The Glade 4.0

So I find myself listening to games/music/movies at home in headphones more and more, and since I can never think of anything I want for Christmas, I'm thinking about getting a nice set of headphones.

As I research more and more, I talk myself into more money. I've researched the Grado's, Sennheisers, and I'd never heard of AKG, but their reviews on the K702 model are amazing, so they're definitely in the mix.

Anyone else have a great set of phones they love, or are you guys all just using the POS earbuds that came for free with your phone?

I've been very satisfied with my closed, circumaural Senns. I don't remember the model, though.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I have some Grado SR80i's that are great.

I have senn hd 650 for home, hd 25-ii for office (closed cup) and etymotic hr-4 for portable phone media.

Whatcha wanna know?

Sony actually has a pair of fantastic studio cans out at the moment, particularly for things like laptop use. MDRV700DJ They've got pretty beefy drivers and solid sound.

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I generally prefer speakers.


When I have to use headphones, I prefer my Sennheiser HD595's.

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Ron Paul 2012

Wow, nice list so far, checked out all of them. At this point, I think I'm looking for a nice set of open-air (non-sealed, I'll be using them at home primarily and I'm not worried about bleed, but want the larger soundstage) phones with good response. I'm also considering getting the FiiO E7 USB DAC and Portable Headphone Amp to use with my PC/laptop (my laptop's sound is god awful stock).

Keep the suggestions coming, while I'm looking at everything up to about 300$ I'm also interested in the grado 80i's, as they're coming in at 100 bucks and I've heard good things.

I got my HD595's for only about $170 on e-bay, brand new.

They're open-air, and very responsive. I've never tried a headphone amp with these, and I don't feel that I need to. I generally don't listen at very loud volumes, though, I prefer a quieter speaker. These things can get pretty loud and they stay clear...I'll occasionally turn them up when listening to soundtracks with orchestra and that sort of thing, and they sound amazing like that.


I should note that on the HD595's, the grey plastic has started to crack. This hasn't affected the performance of the headphones and they still fit the same. If you're gentle when you put them on and take them off you shouldn't have this problem.

A lot of the grados seem to have metal headbands, and I hear nothing but good things about the brand.

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Ron Paul 2012

I'm tellin' ya, my Grados are like ear-sex. Get a good acoustic song on there? UNNNNNGGGHGHHHH

I get a lot of use/enjoyment out of my Plantronics GameCom 377 for gaming/Vent and Sony MDR-NC7 for listening to music at work.

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Anyone have an opinion on these?

Okay, they were 280's. However, I recently decided to splurge and replace them; I'd cracked the casing in a few places with cat accidents, etc. over the years, and I'm not doing the apartment living thing anymore, so closed isn't as critical.

Decided to give Senn's open cup PC 360's a shot. They arrived yesterday, and I'm pretty delighted. Coupled with Vista/7's very smart and simple application-specific output routing, I can now leave my games on surround and get voice in my headset. =)

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I decided to take the plunge and get the AKG Q701's. It was a hard fought battle between them and the HD650's/600's, but stereophile's review of the K701's got me seriously interested.

http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/806akg/index.html

Went with the Q701's because there were a lot of complaints that the k701's fell off in the bass region, and the Q701's have apparently corrected that. Also, because there seems to be a good demand for them aftermarket, so if I decide I don't like them I can sell them and get the Senn's relatively easily.

After the amount of research I've done, I think I'm ready for my doctorate in headphoneology.

Let us know how you like em did you get an amp? What's the input chain?

I didn't get a discrete headphone amp yet. I seriously considered it, but I'm going to see how my yamaha 2500 and onkyo 1910 power them first. Input chain for now will be CD or FLAC from ps3 or pc optical out to yamaha/denon to 1/4" input to q701's. I hear mixed things about the FiiO E9 or E9/E7 combo, which is what I'm considering for portable. I hear the 650's are hard to drive too, what are you currently using suineko?

One of the reasons I bought the HD 595's...a lot of the reviews at the time were saying that out of the few headphones at this price from Senn didn't actually need a headphone amp. Not as flat a response as the 580s but a lot of people seemed to prefer the sound, and they're flat enough and accurate enough to be enjoyable without a headphone amp.

