Spec me headphones

Auraomega

Auraomega

Auraomega

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Leicester
I got my refund on the NS1000s today and so I'm in the market for another pair of closed back headphones, my budget is around £150.

I don't want headphones with big boomy bass, I'd rather have something that has well defined bass that doesn't drown out or detract from everything else, I'm also rather fond of my mids.

I'll be using them mostly at home although they're likely to come with me when travelling long distance so build quality and isolation are pretty important.

I've been looking around myself and I've seen the Beyerdynamic DT770's for £129 and they seem to get good reviews. Would the CMoy amp be able to power these well? How about the E5?
 
I have some Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 ohm headphones (bought fairly recently off the MM), a CMOY, an E5 and some NS1000s. Haven't had time to test all of the above together yet.

That should be a good basis for comparison for you if I do a few listening tests. How quickly do you need to know?
 
It's actually the Pro 250Ohms I'm looking at.

I'd like to know soon but there's no need to rush, I'm going to spend some time reading reviews around and see what other cans are available second hand before I decide to put down any money.

Did you build your CMoy or buy it pre-made? I'm planning on building mine but want to go down the route of RCA inputs and AC power to use as a desktop amp and probably use the E5 if/when I use it for travelling.
 
OK - anything you'd like me to prioritise as time may be limited? I can test with stereo, CMSS-3D, Dolby Headphone, music, movies and games. My CMOY was bought from seller Juice2214 on the bay and he still trades. It's 9v battery driven one, with an OPA2227 - about as basic as you can get.

As a general overview, the DT770 Pro/250 have more treble and bass emphasis than the NS1000s with less emphasis on mids. Treble is similar to the NS1000s with ANR on - perhaps marginally more detailed. I find the mids a little lacking by comparison - so human vocals don't have quite the presence of the NS1000s especially at low volume. There is more bass on the DT770s than on the NS1000s and it goes deeper. It's clean bass though and the lowest notes are more clearly audible.

Isolation is much better than the NS1000s. You press the earcups on either set of headphones together at listening volume and the DT770s are much quieter than the NS1000s.
 
Preferably music as that's what they'll be used for mainly, it'd be great to know how they sound with Dolby Headphone too in movies and games but I'd probably use my 5.1s or DR150s more for those scenarios.

I've seen Juice2214 selling them and he seems to get good reviews from a lot of CMoy buyers online, I had thought about buying from him but I really would like to use the mains otherwise I imagine I'll be going through 9v batteries pretty quick, RCA is a preference but I could get away without.
 
Uriel have you had chance to test yet? I would be interested to know how they performed with the DGs amp too as it's likely that the parts for the CMoy will take a while to arrive I'd like to know if the headphones would be as useless without it as the NS1000s are unamped?
 
Sorry, haven't had chance to test yet and probably going to bed early as feeling a bit rough. May post on phone if I'm bored but no headphones tonight I'm afraid.

Also, I don't have a DG.

I have tried the DT770 pros straight out of my Prelude, which doesn't have a headphone amp. They're much, much better unamped than the NS1000s in passive mode.

Edit: Scratch that - not feeling that bad. Bit of testing coming up. Auraomega - if you read this - any music types you want me to prioritise?
 
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Being able to listen unamped is promising, didn't want them to sit around unused while I waited for parts to arrive. As for the DG I know you have a Creative and not the DG I don't even know why I asked!

No real priorities for music types as I find it subjective at best, however if you want to take a look at my Last.fm account and see if there's any artists with which you are familiar and go by their stuff?
 
Right - to work:

First thing's first. On the NS1000s in passive mode the difference between a suitable amp and none is the closest thing I've heard to 'night and day' from a single piece of audio equipment. When referring to the NS1000s I'll assume we're using a suitable amp, ANR mode or both. There is none of that sort of difference with the DT770 Pro/250s. The DT770 Pro/250s are not bad without an amp. Certain things improve with one but they don't sound awful without by any means.

Noise floor. E5 has a very slight hiss with the DT770 Pro/250s. Not much really - nothing like as loud as the noise cancelling hiss on NS1000s but it's there. The CMOY isn't silent but it's pretty close at normal listening volume. Hiss is evident when I raise the volume though on both though - more so on the e5.

Loudness - the CMOY drives the headphones a lot louder than the FiiO. With volume set to 50% from my soundcard and mixer I don't want to go above 50% with the CMOY. The e5 is just starting to get uncomfortable on Max volume.

FiiO's bass boost: I'm not really a fan of Bass Boost. The DT770Pro/250s are strong in the bass department anyway and boosting it more is a bit overwhelming. On the NS1000s I think bass boost reduces detail and that's the case here too. For the rest of this - assume I've had bass boost off.

Music testing:
Range of different music here: Motzart, Kurtis Blow, Radiohead, Nick Harper, U2, Newton Faulkner, Gorillaz, Freddie Mercury, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Nitin Sawhney, Frank Sinatra, Delirious?, Jon Gomm, Queen, Van Morrison, BB King, Van Halen, KRS-One, Florence and the Machine, Jeff Buckley, Dizzee Rascal, Alanis Morissette, Everything but the Girl, Ennio Morricone etc etc

At the matched volumes the FiiO sounds compressed compared to the CMOY. The CMOY just seems like it has more power behind it and this is most aparrent in driving the bass. Some of the deep bass sound in Nitin Sawhney's Nadia has real presence on the CMOY compared to the FiiO. The e5 feels like it's failing to capture the dynamics in comparison. The CMOY seems like someone added a sub. Bass can get really low and powerful - but remain clean throughout.

