I’m just starting to learn about HiFi and I’ve been reading in the forums for a couple of months until I finally decided to sign up. Somehow, after reading so much, I started to develop some kind of trust for you. I know it’s weird.
I’m trying to get off the noob headsets (currently using Logitech G35) and I would appreciate your guidance in choosing headphones that could suit my needs.
I need an all-rounder for daily and desktop use only. Open-back, as I need to be able to hear my surroundings a little bit better and I’m tired of closed-backs.
I will be using these headphones 80% of the time mostly for movies, TV-shows, youtube and ofc music. I think immersive, bassy, warm and comfy sound signatures would be nice for me in this area.
However, here comes the challenge, I do some gaming also. I used to be competitive in FPS before but I just don’t have the time anymore so I’m more on the casual gaming now, although I still would like the headphones to be somewhat usable in FPS games. A wide soundstage and decent imaging are therefore desirable.
I understand that some of my requirements above could be contradictory and I’m sorry for that. I’m just on the quest of finding a good balance as I don’t have the funds nor the knowledge to hassle with multiple headphones and different setups.
Maybe to combine the headphones with something like the Sound BlasterX G6 DAC could be a solution? I like the idea of switching/tweaking the sound with a press of a button. What do you think?
No need to consider the mic situation. As for DAC/AMP, I don’t have any right now but I’m looking into it, I think I need to buy the headphones first.
My budget for headphones is around $300, could pay a bit more if it’s worth it. I have been looking into the following alternatives that are available for me in Europe through thomann.de and eBay:
AKG K712 PRO (lacks in bass?)
Sennheiser HD 600, HD 650, HD 660S (all are new 2019 versions acc. to thomann.de)
Massdrop HD 6xx
Beyerdynamics TYGR 300R, DT 880/990 (although I’m a bit overwhelmed by the many different versions and conflicting reviews, also they are too demanding with the 600 ohms versions)
Sooo, what are your thoughts? What am I missing in the list? Your help is much appreciated, thanks!
They are not bass monsters (= not ideal if you listen to techno, DnB, etc), but they have nice low for Jazz, Orchestral, etc.
I use mine for movies and casual gaming (and music, off course).
For 230€, I would buy them again
Going of reviews for the DT-990 (I don’t own one), they exchange stage (compared to the K-712) for low end. Just keep in mind Beyerdynamic has a V-signature (elevated bass and treble), depending on your ears, the treble may be a problem.
The 6xx would be nice, but at 300 ohms would be pushing without an amp (DAC helps, but can run from the 3.5mm out on the motherboard in a pinch). For warmth, the 58x at 150 ohms might suit your needs better if you can get it. Stage is close, but imaging is pretty good for casual gaming, from what I’ve read. I have the 58x, but don’t game, so ymmv.
Alternatively, something like a Fidelio X2HR might work. Wide stage, but imaging is less precise. Some find the treble a little sharp at a couple peaks, but I really enjoyed mine while I had them. They have great bass extension for an open back and can be pretty immersive for movies and such.
I’m a staunch supporter of the HD600 in this case. I’ve been using them upwards of 10+ years for gaming and music. They’re a fantastic choice. They’ve got great ergonomics and comfort, good locations to fasten a ModMic both on the side of the headset and clamp on the cable.
The AKG K7XX headphones are not bad for gaming, but I do feel that they’re slightly lacking in the bass department, not by much though. I think the main issue with them is that they’re too light on the head. They’re only a few grams lighter than the HD6XX. But the clamp is so weak it feels like I can fling them off my head with the slightest movement. I much prefer the headband adjustment on the HD6XX too, they sit much firmer and give a better seal around the ear, also better earpad shape in my opinion.
Out of the Sennheisers, I have myself preferred the HD600 due to headband shape and, at the time at least, a lower clamping force than the HD650 which I owned for a brief while. Many owners would bend them out or let them clamp around a couple of books or similar, just to ease the clamping force a slight amount. But maybe that has changed in the newer revisions.
Either way, I don’t think you can go wrong anywhere with Sennheiser HD6XX series. They’re some of the most comfortable and airy open back headphones around in the industry. I’m currently using the HD700 myself for gaming and have been using them since they came out on the market.
nah, having an all rounder perform the way your wanting it to is perfectly fine.
