£300 headphone budget

[Werner Berghofer]

Tony,

I'm hell bent on spending every cent on treating myself to some fancy cans.

be prepared: Sooner or later you’ll feel the urgent need for a good headphone amplifier – sorry for your wallet ;-)

And congratulations for your decision to quit smoking.

Werner.

[wee tee cee]

Werner,
I'm hoping the musical fidelity m1 hpa thats en route to me for the end of the week will tick all the boxes amp wise. Thanks for the encouragement regards the smoking.....mind you I'm chocking for one this morning......THINK HEADPHONES.......THINK HEADPHONES.

[Werner Berghofer]

Tony,

I'm chocking for one this morning......THINK HEADPHONES.......THINK HEADPHONES.

being a passionate smoker myself, I can assure that the moment you hear your favourite music via a real good headphone the desire for a cigarette immediately vanishes. I can’t stand smoking or having a cup of coffee or tea while listening to music when wearing headphones. All I long for is to close my eyes and deeply dive into the music that surrounds me. Hope this method also works for you, Tony!

The Musical Fidelity M1HPA seems to be an excellent choice. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it for a long time.

Werner.

[bobbasrah]

Think curly cables will be a no-no if you've given up the weed Tony, you'll have it all in knots.
Looks to get some ecstatic reviews that machine you ordered. Why not wait a bit until you've totally messed up the 668B cable in frustration, or is all this advance planning I wonder?
But good luck with the smoking, says he rolling another from the pack of Drum... I keep putting it off knowing it will not be easy come the time....

I can heartily recommend the 990Pro Beyers for the price, but many, such as Werner, swear to the better quality of the 600ohm versions. His take on the differences to Sennheisers chimes with my own experience. There is a lot of choice at that price level, and you will get good to even better deals after christmas in all probability. Have you considered getting two different sets? You have sufficient a budget allocated to consider it.
Check the european v UK prices when ordering, as it can sometimes make one hell of a difference....

[wee tee cee]

I'm always going to be a smoker....just i am not smoking. I love it with a passion but its a lifestyle choice...£200 plus a month on something thats knocking fuck out me ......standing at the back-door in the pishing rain/snow/freezing...WTF.

The budget would let me run to a pair of Werners babies and maybe the audio technica jobbies......the guys at loud and clear in glasgow have offered me a loan of a burnt in pair of grado 325i when the head amp arrives. At least it will give me something to compare the superluxes to. The sennhiesers dont seem to get a lot of bad press and would maybe offer a datum point for me.

I read somewhere the 668b has been voiced like Werners cans, If thats the case then if they work with the head amp they are the front runner for the fag money.
Tony.

[jostber]

I use the Audio-Technica ATH-ES7 which sounds quite good to my ears with the Furutech Cruise headphone amp. Believe you can get those for about £130.

[Pete The Cat]

I've used HD600s for a while and for all their neutrality and detail I've become fidgety with how polite and laid back they are on rock. As a quick and dirty comparison I recently got some Beyer DT990 Pros. While their bass is a little fat, overall they shade it by making the Sennheisers sound slightly dull by comparison.

I won't stick with them forever but mention them because they're similar to the Premium version except (just from what I can work out) they have a cheaper quality of finish and tighter headband due to being made for studio use, and come in 250 ohm version, yet retail for just £130-ish.

In 2012 I'll be hoping to do some proper trialling of AKG K701, Denon AHD2000 and Grado 325.

Pete

[Werner Berghofer]

Pete,

In 2012 I'll be hoping to do some proper trialling of AKG K701 […]

then I have to warn you to first try out on your own head how comfortable you feel with the leather headband and the infamous bumps in it. For a lot of people (including me) this type of headband is a source for constant anger and pain. However, the earcups are big, soft and very comfortable.

Also, if you like the sound of the Beyerdynamic DT 990 you probably won’t be happy with any of the AKG x70x headphones. In comparison to the Beyers they sound thin, anemic, weak and even plastic-like. Enjoyable bass on these headphones simply isn’t existing, no matter which amplifier is used to drive them.

Last week I purchased a Beyerdynamic T1 (600 Ω). This is by far the best headphone I’ve ever heard yet, but it’s in a completely different price range.

Werner.

[bobbasrah]

Pete,

Last week I purchased a Beyerdynamic T1 (600 Ω). This is by far the best headphone I’ve ever heard yet, but it’s in a completely different price range.

Werner.

Completely? Jeez that is understatement taken to extremes....that is seriously expensive kit....

[wee tee cee]

Werner.
Id be interested to hear you impressions of what they do in comparison to the 990/600.....Is it a giant leap or incremental Improvement. Your set up with dac/amp/cans is now top notch, be great if you could do a mini review...
Seems to me sonically, a good cans set up would be very difficult and expensive to equal with a hi fi.....you get far more bang for your buck-so to speak.
Tony.