As mentioned before, the mids are a little more recessed than on NS1000. I prefer NS1000s for tracks where vocals dominate - especially female ones. Strings are also another thing the NS1000s do well. The DT770 Pro/250s improve on the NS1000s in ohther areas. Treble performance is similar to the NS1000s with ANR on. It's really the bass where the DT770 Pro/250s shine in comparison. They reach further and are more detailed down there. You hear the bass drum being hit and the double bass plucked. By comparison, the NS1000s have a rather pleasant low-mid bass hump that punches well but doesn't have that much depth.

On both sets of headphones I prefer Dolby Headphone on for pretty much all use except binaural recordings. I did a mix of the above music testing with and without Dolby Headphone but for my own use I would normally use it all the time. The DT770 Pro/250 are a lot less forgiving of the artificial reverb of DH3 than the NS1000s. DH3 is a bit of an echo-chamber fest here. DH1 and DH2 are fine but I have to be more careful about placing the DT770 Pro/250s on my head properly for the effect to do it's job than with the NS1000s. It's probably down to the larger earcups and getting my ears in line with the drivers. Not much room to move around in the NS1000s!

No time to do a detailed gaming roundup just now or use CMSS-3D. Both handle Dolby Headphone well. The NS1000s do this marginally better, giving more depth to the 3d imaging. The DT770 Pro/250s seem to be more like projecting an audio image onto an imaginary surface away from the listener but it is not quite as convincing as with the NS1000s. Still - both are good gaming headphones and the bass of the DT770 Pros can manage a bit more low rumble for explosions etc.

Hmm... Bit later than I'd imagined. Any questions - I'll answer them tomorrow.

Edit: just saw your last FM list. Not a lot I'm familiar with there. I have some Jimi Hendrix Experience stuff and er... Jon Gomm does a Portishead cover in his live sets occasionally...
 
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Uriel said:
snip

Edit: just saw your last FM list. Not a lot I'm familiar with there. I have some Jimi Hendrix Experience stuff and er... Jon Gomm does a Portishead cover in his live sets occasionally...
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Thanks for that, I'm slightly apprehensive about the less defined mids however all the reviews around make them out to be built like a tank which I like the sound of, and the fact that you can buy replacement everythings for them from Beyer (and considering the DT770s have been around since the 90s means they'll hopefully be well supported in the future too). The 2 issues I have is the possibility of the mids being a bit underwhelming and the 3m cable which could prove awkward if I do choose to use them travelling, I suppose a velcro cable tie would sort that out on a train though...

And the reason I chose not to ask for specific styles is because the vast majority of people find my music taste to be eccentric, it's hard to say if something sounds good or not when you're not enjoying the music :)

titaniumx3 said:
I've heard good things about the Audio Technica ATH-AD700 and they're well within your budget. Good, airy mids and treble with controlled bass.
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Thanks, I'll take a look at those as well.
 
Ooops sorry, my mistake.

For closed headphones I can only recommend the Audio Technica ATH-A900 which I've had for over 3 years now and love them, even though I use my Sennheiser HD650 more now.

I'd definitely recommend them, though since you are fond of mids, compared to my HD650 the mids are laid back slighltly, not recessed or less detailed, but less upfront - it's a slight difference, but still noticeable.

Other than that, the A900s are amazing to listen to, especially mine which are fully burned in and sound smooth as hell. The sound stage, separation and sense of 'air' these headphones have are also amazing considering that they are closed - listening to them is like having small rooms attached to each ear with speakers in them. Fantastic build quality and ergonomics too.
 
Unfortunately the A900s are over budget by a fair bit according to Google Products. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and buy the DT770s (and a couple of other things I need), doing so just before I get paid negates the sharp drop in money when I look at my account, at least that's my excuse ;)
 
I used to have A900s too. Very good, comfortable headphones and the mids were richer and more prominent than the DT770 pro/250. They synergised less well with Dolby Headphone though.

I remember being impressed with their clarity, an improvement on NS1000s, and how easy it was for practically any source or amp to drive them. Ultimately, I felt they sounded too similar to the NS1000s to keep both and I felt that the NS1000s offered better value for money and were more suited to my use.

I was expecting to end up doing something similar with the DT770 pro and NS1000 but feel the two are sufficiently different to make keeping both viable.

Perhaps another one to consider are the Audio-Technica ANC7b. They are made for Audio-Technica by Phitek, the same OEM that makes the NS1000s for Goldring. Essentially, they're supposed to be like an upgraded NS1000 with better sound and build quality (according to someone on AVForums that has heard both in his specialist headphone hi-fi shop). Crucially, the design was changed between the ANC7 and ANC7b to make them sound better unamped in passive mode.
 
Auraomega said:
Unfortunately the A900s are over budget by a fair bit according to Google Products. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and buy the DT770s (and a couple of other things I need), doing so just before I get paid negates the sharp drop in money when I look at my account, at least that's my excuse ;)
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You can import them from Japan/Singapore for much cheaper, less than £150 including shipping. Audio Cubes and Bluetin are two sites I usually use and are reliable.
 
Once you get over £100 I would usually want to audition rather than buy on recommendation alone. There's always a chance that your taste and that of a reviewer will be different.
 
I agree, however where I live there are no specialist audio shops, infact as good as they get around here is a tiny Richer Sounds which stocks very little, at least buying in the UK makes it easier to return under the DSR if I dislike them.
 
JVC a 700... frow in some spongy material for the ear cushions and your in for a treat.. trust me I have a pair and they are the best headphones for the price. Nice solid sound, lovely highs and a low bass that doesnt sound like a tunnel of mud.
 
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