New headphones are fabulous, what DAC setup to get now?

guitarfishbay

M50x are definitely closed back 

octatonic

bingefeller said:

Megii said:

Am I right in thinking the AT M50X are closed-back? Obviously good, since they have 3 recommends already, but I was really after open-back headphones, cheers

I bought the AT M50X and they do sound amazing.  I believe they are closed back.  

Yes, the ATH-M50X's are closed but you get a less hyped bottom end with those.

I missed the bit where the OP wanted openbacked.

guitarfishbay

Megii said:

guitarfishbay said:

I think it's hard to determine low end preferences by text alone, have you got any headphones you've tried that have around the response you're after?

Appreciate it's tricky, and afraid not. I've got a set of Sennheiser hd202 (nothing special I know) and they're great for the money, but I find the bass just a bit over-emphasized, and also I'd like more of a detailed hi-fi experience, and as already said, the more open, spacious quality of open-backed headphones.

So don't take the graphs completely literally because they can't tell the whole story, but HD202s are one of the models headroom have a graph for.  You can do some comparisons here, they have graphs for most studio headphones.

http://graphs.headphone.com/

Megii

guitarfishbay said:

Megii said:

guitarfishbay said:

I think it's hard to determine low end preferences by text alone, have you got any headphones you've tried that have around the response you're after?

Appreciate it's tricky, and afraid not. I've got a set of Sennheiser hd202 (nothing special I know) and they're great for the money, but I find the bass just a bit over-emphasized, and also I'd like more of a detailed hi-fi experience, and as already said, the more open, spacious quality of open-backed headphones.

So don't take the graphs completely literally because they can't tell the whole story, but HD202s are one of the models headroom have a graph for.  You can do some comparisons here, they have graphs for most studio headphones.

http://graphs.headphone.com/

Very useful, cheers @guitarfishbay

Megii

octatonic said:

bingefeller said:

Megii said:

Am I right in thinking the AT M50X are closed-back? Obviously good, since they have 3 recommends already, but I was really after open-back headphones, cheers

I bought the AT M50X and they do sound amazing.  I believe they are closed back.  

Yes, the ATH-M50X's are closed but you get a less hyped bottom end with those.

I missed the bit where the OP wanted openbacked.

No worries - obviously excellent headphones, so worth knowing about all the same

DrCornelius

stimpsonslostson said:

Grado SR60e- quite simply the best sounding headphones I've ever owned. 

Bought some of these recently, the guy in the shop suggested them despite them being way within my stated budget. I tried a few that were nearer £200 from the big names and they sounded weak in comparison.

duotone

DrCornelius said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Grado SR60e- quite simply the best sounding headphones I've ever owned. 

Bought some of these recently, the guy in the shop suggested them despite them being way within my stated budget. I tried a few that were nearer £200 from the big names and they sounded weak in comparison.

Good to know.  Think it was @fretmeister , who had a slightly more expensive pair of Grados and while he said the sound was fantastic, the comfort was awful.  In the end he hardly bothered using them due to the discomfort.

dindude

Recent convert to the AT M40x, supposed to be more neutral and less bass heavy than the M50x, I certainly wouldn’t want more bass than the 40’s so I think the right choice for me. They compare very favourably to some more expensive cans I have. 

Grados - felt I had to hold them to my head all the time to get involved, but then I like closed backs.

RMJ

See here

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/137209/good-budget-headphones-for-guitar#latest

I bought some beyerdynamic 990s 250 ohm version . Really happy with them. Nearly went for the Philips ones but went for higher impedence as the Helix headphone output is fairly hot.

Megii

Possibly pushing my budget more than I had anticipated, but has anyone tried the Soundmagic HP200's? A lot of good things said in reviews.

Stuckfast

For open-backed phones I think the AKG K702 are great value at the moment and they absolutely crap on any of the Audio-Technica closed-back models.

duotone

Megii said:

Possibly pushing my budget more than I had anticipated, but has anyone tried the Soundmagic HP200's? A lot of good things said in reviews.

https://youtu.be/AZ8O0PU-npY

duotone

^ Just watched that review and he says (among many other criticisms);

"I can’t recommend these headphones on sound quality”

 probably worth avoiding unless you can try them out somewhere

shrinkwrap

I like my AKG K121s - over ear, semi open (same as K141 but fixed cable)
Scan.co.uk have some refurbs cheap, the condition on mine was brand new perfect.
Got them for mixing rather then general music listening.

