£100 of Amazon vouchers to spend on headphones

devonkev

devonkev

devonkev

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Santa Kindly gave £100 worth of Amazon vouchers to spend so I thought why not treat myself to some new headphones :D
I currently own some Qpad 1339,so would ideally like something open-backed and a little lighter than 350g the quads weigh. Main use is for listening to music and light gaming via laptop.
I've narrowed it down to these:
AKG K612
Ultrasone HFI 2400
Sennheiser HD 558
Anyone see anything better for the money?? Could possibly add an extra £50 to the budget if it gets something much better!!
 
Laptop's rarely have audio output good enough to drive higher Ohm headphones. The Qpad 1339 are 32 Ohm, whereas the K612 are 120 Ohm.

If the OP isn't interested in using an amp, then possibly HD558 would be a better choice.

HD558 are 50 Ohm, and generally Sennheiser's HD5xx series of headphones are pretty easy to drive.
 
The Akg k612 were £99.99 but have sadly sold out.:mad: I'm using an asus u7 echelon edition sound card that has a small budget headphone amp fitted. Would this be enough to drive the beyer DT990 pro 250ohm which seems good value at £111.30, and they only weigh 240 grams:)
 
I have the DT990 Pro - 250Ohm headset and they're very good. The asus u7 states up to 150 Ohms, so i'm not sure how they'd sound with it but you may be okay. :)
 
AKGs will definitely need more power and the 250ohm Beyers are borderline.

Beyerdynamic DT770 pro (closed back) are available in an 80ohm version and if those don't tickle your fancy then the Sennheiser HD558 are nice and easy to drive so no problems there.
 
devonkev said:
Santa Kindly gave £100 worth of Amazon vouchers to spend so I thought why not treat myself to some new headphones :D
I currently own some Qpad 1339,so would ideally like something open-backed and a little lighter than 350g the quads weigh. Main use is for listening to music and light gaming via laptop.
I've narrowed it down to these:
AKG K612
Ultrasone HFI 2400
Sennheiser HD 558
Anyone see anything better for the money?? Could possibly add an extra £50 to the budget if it gets something much better!!
Click to expand...
Playing music via the laptop audio jack out is god awful as they usually sound crap, and pervert the sound quality that reaches the headphones.

IMO if you care more about improving audio quality over going open and lighter weight, invest in a USB external DAC first and stick with your Qpad 1339 for now.

If I'm not mistaken, the QPAD QH-1339 is like Beyerdynamic DT770 with the mic added? If that is the case, those headphones you quoted would probably not sound much better.
 
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I don't think you'll feel a huge upgrade with that kind of budget. Do you have anyway of testing said headphones? Does a friend have a pair of any of them? I've never heard the Qpads but I suspect they are actually pretty close in terms of sound reproduction compared to what you are looking at.

What do you feel like you are missing from the Qpads currently? Is a part of the spectrum muddy or lacking?
 
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BuToNz said:
I don't think you'll feel a huge upgrade with that kind of budget. Do you have anyway of testing said headphones? Does a friend have a pair of any of them? I've never heard the Qpads but I suspect they are actually pretty close in terms of sound reproduction compared to what you are looking at.

What do you feel like you are missing from the Qpads currently? Is a part of the spectrum muddy or lacking?
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Thank you for all the replies fellas.
I've no complaints about the Qpad sound quality,but they're really designed for gaming so I find them a little heavy and warm to wear when listening to music,while working at home in my study.
I was hoping an open backed pair would be lighter and not as warm to wear,and also I'd be able to hear the front doorbell when it rings,which I can't hear when using the Qpads!
 
devonkev said:
Thank you for all the replies fellas.
I've no complaints about the Qpad sound quality,but they're really designed for gaming so I find them a little heavy and warm to wear when listening to music,while working at home in my study.
I was hoping an open backed pair would be lighter and not as warm to wear,and also I'd be able to hear the front doorbell when it rings,which I can't hear when using the Qpads!
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I wouldn't say it is designed for gaming, as the Qpad 1339 is actually the Beyerdynamic MMX300 rebranded.

Going from that to any of those other headphones you listed would either be a sidegrade or downgrade even.

If you want improvement on audio quality for your music and games on your laptop, just grab a external soundcard such as the Asus Xonar U7 or external DAC such as the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic DS or Dacmagic 100 (they are on half price sales at Richersounds at the moment!)
 
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Marine-RX179 said:
I wouldn't say it is designed for gaming, as the Qpad 1339 is actually the Beyerdynamic MMX300 rebranded.

Going from that to any of those other headphones you listed would either be a sidegrade or downgrade even.

If you want improvement on audio quality for your music and games on your laptop, just grab a external soundcard such as the Asus Xonar U7 or external DAC such as the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic DS or Dacmagic 100 (they are on half price sales at Richersounds at the moment!)
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He has a U7 already.


There seems to be a few posts mentioning how he won't gain an improvement with the headphones mentioned, over the Qpad 1339. Where has he said I am looking for improved sound quality?

From what I can see, he has mentioned that is he is looking for open headphones that are lighter and possibly not so warm to use over extended periods when listening to music.

HD558 fit the bill. Easy to drive, light, open and probably not so warm over longer periods.
 
Marsman said:
He has a U7 already.


There seems to be a few posts mentioning how he won't gain an improvement with the headphones mentioned, over the Qpad 1339. Where has he said I am looking for improved sound quality?

From what I can see, he has mentioned that is he is looking for open headphones that are lighter and possibly not so warm to use over extended periods when listening to music.

HD558 fit the bill. Easy to drive, light, open and probably not so warm over longer periods.
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Ah didn't notice that as it wasn't mentioned in the 1st post. All this time I was thinking he's using the crappy audio jack out of the laptop.

Since he already got a soundcard, then yea it's perfectly understandable if he is just after lighter alternative.
 
Hard to beat the K612 in that price range.

Other options

DT770 - Bassy, fun, spacious, good image.

HD598 - Good mids, spacious, easy to drive.
 
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