This is actually the bassier of this particular headphone criteria, the one that lacks the bass presence is the k702. This headphone and it’s alternative k7xx have some pretty respectable bass, a pad swap with yaxi that is quite comfortable, and an extremely large soundstage. Draw back being the imaging suffers a bit here like the k702, more so in this case though, and has some inaccuracy in the sound placement. I would still say this is fine for a general all rounder but theres plenty of alternatives. This headphone though can get away with no really needing a strong amp you can get a general weaker cheapo sound card or even if you just want a Fiio E10k unit will power this one. K7xx or k712 works fine for what your wanting. Friendly reminder about this brand is that they prefer to leave their prices up at ridiculous amounts. Find cheap used/mint variations here I cannot stress that enough. Example K702 I can buy for around $130 and they have it priced around $350. Heres a link to the pads though for me they are currently out of stock on amazon right now https://www.amazon.ca/YAXI-K7XX_NMR-K712-Q701-Comfort/dp/B07SZ441B6 should be able to find them elsewhere if ya look around. pad swap will give pros and cons though. pros Greater bass extension and slam, Enhanced vocal body, More coherent imaging, Cleaner background, More comfortable Cons: Reduced vocal extension and clarity, Reduced separation, Narrower soundstage
So, to help you here if your wanting a sennheiser that has a larger soundstage it definitely wouldn’t be any of these in particular. While they sound fantastic for sure they have a very very linear soundstage. You would want 58x Jubilee for a general purpose(can be balanced too making it pretty nice) all rounder though for bass HD 558 and HD 559 respectively will be what your looking for as they have the larger soundstage and more bass here. Like mentioned the HD 598 over there is nice too this has less bass than the 558 and 559 and is more balanced in it’s signature while also sharing the larger soundstage the 599 has almost the same signature as the 598 but more raised treble.
again linear sound stage. not the best for gaming purposes just in general.
DT 880 lets get this one out of the way. I noticed you liked my other post so I would hope you had read this ones signature. This one is bass light to me personally though still has a decent enough punch and extension too it. More along the lines of more natural sounding instead of heavy or deep bass alongside neutral detailed mids and a bright sparkly treble. This one is nice if you are okay with bright headphones and don’t want a whole lot of bass. Responds well to equalization. The biggest drawback here other than it being bright, which is an issue if you are treble sensitive, is that it only sounds it’s best in it’s respective 600 ohm variation which demands the use of a $100 or more amplifier. That’s not all though this particular headphone sounds it’s absolute best after being modded balanced or plugged into a tube amplifier to really bring it to such an incredible sound. That’s not to say you can’t use a solid state amp but it just doesn’t sound as good in my opinion. Alternatives to this would be HarmonicDyne Helios and Hifiman Sundara both of which respond fine to their bass being pushed forward Sundara requires a regular solid state amp of a good power again in the $100 range meanwhile helios really doesn’t need an amp but it has the smallest soundstage of the three
DT 990: I do love this headphone don’t get me wrong here but if the 880 has brightness that gets in the way this headphone is more along the lines of nails across the chalk board going to make your ears bleed. Extremely bassy recessed mids and extremely sharp treble. definitely needs an amp. Skip this one as it’s not good for movies and the like.
Tygr 300r: wrote a review on this one which I noticed you placed a like on so I assume you read this eh? lol. Sure enough this is definitely one of my favorite for this exact use your wanting it for. Warm, smooth, detailed, with just slightly raised treble alongside a huge soundstage with laser accurate imaging and a speaker like presentation this headphone just isn’t typically seen in this price range. This is a headphone that I personally use for casual use(next to my aeons of course) like movies and the like because just how great this one is plus the fact it practically disappears off the head due to the amazing comfort and overall weight makes this one of my highest recommendations at it’s price tag for the casual user. You also do not need an amp for this one. Equalization isn’t particularly recommended.
Alright, so now that this is out of the way lets add some shall we?
Something to keep in mind is that you can also equalize things such as the bass if its too bass heavy or to bass light. Peace APO is a free desktop application, 2 downloads required and some setup, that lets you equalize your sound just fine and is something I use personally.
FidelioX2HR: this is the big brother to the shp9500. The sound signature here is different as this adds a lot more bass(to the point of being slightly muddy actually), very wide soundstage, very warm, very smooth, somewhat rich sound, with a good imaging. This is a fantastic alternative to the tygrs but the bass is definitely too much for competitive use. One of the reasons I like this for usage though is the fact it uses a single ended 3.5mm jack as a connector. This allows it to make use of a bluetooth dongle making this headphone capable of being wireless but also able to use the awesome V-moda boom pro as a microphone making it great for more casual gaming. Bass may be seen as a bit too much for competitives if so shp9500 is just as great but not as bassy.