TTBZ

duotone said:

DrCornelius said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Grado SR60e- quite simply the best sounding headphones I've ever owned. 

Bought some of these recently, the guy in the shop suggested them despite them being way within my stated budget. I tried a few that were nearer £200 from the big names and they sounded weak in comparison.

Good to know.  Think it was @fretmeister , who had a slightly more expensive pair of Grados and while he said the sound was fantastic, the comfort was awful.  In the end he hardly bothered using them due to the discomfort.

I dont really rate my SR80s for comfort either, the foam isn't thick enough so the side of the speaker bit digs into your ear and head. They sounded good to start with but mine now seem balanced to the right ever so slightly and it sounds like theres some distortion now.

DrCornelius

TTBZ said:

duotone said:

DrCornelius said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Grado SR60e- quite simply the best sounding headphones I've ever owned. 

Bought some of these recently, the guy in the shop suggested them despite them being way within my stated budget. I tried a few that were nearer £200 from the big names and they sounded weak in comparison.

Good to know.  Think it was @fretmeister , who had a slightly more expensive pair of Grados and while he said the sound was fantastic, the comfort was awful.  In the end he hardly bothered using them due to the discomfort.

I dont really rate my SR80s for comfort either, the foam isn't thick enough so the side of the speaker bit digs into your ear and head. They sounded good to start with but mine now seem balanced to the right ever so slightly and it sounds like theres some distortion now.

Sorry to add to the confusion OP but I've just checked mine and they are 80s, not 60s after all. Either way I love em !

randella

TTBZ said:

duotone said:

DrCornelius said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Grado SR60e- quite simply the best sounding headphones I've ever owned. 

Bought some of these recently, the guy in the shop suggested them despite them being way within my stated budget. I tried a few that were nearer £200 from the big names and they sounded weak in comparison.

Good to know.  Think it was @fretmeister , who had a slightly more expensive pair of Grados and while he said the sound was fantastic, the comfort was awful.  In the end he hardly bothered using them due to the discomfort.

I dont really rate my SR80s for comfort either, the foam isn't thick enough so the side of the speaker bit digs into your ear and head. They sounded good to start with but mine now seem balanced to the right ever so slightly and it sounds like theres some distortion now.

My SR60s I find very comfortable, but they're worth trying as we're all different.

@TTBZ - if you haven;t already, check you haven't got any hairs poking out of the ears on the foam side.  They can interfere and cause what's apparently known as 'Grattle'.  Anyway it really is a thing I promise, and pulling the hairs out fixes mine

Megii

Stuckfast said:

For open-backed phones I think the AKG K702 are great value at the moment and they absolutely crap on any of the Audio-Technica closed-back models.

Cheers - I do like what I read about them.

Megii

DrCornelius said:

TTBZ said:

duotone said:

DrCornelius said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Grado SR60e- quite simply the best sounding headphones I've ever owned. 

Bought some of these recently, the guy in the shop suggested them despite them being way within my stated budget. I tried a few that were nearer £200 from the big names and they sounded weak in comparison.

Good to know.  Think it was @fretmeister , who had a slightly more expensive pair of Grados and while he said the sound was fantastic, the comfort was awful.  In the end he hardly bothered using them due to the discomfort.

I dont really rate my SR80s for comfort either, the foam isn't thick enough so the side of the speaker bit digs into your ear and head. They sounded good to start with but mine now seem balanced to the right ever so slightly and it sounds like theres some distortion now.

Sorry to add to the confusion OP but I've just checked mine and they are 80s, not 60s after all. Either way I love em !

No worries - still under £100 so I'd probably be looking at the sr80 or even sr125 for a bit over the £100.

Megii

duotone said:

^ Just watched that review and he says (among many other criticisms);

"I can’t recommend these headphones on sound quality”

 probably worth avoiding unless you can try them out somewhere

Cheers - It's a funny one - he really doesn't like them at all, and yet there are a lot of very favourable reports out there also. But one thing he's probably right about is the relatively narrow sound stage for an open-back - from what I read, which does put me off a bit. Overall, perhaps a bit of a risky punt for £140.