Let's talk Headphones, anyone got a nice pair of cans?

[fwphoto]

I find it interesting that there are so many Senn fans here - I always felt they were dark or veiled sounding (esp. the 650), which seems to be opposite of wat we want in our speakers! I would have guessed there would be more Grado fans here, actually.

I like Grados, too, but the HD600s are sooooooooo comfy! :-)

I don't find them dark or veiled either but that's just my ears.

Frank W.

[sunnysal]

I have Sennheiser HD580 and Grado SR60 and SR225.

My faves are the grado SR225, I prefer the the less laid back sound and the treble register just rings truer to me than the Senns. I guees I just like the Grado sound, BTW they sound closer to Klipschorns than any other phones I have tried in my system.

Depending on budget you might consider the Grado SR-80 mentioned earlier, I loved those phones as well and ended up giving them to my brother when I got my SR225.

Regards, Tony

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I find it interesting that there are so many Senn fans here - I always felt they were dark or veiled sounding (esp. the 650), which seems to be opposite of wat we want in our speakers! I would have guessed there would be more Grado fans here, actually.

I like Grados, too, but the HD600s are sooooooooo comfy! :-)

I don't find them dark or veiled either but that's just my ears.

Frank W.

I have the 580's and they do not seem dark or veiled. But, Klipsch speakers can be very different depending on front end. I temporarily have a pair of Cornwalls temporatily in my living room and they are not bright, edgy or harsh at all with my front end equipment (solid state equipment, who would have guessed?). And we all know that these can be very harsh with the wrong equipment, or "exciting and edgy" depending on point of view (not to say that the Grado's are harsh, never heard them).

I find the 580's to be very smooth and detailed without any harshness. I can listen for hours without fatigue from their sound or discomfort from wearing them. I really think that the HD600's with a Nuforce uDac wil be what I wind up getting. Maybe a different Dac/Amp, I don't know yet.

[bungles]

I own HD280's and 595's and I have to say they both sound very nice. I'm sure the 600's with an amp would be better but I'm certainly not unhappy with what I hear.

[russ69]

Tiger,

The Grados are nice and warm , very musical...........like my Heresys with my tube amps (el-34), warm cables and warm pre-amp. Very nice mid-range. FYI.

Thanx, Russ

[33RPM]

I picked the Beyers since they sound like, IMO, a happy medium between Senns and Grados. Grados can occasionally sound harsh or "shouty" and Senns dark (or too laid back) on my gear. The Beyers have the laid-back bass and mids of Senns and the treble sparkle of Grados like the SR-225 or SR-325i. AKG's are supposed to fall in the middle ground as well, though I've not tried them. Both the Beyers and AKG's aren't terribly sensitive cans and benefit from "tube bloom" since their mids are either very neutral or slightly recessed, depending on who you ask. Low-powered solid-state gear (like portable players and computer headphone jacks) need not apply.

FWIW, I've owned all of the Grado models (except for the GS-1000) at one point or another but have gradually moved away from them, except for a pair of SR-60s for my iPhone.

[Thaddeus Smith]

I have beyer dt990's with a firestone audio amp ..love it. it just wasn't getting enough use and so i've had it up for sale/trade for a few weeks. but then i built out my home office this last weekend and it sits nicely there. i'm rethinking and am probably going to hold onto them ..even if it is only for ocassional use.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Tiger,

The Grados are nice and warm , very musical...........like my Heresys with my tube amps (el-34), warm cables and warm pre-amp. Very nice mid-range. FYI.

Thanx, Russ

Unfortunately, I do not have a chance to hear the Grados or the Beyers. Hard to audition equipment here.

The only thing that I have to go off of is all the hoopla on the internet and my oldSennheiser 433's (nothing special and not involving at all, like earbuds, worth every penny of $20 8 years ago but just not anything to get excited about), Sennheiser 600's or 650's on a Benchmark DAC1 that I heard at THE Show for 30 seconds, and my long term audition of the Sennheiser 580's that I borrowed from a friend. I will probably use these for a while before making a decision, not need to hurry, he has been using my Tercel II for a long time and has it right now.

[Invidiosulus]

They are rather old nowadays but I like my HD414's.

My laptop drives them ok, my wife tried them on her laptop and they wouldn't get loud enough.

Back to the sony earbuds for her.

[ClaudeJ1]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the vernerable AKG-240's with the 6 passive radiators. They will do bass down to 18 hz!!. Paid about $75 for mine and they are still the industry standard in recording studios 34 years later.

Had the Stax Mk III's which didnt' have as much bass and about the same detail so I got rid of them as they were less comfortable than the AKG's and way more expensive. Also you had to have the box hooked up to an amplifier.

I used to think headphones were more detailed than speakers, even my Khorns of 30 years. Now that I have my "MWM stack" that is not the case. Speakers have more detail.

[Rivernuggets]

I've been using the Sennheiser HD280 pro phones and am very pleased. A little weak in the bass, but I haven't tried a seperate amp.

Hope I don't get thrown out here, but I've been using Radio Shack's Optimus Pro35's for over ten years with my cd walkman, minidisc, and now MP3 player, and they are suprisingly good (in the mobile audio application). Gone through three sets of pads over the years.

[joshnich]

I have a pair of Sennheiser PXC 350 's that I use exclusively for traveling. IMO they are fantastic for listening to music or watching movies on the iphone. The noise cancellation function is great for airplane rides. I couldnt live without them!

josh