Headphones (sorry)
Discussion
Another what cans thread sorry….
Limited choice local to me so looking for ideas/suggestions and then see what I can get hold of.
Over ear, and sound quality are the only stipulations. Prefer wired, they’ll only be used in the house for listening to music. Don’t care if they’re leaky sound wise. Budget ideally sub £300 but could stretch a little. Use case is that I am currently without any home stereo but not wanting to spend on one either. Cans will be driven by a chord mojo via iPhone / Apple Music HD.
Options so far are:
Grado sr325x. I had some sr80’s aeons ago as my first decent headphones. These seem very well reviewed. Sold out at my local dealer but they do have the 225x in stock.
Sennheiser md600. In the mix as I can listen to them locally and everyone raves about them.
Hifiman he-r10d. On sale from $1200 to $350 which kinda got my attention. I had some he-400i’s when they first came out. They were good, not stellar. Hifiman do tend to do mega sales to clear out old gen stock, I just wouldn’t be able to try these out so would be a total punt.
Any others?
Limited choice local to me so looking for ideas/suggestions and then see what I can get hold of.
Over ear, and sound quality are the only stipulations. Prefer wired, they’ll only be used in the house for listening to music. Don’t care if they’re leaky sound wise. Budget ideally sub £300 but could stretch a little. Use case is that I am currently without any home stereo but not wanting to spend on one either. Cans will be driven by a chord mojo via iPhone / Apple Music HD.
Options so far are:
Grado sr325x. I had some sr80’s aeons ago as my first decent headphones. These seem very well reviewed. Sold out at my local dealer but they do have the 225x in stock.
Sennheiser md600. In the mix as I can listen to them locally and everyone raves about them.
Hifiman he-r10d. On sale from $1200 to $350 which kinda got my attention. I had some he-400i’s when they first came out. They were good, not stellar. Hifiman do tend to do mega sales to clear out old gen stock, I just wouldn’t be able to try these out so would be a total punt.
Any others?
Edited by shirt on Wednesday 15th May 21:12
Disagree, no point in Comfort if they sound rubbish. Aftermarket pads are available for most brands to adjust fit. Grado for example offer 3 types of pad, and the aftermarket has 3-4 more.
Thanks for the link, that’s a decent price. I’ll try the 225 to remind myself of the ‘Grado sound’ as well as the sennheisers and some others at the weekend.
Thanks for the link, that’s a decent price. I’ll try the 225 to remind myself of the ‘Grado sound’ as well as the sennheisers and some others at the weekend.
shirt said:
Disagree, no point in Comfort if they sound rubbish. Aftermarket pads are available for most brands to adjust fit. Grado for example offer 3 types of pad, and the aftermarket has 3-4 more.
Thanks for the link, that’s a decent price. I’ll try the 225 to remind myself of the ‘Grado sound’ as well as the sennheisers and some others at the weekend.
If that is all there is to comfort, go for it. Thanks for the link, that’s a decent price. I’ll try the 225 to remind myself of the ‘Grado sound’ as well as the sennheisers and some others at the weekend.
Nobody says buy crap sounding headphones, but if you try two pairs of phones and they both sound good, which are you going to choose? The comfortable ones every single time, if there’s a difference.
I was going to recommend sennheiser 660s which I use with a mojo 2, and are very good. But they seem to have gone up in price, I’m sure I paid £330 for them.
Strangely the 800s I also have have dropped in price quite a lot in the same period.
Shure are also worth looking at, always loved thier IEM, but never tried the overears, but seem to review well.
Strangely the 800s I also have have dropped in price quite a lot in the same period.
Shure are also worth looking at, always loved thier IEM, but never tried the overears, but seem to review well.
king amazing to me.
Maybe a little too studio oriented for you, but the Neumann ndh 30’s are excellent: https://www.neumann.com/en-gb/products/headphones/...
I had a pair of Grado RS1is and my brother had SR325is. Very little difference on most recordings, so either the RS1s are overpriced or the SR325s are a bargain. Both were extremely uncomfortable though.
Grados have since been replaced by Audezes, which are in a different league of both comfort and performance. I would certainly audition magnetic planars around the same price. You may be surprised - I was.
Grados have since been replaced by Audezes, which are in a different league of both comfort and performance. I would certainly audition magnetic planars around the same price. You may be surprised - I was.
TX1 said:
The Meze 105AER are about to come out, probably slightly above your budget but might be worth auditioning if you can find somewhere that stocks them.
I was recommended (and bought) the Meze 99 Classics at about £270.Very happy with them.
https://loud-clear.co.uk/glasgow/shop/meze-99-clas...
I had the Grado SR325x for a long time, very good sound but 'on top of the ear' rather than 'around the ear' gave a bit of 'gristle-ache' after a while. More generally I always seem to get non-detachable twin-wired headphones twisted up eventually.
As a change I've got a pre-order in for the new entry level STAX SR-X1 electrostatics - I think just to get a different kind of sound rather than replicating what I wring out of the home system in a headphone. It may of course be a horrible mistake, but 'who dares Rodders'. Big downside is of course you need another bit of kit, an energiser, to push them, which takes the cost to that of some superb models, so we'll see.
As a change I've got a pre-order in for the new entry level STAX SR-X1 electrostatics - I think just to get a different kind of sound rather than replicating what I wring out of the home system in a headphone. It may of course be a horrible mistake, but 'who dares Rodders'. Big downside is of course you need another bit of kit, an energiser, to push them, which takes the cost to that of some superb models, so we'll see.
I've had my brothers SR125s all week whilst he's been away; I've just treated myself to an SMSL DL200 DAC and wanted to treat myself to some headphones as well, when using my studio monitors in my office isn't the right thing to do; they're not exactly subtle 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GRADO-SR125x-Prestige-Ope...
They've been superb in all honesty... I've had the SR60s and 80s before; never these and they showed me that they're a good upgrade with a better, overall sound
However; these Hifiman Sundara's cans have been highly recommended to me:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BF58RZQK/?coliid=I4L...
As have these Sennheiser's
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD-560S-refere...
I'm undecided which to go for yet; but didn't want to spend much more than £150 TBH as they'll sit more than they'll get used probably...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GRADO-SR125x-Prestige-Ope...
They've been superb in all honesty... I've had the SR60s and 80s before; never these and they showed me that they're a good upgrade with a better, overall sound
However; these Hifiman Sundara's cans have been highly recommended to me:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BF58RZQK/?coliid=I4L...
As have these Sennheiser's
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD-560S-refere...
I'm undecided which to go for yet; but didn't want to spend much more than £150 TBH as they'll sit more than they'll get used probably...
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