haven't had this problem with.
[/quote]Well, that explains it thenI find it really shocking to hear that these leads don't last longer than 6 months. Sennheiser should do better. Did you manage to get (a) replacement(s); I mean, this has to be within garantee. 6 Months of use isn't what may be expected of a product of this type. In the Netherlands we as consumers are entitled to a (partial) refund or compensation if a product fails before it's reached an age that can be expected of this type of product. (the older it gets, the less you are entitled to.) This even applies after a manufacturers garantee period has passed. Not many Dutch consumers know this, however, and even if they do know the idea of getting into a legal procedure scares them of...I kind of wonder whether the same legal position is held in the UK?