My current headphones are Sennheiser PC37X. My main problem with them is the lack of bass. I can barely tell it’s there, at times.
The main reason I’m looking for alternatives is because I can’t find any, hassle free, ways of buying a pair. I have contacted Beyerdynamic and they won’t ship to Romania directly, and their local suppliers can’t get them without the microphone, so I’m not really interested. Have looked at other options as well, and I am 99% sure I can’t get them without a huge headache.
I have been recommended the Sennheiser HD 560s, seem ok, but I’m not sure they fit into what I want?
What I have seen in other threads about this topic:
Fidelio X2HR: They’re about 260 dollars new, and about 200 dollars used, so it doesn’t look that great to me;
SHP9500: Somewhat similar situation to the above, quite expensive;
DT 880: I don’t have an AMP at the moment. Trying to get that sorted, but there’s another massive issue here.
What I would like: Not very bassy headphones, but above neutral, at least a bit. For the rest, I am not too sure, as I haven’t listened to many headphones to form an opinion.
What I want to use them for: primarily gaming but also movies and listening to music.
Budget is about 200$. Maybe a bit more.
My main questions:
Are there any others I should take into consideration?
What kind of music do you listen to right now… I’m thinking the HD 58x seems to fit the bill, mostly neutral good for gaming. The bass is a little north of neutral
Just checked where I could get them. They’re Drop exclusive, as far as I can tell. And Drop ended their EU store last year, just after I got my PC37X. Importing the HD 58x is gonna have significant fees on top. Going somewhere around 240$.
Not sure why you got recommended that… it’s not bassy just extremely neutral. Sounds great buuuut probably not what your looking for. 58x I find the bass a little more present HD 598 is a good alternative if you cant find 58x. Some of the 600 series are good too but only if you want narrow soundstage.
Muddy bass but extremely smooth… I honestly really like these… great warm budget headphones with a massive soundstage.
Only if you modify these… these are bass lite out of the box. The bassy one is 9600, x2hr, or these post mod.
Not bad on the bass at all but this is another bright headphone. If you wanted bass 770 or 990 would be better… still 880 are fantastic
X2hr may be a bit much but it’s not too bad. The rest are solid options
Casual or competitive?
What your searching for is rather vague in terms of sound… it would help us narrow it down if we knew your preference a bit more. All we know is you want a bit of raised bass and you currently use a bass anemic bright gaming headset. There’s a large variety of signatures… if you prefer bright with bass your looking at a harman curve or v signature kind of headphone. Dt 880 and 58x sound like they would fit the bill for you spot on as of current…
The other issue is… you need an amp… driving any of these without one is going to pose issues… I suggest looking into a bassy gaming headset at that point
Pc38x fixes the bass issue… the only other I can think of is astro a40s which iirc comes with an amp/dac and software equalizer
I forgot to add I that I would like a good sound stage and decent imaging.
It’s why I’m not looking to invest much in the headphones at the moment. I am, mostly, trying to get some to test, since I don’t really live anywhere near a big audio shop that allows testing
Regarding this, I was looking around the forum, and most posts that I found were mentioning the Asgard 3, which hasn’t been in stock in Europe since April, and will probably not be in stock for another 6 months, very likely, as covid is flaring up again, sadly
I have seen other people recommend Topping L30, but it sounds like it isn’t that great of an option for what I want. I have a Topping E30 to go with it, but visuals are secondary, to me.
Sadly, Drop exclusive. And while I am not against looking around markets and stuff, for people who are looking to sell theirs, right now sending and receiving stuff, is a headache, from places like these, with covid flaring. Some firms even shut down non-comercial package sending, especially between countries.
I wouldn’t worry too much on an expensive amp to start with. Look into something like toppings a30 it’s not the best but gets it done… better alternatives are liquid spark, jds atom, schiit magni 3+ / heresy. All of these are typically at $100 but can be found cheaper.
This really doesnt narrow anything down… it’s incredibly vague. I’m not sure what you define as good or decent. At the same time still not sure on your sound preferences aka bass, vocals, treble, detail, depth, etc
This is a rather unorthodox suggestion but I would try a pair of Koss KSC75s with yaxi pads. They will have good stage while delivering decent lows and great highs. Plus they are cheap to start narrowing down what you are looking for.
Your welcome! The next suggestion I think I would try the hifiman 4xx/400i. 4xx will have more bass but the stage on both is huge for how cheap they are.
He’d be better with the shp9500 as it also is a bright signature but cheaper at that point. Can probably toss in the cheap kph30i if he wants to try a nice warm signature at a very cheap price
