First set of Headphones

[pvpdavid]

So i have been using some pretty bad in ear buds for my music for a while. I want to get some high quality headphones, because I feel i could appreciate the music more if it sounded better. I don't know what to start off with, though. What type of headphone would you suggest for under $300, music quality is more important to me than the price. I listen to all genres of music, but i would prefer a stronger bass. Also, What's up with amplifiers are they worth the money, and should i get one to go along with the headphones.

Thanks for the help.

 

[shadyJ]

One set I can recommend is the Denon AH-D2000 headphones. They sound nice and crisp, they are comfortable, they have decent bass for headphones, and they don't really need a separate headphone amplifier, unlike many other higher-end headphones. You can find them for around 250 to 300. After doing a lot of research last year in my hunt for a nice set in that same price range, they were the ones I ended up with, and I really like them.

Head-fi.org is the big headphone place on the internet, that is the best place to ask for recommendations though

 

[bikemig]

Grado SR 60i

I like the Grado SR60i and they cost a heck of a lot less than $300. That would leave you plenty of money left over for an amplifier. I used to listen to the audio out on the computer with the Grados but I recently added a headphone amp (there is one built into the audioengine n-22 amp I bought) and it made a clear and positive difference.

With the better headphones, you might find that you'll notice the quality of the music you've ripped esp. at low bitrates. If you're looking for a headphone amp, you might want to check out the Fiio e9/e7 combo which is pretty slick since it combines a headphone amp, a usb dac, and you can use the e7 (when it's not docked) for travel.

 

[TLS Guy]

So i have been using some pretty bad in ear buds for my music for a while. I want to get some high quality headphones, because I feel i could appreciate the music more if it sounded better. I don't know what to start off with, though. What type of headphone would you suggest for under $300, music quality is more important to me than the price. I listen to all genres of music, but i would prefer a stronger bass. Also, What's up with amplifiers are they worth the money, and should i get one to go along with the headphones.

Thanks for the help.

I would strongly recommend Sennheiser. I bought these for my son and they are excellent.

As far as an amp is concerned it all depends on the quality of the headphone amp on the device you plug it into. High price of the unit is no guarantee.

A little while back a good friend bought some nice 2K Grado phones. When I listened to them they sounded sibilant, the strings were wiry and the brass harsh and bass was poor.

We were plugged into the phone jack of his very expensive MacIntosh pre amp.

So we went off to the Needle Doctor and tried some phone amps, and the phones sounded wonderful. So he bought a Grado headphone amp.

Back at his home I rigged up and A/B test level match and it was easy to tell the two apart blinded.

So Macintosh must have used very cheap and nasty phone amp chips. He did complain to Mac and they were honest enough to admit their headphone amp was indeed very nasty. Their excuse was that they thought anyone who owned a MAC would buy a phone amp! I was not impressed with that response.

When I use phones here I use the phone jack on my pro RME Fireface 800 DAC mixer. It sounds wonderful.

So I can't tell you if you will need a phone amp or not. If you need one when you own Mac gear then you might need it for a lot of other gear also.

I have to say I have personally never owned a piece of gear that had a headphone output that was anything less then exemplary.

 

[zhimbo]

So i have been using some pretty bad in ear buds for my music for a while. I want to get some high quality headphones, because I feel i could appreciate the music more if it sounded better. I don't know what to start off with, though. What type of headphone would you suggest for under $300, music quality is more important to me than the price. I listen to all genres of music, but i would prefer a stronger bass. Also, What's up with amplifiers are they worth the money, and should i get one to go along with the headphones.

Thanks for the help.

Amps are probably not necessary under most circumstances - I'll use a "Bithead" amp from Headroom (headphone.com) with laptop computers (and sometimes my portable player), because it's also an off-board sound card - and laptop sound can often be pretty crappy. Headroom amps also have a nice crossfeed feature that has a subtle but real effect at making headphones sound a little more natural, like listening to speakers, so that's a nice little bonus. I would never spend the mega-money for the really expensive amps, though some headphone models do benefit.

There are TONS of great options under $300. Do you think you want sealed headphones (that block out some outside noise, and keep the sound in as well)? Do you want them to be portable - and how portable?

The Grados mentioned are nice for the price, but are an open design - they let sound in and out pretty freely. Open designs typically sound better at any given price point, but that's a pretty loose rule.

If you really want to spend in the $200-$300 range, personally I'd be looking at Sennheiser (for open headphones) or the Denons (for sealed), but there are many other great options - and if you like things a little bass heavy, you might not be pleased with either of those, as they tend to be more neutral (esp. the Sennheisers).

 

[shadyJ]

From what I have read the higher end Sennheisers really benefit from a headphone amp. Excellent brand though, I have some HD280s which still sound great after many years and LOTS of abuse. If you are considering a particular pair of Sennheiser, ask around about them at head-fi.org, the massive wealth of knowledge in that place is at your disposal. Make sure to ask how it fares on typical headphone jacks as opposed to headphone amps.

 

[Vracer111]

So i have been using some pretty bad in ear buds for my music for a while. I want to get some high quality headphones, because I feel i could appreciate the music more if it sounded better. I don't know what to start off with, though. What type of headphone would you suggest for under $300, music quality is more important to me than the price. I listen to all genres of music, but i would prefer a stronger bass. Also, What's up with amplifiers are they worth the money, and should i get one to go along with the headphones.

Thanks for the help.

How will you be listening - at home or also for travel/outside of home? I love the Denon AH-D2000 for audio quality...bass level, responsiveness, and pressurization is excellent (goes down to 4Hz, nice and tight-accurate response, and you can FEEL the bass besides hearing it - it totally outperforms my HT system setup). Only thing is it's a heavy/larger headphone that is really best for home listening only. But it does a great job with all types of music. SACD and Blu-Ray lossless audio is just heavenly too.

 

[sholling]

I really like Ultimate Ears' TripleFi 10. They're easy to drive with a portable and are good enough to give many $300 over the ear headphones a serious run for their money. The key to getting bass from an IEM is the fit. They need to be snug enough to get a grip on the ear canal and give it some leverage to pressurize the ear canal so plan on investing in tips until you find tips that work best for you. I plan to have a custom set of tips made for mine in a few month. An additional advantage is that because the noise isolation is so complete you soon discover that you don't need as much volume to hear all of the details in the music - possibly saving your hearing.

FYI the standard TripleFi 10 are just for playing music. The "VI" version adds a mic for use with a cellphone/media player.

 

[dkane360]

How will you be listening - at home or also for travel/outside of home? I love the Denon AH-D2000 for audio quality...bass level, responsiveness, and pressurization is excellent (goes down to 4Hz, nice and tight-accurate response, and you can FEEL the bass besides hearing it - it totally outperforms my HT system setup). Only thing is it's a heavy/larger headphone that is really best for home listening only. But it does a great job with all types of music. SACD and Blu-Ray lossless audio is just heavenly too.

Do you use a separate headphone amp? I've been looking for closed headphones for a while, and these look like they fit the bill.