[Matsgueggel]

Good morning all

I Need some advice on some new Headphones. My current pair is a V-Moda Crossfade 2 Wireless i bought them because i was a huge fan of the Lp2 and wantet to continue with V-Moda. Now i want to get out and try something different im Looking into open Back headphones for maximum 400$ and must be available here in Switzerland (if possible) so the sennheiser Drop models are a bit of a hassle to get here.

Now i already dit some research and my favorite at the moment are the Hifiman Sundara. I mostly listen to Music with my headphones, but i use it for Gaming also but thats not the most important factor for that case i got my V-Modas witch i think are pretty awesome for that. it would be awesome if the Headphones would also be great for that so i dont need to switch.

Music Styles i listent to are a lot.. but mostly Metal and Drum and Bass. So verry different from a sound perspective so i guess i would need a good allrounder and it should have a good present bass and nothing to analytical i guess lot of the music i listen to wouldnt sound that great with it but i dont know for shure.

Now im not 100% shure if i should look for other Headphones with Planar Magnetic drivers like the sundara they should have pretty good Bass response if im correctly.

Another factor for me is the Quality of the Headphone, i still got my lp2 witch are now about 10 Years old and they still sound like day 1. if i spend like 400$ on a pair i want them to last long if im handeling it correct they dont need to take a beating cause i wont travel with them.

As Audio Equipment i got an Creative Blasterx G6 so i can drive Headphones witch require an amp (should be able to drive 600ohm ones.) And for mobile listening i will still use my V-Modas paired with my Fiio Btr3.

Now what would be your reccomandations for my use case or where should i look out for? Planum Magnetic preferably or Dynamic drivers?

Looking forward to your help, Have a nice day

Mario

 

[tomb]

Planar headphones generally need more power than your Creative Blasterx G6 can provide. They also benefit from amplifiers with a low impedance. The Creative Blasterx G6 has an output impedance of 1 ohm, which is not necessarily outstanding, compared to high-level amplifiers.

Quality of HiFiMan products is very unreliable, despite good reviews for the Sundara.

Sorry to be so pessimistic with your requests, but that's how I see it.

 

[Monsterzero]

Quality of HiFiMan products is very unreliable, despite good reviews for the Sundara.

+1

 

[Matsgueggel]

Planar headphones generally need more power than your Creative Blasterx G6 can provide. They also benefit from amplifiers with a low impedance. The Creative Blasterx G6 has an output impedance of 1 ohm, which is not necessarily outstanding, compared to high-level amplifiers.

Quality of HiFiMan products is very unreliable, despite good reviews for the Sundara.

Sorry to be so pessimistic with your requests, but that's how I see it.

Thanks for your advice. I guess i can do alot of stuff wrong here. Maybe i should also look into a different amp then. I thought the g6 sould be fine with running the sundara or something simmilar. Im realy new to the world of hifi products and i never had headphones that need realy lot of juice. But bying sundaras and not be able to run them properly would be bad. Do you know other headphones that can provide maybe simmilar sound but are easier to run?

Greets Mario

 

[Matsgueggel]

+1

thanks also for sharing that opinion. i realy have a problem with stuff that doesnt hold up especialy if i pay hundreds of Dollars

 

[Monsterzero]

An open back w/ + bass, in your price range, thats good for gaming as well as D&B and metal...Try researching the various Philips Fidelio X series.

Normally I would not recommend the X, nor the V-Moda for metal due to both having recessed mids, but that doesnt seem to bother you on the V-moda.

The Fidelio X series have big bass, a wide stage, easy to drive and are excellent for gaming, especially single person. Its not bad for FPSers, but the big bass can drown out faint footsteps.

 

[DeweyCH]

Not sure how well it would play with your Creative, but the Avantone Planar is a fantastic open-back set in your price range ($399). Amazon also sells it, so availability might be good for you. It's built like a tank, and I've owned both it and a set of Sundaras and thought the Avantones sounded better. Very clear, really well-balanced, comfortable (to me... others have complained that the ear pads are itchy, but I didn't have a problem), with plenty of bass without going full bazooka.

 

[Opalius]

Listen, if you LOVE METAL, and DRUMS. PLEASE try a pair of Grados.

Yes everyone, a said Grado...

For Disturbed, Five finger death punch, Metallica, if you what to really hear imaging, ( like 3D, where the drums, sneers, high hats are around you) - then it's kinda hard to beat a pair of Grados.


It's because if this bugger I bought my par of Grado 125x, - and they are gooood. Even the "cheap" 60x is bloody good for Metal.




