help with new headphones

[silmir]

I want to buy some kind of high-end headphones to enjoy good music, but I am new in this area, so i would like to hear any advice if you can help . so far in my research I looked at B&O beoplay H8 and H6, i love their design, but they are a bit pricey and I dont want to spent money if its not worth and I can get something much better and much cheaper, I was also looking at headphones as IPhilips Fidelio M1MKII,PHILIPS Fidelio M2BTBK,Sennheiser Momentum,Sennheiser hd 650. I have read many reviews on these but maybe, but still not sure what to buy, maybe if you can compare these or recommend even something different i would be really happy, I want to use them on my pc,hifi or smartphone,mostly at home but if i can they them outside it will be good. thank you in advance for every advice.

 

[ssddx]

please be more specific.

-what is your budget? in dollars or local currency.
-if not in usa or uk, what country and what site will you buy from?
-how do you feel about having to use an amplifier in addition to headphones? yes, some are portable.
-what kind of sound signature are you expecting? bass heavy? bass light? treble heavy? treble light? balanced? v-shaped? bright&vibrant? slow&mellow?
-what tasks will they be used for? gaming? movies? music?
-do you have large ears, a large head or glasses which can cause fit issues?

 

[silmir]

my budget is under 500 euro, but I dont need to spend them all , it will depend on price/quality ratio.
I am from slovakia so I can buy directly from B&O shop, or some european websites.
I preffer balanced sound. Yes, mostly music, movies, some gaming, sometimes traveling, so it is mostly at home but sometimes also portable.
I am quite new into this so I never used amplifier before.
I have normal ears and normal head size at least I think so and I dont wear glasses

 

[yeticorn]

Based on that budget I personally like the beyerdynamic dt990s (dt770s if you need isolation) with any of the fiio portable amps. I would stay away from the 600ohm versions unless you plan on getting a desktop amplifier as well.

 

[silmir]

so none o that which I mentioned above are not suitable for me? do I need amp for all of them if I use them with smartphone?

 

[ssddx]

the dt990pro 250ohm is CHEAP in uk at $159 (102gbp) compared to our $204. even on the europe (checked the german one) portal its 148 euro ($169) so still cheaper than what we pay here.

now, the dt990 despite being a great deal is NOT balanced as it has a v-shaped sound signature. it has more emphasis on treble and bass and mids are slightly recessed. this is more "fun sounding" but if neutral is what you absolutely want then perhaps they are not what you want (although the 990's are still stellar headphones). treble is very bright and energetic while bass is very punchy. good bass on open cans is not common in cheaper cans. soundstage is very good, while not as good as cans like the ad900x its close and has more bass impact than alternatives. the 880 version is close to neutral however is not nearly as cheap! they DO need an amplifier and a powerful one at that.

the hd650 is a bit different than the 990. while the 990 can be described as energetic the 650 is more mellow. this means it is a very easy listening headphone. it also has pretty decent mids.

generally people who like the 990 dont like the 650 (find the 650 too slow and boring) and people who like the 650 dont like the 990 (find the 990 too bright and fatiguing.

when you say travelling - do you mean the headphones need to be powered when you are walking, riding a train or similar or do you mean that you will be using them not at home but in a place with access to a power plug (such as a desk, hotel, etc)?

if you will have access to power, there are some nice high power amps which would drive the dt990's fine. if you do not have access to power then you're limited to portable options which might not give you the same kind of bass levels and overall volume levels as units which require power. please specify.

if you do not require much bass impact, the ad900x is nice. it has a huge soundstage and good quality treble and mids however does not have significant bass. good mid bass impact but not so good low end. its easy to drive as well which means no amplifier.

the dt770 mentioned above will have less of a soundstage than the 990 but is a good choice if you like a bassy sound profile while retaining decent treble. they are easier to drive (if you get the 80ohm ver) than the 990's as well.

 

[silmir]

yes, walking, in train, car plane so I probably wont have always access to power plug.
as I said I don't really know much about what to expect as they are gonna be my first pricey headphones, so I prefer then balanced in every aspect. what about some of that which I mentioned? are they worth the money?

 

[yeticorn]

Of the ones you mentioned, the hd650s are the most neutral. I personally don't like them because as ssddx said they were too flat sounding for me. I tried several cable swaps and never got them to sound the way I wanted really. That said, they're excellent headphones if that's what you're looking for.

 

[silmir]

and what about momentum or beoplay H6 an H8 ?

