GRcade

Hello all,

I'm looking for some new over-ear, closed-back headphones. My current pair (Sony MDR-V500DJ) have decent sound quality, but are just too uncomfortable for long periods of use and I've had enough. I'm looking for a pair suitable for everything: games, music, films and for musical instruments (guitar's mainly) which have minimal sound leakage. Passive noise-cancellation is also a bonus. Overall size isn't too much of an issue, but the weight of the cable could be.

I've been looking at two pairs of Sennheisers:

HD280 Pro: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD28 ... roduct_top (slightly over-budget)

and it's cheaper cousin:

HD 215: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-215- ... roduct_top

I've also heard good things about the Creative Aurvana series:

http://uk.store.creative.com/headphones ... 17088.aspx

Anyone on here have -or heard about - the above pairs? I'm very much open to any and all recommendations too as long as they tick all the boxes listed above.

Thanks!

I've owned the 215s for around 5 years now. Brilliant headphones for the price, and the cable is replaceable.

How do they compare to SR80's? I want some over-ear headphones, but don't want to sacrifice the sweet sound of Grados.

Monster beats

*leaves thread*

I wouldn't get monster beats. Overpriced for the brand name


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Coming from the person that spent 500 odd quid in a tablet?

I got these last year - sound quality and clarity is immense. Unfortunately, though they're now cheaper they're still sitting at £135.

Ginga wrote:I got these last year - sound quality and clarity is immense. Unfortunately, though they're now cheaper they're still sitting at £135.

Looking at reviews I think they'd be a pair to consider. I like the look of them a lot.

glowy69 wrote:Coming from the person that spent 500 odd quid in a tablet?

but it is the best tablet available right?

Wheres with headphones Monster Beats aren't the best for the money spent. Having said that though I got the Bose AE2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bose-47684-Bose ... 708&sr=1-1 they are extremely comfortable though

I think the op should look for some Sennheiser ones.

Holpil wrote:

Ginga wrote:I got these last year - sound quality and clarity is immense. Unfortunately, though they're now cheaper they're still sitting at £135.

Looking at reviews I think they'd be a pair to consider. I like the look of them a lot.

They're open-backed unfortunately. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I was really impressed by the 250s when I would use my housemate's pair.

I have hd 448s. They're very well built with very comfy cups completely covering my ears at least. The cable is rigorously tough enough but also light and very flexible without knotting or twisting whatever I seem to do with it. I've crushed the set a few times and it bounces back. Had them 3 years now so know them well.

Sonically they are reasonably balanced with a mid treble peak that seems to accentuate things like snare, hihats, electronic drums and snappy pop/electronica sounds, which seems suited to most popular music. But they also do very well for all types of music and games/films without much displaying this characteristic, which lent me to forgive them eventually (as I was used to flat high end studio monitors when I got them, and very balanced shure IEMs similar to e2c). Detail across the spectrum is very good although extremely busy and heavy tracks like Muse Black Holes & Revelations can seem a bit muddy as there is so much going on. They have a good bass response, tight and not overblown. But they need to be driven hard by a good output level/amp to get much punch out of them. Overall they are a well balanced set with excellent details and sound stage but perhaps slightly sharp, occasionally overtly so, in the mid treble area as they seem aimed at commercial music but with a high detail and balanced capability over all. Note that might be my ears though, which are somewhat hypersensitive. Sudden treble peaks can irritate me as a result. But the frequency response charts seem to support this peak existing in the design.

This set is rated 5 star in many places like What Hifi but is not necessarily the best option for a totally balanced, studio like set. I got them for about £60 including HMV gift card so not so pricey. The rrp would probably be worth it for the build, comfort and versatility, but they're not perfect.

I don't think you can really go wrong with a Sennheiser set in general. I've never noted any pair for being disadvantaged, except possibly cx300s fall apart eventually like most entry level IEMs.

I definitely think Senns cans have a comfort advantage but find most sets will rub on your ears a bit if you wear them for hours, unless you can find a set with absolutely massive round cans.

Can't comment on the other model, never tried it.

The head-fi community is a good place to go for detailed subjective and objectives reviews. Headroom is another site that is more succinct with mini reviews on most models with frequency response charts.

If you are listening to a wide range of sources then the utmost important thing is a balanced frequency response. It should be as linear as possible so there is no bias. Then just add eq to taste in iTunes or whatever you use. Otherwise you are buying into a subjective sound that you are pretty much stuck with, or drivers that just don't reproduce certain parts of the spectrum well (possibly inducing distortion at higher levels). Concerning distortion you will generally find that in lower end to mid range sets with inadequate or flawed drivers. So watch out for reports of distortion in reviews. It's horrible and you won't want to listen.

Sound stage is also important. This is how effectively the headphones reproduce a balanced and full, yet clear impression of the stereo image. This has more to do with the type of drivers and their integration into the headset design and materials and is difficult to gauge without reading a detailed review and of course, listening yourself where possible.

Beats are average headphones designed and priced at plebs whom equate RRP, packaging and popularity to quality. There is no excuse to own a pair other than utter nativity.

theheadphones wrote:this website also has some great headphones as well like [url]edited[/url], sony headphones, skullcandy headphones, beats headphones, sennheiser headphones

Thank you Headphone bot overlord!

I just scrolled up this thread from the bottom and thought "strawberry float me this is tl;dr". Then I saw my username.