Our top picks (help me buy headphones!)

[Marcus]

The 540R headphone out isn't terrible, should work well for both of those models. It may have a little too much gain for more efficient models actually, so I'm guessing both the DT250 and K242HD will match well

[spud]

Alrighty then, I imagine I will have new headphones to play with next week Just waiting on the reply to my email Thanks to all who provided feedback and advice.

[Benno1988]

What did you go with?

[globeman]

the Beyer DT50 can be bought in 80 or 250 ohms. The Diff

Just reading an appreciaiton thread on the DT250s headfi.org and theres this guy donunus who "really" digs these headphones

Heck even expensive cans like the Hifiman HE6 is crap compared to the dt250-250! So he reckons.

[Benno1988]

Get the 80ohm.

And I doubt the DT250 craps on teh HE6....but thats the beauty of audio, totally and utterly subjective.

And thats the beauty of Head-Fi, physchological influences are ignored and passed off as fact, such as the above statement and burn in...

[globeman]

So why the 80ohm..

[Marcus]

You can drive the 80ohm with or without amplification whereas the 250ohm pretty much needs amplification, other than that the differences between both models are very slim. In may cases the difference in sound will be due to the way different impedance is handled by your output stage.

Do the 80ohm and 250ohm versions sound different? Yeah, a little.
Is the 250ohm better? No, the differences are too small between the models to make such a statement plus the amp requirements of the 250ohm version make it a bad bet unless you know your source(s) will drive them and even then they aren't likely to sound better than the 80ohm version.
If you were to compare the 80ohm version from an unamplified source to the 250ohm version from an amplified source, the 250ohm/amp setup would sound better, but comparing both models straight out from an amp.... not so much.

[Manni]

Which headphone be more suitable sounding for a mix of uses (gaming, music and movies) attached to onboard sound? I'm trying to get my younger cousin to use better quality headphones unlike those damn Turtle Beach X41s. Sure, they're wireless but they really make you pay through the nose for that. If I convince them to get a soundcard, my choice would be between Koss TBSE1 vs. AGK242HD.

[Marcus]

From onboard, the TBSE1 would be a much better choice, the K242HD are a little more power hungry, so I'd tend to recommend something with "a amp" to drive them properly.

[Benno1988]

So got to listen to today:

MS Pro
DT250
HD650

Bought the HD650 and DT250 second hand for a run (Pro's weren't for sale). I don't mind the HD650, comfort is ok, certainly doesn't have the clarity and sparkly highs the AD900's do, but it has a lot more low end and is pretty laid back. Don't mind it.

DT250 im not sure on yet. Give them a good run tonight. They certainly don't fit my head too well though, so hopefully they don't start hurting. The music just doesn't feel as personal as it does on the 900's for some reason, feels a bit distant. Will have to play with the fit, they seem clearer than the HD650's though.

D1 seems to run the HD650 ok, about half volume is right.

The Pros were nice. Very light and felt very nice. Only got to hear them out of my D2+, but fuck me. Thats a phone

[Marcus]

Cool stuff

If the DT250 are too head-squeezy, just flex the headband out a little - I recommend having them stretched over the headphone box (or something similar width) overnight a couple of times and it should reduce the pressure significantly.

The pair I've had for 10 years now have a really soft, straight-on fit - very nice.

[Benno1988]

Its not the clamping force though. I have a BIG head. At the fullest extension, the actual ear cups dont sit low enough. So basically the headbacn would need to be bent in at the top (so make it more oval), then if the clamp force is too much it'd have to be bent out at the bottom.

Just A/B ing with the AD900's, man you forget how comfy these things are sometimes haha.

UPDATE: HD650 - Its quite different to the AD900's. It has distinct strengths and weakness, where as the AD900's are pretty good across the board. The HD650's are lovely for more laid back music, Scotth Matthews, Jeff Buckley etc, but some songs they just don't sound that great. Im not great at critical listening, but I have noticed (just listening, not critically), that they don't do a lot of higher frequency stuff very well. Some higher vocal notes just sound bad, i don't ever recall the 900's being like this. Will update with DT250 when I give them a decent crack.

[Manni]

So got to listen to today:

MS Pro
DT250
HD650

Bought the HD650 and DT250 second hand for a run (Pro's weren't for sale). I don't mind the HD650, comfort is ok, certainly doesn't have the clarity and sparkly highs the AD900's do, but it has a lot more low end and is pretty laid back. Don't mind it.

DT250 im not sure on yet. Give them a good run tonight. They certainly don't fit my head too well though, so hopefully they don't start hurting. The music just doesn't feel as personal as it does on the 900's for some reason, feels a bit distant. Will have to play with the fit, they seem clearer than the HD650's though.

D1 seems to run the HD650 ok, about half volume is right.

The Pros were nice. Very light and felt very nice. Only got to hear them out of my D2+, but fuck me. Thats a phone

Glad you like the MS Pros. Wait a month or two and maybe I'll be interested in selling them. A month would probably give me enough time to decide on whether to keep them and devalue it enough to make it affordable. I mean, I just got these on Tuesday and haven't had much time to settle in with them.

[Benno1988]

Haha. Hurry up and dislike them!

Thanks for letting me listen to them mate!

[globeman]

Very close to putting in an order. What are the equivalents to the DT50..