They get pretty loud, the only time I come close to listening at -12dB input levels (without an external headphone amp) is when I listen to stuff like the Gladiator sound track. Pop/Rock/Electronic music with lots of audio level compression I can listen at -26 dB or so comfortably for an hour or two...any longer than that and I get sick of headphones. I'm a speaker guy, though. At least these 595s have an open air design, which I also prefer.

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Ron Paul 2012

I'm interested in getting some headphones. DR, how have you liked the ones that you got? I've been looking at the ones Lenas mentioned and the ones you did also. I just want some comfy headphones to listen to music that cancel outside noise.

Any advice?

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Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

I'll tag in here as well. Not generally a fan of headphones, but I frequently find myself needing a pair, and if I have to use some, I'd prefer for them to be good.

I usually go with earbuds or some other single ear arrangement, however, as I need to be able to be a little more aware of my surroundings than I usually can be with a full headset.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

When I first moved into an apartment... yikes, nine years ago, I treated myself to a pair of Sennheiser PX 360's. Well, technically, I had the version that has a mic as well, but you said headphones not headset. I got 8 solid years out of them before my kitten chewed them up and they were great.

They're passive noise cancellation, Kirra (meaning that instead of having noise cancelling electronics, they're just very well insulated), and fit around the ear comfortably. The leatherette finish on the pads is soft and rather nice over extended sessions, though it does get a little warm in the summer.

NephyrS, what I replaced that with was the PC 360, also from Sennheiser. Again, that's got a mic, but I love having the open ear design now that I don't have neighbors a wall over. For me, it means I can put a voice chat program and/or music on the headphones while I play games running through my surround speakers, and hear both easily. =)

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Hmm, maybe so. They'd definitely work for at my desk, a bit more awkward for the more mobile parts of my day.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Aha. Yes, both of my suggestions are more geared towards home listening than mobile listening.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I do need some of each- home watching to not disturb the wife, and work listening to not disturb my office mate.

But I also need something to listen to podcasts, etc. while I'm sitting and waiting on instruments, experiments, etc. around the department.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Thats why you need 4 sets of headphones.

1 for sports outdoor, where you need to hear traffic and sweat is an issue.
1 for portable listening where you want to block out all noise.
1 for excellent at home listening (open)
1 for good listening where you dont want to disturb others (closed)

Right?

I mean, thats just sensible...

Right?

So to weigh in months later, I freaking love the Q701's. They are amazing, and I hear details I've never heard before. However, they are not portable. They are HUGE, and the cable that comes with them (even the short one) is 10 ft, the other one is 20. Also, they are very open (which gives them amazing response), but they are not noise cancelling by any stretch of the imagination. I use them for listening to music, watching the home theater and playing games, and they've been perfect for that. However, if you want something to toss in the bag and take with your ipod, these aren't them.

Like SuiNeko, I have several sets of headphones. I have a nice set of AKG's that I use for recording music, and a set of noise cancelling that I use in noisy environs. Earbuds for mobility, and I have a gaming headset that I use when voice is required.


I think if someone told me I had to use just one audio only headset (PC/Voice not included), I'd probably go with a nice pair of noise cancelling. For me, comfort is more of a factor than audio quality. Once you get above a certain price level, you have to be a pretty finicky audiophile to really tell the difference. Especially if you are listening to lower quality music sources (i.e. streams or MP3's.)

I have an older set of Bose QuietComfort that I bought for air travel when I used to travel a lot. I still find my self grabbing them occasionally if it's noisy (summertime when fans and AC are running, etc..) environments. I'm not a huge fan of Bose in general, but I've had these for a long time (5 or 6 years or more), and they are performced flawlessly, are very comfortable, and lightweight, and they come with a nice case too. There may be other options with similar features, but I haven't shopped for them in a long time, so I wouldn't know what else is out there.

Sports/activity is a completely different deal. Safety would be my first prioirity (being able to hear cars, sirens, or people yelling at you, etc...), followed by comfort and sweat resistance. If I were working out in my own home, where getting hit by a car wasn't a concern, I might consider the new Bose in-ear noise cancelling set, although I'd want to give them a test run first.