Your favourite consumer headphones

[Flow Of Time]

Hey guys, since my AKG K518 died the 2nd time, I'm looking for a new pair of cans.

It would be cool, If you could throw your favourites in here with a quick explanation why

 

[Sloan]

1. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M50-Professional-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B000ULAP4U"]ATH-M50[/ame] - Everyone loves these, they sound good for the price
2. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Ultrasone-HFI-580-Surround-Professional-Headphones/dp/B00101UHS8"]Ultrasone HFI-550[/ame] - I recently got these and they are becoming favorites as they have way more mids and lows than the M50's. Current equivalent model is the HFI-580
3. Monoprice 8323 - These are about $25 and sound amazing for the price, a no brainer for tracking headphones.


Shure SRH440 - These are ok, but seem to lack mids and bass with an emphasis on highs
Sennheiser HD280 - Even less bass than the shures above.

 

[Flow Of Time]

Thanks for your answer, the Ultrasones look very interesting

Has anyone tried Sennheiser Momentums?

 

[Soul Forlorn]

I like Grado SR60i- fairly cheap, good quality, open design, and they sound incredible (especially for guitar oriented music).

 

[Axonic Rot]

V-MODA M-100s with the XL pads. Very smooth sound. Dual diaphragm drivers keep the really nice low end from affecting the other frequencies. Sound good for all genres.

They never leave my head. I never use the ATHM50s for listening anymore, these are at leaps and bounds better even more than the price difference indicates.

http://v-moda.com/crossfade-m-100/

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/bassheads-delight-v-moda-crossfade-m-100

 

[pipaguapique]

i went into a best buy once for 2 hours. and tried every single headphone they had, i even asked them to open a few so i could tried them.

for my ears, the most pleasant sounding, balanced, comfortable were the BOSE QC15

 

[LeSedna]

Bose QC15 are nice and really worth the price if you ever commute in your daily life (even just in the bus or something, the difference is insane compared to other headphones). In itself the sound is not that bad actually, and when the noise cancellation is ON it sounds very nice because you can hear all subtleties even in a noisy environment.

I switched to the in ear QC20 though for practical purposes (i commute so much the gain in size is worth it for me) but the 15 sounds just a bit better.

I do recommend the bose QC15. You can find them for 200 bucks I'm sure. And yeah they are very light, not tiring at all.

 

[Flow Of Time]

Thanks again for your replies

The QC15 sound awesome, but they are a bit expansive where I live (about 280

 

[Flow Of Time]

Edit: Taptalk is stupid, it cut half of my reply... I'll fix the post this evening :/

 

[ze kink]

V-MODA M-100s with the XL pads. Very smooth sound. Dual diaphragm drivers keep the really nice low end from affecting the other frequencies. Sound good for all genres.

They never leave my head. I never use the ATHM50s for listening anymore, these are at leaps and bounds better even more than the price difference indicates.

http://v-moda.com/crossfade-m-100/

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/bassheads-delight-v-moda-crossfade-m-100

I tried these and they were rather impressive to me too. Or was it the M-80's? I'm not actually sure now.

The Sennheiser Momentum on-ears are pretty fine too, without costing quite as much. The full-sized Momentum's I didn't like quite as much; though they sounded good, it was much harder to get a good fit. I'd like to try the NAD Viso hp50's also, but haven't really encountered them anywhere.

I just got the Audio Technica ATH-IM02 in-ears, which I'm quite liking so far. They're dual BA's, so they don't have as much bass as some triple or quad driver ones, but I feel like they make up for it with a very neutral and clear sound that I like. I also tried (and liked) the Etymotic ER4S's and the red Shure SE535's, but the IM02's won in the end. Also have the Koss Portapro's that I use occasionally, but far less now that I've got the new IEM's.

 

[LeSedna]

Edit: Taptalk is stupid, it cut half of my reply... I'll fix the post this evening :/

Just for info, it happens all the time when you use a currency symbol like the euro symbol. It cuts there, maybe taptalk doesn't know the whole ISO characters. Just use normal letters and taptalk won't cut your messages !

 

[Flow Of Time]

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Back to my reply of this morning: I ordered the Ultrasone PRO-550 from thomann, which is said to be the same as the HFI-550 plus a detachable cord. I'll let you know how it is, when it arrives

 

[Flow Of Time]

Well, they arrived aaaaaand.. I don't quite like the sound. It's kinda washy and seems to lack punch :/
I preferred the sound of my AKGs if I'm honest. But they're on-ears, not over-ears, so maybe it's beacause of that.
Also I have some earwax sticking on my left eardrum, so I'm probably not in the best condition to judge headphones...

I heard Ultrasones need pretty long to burn in. Does anyone have experience with that? Will burning in drastically change the sound, or should I send them back right away?

 

[Terminus]

When I went form some $180 Sony cans to some $90 Shure cans I wasn't pleased at the difference either. Over time I've gotten more used to them but still, probably should have taken those back. Too grainy sounding and they hype lo-mids too much.

 

[bryan_kilco]

When I went form some $180 Sony cans to some $90 Shure cans I wasn't pleased at the difference either. Over time I've gotten more used to them but still, probably should have taken those back. Too grainy sounding and they hype lo-mids too much.

I picked up the $60 Shure ones and they do sorta suck. But so far, I only really use them to punish our drummer with brutally loud click tracks.

 

[Axonic Rot]

I tried these and they were rather impressive to me too. Or was it the M-80's? I'm not actually sure now.

The M100s are the cicumaurals and the M80 is the on ear model. I have both. The M80 is really good, it's critically acclaimed, but it doesn't blow me away like the M100.

 

[lilhermiejobo]

I love my AKG K514s. Lightweight, sound great, comfortable for long tracking sessions and pretty affordable compared to a lot of other consumer level headphones. They were a natural upgrade from my old K44s.

 

[Flow Of Time]

I tried a few headphones this weekend, and my absolute favourites were the on ear momentums. Close second place were the boses. Liked the sound almost as much, and the noise cancelling was rad but they're almost twice the price of a momentum where I live, that's just to much..

 

[mickrich]

I tried a few headphones this weekend, and my absolute favourites were the on ear momentums. Close second place were the boses. Liked the sound almost as much, and the noise cancelling was rad but they're almost twice the price of a momentum where I live, that's just to much..

Totally agree
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/backline/936018-sennheiser-momentum-ear-seriously-awesome.html

 

[Line666]

The Sennheiser Momentum on-ears are pretty fine too, without costing quite as much. The full-sized Momentum's I didn't like quite as much; though they sounded good, it was much harder to get a good fit.

Are they just uncomfy then?

I needed a pair of respectable headphones so I didn't look like I was "rolling out of Stuttgart in my Stug" or whatever going about town and I just picked up the full size pair, I did wonder if I should have just gone for the smaller pair but they looked quite dinky and I have a big head.