Help with picking high ohm headphones.

[fudgecakes99]

I'm looking for a good build quality headset for my pc, my budget's around 300-500. I don't want to spend a grand on just some headphones. I want something that can take some punishment and has decent ohm impedance. If you have any dac suggestions or amps. I'm all ears. The requirements don't have to have a mic, if it has better audio quality then a headset with a mic, i can live without a mic. If you can give me a few with a mic i'm fine with that too. But i'm looking for overall quality of the headphone mic's are optional. For frame of reference i'm currently using astro's a40's. So it has to be better then that no poopy, turtle beaches no Triton's, terrible build quality don't want them.

 

[nooneinparticular]

Well,

I'd start with the top 10 under $500 headphones list on the headphone.com site. The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 has a microphone as well.

I own 4 pairs of Sennheisers (though not the Momentum) for different uses and I've been happy with them.

 

[fudgecakes99]

ive been looking at the dj hd8 i've heard good things about sennheiser do you know the ohm impedance of the "momentum 2.0? I'm trying to find something around 7.1, 5.1 dolby digital but if it impedes the audio quality, distorts it i don't want it, nothings worse the simulated sound, in my opinion. Is the momentum orthodynamic/coil/ or electorstatic? Any opinions on amp's and dacs?

 

[nooneinparticular]

ive been looking at the dj hd8 i've heard good things about sennheiser do you know the ohm impedance of the "momentum 2.0? I'm trying to find something around 7.1, 5.1 dolby digital but if it impedes the audio quality, distorts it i don't want it, nothings worse the simulated sound, in my opinion. Is the momentum orthodynamic/coil/ or electorstatic? Any opinions on amp's and dacs?

The Momentums are low impedance, 18 ohms. I guess they aren't headphones for you if you insist on high impedance. The Momentums are dynamic headphones, which (I guess) means coil (AFAICT they're not orthodynamic and definitely not electrostatic). Also reading further, the mic is on the cord, so it's not really a headset. It's more for mobile use. I just looked at the top 10 on headphone.com and tagged the microphone criteria on. The only headphones left after that were the Momentums.

I think most of the headphone manufacturers have recently been trying to make decent quality headphones usable with the amps on mobile devices. That means low impedance. Though I don't think going too far above 32 ohms will do that much to the audio quality (depending on the amp of course.) I have some old cans stashed somewhere, which - if I recall correctly - are around 300 ohms, but they aren't really usable with anything I use to listen to music anymore.

I think when you enter the realm of decent headphones, the quality of the audio becomes very subjective. The Sennheisers I have are fairly flat and don't seem to color the sound too much. Some people were less impressed with them, and would prefer something smoother or boomier or yellow or whatever. I personally liked a pair of Grados a friend of mine has just fine as well.

You really should go to a store and try some headphones on and see how you like them. It's personal opinion all the way with headphones, I think, as with most things audio.

About the multichannel effects out there - I agree they will just ruin the audio. I also don't think sticking 6 drivers or more into a pair of headphones will do anything apart from making them really really difficult to get sounding any good. That said, I've never owned a pair of multichannel headphones so what do I know .

And I wholeheartedly agree that build quality is important. A few weeks ago the headphones I used when travelling (AKG K 495 NC) decided to snap in the middle of a flight with no stress on then what-so-ever. I think every review of the cans has comments below that basically say "Nice headphones, until the headband inevitably breaks." I wish they had been there when I did my research. I've only used the things when flying and they were three weeks out of warranty. Not fun at all!

Good luck hunting!

 

[ssddx]

high impedance does not always equal better quality sound - its worth bearing that in mind.

giving you a recommendation is hard since you did not give us any idea what kind of sound signature you like or what kind of equipment you have to power them. you need to give more details.

also, i'd trust head-fi user reviews before i trusted any top ten lists.

a few to note:

hd600/hd650 - a bit "slow" but very laid back and easy listening. if you like these you may not like the dt880/990.
dt990/880 600 - more detailed and energetic. good bass and bright treble. if you like these you may not like the hd600/650.
ad1000x/ad2000x - wide soundstage, upper frequency focused headphones. not much bass but more than lower priced units.
he-500 - planar headphone, very transparent and neutral. some say its one of the best bargains for the price if you can drive it.

 

[fudgecakes99]

I personally would want a headset with higher impedance even though the draw back being more power required, because in my experience you don't have to tweak the volume as much as you would with a lower impedance, if you move it the slightest you get a louder experience without all that distortion. he- 500 does sound nice, though i've never actually owned a pair of magnetic headphones, i've heard good things about the general range of those kinds of headsets, but i've never personally owned one. High's lows mids maybe, i dunno 499 is a bit pricey.

