Headphone and sound card advice (possible upgrade over SRH840)

[Gonzo100100]

I am not an audiophile; I am not ‘crazy’ about any kind of music or sound but I do enjoy the fact that my headphones with a wonderful sound separate me from all the surroundings.

For many years (around 10) I have owned SRH840 and I love them. I also have Xonar DX (sound card) with it. Unfortunately, the plastic element holding one headphone broke and they are falling apart. I already glued the part twice in the last year but it broke yet again and I guess it will only happen more often.

Because I like them so much, I can easily get them for around £120 what is way cheaper when I bought them years ago anyway.

However, I am considering to buy something better. The only problem is I am a little ignorant when it comes to device specifications and technical side of the subject. I just enjoyed awesome headphones for years where I could clearly hear difference between my SRH840 and much inferior products that could be bought from Amazon for up to £30.

With all my ignorance I came across an offer for SRH1840 for £250 (which is 50% off).

Should I get them? If yes, do I need to get another sound card or my Xonar DX will be still OK?
The other thing is that my SRH840 are closed back and this is what I like.
SRH1840 are open back and I don’t have an experience in comparing 2 models, 1 open and 1 closed of similar price. However, in theory I like closed back way more.

If not them, could you recommend me some other model that would be an upgrade to my SHR840? And again, would I need a new sound card to that other model?

Regarding the budget, I could stretch but I would be happy to fit within £250 (If less, then even better).

 

[Gonzo100100]

It is hard for me to decide what I want. I use them on my main desktop computer. On one hand I like to watch a movie, listen to music or play a video game completely isolated, and it is what I love about my SRH840. Sometimes however, I need to be aware of my surroundings and I have to ‘readjust’ the headphones to have a gap what is not very comfortable or to put them down and listen on speakers (about 50% of time I spend on my PC I can allow myself to be fully immersed).

I don’t think I need more bass although I probably wouldn’t complain if there was more of it.

I would be really happy if whatever I buy, I could hear an improvement in quality over what I’ve got but it’s all uncharted territory for me because I never experienced any better headphones than my SRH840. Basically, in my current understanding SRH840 are the best headphones I ever tried; they are just perfect. In all things that really matter for me, there is nothing I don’t like about them. The only reason I want new is because my old are falling apart as mentioned in my previous post.

What I read online I see that basically a step up (within Shure brand) from my SRH840 would be SRH1840 if I want open and SRH1540 if I want closed. However, in case of SRH1840 I found an offer, ‘open but unused’ which is in my view superior to ‘used but in good condition’. I am a bit reluctant to spend £500 on a brand-new pair.

I am leaning more to have closed back that’s a big thing that stopped me from taking that £250 offer for SRH1840 immediately but I haven't ruled it out either.

 

[Gonzo100100]

Thank you very much for your help as I honestly say it influenced my decision. Anyway, I went with SRH1840 because I believe I got a good offer ‘ex retail, open box but unused’ for £250 and also, the way you explained it convinced me that open back is not what I feared it may be.

I got them today and so far, I am very satisfied.

I would like to use the opportunity and ask is my XonarDX will be sufficient or may I need an upgrade here as well?

Second question, I have my old SRH840 that works alright but its ‘construction’ is falling apart. Is there anything you could point me to in terms of DIY to replace the ‘construction’ (sorry for the strange terminology but I’m not talking just about the headband – I think).

 

[Gonzo100100]

I would say that on my SRH840 I was never listening anything on more than 80% because it was simply too loud for me. I would keep the volume between 25 and 80% but most of the time kept it at 50% when gaming, listening to music or watching movies.

Now, with SRH1840 I can hear they are significantly quieter. I think that the volume of 80% would be equivalent of 50% on SRH840 but I am not totally sure on that because… I can’t compare the 2 pairs directly until I fix somehow the SRH840. Anyway, with SRH1840 at the moment I can’t set the volume “too loud” as I could on the previous pair.


The link leads to the image that shows my SRH840. ---> [click]

The gap on the image is the place that broke few times already and I successfully fixed it every time but this time I tried to repeat it and I failed because the two parts there can’t straighten up, thus that gap. (The gap on the image doesn't look like much but it's quite significant).

Then, this morning I tried to adjust the headphones with that gap on my head and because of it the headband snapped in the place where arrow shows ‘snapped’. I may have another attempt to fix this with two component resin adhesive but if it won’t work, I may try to get some cheap headphones to use its parts (I’ll have to think it through how will I do it and what to use). If it still won’t work, I will most likely trash it.

 

[Gonzo100100]

I think I could use external one because the external volume gauge sounds like a good thing, although I’m not 100% sure. Price to quality ratio would be a solid factor.

Somebody recommended me to look into two products as an upgrade for my Xonar DX:

FX-AUDIO DAC-X6 MKII

DX3 Pro+

The reviews of both products are very positive claiming they both are the best for their price range. Unfortunately, I find it hard to determine what I need. How much the more expensive one will be better over the cheaper. Or maybe the DX3 Pro+ has some features I don’t need but the quality of sound would be the same. I think I really would need to commit many hours to understand the subject what would be twice as hard when I can’t relate to an experience how a feature works.