 

[yeticorn]

I have not had the pleasure of listening to any of those, sorry. I can only look to reviews that can be found elsewhere.

 

[ssddx]

not familiar with the momentums, though i've heard people mention that they liked the dt770 better. absolutely have heard nothing about beoplay myself.

are the hd650, dt990, dt770, ad900x worth the money? sure, and given the 990 is actually cheaper than over here its a really good deal. what headphones you end up getting though depend on your preferences.

dont get me wrong here, you CAN drive the 250ohm headphones with a porable amp, but that just will not be the same as driving them from a good solid desktop amp. as long as you do not use bass boost or go to crazy volume levels you may certainly do okay on a portable version. or, just get a good desktop amplifier and cheap portable unit and except a bit less out of them when you go portable.

 

[silmir]

so far I was mainly focused on B&O beoplay H6, H8 and sennheised momentum.. I read that sennheiser hd 650 are open and not very good with noise canceling, so maybe that can be problem when I travel but at home it should be fine, also I am trying to decide if i want over year or on-ear headphones, maybe on-year will be more suitable and practical for me.
You guys gave me a lot of new model that will read about, but it will be even harder to decide now

So do I need amp for all of those headphones? i did not know about it so far.

 

[ssddx]

on-ear tend to be a bit cooler to wear than over-ear by just a bit.
on ear tend to be less noise isolating than over ear.
over ear tend to be a bit more comfortable for long periods of time than on ear (though that depends on preferences of course)
on ear are lighter than over ear in most (but not all) cases

not all headphones absolutely require an amp. while not ALWAYS true, you can normally get a good idea by looking at the impedence (ohms) the headphone is rated at. numbers below 35 drive fine on pretty much all devices. numbers below 50 drive fine on most devices. numbers below 100 may drive on some devices though you might need a small amp for portable devices. above that and you're looking at a half decent amp being required.

of course how hard the headphones are to drive is not just influenced by impedence but also their sensitivity but just going by impedance should give you a rough idea.

 

[silmir]

I checked impedence on beoplay h6 and h8 and sennheiser momentum, for beoplay it is arroud30 and momentum is even under 20 so it should be fine without amp.
If you can look at those 2 below, are they worth the price? they are more expensive then some that you mentioned,but are these better ? or price is just for design and brad?
http/www.beoplay.com/products/beoplayh6
http/www.beoplay.com/products/beoplayh8

 

[ssddx]

no clue based on what i've read in the past. i've never heard about beoplay before now. searching for them on head-fi for 2 minutes gave me this:

http/www.head-fi.org/products/bang-olufsen-beoplay-h6
http/www.head-fi.org/products/bang-olufsen-beoplay-h8

based on glancing over that for a few minutes it seems that they are incredibly overpiced for what you get and really arent all that stellar. perhaps this is why i've never heard of them on head-fi before which is where i tend to read many user submitted reviews and comparisons for headphones.

if it were my own purchase i'd avoid them but i'll let you decide for yourself.

 

[silmir]

thats why I ask, I really like the design, but I dont want to pay if it is not worth, Bang and Olufsen are very famous danish audio company here in europe, they put they audio system in cars like aston martin or premium audi models, so I expected they will be worth it.. I went through many reviews on websites or youtube but some of the people say that they are amazing and some say that they are just overpriced and not worth it so I am trying to find out, but I dont have much knowledge in audio so I ask

 

[ssddx]

if a company is too well known sometimes they charge more since they can get it, despite having inferior products for the price.

bose is an example of this. they do car audio and headphones as well as speaker systems. they are incredibly well known and fairly pricey however what you get is very average quality for the premium price paid.

while i havent read much on them from a few of the reviews i skimmed over it seems that while the beo's arent bad headphones they just arent worth the price according to some. generally i tend to discount any 5 star reviews on products as well as any very low marks and read mostly mid-ranged reviews as these are generally the least affected by fanboyism or any hate and are generally the most accurate. as i said before, ultimately your call on them though without actually hearing them in person all we can do is read what other people say about them and you might not agree with their decision had you heard them in person. then again, you could agree completely. a hard call.

not mentioned... you could also import headphones from the usa for models which are more expensive overseas..

 

[silmir]

I asked on them because I like their design most of all, but I understand that it is not most important factor. Also they are the only one which I can try in person in their Shop, but even then I wont be able to compare them with any others. I really would like to try many other you recommended but I am just not able to do that because I dont know about any shop in reasonable range to travel, I found only online shop.