Sennheiser HD600, Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro?

[FeltTipPen]

I currently use Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones. I have enjoyed them for practicing through my amp but I know that they are slightly bass boosted.

I'd like something a more even and transparent (don't know if that term applies to headphones like cabs/heads) but still enjoyable for my amp and my recordings through my Zoom H4N Pro, iPod etc. I do enjoy quality sound and use headphones often and I don't want to skimp

These two headphone models seem to be popular. The Sennheiser is at the top of my budget and the Beyerdynamics are much less expensive.

I would love to hear experiences, likes and dislikes, other recommendations. Thank you!

 

[SunByrne]

Headphones are a really deep rabbit hole. There's a monster forum vaguely like TalkBass here: Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

The ATH-M50s are pretty well-regarded for the price, but as you say, they are bass boosted.

If you're willing to wait a bit longer for delivery but want a good price, you can get the Senn HD600 equivalent at Drop (formerly Massdrop) for $220.

One thing you might care about is open vs. closed. Lots of high-end headphones are open, which means they don't make any effort to hold in the sound. The Sennheiser HD600 are open, and the Beyers are semi-open. Your ATHs are closed.

If you want closed in the $250 price range, I'm a fan of the ATH-MSR7b, though they are a little bright. Nicely foldable, too, so makes them portable.

The closed AKG K553 are $200 and they're also good.

 

[And I]

For transparency, I love Focal Audio stuff. You might check out the Focal Spirit One S.

 

[FeltTipPen]

Headphones are a really deep rabbit hole. There's a monster forum vaguely like TalkBass here: Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

The ATH-M50s are pretty well-regarded for the price, but as you say, they are bass boosted.

If you're willing to wait a bit longer for delivery but want a good price, you can get the Senn HD600 equivalent at Drop (formerly Massdrop) for $220.

One thing you might care about is open vs. closed. Lots of high-end headphones are open, which means they don't make any effort to hold in the sound. The Sennheiser HD600 are open, and the Beyers are semi-open. Your ATHs are closed.

If you want closed in the $250 price range, I'm a fan of the ATH-MSR7b, though they are a little bright. Nicely foldable, too, so makes them portable.

The closed AKG K553 are $200 and they're also good.

Hey @SunByrne, and IIRC, thanks so much for the info, suggestions and the link! I can totally see the rabbit hole that is the world of headphone research

And seeing there are big differences between open vs. closed I'll probably try open backed to see if I like them.

Thanks a ton!

 

[FeltTipPen]

For transparency, I love Focal Audio stuff. You might check out the Focal Spirit One S.

I'll research this one too, thanks!

 

[DirtDog]

I went from the AT M50 to the Sennheiser HD600 a few months back. Huge improvement. I’m using mine for tracking and mixing and they do well for both. I was skeptical of the open back design but am happy I went that route. If nothing else, I can wear the Senns for a lot longer than I could the A-Ts.... they are that comfortable. And they don’t suffer from the boosted bass freqs.

 

[monsterthompson]

Hey @SunByrne, and IIRC, thanks so much for the info, suggestions and the link! I can totally see the rabbit hole that is the world of headphone research

And seeing there are big differences between open vs. closed I'll probably try open backed to see if I like them.

Thanks a ton!

I’ve got a Grado SR125e set that I like. I suppose they are more on-ear than open back. The Grado set feels more real for practice, to me, vs my Sennheiser HD280 Pro. The closed back fatigues my ears faster. Though I think the closed back helps hearing the deeper lows, and keeping out the ambient room/environment noise. There are half-open designs out there. Not sure if you get the best or worst of both worlds.

Not suggesting the Grado, just sharing my experiences with the two design types.

 

[FeltTipPen]

I went from the AT M50 to the Sennheiser HD600 a few months back. Huge improvement. I’m using mine for tracking and mixing and they do well for both. I was skeptical of the open back design but am happy I went that route. If nothing else, I can wear the Senns for a lot longer than I could the A-Ts.... they are that comfortable. And they don’t suffer from the boosted bass freqs.

Glad to hear from an AT user!