Argons: I wouldn’t normally bring these up as it just teeters ever so slightly outside of your budget. These are a T50RP mod. large staging, great imaging, very bassy, lots of detail, and have the planar slam which is awesome. These are great but the bass may be seen as a bit too much in competitive. The good thing about this though is that it’s a T50RP mod which brings me to the other alternative which is the T50RP itself. This is the “modders” headphone you can change practically everything with this headphone and it’s definitely recommended to do so. Very changeable sound signature to preference, lots of recommended pad swaps, capable of being closed back semi-open or fully open. It’s quite a nice one but not for the person who just wants a headphone to be done with. Though the biggest drawback is these headphones absolutely demand an amp in the $100 range or more.
Some cheap amps for you. Fiio E10K not the strongest of amps thats for sure but it can drive up to around 250 ohm headphones just fine and is generally a very good cheap option. FX Audio Dac-X6 is another great option again not very strong. IFI Zen Dac is a great option if your going to pick up the 58x jubilee as it has the balanced port if you decide to pick up the optional balanced cables for the headphone. For dt 880 600 ohm. Recommended higher budget and the purchase of Liquid Spark, Magni 3+, or asgard 3 for amp paired to a Topping D10, Topping E30, or Schiit Modius dac. Tube amp would be quite a bit more expensive and best ones though are something like Dark Voice or Bottlehead Crack + Speed ball
The little dot mk2 is pretty decent with some nicer nos tubes. Tbh I would just ignore the cheaper hybrids and go for a liquid spark if you want that type of sound
Yeah, that’s what I have been hearing/reading. Although ofc they are not perfect for every different user application out there which is totally fine. I’ll check them out some more and see if there are any decent deals. Thank you!
Hey man of course I read your posts and you definitely deserve the likes lol. I really enjoyed reading the detailed information and I really appreciate the effort you put into responding to everybody. Many thanks!
I do get a little bit “annoyed” with loud and bright sounds so I’ll stay away from these for now I guess. As for the tygr 300, I’m inclined to read your post for a 3rd time lol.
I’ll add these to my list based on your and FiCurious’s recommendations.
I’m not too familiar with the brand, are you referring to Argon mk3? Because the Fostex T50RP is like $180 only.
Trust me on this one. If you are at all bothered on brightness? Skip. Please just skip it. lol This is like one of my favorite personal headphones but for the life of me I cannot recommend it to a single person who shows any bad reaction to treble.
Yes those are the argons. The argon is a modification done through modhouse. They charge typically $350 for a brand new T50RP freshly modded though if you can score a T50rp for cheap you can have them just upgrade it into an argon and may save you money. You can also skip their strap and pads if you prefer to do those seperately. Though , they do tune the driver and can mod balanced cables onto it.
Edit: I should add theres also the T60 argons these have less bass more treble than the T50Rp Argons plus the different style cabling and wood cups but these are much more expensive
I personally like these more than the fidelios but it’s mainly due to the bass. The fidelios bass is just deep and smooth with quite a lot of sub bass extension to it(as such seen as muddy) and I don’t get that with the tygrs. Instead I get a very nice smooth warm signature with the treble just barily peaking but with some dark tones in there too alongside a very large speaker like presentation. It’s not the greatest for competitives neither of those two are but they are both awesome for large staging warm headphones.
Hey guys! I thought I’d give an update for anyone in similar situation.
I went for the tygr 300r based on the discussions above, and after some serious hassle and waiting to get these shipped to Sweden I finally received the package 3 days ago. I had to pull some strings from a friend of a friend living in Germany.
Anyhow, I’m very pleased with the sound quality and comfort. I feel like this was definitely the right choice for me and I thank you for the help.
I have these plugged directly to my PC as of right now and I have to say that i’m noticing some lack in power and clarity sometimes. I don’t think this is caused by the headphones themselves but rather my motherboard DAC not feeding enough power, and I was kinda expecting that tbh.
So I’m looking to buy an entry-level setup that would pair well with the tygrs but also be good enough to power potential future headphone upgrades. Was considering the iFi Zen DAC (combo) but due to its warm signature I think it will be too much perhaps? For 60 USD more (local prices) I could get the more neutral Topping L30+E30 stack including rca cables which I think is a better option. Thoughts? Anyone have tried this combo with the tygrs?
