Ideas for Headphones around £200

Robbinz

Robbinz

Robbinz

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Joined
13 Oct 2008
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66
HI. Looking for ideas for a good set of headphones for around £200. Im really not into bass and would preffer a nice crispy treble sound.

I know most Sennheiser around that priace are awsome. Specially the HD range.

Anyone know any specific models?
 
I've got HD595's (replaced by HD598). And I love them, so comfortable, even if you spend the whole day wearing them.

Comes with a well needed desk clip to store them on.
 
What are you going to connect the headphones to?

Some headphones need a dedicated headphone amp more than others. Sennheiser HD600 and AKG Q701, for example.
 
It is all to do with impedance. The higher the headphone impedance, the more power is required from the source to drive them at increasing volumes.

Most sources like iPods are suited to driving headphones up to around 30ohms. For things above this, you really would be better with a proper headphone amp designed to drive them.

The HD650 have an impedance of 300ohms.
The HD600 have an impedance of 300ohms.
The Q701 have an impedance of 62ohms.

All of these are above the normal abilities of the iPod, and could stress the device if you increase the volume too high.
That said, I have a set of Q701s and have driven them happily from a Zune player without issue, but I don't pump the volume too high.

If you want a good set like this, all you would need to do is buy a headphone amp to run in between the device and the phones. Something like the Fiio E17 or E07K (for portable devices) or Silverstone SST-EB03S (for desktop apps) would help, although does eat into your budget.
 
Is sound isolation (both from outside and from your music leaking out) required?
Open/closed headphones have different attributes (I love open for home use, but of course out and about you need sound isolation).
 
Robbinz said:
@Marsman - Ahh so do the HD650 need a dedicated headphone amp as well?
Click to expand...

They do.

They are very similar to the HD600, but a slightly different flavour of sound, so to speak.

For use with a laptop and mobile devices, you'd probably want to get easy to drive headphones. In other words, headphones that don't really need an amp.

No reason why you can't use HD600/650, Q701 with laptop and mobile devices, but then you've got to factor an amp in to the cost, and also consider the additional device that will be connected. Some people will prefer headphones connected to the device with nothing in between, especially if it's a mobile device.

Assuming having an amp connected up as well doesn't put you off, what you could do if you like the look of the headphones already mentioned, is add an amp later on when funds allow, if you can't get both together. Those headphones will work from whatever headphone output, but just not as good as when a decent amp is introduced.
 
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I have a pair of HD600s and love them. However, to get the best out of them, they thrive more with a decent amp. Used to have a Little Dot4 valve amp, which are not that expensive.
For all that, I'd say they're a bit more "laid back" than your description suggests.

More recently, I bought a pair of Musical Fidelity MF100s for use on the move. Really rate them. Not as good as the HD600s, but much easier to drive (and I mean MUCH) and IMO made mincemeat out of anything else close to the same price point that I tried. For reference, that consisted of wandering into Richer Sounds and asking them what they'd recommend for under £150. So not the best choice in the world, but pretty good.
 
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