help which headphones

[paulkebab]

is where I went, fabulous place and rows of headphones to try. Paul and Wendy are really helpful and friendly too. Take lots of your own material to help you decide, they'll leave you to it with the volume controls and a range of headphone amps to get somewhere near your own setup. I had Grado 325's and although very good they get a bit forward in the midrange when the volume goes up which is the trait of most if not all Grado's so I sold them. The AKG 550's are very comfortable indeed and can take some serious volume along with bass and treble adjustment, which I find they do need to lift them up out of the 'flatness' they initially reproduce.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Yes that's what I felt about the AKG 550s I went to richer sounds and they were the first thing I asked to try out .

they were very comfortable headphones to put on but I felt the sound that they made were not great they were flat sounding and lifeless . I had a budget of up to £400 but would of been happy with them if they sounded good as it was not really down to how much they cost just how they sounded . But not a bad headphone build wise for £110

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Thanks for the info on that store I will check them out as they are not to far from me *smile*

 

[Deleted member 108165]

There's a place reasonably close to Cambridge (Biggleswade) that you should check out:

www.highendheadphones.co.uk

They should sound their best somewhere like that I should think.

Does sound like Grado's might suit you best. HiFiMan He400 might be worth a try too.

What a place... good find! Their mark-up on certain models is a bit steep though, but I guess you have to pay for the exclusivity and ambience.

 

[Snooker]

I have some Sennheiser Wireless Headphones Open Back Around Ear, the RS185 (Now £269 Amazon) and it will probably sound similar to the Sennheiser Momentums you tried, really these wireless headphones in my opinion sound as good as wired headphones, maybe these are worth a listen, you could buy some headphones to try at home from Amazon, as they will let you try them out and return them if no good

I find they enclose my ears completely and are comfortable and sound great, with their electronics they use you will not get any hiss or unwanted noise at all as they are completely silent during any silent part between tracks etc, very long battery life (18 hours), but get recharged when placed on their docking station *smile*

 

[Deleted member 108165]

I have some Sennheiser Wireless Headphones Open Back Around Ear, the RS185 (Now £269 Amazon) and it will probably sound similar to the Sennheiser Momentums you tried, really these wireless headphones in my opinion sound as good as wired headphones, maybe these are worth a listen, you could buy some headphones to try at home from Amazon, as they will let you try them out and return them if no good

I find they enclose my ears completely and are comfortable and sound great, with their electronics they use you will not get any hiss or unwanted noise at all as they are completely silent during any silent part between tracks etc, very long battery life (18 hours), but get recharged when placed on their docking station *smile*

I've got the RS220's and at best they are roughly equal to the wired HD598's. Would agree that around ear are the best for comfort.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

around the ear are what i am after for comfort as well as a lead that i can take of and put a longer one on for hifi use if i wanted to

open backed heaphones is on my list not closed i also do not want to go wireless they also got to be well made .

looking for a full sounding set of headphones that are well detailed with good soundstage and good music separation

i am picky i know *smile*

 

[insider9]

Don't blame you. You should expect excellence, otherwise what's the point?

Keep us in the loop. Will be really interested to know what are you going to find that delivers on all fronts.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

I just tried the headphones my wife got me for my birthday on my amp

I mucked around with the trim levels for the headphones on the front of the amp and then the amp went into protection mode.... and now will not come out of protection mode *bad* have i blown the amp fuse ?

 

[Deleted member 108165]

I just tried the headphones my wife got me for my birthday on my amp

I mucked around with the trim levels for the headphones on the front of the amp and then the amp went into protection mode.... and now will not come out of protection mode *bad* have i blown the amp fuse ?

Sabbath try this:

Turn balance button full clockwise
Press mute button and while pressing this...
Turn the power on!

 

[Blacksabbath25]

I did try that but still the light is flashing dimly...

manual says it's an internal fault somewhere I do not understand why the amp would go faulty just by pluging in headphones ? The amp went into protection mode when I started to adjust the headphone level . I am so gutted I will have to send the amp of now for repairs but god knows how long it will take to get the amp back from Yamaha or if the shop I got it from fixes it them selfs .

but if the amp is away for a long time I might have to get myself a back up A-S501 until I get my old one back which I know is a bit extreme but I can not do without my music .

 

[Deleted member 108165]

The only other suggestion would be to disconnect everything, including the power lead, leave it overnight then try it again in the morning. If this doesn't work then I'm gutted for you mate.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

I've sorted it *smile* turn all nobs on front then it resets . I am so pleased thank god for that !

Anyway I will promise to keep you all posted on these headphones what ever I end up with I will pay a visit to that place near Bedford and see what they got seems a great place .