And I know that cheap plastic Grados feel cheap, but the 325x is nice. Besides, they hold op really well

 

[YtseJamer]

For $400, you should go with the Grado SR325x

https://gradolabs.com/headphones/prestige-series/item/131-sr325x

 

[Matsgueggel]

A wanna thank you for your reccomandations. In the meantime i could get my hands on a Pair of DT990 Edition in the 600ohm variant (600hm because they were cheaper than the 250ohm variant at the moment). Im Realy in love with these Headphones already and for that price i thought i could not go wrong. I will be going to a big Hifi store in the next weeks to test out some of the more expensive stuff so i now what im buying. The store should have lots of Hifiman, Sennheiser, Grado and lots of other stuff to test out. I dont wanna risk spending hundrets of Dollars on a pair i maybe dont like soundwise.

Thanks to all of you who allready responded to my post.

Greetings

Mario

 

[Opalius]

Congrats kinda hard to say you made a bad choice looking at my own setup right now..

 

[Matsgueggel]

Congrats kinda hard to say you made a bad choice looking at my own setup right now..

I must say that for the price these things are sooo good. The vnodas i have were more than double the price around 370$ and i got the dt990 for only 140$.

The G6 runs them realy well yes i need to crank up the windows volume but then oooh boy cant complain. Did a little on the eq to get a bit more bass and then they realy come to life.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Good morning all

I Need some advice on some new Headphones. My current pair is a V-Moda Crossfade 2 Wireless i bought them because i was a huge fan of the Lp2 and wantet to continue with V-Moda. Now i want to get out and try something different im Looking into open Back headphones for maximum 400$ and must be available here in Switzerland (if possible) so the sennheiser Drop models are a bit of a hassle to get here.

HD600 or HD660S from Sennheiser over in Germany instead of Drop models.

Music Styles i listent to are a lot.. but mostly Metal and Drum and Bass. So verry different from a sound perspective so i guess i would need a good allrounder and it should have a good present bass and nothing to analytical i guess lot of the music i listen to wouldnt sound that great with it but i dont know for shure.

I can clearly hear Casey Grillo even on the live recording from the 2005 Oslo show off my HD600, even on stock pads.

That said I'm currently on Brainwavz angled leather pads and regardless of the pads I tend to listen after 9pm and preferably with the windows closed. Ambient noise in my room is below 34dBA by then. Also driving it with a Meier Corda Cantate.2. Also to keep ambient noise down I'm using a DAP as a music server controlled by my smartphone (used to be just the smartphone docked and using OTG USB, but an OS update rendered it unusable with my Meier and my other DAC-HPamp).

Now im not 100% shure if i should look for other Headphones with Planar Magnetic drivers like the sundara they should have pretty good Bass response if im correctly.

They'll measure well since they tend to be flatter way below 60hz like the HE4xx(i) series and some of the HE5xx series. The downside is they also don't have 60hz to 120hz boosted.

Audeze LCD-2 is above your budget but that one trims everything above 800hz, effectively "raising" the 20hz to 120hz range.

Another factor for me is the Quality of the Headphone, i still got my lp2 witch are now about 10 Years old and they still sound like day 1. if i spend like 400$ on a pair i want them to last long if im handeling it correct they dont need to take a beating cause i wont travel with them.

Despite the sale of the audiophile arm no word yet on whether getting parts from Sennheiser has become more difficult, other than my country's distro not stocking earpads to the point that they kind of sounded weirded out that I'm even looking for replacement pads and they only heard this question now (Sennheiser licensed a new company a few years ago but by then I've been using Brainwavz).

HiFiMan is still owned by the founder but even within the warranty period you can get screwed over, so even if objectively my only issue with the sound is that the flat ~20hz to 1000hz response is getting destroyed by the peaks above that, I have not bought on yet on account of "but I don't want to effectively burn my money." Almost pulled the trigger on the non-stealth magnet HE400se recently though but then I saw the sensitivity is even lower than Sundara and HE400(i), unlike the old HE400S which has the same low impedance but higher sensitivity than the HE400(i) series.

As Audio Equipment i got an Creative Blasterx G6 so i can drive Headphones witch require an amp (should be able to drive 600ohm ones.)

When an amp/soundcard manufacturer says their product can power a 600ohm headphone they mean it in the same vein as how BMW 5-series bodies with 4cyl engines can serve the Munich airport and take you to your hotel, but you're not supposed to assume that engine has enough power so you can throttle steer out of the corners at Hochenheim or the Northschleiffe like you're in an M5. And I don't mean the difference is just the 520 not having the M5's suspension, brakes, wheels, and tyres; you really don't have the rpm range and torque spread of a big V10 in that thing.

Now what would be your reccomandations for my use case or where should i look out for? Planum Magnetic preferably or Dynamic drivers?

Looking forward to your help, Have a nice day

Mario

For your budget maybe the HD600. Or if you have to compensate for ambient noise including maybe not using Noctua/BeQuiet!, then AKG K712. Either way get an amp. Check the G5 though - IIRC it has a line out mode so you can use that as a DAC. Not my first choice for that job but if you're gonna game on the same system then this is the way to go; although personally I'd separate the two unless you have gigantic heatsinks that can run at least near fanless plus a high efficiency power supply that doesn't spin the fans fast enough at idle load (ie running only a music player).