despotic931 said:
I don't find the grado's "bright" per se, but definitely "clear" and a little hi fi. I don't think that a $60 headphone is the end all and be all, but I haven't heard anything at 3x their price that competes (except other headphones in the grado series). I haven't heard the more expensive RS series though. Most stores tend not to just have a pair lying about for casual listening.
despotic931 said:Thanks for the direction to "headroom.com", and sorry about the grammar slip up, lol the girlfriend is always giving me a hard time so I'm pretty used to it (I slip up quite often).
Thank You
You're welcome. I'm also curious about the 600 & 650 Sennheiser's. I have friends that use their dj series, and am pretty impressed with them compared to the other crap in that market. They also seem to have a dedicated headphone following, and most reviewers use them as their reference. Must be something to them.
http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/567089b73c33056f/index.html
Air Dynamic (open) headphones for natural and high quality sounds with deep resonating bass and vocal projection
Full open-air type headphones produce no sense of pressure on the ears, resulting in a completely natural sensation
Lightweight honeycomb aluminum casing and magnesium frame structure.Large-aperture 53 mm drivers with neodymium magnet systems and CCAW voice coils for superior sound reproduction.
Self-adjusting 3D Wing Support Housing provides comfortable support for a more enjoyable listening experience.
High-quality hybrid PCOCC and titanium alloy cord.
Extremely comfortable velvet ear-fitting pads.
Gold-plated stereo 1/8" (3.5 mm) connector with 1/4" (6.3 mm) adapter
Frequency Response 5 – 30,000 Hz
http://www.audio-technica.com/cgi-b.../headphones.pl?select_3=Audiophile Headphones
Some more of their stuff, glad to see they are still in business.
Air Dynamic (open) headphones for natural and high quality sounds with deep resonating bass and vocal projection
Full open-air type headphones produce no sense of pressure on the ears, resulting in a completely natural sensation
Lightweight honeycomb aluminum casing and magnesium frame structure.Large-aperture 53 mm drivers with neodymium magnet systems and CCAW voice coils for superior sound reproduction.
Self-adjusting 3D Wing Support Housing provides comfortable support for a more enjoyable listening experience.
High-quality hybrid PCOCC and titanium alloy cord.
Extremely comfortable velvet ear-fitting pads.
Gold-plated stereo 1/8" (3.5 mm) connector with 1/4" (6.3 mm) adapter
Frequency Response 5 – 30,000 Hz
http://www.audio-technica.com/cgi-b.../headphones.pl?select_3=Audiophile Headphones
Some more of their stuff, glad to see they are still in business.
Re: AKG 501
I had the K401's, which is what spurred me to purchase the K701s. The 701s are basically everything that's good about the 401/501, with more bass.
Also, with grados, I do find them to sound a bit harsh with most solid-state gear. I much prefer listening to them on my tube-based amps. Comfort is also a big issue with them, as their ear pads generally suck.
The K701's are the most comfortable cans I've worn with the exception of the Audio Technica ATH W-1000, which are probably the next set of headphones I'm going to pick up.
For those looking for the ultimate budget headphones, the Koss KSC-75 cannot be beaten. You can find them as low as $12-15 on the internet, or when they're on sale at Radio Shack. Almost as good as the Grado SR-60's at 1/5th the price!
tgorham3 said:
I had the K401's, which is what spurred me to purchase the K701s. The 701s are basically everything that's good about the 401/501, with more bass.
Also, with grados, I do find them to sound a bit harsh with most solid-state gear. I much prefer listening to them on my tube-based amps. Comfort is also a big issue with them, as their ear pads generally suck.
The K701's are the most comfortable cans I've worn with the exception of the Audio Technica ATH W-1000, which are probably the next set of headphones I'm going to pick up.
For those looking for the ultimate budget headphones, the Koss KSC-75 cannot be beaten. You can find them as low as $12-15 on the internet, or when they're on sale at Radio Shack. Almost as good as the Grado SR-60's at 1/5th the price!
KP11520 said:I am still slumming around with my 30 year old Koss Pro 4A headphones. I never felt a need to think about new ones because I don't use them much. But 30 years is a long time and there should be something better out there by now! LOL
Regards//Keith
I have actually heard the newest reincarnation of the Pro 4-A's, great studio headphones for the money, but I wouldn't want to spend hours listening to them as I didn't find them very comfortable.
I have heard great things about the Stax line of headphones, however even the lower end units are out of my price range, and honestly don't look very comfortable.
Am I wrong in making the assumption that "closed back" = "listening fatigue"?
I had a pair of the grado sr-60's that I was very fond of. They lasted me for about 10 yrs before beginning to disintegrate. I bought them when the hype first hit, around '94 I think.
They actually sounded distinctly fatiging at first. I couldn't listen to them for long, but I was young and poor and didn't replace them. After about a year I noticed that I was really liking them a lot. I'm not sure when the break-in actually took place. In the beginning they really clamped on my head, but the band is springy metal and after flexing that backward a couple of times they loosened up. A replacement of the original pads with bigger, puffier ones helped a lot as well.
I orignially bought them based on the hype, and got a less impressive headphone that I was expecting. But after living with them for a while I found a way around their problems, and then the listening experience became very good. So I can see how opinions on them might be widely divergant.
When the Grados died I replaced them with a ~$100 pair of sennheisers that were ranked 5-star on the HeadRoom site. They're not bad, but not anywhere near as involving or interesting to listen to. I've had them for a couple of years now. Maybe in another year they'll start to sound good? The HD-580's I've heard have sounded very smooth and nice, though.
