I’m sending an old friend I game with my old schiit stack and we’ve been talking about headphones for the past couple of weeks.
He says his max budget is $200USD(maybe $250, and I’d be winning to throw in a few bucks to get better pads).
I told him to get argons, but I’m not sure if he wants to wait 9 weeks to get that.
He is not an audiophile, while I am trying to convert him into being one, he will naturally go for a headphone that he likes the look of more so than sound quality.
The only things that I know if that the clamping force has to be fairly light because he wears glasses, detachable cables are a must as he gets up and forgets his headphones are on his head sometimes and he would prefer a closed back because of sound leakage.
What about something like the blue mix-fi? Closed and in that price range, and I would say it’s more of a fashion can
Edit: the Lola is a passive choice, I forgot the mix fi had an amp
Edit 2: the meze 99 neo or noir is a choice as well
Edit 3: the mdr1am2 is also worthwhile looking into. It’s just hard to think of good fashion minded headphones
Edit 4: and there’s always something like the M50x or M60x to consider as well
I’m trying to avoid fashion headphones, I’m just going to give him a list and he’s going to pick one.
Meze 99 Noirs are on my current list though.
It took 3 different drops to get him to buy Tin T2s for $35 because he didn’t understand how they could be better than the apple earbuds he found at his job.
M40X is on the list, M50/60x.
Edit: he wasn’t against buying the Argons because he thought they were really cool looking. He has weird taste
Sorry I misread, I thought you said that appearance was pretty important
No, he will pick something that he thinks looks nice over something that has good sound quality because he doesn’t yet understand the importance of sound quality.
EDIT: Originally he wanted to buy a pair of Ether C flows, but this was when he though the most expensive headphones could get were $350.
lol. Another one could be the dekoni blues or another premade t50 mod. Possibly you could have him get something like this, then when he figures out what good sound is like, then convince him on argon’s. You want to take it slow and don’t jump to high end right away with this kind of a person. You also want to make a compromise and sort of respect what they like, and let them choose what they want the most. Then when they realize what good sound is, then you go harder on pushing sound over style
I’ve known him for well over a decade, if I don’t push him to do something he won’t ever do it.
But he wants the T60s, I’ll throw him the extra $100 so he can stay in his budget.
I actually forgot dekoni blues exist though, so that goes on the list
T60s are good, I just didn’t recommend them since they’re going to be running off of a schiit stack. I don’t think schiit stuff sounds good with planars imo
Edit: the dt770 pro 250 ohms are also good, perfect example of sound over style (but no detach cable)
Also 1more triple drivers, forgot about those
He will break the Dt770 within a day. Detachable cables are a must with him.
1more triples are on the list currently, he just hasn’t made a comment about them yet.
I don’t think planars sound bad with schiit stuff, I’ve used T60s on a schiit stack before and it sounded just fine to me but sound is all subjective.
Yeah, just a bit too compressed sounding to me. M&D MH40 is another one, but I haven’t heard it
Focal listens are nice as well
M560’s perhaps? Can be semi closed or open.
Didn’t the M560 have build quality issues or am i thinking of the 1060s? M560 might actually be a thing with him.
M1060s have build quality issues. The 560 are built really well in comparison
These might actually work pretty well then. Thank you for that.
Sure thing, they won’t isolate as well as some of the aforementioned options, but it’s kinda nice to have something that could be open and closed, and sound pretty good as well. Wouldn’t say really high end, but definitely good enough for someone just starting
Yeah, I’m not expecting him to get a headphone that is worth more than his car.
Either way, more suggestions are good but the idea of being able to switch from open to closed might make him want them a fair bit.
The hifiman edition s are also of a similar design principal, but the build quality is pretty cheap
Nighthawk carbons also might be something to look at. I’m starting to run out of options I’ve listened to, if I can think of anything else off of the top of my head, I’ll let you know.
I’ll add nighthawks to the list. I have to try and avoid things with build quality issues for a few reasons.