New headphones needed!

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I'm coming from an awesome set of Beyerdynamic DT660's but the plastic forks that holds the speakers has cracked on both sides and it's bound with black insulating tape. In other words, they've served there purpose and I need some more.

I really don't want to spend £100+ on headphones that last about a year due to weak construction.

Out of this list, is there any that stand out as particularly good value in terms of quality, both sound and build? Microphone not needed.

Thanks for any tips.
 
TBH, I'd be very surprised if any of those headphones were anything like as good as your Beyers.

For sound quality, keep to a simple stereo pair, not 5.1 etc.

I have some Sennheiser HD580's, and they're very well made. You'd have to be pretty clumsy to damage them really, and pretty much anything that breaks/wears out on them can be replaced. The HD595's are meant to be cracking cans. AKG offer a good range in the same price bracket as the 595's.

What is your budget?
 
Decent headphones are only as good as your source. I love my HD650's, but they only really shine when connected to a beefy high quality headphone amp.

What will they be connected to?

Beyerdynamic DTX900s and Sennheiser HD515s would be ideal for a regular headphone user, comfortable and pretty strong, both are easy to drive dynamic open back cans and cost around 60 pounds.
 
Hesky82 said:
Decent headphones are only as good as your source. I love my HD650's, but they only really shine when connected to a beefy high quality headphone amp.

What will they be connected to?

Beyerdynamic DTX900s and Sennheiser HD515s would be ideal for a regular headphone user, comfortable and pretty strong, both are easy to drive dynamic open back cans and cost around 60 pounds.
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I've tried the HD515's and they were absolutely awful. HD555's for £40 are so much better.

For £60ish I recommend Audio Technica AD700's. If you up your budget, Denon D2000's. Far and away the best headphones I've ever listened to.
 
Sorry I meant the HD515s bigger brother the HD555s, realistically though they will cost you more than £40 pounds.

Im not a fan of Audio Technica cans, can’t comment on the AD700s though.

You have to be careful with high end headphones, they tend to be devastatingly revealing and pretty unforgiving with poor sources, can pick out every little floor and throw it in your face!
 
If your looking for full size headphones without spending an arm and a leg then I recommend the AKG K 240's, they can be had for £67 which is a bargain, very comfortable, they are semi-open backed, bass is realistic but not lacking, quite punchy and fast, the mids are not as cold/flat as you normally find on mid-high end studio can's, they have a slight warmth to them but not enough to discolour the music that your listening to, it also helps smooth over imperfections on lower quality recordings/mp3's, in other words they are not over-revealing to the extent that you need a 10 grand hi-fi to enjoy your music, another thing I love about them is that they have good wide stereo imagining that help separate the instruments, sometimes you feel like your hearing certain instruments from outside of the can's which is cool, I do like Sennheiser's but I feel you have to spend that little bit extra on them before I'm impressed, don't get me wrong, I do like the sound of high end Sennheiser's but I just prefer the way in which the AKG's deliver it, I guess that's just down to personal preference/choice though.
 
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I got a set of Sennheiser PC161s for christmas, couldn't recommend them enough :) Very good sound and very comfy.

I also have an old set of sennheisers that cost me £90 when I got them, but that was 5 years ago and the sound quality is excellent.
 
Some great suggestions. Thanks! Budget wise I'm thinking around £50 but if something has to be bought due to excellence for £75 then so be it. I'm not particularly clumsy with the headphones but due to daily use the stress just causes the plastic to crack and eventually break. Very weak plastics but the sound quality of Beyer DT660's, wow!
 
Well, after looking the suggestions up I'm leaning towards the AKA K240's. They look much sturdier, the Senns HD555 seem as plasticky as my Beyers.

HD555

hd555_280.jpg



AKA K240

6138a3c98b1ac189ab9b6dc2cc221671.jpg
 
Ive got a set of Sennheiser HD480's that i bought about 20 years ago and they are still going well and to my ears sound fantastic, you still see HD480's being used on TV in Studios which cant be bad for such an old design.
 
I don't think OcUK are the place to look for audiophile headphones. It's only gamer-marketed phones there.

There have already been some good recommendations in this thread. I'm using Audio Technica ATH A-900's but they are over budget (Even when ordered direct from Japan). They are good at not requiring an amp (40 Ohms) so suited to plugging into a PC soundcard.

Maybe look into the A700s as H2F Scott says. If you go via a US website who send them direct from Japan you save a packet compared to UK retail price (practically half price).

What music do you listen to? And what with, PC/amp?
 
Hen_Dawg said:
I don't think OcUK are the place to look for audiophile headphones. It's only gamer-marketed phones there.

There have already been some good recommendations in this thread. I'm using Audio Technica ATH A-900's but they are over budget (Even when ordered direct from Japan). They are good at not requiring an amp (40 Ohms) so suited to plugging into a PC soundcard.

Maybe look into the A700s as H2F Scott says. If you go via a US website who send them direct from Japan you save a packet compared to UK retail price (practically half price).

What music do you listen to? And what with, PC/amp?
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A700's are the closed version. I've tried both, and I preferred the AD700's (open version) for the absolutely huge soundstage. Honestly, I've yet to hear headphones with a better soundstage than those.
 
AKG K240s are absolutely superb. They're industry standard studio headphone monitors. Very neutral sounding, good soundstage, they sound very very good through the vocal range of frequencies.

If you are a bass head who loves headphones with overemphasised bass frequencies, these are probably not for you. These headphones will however reproduce everything incredibly naturally.
 
H2F Scott said:
A700's are the closed version. I've tried both, and I preferred the AD700's (open version) for the absolutely huge soundstage. Honestly, I've yet to hear headphones with a better soundstage than those.
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Meh, demo a set of AKG K1000 cans on a top end headphone amp that can actually drive them, their soundstage is just breathtaking. They just have more openness, greater soundstage depth and width, only problem is you look like a right plonker wearing a set, far from practical!
 
Alessandro (Grado Labs) MS1's are great cans! I recon they have the excitement of the Grado SR60, SR80 bass and SR125 refinement. I want to keep a pair for longer than a day! If you can get them for as little as £60 then there worth checking out, think I might to!
 
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