 

[ssddx]

$499 is still under your budget, unless of course that budget was for the headphones PLUS the amplifier (you never specified). you need to specify.

planar magnetic headphones are much more transparent and lack the distortion that even the best dynamic headphones can give. generally they are considered the next step up. this is not to say there are not good dynamic headphones that you might like (there are).

if you want to see pricey - look at electrostatic headphones from stax. pretty much the best cans you can get at the moment but a price that shows this too!

its worth remembering that once you start getting into higher end headphones your amplifier really matters. if you're driving $500 headphones you do not want to be doing this with a cheap soundcard or budget amplifier or they will sound rather bad. you can get away with a budget amp on sub $200 headphones although even some of those you will notice the difference on. just something worth remembering.

highs - lows - mids doesnt really describe what you want unless you were trying to say you want a neutral sounding headphone with no one area pulling ahead of the others. the statement to me is about as helpful as "what sounds good". what i meant by sound is... how detailed of a headphone do you like (read: detailed can be fatiguing for some) or how laid back do you want the headphone (read: easy listening but some find them boring). how bright (treble), how warm (more bass neutral treble) or dark (lack of treble with more bass) how large of a soundstage (depth to music or sound) you need, if you value any one frequency (say mids for vocals) more than others, etcetera. comfort such as if you have big ears or head... or if you need closed cans instead of open are all important as well.

i will tell you this: the astro a40 is junk as are most "gaming headsets" that were not originally based on proven headphone designs. just about any decent headphone combined with a suitable way to power them is going to run circles around them in terms of quality of audio. now, perhaps 2.0 headphones lose out a bit on the 3d effect from true 7.1 however sometimes have huge soundstages which sort of counterbalance this and when used with virtual surround may even be better in that regard (depending on opinion). some do not even use virtual as they find it not needed with certain headphone choices.

 

[fudgecakes99]

$499 is still under your budget, unless of course that budget was for the headphones PLUS the amplifier (you never specified). you need to specify.

planar magnetic headphones are much more transparent and lack the distortion that even the best dynamic headphones can give. generally they are considered the next step up. this is not to say there are not good dynamic headphones that you might like (there are).

if you want to see pricey - look at electrostatic headphones from stax. pretty much the best cans you can get at the moment but a price that shows this too!

its worth remembering that once you start getting into higher end headphones your amplifier really matters. if you're driving $500 headphones you do not want to be doing this with a cheap soundcard or budget amplifier or they will sound rather bad. you can get away with a budget amp on sub $200 headphones although even some of those you will notice the difference on. just something worth remembering.

highs - lows - mids doesnt really describe what you want unless you were trying to say you want a neutral sounding headphone with no one area pulling ahead of the others. the statement to me is about as helpful as "what sounds good". what i meant by sound is... how detailed of a headphone do you like (read: detailed can be fatiguing for some) or how laid back do you want the headphone (read: easy listening but some find them boring). how bright (treble), how warm (more bass neutral treble) or dark (lack of treble with more bass) how large of a soundstage (depth to music or sound) you need, if you value any one frequency (say mids for vocals) more than others, etcetera. comfort such as if you have big ears or head... or if you need closed cans instead of open are all important as well.

i will tell you this: the astro a40 is junk as are most "gaming headsets" that were not originally based on proven headphone designs. just about any decent headphone combined with a suitable way to power them is going to run circles around them in terms of quality of audio. now, perhaps 2.0 headphones lose out a bit on the 3d effect from true 7.1 however sometimes have huge soundstages which sort of counterbalance this and when used with virtual surround may even be better in that regard (depending on opinion). some do not even use virtual as they find it not needed with certain headphone choices.

Sorry about taking forever to reply i've just been busy with a lot of family stuff. Also couldn't find this thread. All in all i think i'm gonna go with the planar magentic headphones. I think their the best solution for me as i'm also going to use them to listen to my lp collection. Regarding the headphones, do you think that's a wise decision. I personally would rather have even clear sound. Any recomendation on amps/dacs? I was thinking of looking into some schtick amps/ dacs

here's the dac i've been looking at.
http/schiit.com/products/bifrost

here's the amp.
http/schiit.com/products/lyr-2

I think i'm going to go with the he-500's though i may look on ebay see if i can get some of this stuff used. Now any used audio phile sites?

I figure if i'm going to get some orthodynamic headphones it's a good time as any to upgrade my sound system. Again any advice is appreciated.

 

[ssddx]

i cant answer right now since i'm heading out... but you might want to look up "amplifier for he-500 head fi" on google and see if you can find a few head-fi threads on the issue. some headfiers really know their stuff and have personally used lots of equipment.

all i can say is that in general schiit is a good company. i'm more familiar with the magni/modi but i'm sure the other products they offer are good as well. i'm just not sure off the top of my head (without researching) if they are suitable for the he-500 or not. i'd suggest you look into that a bit on head fi.

not to brush you off or anything, just thought if you wanted a quicker answer you might want to start digging there since i wouldnt be able to get to this thread for a little bit.

 

[fudgecakes99]

i cant answer right now since i'm heading out... but you might want to look up "amplifier for he-500 head fi" on google and see if you can find a few head-fi threads on the issue. some headfiers really know their stuff and have personally used lots of equipment.

all i can say is that in general schiit is a good company. i'm more familiar with the magni/modi but i'm sure the other products they offer are good as well. i'm just not sure off the top of my head (without researching) if they are suitable for the he-500 or not. i'd suggest you look into that a bit on head fi.

not to brush you off or anything, just thought if you wanted a quicker answer you might want to start digging there since i wouldnt be able to get to this thread for a little bit.

No, thanks a ton! I'll look into the forum.