When I first bought the ATs, the boosted bass made it attractive and an immediate buy for me. As great as they've been I found myself at times wanting to lose the headphones while practicing and go straight through the cab on songs with heavier bass. Comfort sounds appealing too!

Probably the top of my list at this point. Thanks @DirtDog!

 

[FeltTipPen]

I’ve got a Grado SR125e set that I like. I suppose they are more on-ear than open back. The Grado set feels more real for practice, to me, vs my Sennheiser HD280 Pro. The closed back fatigues my ears faster. Though I think the closed back helps hearing the deeper lows, and keeping out the ambient room/environment noise. There are half-open designs out there. Not sure if you get the best or worst of both worlds.

Not suggesting the Grado, just sharing my experiences with the two design types.

I researched the Grados and ended up with the Audio-Technicas. Don't remember why I passed on them but heard many positives and will research again. Thanks monsterthompson!

 

[FeltTipPen]

Headphones are a really deep rabbit hole. There's a monster forum vaguely like TalkBass here: Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

The ATH-M50s are pretty well-regarded for the price, but as you say, they are bass boosted.

If you're willing to wait a bit longer for delivery but want a good price, you can get the Senn HD600 equivalent at Drop (formerly Massdrop) for $220.

One thing you might care about is open vs. closed. Lots of high-end headphones are open, which means they don't make any effort to hold in the sound. The Sennheiser HD600 are open, and the Beyers are semi-open. Your ATHs are closed.

If you want closed in the $250 price range, I'm a fan of the ATH-MSR7b, though they are a little bright. Nicely foldable, too, so makes them portable.

The closed AKG K553 are $200 and they're also good.

@SunByrne, have you ordered from Drop? Never heard of them but from my very brief look at their site it looked interesting.

And checking out the AKGs!

 

[SunByrne]

@SunByrne, have you ordered from Drop? Never heard of them but from my very brief look at their site it looked interesting.

Yep, many times. Some deals aren't really that good, but some are terrific. But you often have to wait quite a while to get your stuff, which in the age of Amazon can sometimes be a bit of a deterrent.

And checking out the AKGs!

Not very portable, but they sound good. Also, oddly, not for people with small heads--the headband doesn't retract very far.

 

[FeltTipPen]

Yep, many times. Some deals aren't really that good, but some are terrific. But you often have to wait quite a while to get your stuff, which in the age of Amazon can sometimes be a bit of a deterrent.



Not very portable, but they sound good. Also, oddly, not for people with small heads--the headband doesn't retract very far.

Cool, good to know re: Drop...I've been almost annoyingly patient and practical about my purchases nowadays (but it's definitely better than when GAS got the best of me!) so I could wait little!

Don't have a small head so the AKGs probably wouldn't be a problem. Thanks again for the details!

 

[Epitaph04]

The DT880’s are great cans. Mine are a 200 ohm version so they can be tough to drive, but once you do, theyre very clean, very flat top to bottom, and have a surprisingly decent bass response to them. Everything sounds very cohesive through them, but they can be very treble forward, so I typically preferred using them for movie soundtracks and the like. Great cans for the price.

i’ve not heard the HD600 before, but did own a set of HD650s for years. Were my main headphones for a bit. They are pretty dark sounding...not much treble at all, and I always felt there was a rather noticeable bass roll off up to around 80hz or so (cant remember) but I loved how easy listening they were. Hope that helps any!

Someone above mentioned Focal. I have had a set of focal clear headphones and they may end up being my ultimate endgame can. They do an amazing job of portraying what i think is “flat and transparent” (everyone has their own perception of it) and I use them for all types of music, and even gaming and bass guitar. They sound pretty good driven by just an iPhone, but drive em properly and they sound incredible.

 

[FeltTipPen]

The DT880’s are great cans. Mine are a 200 ohm version so they can be tough to drive, but once you do, theyre very clean, very flat top to bottom, and have a surprisingly decent bass response to them. Everything sounds very cohesive through them, but they can be very treble forward, so I typically preferred using them for movie soundtracks and the like. Great cans for the price.

i’ve not heard the HD600 before, but did own a set of HD650s for years. Were my main headphones for a bit. They are pretty dark sounding...not much treble at all, and I always felt there was a rather noticeable bass roll off up to around 80hz or so (cant remember) but I loved how easy listening they were. Hope that helps any!