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Did not realize that Yamaha make headphones as well

I came across Yamaha Pro 500s anyone have any experience with theses headphones ? They seem well made going by the pictures .

they also come with 2 sets of leads one for hifi use and the other when your on the move plus they are over ear headphones too which is on my list but they seem to be close backed headphones but some of the reviews I've read say they leak sound so not so good on that front .

 

[Deleted member 108165]

They also make motorbikes, pianos and a myriad of other things too *biggrin*

Reviews are favourable, seem to be a Beats clone but with more bass, which would suit you well being a head-banger *biggrin*

Are these on-ear or around ear? Thought you wanted open-back headphones? All headphones leak sound, open-back just more so.

What did the Sony's sound like, (before they blew your amp)?

 

[Blacksabbath25]

The Yamaha Pro 500s are a round ear headphones .

i did not get much chance to listen to the Sony headphones on my amp as I was trying out the headphone level on the front of the amp . I got to the second setting and then the amp went into protection mode . I am a bit worried to try again as I do not understand why the amp went into protection mode over a set of headphones . Is there anything in the headphones that could do this ?

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Not that I'm aware of. Never had that kind of trouble with any of my headphone connections. It might be worth talking over with the shop you bought the amp from to see if they can offer any advice.

 

[bFooz]

I can recommend AudioTechnicas ATH AD-900X. They are super comfy. The sound is natural (similar to HD650 but less bass).

 

[insider9]

Is it normal that my heart rate increased when I read about issues you were having? Glad it all worked out though. It must've been a few stressful hours.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Yes it was a bit stressful just glad I sorted it out

my amp weight is 53kg I had it stacked on top of my cdplayer which is on a set of chest of drawers which is high up so my little one doesn't touch my hifi

and the weird thing was to reset the protection mode I had to turn bass , treble , L&R controls fully clockwise and use the mute and power button to reset . There was nothing in the manual about resetting the protection mode at all . I even lifted the lid before I tried the above thinking I had blown a fuse but I could not find any fuse inside without stripping the amp into bits which I did not want to do .

i do not really understand why the amp went into protection mode but my thinking is as they were closed back headphones there maybe something in the headphones that made this happen or there's an issue with the amps headphone socket as I think the Yamaha A-S2100 has a separate headphone amp built inside . There are separate controls for the headphone socket which you can add 2db , 3db and so on I had used this before the amp went into protection mode . So tomorrow I will phone the shop up where I brought the amp from and ask if they know why the amp did what it did .

 

[Deleted member 108165]

I seriously doubt the headphones had anything to do with it. If I understand correctly you have been using them with your iThings without any issues. Get that amp looked at or get some rock solid reason as to why this happened, personally I would plug them in again to see if the problem re-occurs. The amp is still under warranty so test it to destruction before the warranty runs out.

Just a question, do you adjust the headphone volume with the gain selector or the main volume control?

53kg!! Christ that's heavy *biggrin* , I guess you meant lbs; still heavy though.

 

[MajorFubar]

I don't have any direct experience of headphones in the upper realms of your budget but I would advise to read as many reviews as you can and try to buy a pair from somewhere which will let you send them back if you don't like them. Seeing that you've already been dissatisfied with such as the HD700s and preferred the sound of the Momentum 2 (which I'll be honest with you I hated), you may be looking for a tonal balance which is at odds with the sound-signaure that manufacturers aim for in that price category.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

hi yes i got that wrong its 51.6 Ibs 23kg its heavy to left

it got late last night when i posted *smile* i just tried my sony closedback headphones again with no issues and tried an old openback pair i had no issues so the only thing it could of been was i peaked the amp out as i see the UVs peak high on volume when using headphones .

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

Hi Sabbath.when auditioning headphones you really need to listen to them for a while to really appreciate a good set of cans,from the off they can sound underwhelming but give them time and the good stuff will start to be noticed,it;s all well and good having loads of bass and upfront in yer face sound ,BUT how long can you actually listen to such a sound......good cans can let you listen for hours with very little fatigue setting in and to me this is what is important in headphone listening ,take the akg's for example(i have a pair)and yes at first they can be a bit dull but push them in to create a good seal with your ears and they sound lovely and i can listen for ages with these and my grado sr325i's are regarded as a good hp for metal music which i don't disagree with,but they can err on the bright side of neutral which is ok with certain recordings but harsh with poorly recorded stuff.Also some of the higher end sens tend to be more difficult to drive and really need a dedicated hp amp to be fully appreciated.But I reckon you've got really used to those huge dali's and headphones are never going to recreate that sound in yer head.lol.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

My Dali opticon 8s are not to heavy on bass just the correct amount of bass *biggrin* anyway I am not looking for headphones with to much bass not like the Sony headphones my wife brought for my birthday bless her she tried .