Recommend me some cans for £100 mark

DarkShadow · 13 Jul 2007 at 12:34

I'd like some recommendations for some 'proper' cans for up to £100, the cheaper the better

I had some Medusa 5.1 and god they were terrible

I couldn't wear them for more than 30 minutes, I felt like they were suffocating me. Not to mention the echo'ing sounds.

My requirements are that they must be comfortable, so that I can wear them for hours without any concern. I'll be using them for Music/Gaming/Movies in my bedroom, I have Shure E2C's for outdoors. I want some decent all rounders, I listen to kinds of music (Trance/D&B/Electronica/Hip-Hop/R&B/Rock etc.). I may prefer open cans (They're meant to be 'airier'?) as I did tend to feel really uncomfortable with the medusa's with my ears being pushed into my head, more of a claustrophobic 'feeling'. I'm just assuming that was down to the medusa's padding.

I'll be using them with my HDA Mystique soundcard but I will most likely have either the headphones plugged into the headphone socket on Logitech Z-5500 or use a splitter. I don't intend on buy any after market products such as a headphone amp.

Here's my short-list:

Sennheiser HD595 (Really leaning towards these atm, due to their rumoured uber-comfort and sound) - £85 Delivered
Alessandro MS-1'S (Seen some cracking reviews but apparently they're not as comfortable?) - $100 - Works out to about £60 Delivered?
AKG 240 Studio (Meant to sound great for the price) - £65 mark Delivered
Beyerdynamic DT770/DT990 Pro (Seen a lot of people recommend these) - £80/£95 Delivered
Audio Technica ATH-AD700 - £85 Delivered
Grado SR80's (I've heard the Alessandro's are better bang for buck, but may aswell add them to the list) - £90 or so Delivered

I'd really appreciate any advice/recommendations you guys can put forward

DarkShadow · 16 Jul 2007 at 15:55

Pfffft, you bunch of thread-jackers

The HD-25's seem uncomfortable. I'm really confused on what to get, so many different great headphones available.

I'm trying to look for one that ticks all the boxes, any HD595 owners? Most owners have bragged about how comfortable they are along with the nice neutral sound they produce, so I'm slightly leaning towards them.

Any further advice/comments available?

DarkShadow · 16 Jul 2007 at 16:06

Mansize_tissue said:
Mmm, i'd say go for the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros. I tried them on in a store today and they were the most comfortable thing i've ever put on my head, or any part of my body, in fact. I should be ordering some in the next couple of days. Either them, or the Audio Technica A700s, or maybe even the AD700s, i can't decide.

I'd really like to try some on, but I don't know of any shops that have these on display available to try

DarkShadow · 17 Jul 2007 at 14:46

I'm going for the Sennheisser HD595's, I called a popular retailer and they price match with UK websites so at £80 collected, I think that's a good deal considering they sell them for £100!

Will be collecting them in the evening

DarkShadow · 17 Jul 2007 at 23:12

Just got back home with my 50ohm Sennheissers HD595, I never knew headphones could be so comfy. Just tried one song with it and sounds very impressive, better than my Shure E2C's which I didn't expect.

Love the fact that they're open, can hear around me, no late night pr0n though

I'm very impressed for £80, love the fact that the cable is long, can now lay in bed and listen to music, the holder is pretty neat too

DarkShadow · 17 Jul 2007 at 23:28

Mansize_tissue said:
Ah, cool. 'Glad you like them. Have you tried them for any games yet, and how is the bass on them?

I will report my findings in about 30 minutes

DarkShadow · 18 Jul 2007 at 00:42

Right I've tried CSS in 5.1 mode, changing the settings would just be a chore when swapping between my surround sound and headphones. The sound was very clear. However, I always play CSS with music so no big deal, I did just have a frag for about 20 minutes and I could hear footsteps in between walls which is like almost cheating

I have my headphones set to my custom 5.1 settings and the sounds are more rigid and bassier which gives it more of a punch compared to the headphone settings, which is fairly soft for hip hop, the high's and mid's are very noticeable in this setting. The headphone setting on my soundcard is software it sounds a lot softer,

Just tried a couple of hip hop albums (DJ Shadow, The Roots, The Neptunes (N*E*R*D) and Timabland. Also tried some Bloc Party, Goo Goo Dolls and Armin Van Buuren.

Bloc party just sounded absolutely beautiful at 256 :cool:

The bass is rather lacking, it sounds soft . . don't get me wrong it sounds good but it just doesn't have that 'punch' to it. However to balance it, acoustic & trance music sounds very nice.

One problem I have, 128 bitrate ripped music is fairly easy to identify, can even hear the hisses etc :eek:

These headphones are definitely the jack of all trades

Whilst typing I must have changed each paragraph every couple of mins as my thoughts kept changing each time I changed the settings. I still think I have a bit to learn in order to achieve settings that will sound good on both headphones and 5.1 surround.