They actually sounded distinctly fatiging at first. I couldn't listen to them for long, but I was young and poor and didn't replace them. After about a year I noticed that I was really liking them a lot. I'm not sure when the break-in actually took place. In the beginning they really clamped on my head, but the band is springy metal and after flexing that backward a couple of times they loosened up. A replacement of the original pads with bigger, puffier ones helped a lot as well.
I orignially bought them based on the hype, and got a less impressive headphone that I was expecting. But after living with them for a while I found a way around their problems, and then the listening experience became very good. So I can see how opinions on them might be widely divergant.
When the Grados died I replaced them with a ~$100 pair of sennheisers that were ranked 5-star on the HeadRoom site. They're not bad, but not anywhere near as involving or interesting to listen to. I've had them for a couple of years now. Maybe in another year they'll start to sound good? The HD-580's I've heard have sounded very smooth and nice, though.
Sorry,
I've Philips SBC HP890!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-SBCHP890-SBC-HP890-Headphones/dp/B000068TZ3
I've Philips SBC HP890!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-SBCHP890-SBC-HP890-Headphones/dp/B000068TZ3
The old Koss Pro 4A headphones are closed and over the ear. They can get irritating after a few hours but the ear surround is liquid filled and they are smooth from very low bass right to the top! So I'm not too sure I will ever replace them.
Nonetheless, I need to find a place to demo some of the better new ones, just to see (or hear).
In the 70s I had a quadraphonic German Import of "Dark Side of the Moon" on brand new vinyl with a new Shure V-15 III. It was amazingly quad even though the cartridge was stereo and the headphones really showed their stuff!
Regards//Keith
Nonetheless, I need to find a place to demo some of the better new ones, just to see (or hear).
In the 70s I had a quadraphonic German Import of "Dark Side of the Moon" on brand new vinyl with a new Shure V-15 III. It was amazingly quad even though the cartridge was stereo and the headphones really showed their stuff!
Regards//Keith
I have listened to quite a few high dollar headphones. I have some Sony MDR-V6 and after listening to headphones from Beyer, AKG, SEnnheiser (even kilobuck ones) I had no impulse to upgrade. I liked the old AKG 280's a bit better in the bass. Less bass but more articulate? The K1000's had an interesting sound, but in some ways it was even less speaker-like than headphones.
I am not a Grado fan. Their design has a certain retro flair, but it is not comfortable and the pads, instead of flaking off like the Sonys, get hard and nasty....
Sony MDR-V600's are extremely boomy, in my experience. IF you like those you should look for bass-heavy cans.
I am not a Grado fan. Their design has a certain retro flair, but it is not comfortable and the pads, instead of flaking off like the Sonys, get hard and nasty....
Sony MDR-V600's are extremely boomy, in my experience. IF you like those you should look for bass-heavy cans.
shallbehealed said:
Cute boy you have there!
guglielmope said:
Those look intriguing, as if I don't have enough choices already, hehe, thanks for the input though. I will have to look into the philips.
Ron E said:
I'm not a huge fan of my Sony's to be honest. I don't know if I would consider them boomy, there is a lot of bass floating around, but none of it well defined.
AdamThorne said:
Responded to your comment. Email is now open for business.
despotic931 said:
Thank you. We feel extremely happy.
Just to add something to this discussion:
I recently bought a pair of etymotics 6i's as I hate going outdoors with a big set of cans and my senn's px100 (not a bad little headphone) just don't cut out the noise. I'd heard that the etymotics can be a bit bright, so i went to the "bass enhanced" i version.
It's ridiculous on the amount of noise it filters out. It's essentially a hightech earplug with a tiny speaker. It sounds decent, and is orders of magnitude better than the ipod earbud. It's great for riding the bus, walking downtown. wherever you just want to filter out excess noise and do some "noncritical" listening.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
CW from top left: Grado SR225, Sennheiser HD580, Senn HD495, AKG K340.
The great thing about headphones is they're relatively affordable and don't take up much space, I've added a Grado RS-1 to my brood since the above picture was taken.
The K340 was my favourite for several years until I finally saved up enough money to buy an RS-1. The RS-1 with a tube amp is just magic, no it's not flat nor neutral, but it's got an amazingly rich tone which is to die for. It's kinda like Fuji Velvia film, it ain't for everything, but for the certain things nothing comes close to matching it. I find the RS-1 has a lot more detail & resolution than pretty much anything short of electrostats or the kilobuck headphones from Sony and Audio-Technica. It goes deep into the mix without sounding harsh or dry, it always plays music and it's always fun to listen to.
I can't recommend the K340 since it's long discontinued and there's huge variances in the sound between units, I've heard 4 or 5 of them now and have yet to hear two that sound the same. Then there's the amplification requirements, that gets pretty out of hand real fast.
Personally I'd go with either the Senn HD580 or Grado SR225, depending on how your system sounds. If your system leans towards the bright & crisp side I'd go with the HD580, anything else, go with the Grado. Unless you're a fan of large orchestral works, in which case the Grado will make things sound a little cramped.
aerius said:
Thanks for the awesome reply, makes me feel a bit better about the Grado's. I would swing for the SR325's though, since those are still within my budget. One question thought, you say the Grado's make orchestral works sound cramped, is that just your SR225's or the RS-1's as well?
-Justin
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