Heading to the states looking for Over Ear headphones - Any suggestions ? Budget 250

muppetkiller

Hi Folks I'm heading to the states at the weekend and am looking to pick up a set of Headphones.
Music Choice is more Grunge/Singer Song writer with some Drum and Bass too.
Looking at the
Shure SRH940
Shure SRH1440
AKG 702
NAD Electronics VISO HP50
HiFiman HE 400
Would be listening to Vinyl on my Hifi but have an IBasso dx50 too.
Thanks for any suggestions.

PPC

I've a set of HE400 and they're fantastic, definitely worth every penny.
The bass and highs are great, the mids are a bit recessed but they should suit your needs nicely.

dxhound2005

Big headphones usually need a headphone amplifier. I have the AKG Q701 headphones which would be much the same as the K702. I also have the Sennheiser HD650. I listen to music off the computer but that through a DAC and a headphone amplifier. I don't think an MP3 player would be able to drive them properly, to use the jargon.

You probably know about Head-fi.org which is a popular site for this sort of information. As they say there "Welcome to Head-fi, sorry for your wallet".

WhiskeyGoblin

A DX50 should be able to power majority of those just fine, hopefully you can find a place to try them yourself.

muppetkiller

Thanks for the info but I've had the AKG 701's and they're a lovely set of headphones but found them uncomfortable. And as stated the dx50 should run them fine butit's obviously my Hifi where I'll get the majority of use from them. I can't imagine myself going around town the with Hifimans on lol.

WhiskeyGoblin

muppetkiller wrote: »

Thanks for the info but I've had the AKG 701's and they're a lovely set of headphones but found them uncomfortable. And as stated the dx50 should run them fine butit's obviously my Hifi where I'll get the majority of use from them. I can't imagine myself going around town the with Hifimans on lol.

You're right about that, although I've seen 650s in the wild! Obviously the HP50s and the 940s would be the best suited for both indoor and outdoor! Sure hopefully you can find somewhere to test them out so you can find out yourself what suits you most!

muppetkiller

Any opinions on the NAD Electronics VISO HP50 ?

WhiskeyGoblin

muppetkiller wrote: »

Any opinions on the NAD Electronics VISO HP50 ?

Never heard them myself, they had a pair in the Cloney Audio in Tower Records in town!

This could be worth a read!

http://www.head-fi.org/t/646735/nad-viso-hp50-another-superb-headphone-from-paul-barton

muppetkiller

Ordered the HE400 can't wait to hear them.

gizmo

muppetkiller wrote: »

Ordered the HE400 can't wait to hear them.

How are you finding the HE-400s, muppetkiller?

With the pending launch of the HE-400i they've dropped the price to $299 which puts them at the same price as the Mad Dogs making my choice that bit more difficult. I've never owned a pair of open back headphones so I'm not really sure how much better they are in general or how less suitable they are for wearing in a shared apartment than than their closed back brethren.

muppetkiller

gizmo wrote: »

How are you finding the HE-400s, muppetkiller?

With the pending launch of the HE-400i they've dropped the price to $299 which puts them at the same price as the Mad Dogs making my choice that bit more difficult. I've never owned a pair of open back headphones so I'm not really sure how much better they are in general or how less suitable they are for wearing in a shared apartment than than their closed back brethren.

I love them. Everything I've played through them sounds like Luxury lol
If you're based around Galway you're more than welcome to try them out.
My only complaint would be the cable connections on the headphones themselves. But it's purely cosmetic.
I'm mainly using them at the moment on my PC playing Alien Isolation and the details are incredible.

I will say though that mp3's sound soulless with them though...you really need quality Audio sources to bring them to life.

Morf

muppetkiller wrote: »

I will say though that mp3's sound soulless with them though...you really need quality Audio sources to bring them to life.

Once you get good cans it's a natural progression!

Thought about lossless and a DAC set-up yet? :D

muppetkiller

Morf wrote: »

Once you get good cans it's a natural progression!

Thought about lossless and a DAC set-up yet? :D

I have an iBasso DX50 that I use as a DAC and for listening to 24BIT lossless on the move.
But I mainly listen to Vinyl on the Hifi so Yes I'm already too far down the Lossless side of things that it's costing me a fortune to buy the same music again lol.

gizmo

muppetkiller wrote: »

I love them. Everything I've played through them sounds like Luxury lol
If you're based around Galway you're more than welcome to try them out.
My only complaint would be the cable connections on the headphones themselves. But it's purely cosmetic.
I'm mainly using them at the moment on my PC playing Alien Isolation and the details are incredible.

I will say though that mp3's sound soulless with them though...you really need quality Audio sources to bring them to life.

Ah, excellent! Alas I'm living abroad at the moment so I can't take you up on the listening test offer but massive thanks for offering, it really is a pain trying to decipher comfort levels and appropriateness for different genres from the internet.

I'm not worried about the audio source though, I re-ripped my collection to FLAC awhile back and anything I've bought digitally since has been in the same format. I'm also powering them through a Creative ZxR whose headphone amp should be sufficient for both of my choices for now at least.

Morf

muppetkiller wrote: »

I have an iBasso DX50 that I use as a DAC and for listening to 24BIT lossless on the move.
But I mainly listen to Vinyl on the Hifi so Yes I'm already too far down the Lossless side of things that it's costing me a fortune to buy the same music again lol.

I'm not convinced on 24bit beyond a better standard of mastering. If it works for you though!