Someone above mentioned Focal. I have had a set of focal clear headphones and they may end up being my ultimate endgame can. They do an amazing job of portraying what i think is “flat and transparent” (everyone has their own perception of it) and I use them for all types of music, and even gaming and bass guitar. They sound pretty good driven by just an iPhone, but drive em properly and they sound incredible.

I was just reading up on higher impedance headphones and wonder if it would work for me (I read somewhere an iPod would have to be turned up all the way for example). Not sure if I would like the treble forwardness of the DT 880s so I am glad you mentioned it!

Helpful info for both the HD600 (or at least the 650s) and the Focal. The Focal mentioned above is no longer in production so I will see if there's something current from them.

Thanks Epitaph04!

 

[Relayer71]

I haven't tried any of the others, but i love my Senn HD600. There's a reason it's been around since 1997, pretty much unchanged until a recent cosmetic change to Black. It's a great sounding set, very detailed and relatively flat. (I also have the HD698 and love them as well, but those definitely sound more colored and have a little bit of a bass boost, though still very natural sounding... "Bass boost" is relative here).

Use them for music and movies but got a Phil Jones Bighead headphone amp recently and my Spector Euros sound great through them. Extremely clean sound (and used as a regular headphone amp, music theough the Bighead sounds fantastic as well).

 

[Relayer71]

I was just reading up on higher impedance headphones and wonder if it would work for me (I read somewhere an iPod would have to be turned up all the way for example). Not sure if I would like the treble forwardness of the DT 880s so I am glad you mentioned it!

Helpful info for both the HD600 (or at least the 650s) and the Focal. The Focal mentioned above is no longer in production so I will see if there's something current from them.

Thanks Epitaph04!

Someone mentioned Grados upthread; those are also very "treble forward".

 

[Spupilup]

In the $500 and under market, when I was checking out closed back headphones I tried a number of brands and ultimately went for the Neumann NDH-20's. If you can find them somewhere, they are definitely worth checking out. If you want a real, professional monitor, you can't go wrong with Neumann. Neumann is a division of Sennheiser and while I think the 600's are great, they are more of a domestic than professional monitor.

 

[ardgedee]

Grados are good. The SR80 is a decent middle ground between the prices of the lower end models and the sound quality of the upper end models. Bass can seem kind of thin by modern standards until you're pretty high up the model line. Comfort is really polarizing though, they fit some people's heads perfectly and are pretty agonizing for other people.

HD600 are kind of soft and dark for my tastes. You won't really miss out on anything with them, but I prefer what I guess you'd call a more literal sound. They sure are comfy though.

DT880 are good all-rounders. They don't do anything specific thing super-well but don't fall short either. Again, pretty comfortable.

Don't get too hung up on the open back / closed back distinction. Closed back headphones are good for blocking out some external noise (although not nearly as effectively as in-ears) and the form factor can help enhance bass, but most closed back designs also tend to sound kind of nasal and boxy. There are exceptional-sounding closed back headphones that aren't nasal and boxy too, of course.

Headphones are pretty much a kind of audio clothing, what fits my head might not fit yours, so take my comments on comfort as a pretty vague guideline rather than a recommendation.

 

[lars_dorren]

Out of the two you are suggesting yourself, I think the DT880's might be a good counterpart to your Audio-Technica's. HD600's are generally thought to be a bit warmer-sounding than Beyerdynamics. Another important thing: be sure to match the impedance of the headphone to the output you are using. The DT880 comes in impedances of 32, 250 and 600 ohm. You probably won't utilize the full potential of those last two by plugging them directly into your laptop.

 

[GrahamNN3]

My Sennheiser HD 280’s bought 8 years ago - have biodegraded - I’ve used them about 5 times.

I also have another cheaper set of Sennheiser headphones with the same problem.