If you’re open to trying IEMs… I’d give the Blon 03 a try, given your preference in music… and wanting something closed back and isolating. It’s inexpensive and tuned exceptionally well for that type of music.
And you can order it with a mic if you want to use it for voice chat while gaming…
It’s recommended to upgrade from the stock cable at some point since the one it comes with is a bit cheap/janky feeling…
Some reviews.
Honestly, I’m not sure I can think of a better headphone under $300 for Kpop/Jpop… given how nice their bass is.
Maybe a good option for you might be the Beyer MMX 300 as well…
Closed back, good for gaming and music. Has a boom mic.
Has a good review from Zeos. Under $250.
The DT880 is clean , but if you’re treble sensitive you’ll want to eq it down just a bit… Maybe
I’m with a few others though. I’d get a $100-$150
Archel 2 pro, liquid spark, Magni heresy, JDS lab atom. Any of those are great choices.
Then I’d look at the $100 DAC maybe a topping or Modi3
Then I’d spend the last $150-180 on a decent set of cans. 58x, he4xx, dt880 250 or 600ohm
You’ll have a much better overall experience with a solid chain vs good headphones on a pc sound card… Plus you’ll be setup to buy better or should I say different good headphones later if you choose.
Edit: the 880 probably won’t let you used the mic as the cables is not detachable
idk i had a soundcard from creative that sounded pretty good. had a amped port also. headphones are the most important part. I wouldnt get the modi, i hated how high it made teh treble and theres teh compression. a topping d10 or smsl m100, but i think a khadas tone board is the best at 99$
I have the DT770, good clean sound big soundstage. But yeah i have been told the DT880 is much better. @M0N even mentioned that out of his “cheaper” headphones those are the ones he uses the most. or something along those lines. Not the 80 ohm version, but can’t remember if it was the 250 or 600 either. In addition if @Keaxihr loves bass i was told the bass in the 880s is better not to mention with the DT770 being super bright i think it wouldn’t really be their style
actually disagree, i listen to ALOT of kpop. and out of the stuff i have the BLONS are the only earphone i NEVER listen to kpop with. Most kpop except some from the big three companies is recorded with top heavy styles, vocals, stringed instruments and everything is usually more located in the highs. With the BLONS most kpop is actually almost boring, very lackluster. something that never happened with Tins or other headphones
Lol, poor guy only wanting a clear answer and getting contradictory messages everywhere…
Let’s just say… “No one” is saying the JDS Labs Atom is bad, and “no one” is saying the HD58Xs are bad, and no one is saying planars (or balanced earphones) suck for bass.
Inexpensive, “too good for the price” for some:
-JDS Labs Atom amp, 100$.
-Sennheiser HD58X open-back headphones with actual bass and sub-bass, 150$
-Fostex T50RP closed-back planar headphones (150$) plus (mandatory) Shure 840 pads (20$) are the cheapest planars you can get.
-But if you’re new to everything and don’t want to spend that much, KZ AS06 are full-balanced, bassy earphones for 35$, and they remind me of my T50RPs.
But even with 35$ earphones I’d still recommend the 100$ atom, especially with the 35$ earphones actually, because accidental 100% volume on this could kill your ears. You just need a physical volume knob anyway.
Honestly I would reccomend the HE4XX. One of the best starter planars you can get. Only $130, although they would need pretty decent amplifier to bring out their best. They emphasize on bass and treble, with the midrange dialed back, so V shaped.
The other one would be the HD58X. It has really good imaging and nice detail, and will have a warmer sound than the HE4XX.
Both of those headphones are open back.
If you want a good closed back, I would recommend the Sivga 006. Really nice comfort with good sound isolation. They lean towards dark with the treble dialed back. Easily portable too.
Another good closed back is the DT 770 Pro 250 ohm. They are very V shaped sound and have really good bass and nice highs. They aren’t that hard to power as 250 ohm headphones go.
And one other closed back that gets a lot of mixed opinions is the 1More Triple Driver. There is more sub bass than the DT 770, practically shaking sub bass. There is almost no midrange, not saying that is necessarily a bad thing though if you like it. The high and treble is very forward, and is very apparent, but not as sharp as the DT 770. If you love bass and treble, and don’t care too much about midrange, the Triple Driver is good. If you want slightly more midrange and don’t mind sharper high notes, the DT 770 250 ohm would be good.
So those are just some ideas. All under 150 dollars so you could spend a little bit on a good amp to make them sound better.
I don’t know about that, the 770 does have good OK bass but i don’t know if i would ever boast about it. And i don’t think it’s got a V signature, altho it’s mids are sort of lacking in comparison
Even Zeos said that it has a pretty recessed midrange, with “sharp highs and excellent sub-bass.” I would agree with him. Maybe not the whole bass range, but the sub bass is definitely there.
But hifimans are unreliable (they’re just… the Ferrari of headphones). And I’m treble-sensitive so I forgot about em and they apparently got a 10khz peak. So that’s two risks for me. Edit: AND you can mod T50RPs so much it’s hard to find infos about these, unmodified.
I obviously got nothing against Hifiman (or Ferrari) owners though. Shrugs. But I’d buy with warranty only just to be sure. I never even thought about warranty when I bought my HD58X and my T50RPs on eBay…
My DT880 have WAY more treble compared to the HE4XX. I wasn’t expecting that much treble when I got them. I think the HE4xx feel more quality, and I think they feel better on my head as well compared to the DT880. I can’t say how they compare to the T50rp. I’d like to get a set of T50 to try.
You need a really good amplifier to run the T50 or any T50 mods correctly though. The two costs put together would be quite expensive.
I still think the HD58X or the HE4XX or any of the other ones I suggested with a lower end amplifier would be less costly and very enjoyable.
Guys I really don’t like this go as cheap as you can go thing. Read the original users post, he gave his budget in his post, which was 350 maybe 30 more. he said primarily he wanted it for music. and he said if open sounded better than close he would go for that. He said he was satisfied with the sound card… I use the sound card before and I found it to be very satisfactory if it’s a good one. If not he can always get an amp later. The headphones are the most important part of the signal chain. that’s why I made the suggestion I made. The m570 are the best sounding headphones I can think of for under 350$ and if he didn’t want that I suggested the other headphones: Sundara’s or the Audeze El-8, M1060, T60rp, Verum ones, Meze 99 Classics.
I already did the start cheap thing with headphones and it just wasted a lot of my time I didn’t get a headphone I was satisfied with until I went over the $300 range. I haven’t tried the he4 or the Sennheiser 58x but if they’re selling for 130 bucks I doubt they’re going to sound as good as a $350 headphone. He wanted sound quality.
I did see that the M1060 are priced on Amazon at $300. That actually may be a really good choice.
And just because something is a lower price than another thing doesn’t mean it has worse “sound quality”. Every headphone is different, and while some of the more expensive ones may be better in more ways, there are still some things that a lower cost headphone may do better. Not everything has to be expensive to be good, but I do understand what you are saying.
I also forgot, the Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon are $249 on Amazon and don’t really need an amplifier. Those are cool headphones. I can confirm since they are my favorite headphone I have ever tried.
