For what I have been reading, things such as pad texture, and size can alter the sound, as well as distance from the driver to the ear. Adding felt in the can, as well as cloth over the driver can improve sound quality too. So with a little experimentation, I believe that you could taylor the sound to your preferences.
For what I have been reading, things such as pad texture, and size can alter the sound, as well as distance from the driver to the ear. Adding felt in the can, as well as cloth over the driver can improve sound quality too. So with a little experimentation, I believe that you could taylor the sound to your preferences.
Some companies also angle the driver to incorporate as much of your outer ear as possible in order to try and replicate a more personal version of "natural sound". I believe Ultrasone is among these. As far as budget friendly phones, I enjoy the Sure SRH440's. Made to be used, replaceable/coiled cable, passive noise cancellation, relatively comfortable. They work very well in the < $100 range.
thanks for the reply hurrication. i actually already have a fiio e5 that i bought when i purchased my klipsch in-ear buds. that amp makes a big difference in my opinion, and im sure they will in whatever over-ear phones i decide on. after some research, im pretty sure i have decided on some grados. i am bidding on a set of ms-1's on ebay right now. plans would be to do the ms1000 mod here...
i went to a bestbuy the other day and demoed those senn 428's. tonality was great, but i didnt feel that they were very comfortable, and they seemed to lack low end. then again, it could be the source that bestbuy had set up for the demo. does anyone have any experience with some of the grado phones?
Interesting assessment on the 428's. I heard them at Best Buy as well and also felt they lacked in the bass department.
If I were looking for Sennheiser 'phones on a budget, I'd stop at the HD280's. They're efficient enough to run well off of a portable source and can still rock when connected to an outboard amp.
Source is very important and can make even the best set of cans sound dull. It's similar to going into a car audio shop and listening to component sets that are lined up next to each other on a huge flat wall in a big square room running off internal deck power. It'll give you an idea of what they sound like, but it's not a good indicator of what their true potential is when installed correctly.
A good source, amplification, and EQ will greatly improve the performance of almost any set of headphones.
Perspective story: I share the music/audio hobby with my mother, who is an extremely critical listener. Her current hifi system is a pair of Magnepan MG2's, a Dahlquist DQ12, all powered by marantz tube amps and controlled by a Kenwood L07C preamp.. so she knows what good sound is. I had an old set of HD205's with a bad cord that I was throwing out, but she stole them out of my trash can and seemed pretty interested in stepping into the head-fi game so I put a new cord on them for her. We plugged them in to her old 2003 model Dell laptop and played some mp3's and I asked her what they sound like on a scale of 1-10. She said about a 5. We did some of the basic mods.. R/L jacks on each side, felt behind the driver, some new shallow pads, and I got her a E5. We spent an afternoon EQ'ing them to her taste, and now when playing some FLAC files on a brand new hp laptop (with a more than likely superior sound card to the 2003 Dell) she rates them an 8.5 out of 10. This was a 60$ set of phones.
Bass response was something I really struggled with when I first got serious about head-fi. I think coming from a car audio background, you get used to the extremely boosted bass response that is a result of cabin gain. I mean we're talking ~12+db boost here.. enough that even a basic 10" sub shakes your mirrors and your body. This is what we are all used to and we perceive it as the norm.. any bass that you can't feel is "lacking". With headphones, you no longer feel the bass throughout your whole body and your low end is ~12db quieter. Headphones are meant to be a "reference" just like monitors in a recording studio. If you have ever spent time in a well designed recording studio you will notice that the low end of the spectrum is incredibly different than a typical car system. It's all perspective. If you spent a month backpacking deep in the mountains and had no exposure to any type of music or speakers, and then someone put a pair of amplified overear cans on your head and cranked them, you would more than likely go at all of the bass.
im down to get an amp, but EQing might be a bit much. granted i would love the outcome. i didnt read the tutorial but you can use this with like an ipod? u would have to use with like a laptop?
Yeah, I EQ everything that has the capability for it. I use winamp on my pc and droid phone and have EQ curves for both. The tutorial can be intimidating and there are some people who disagree with it (tuning an EQ with pink noise is a very debatable topic), but once you dive in and get your feet wet the learning curve is easy. If my 58 year old mother can figure it out, it should be no problem for a young guy
Ok, so my Alessandro MS-1i's came in late last week. I only have a few hours on these guys and I am very impressed so far. The response is pretty flat, with a slight low-end roll off that leaves a guy like me who loves mid/sub bass somewhat wanting more. Some reviewers comment on Grado's being bright. I actually like it, although I do find it just a tad bright sometimes. And Im one of those guys that perfer smooth highs.
It seems that they play just about any form of rock exceptionally well. Anything from punk, grunge, to acoustic sounds phenomenal. When it comes to hip hop and rap, it is evident that it lacks in the bass department.
There are several mods that I mentioned earlier that many has done to improve SQ, but I am so happy that I will save that for a later time. I am really digging the Grado signature sound!
Cool! I picked up a used set of Grado SR80s from a member of head-fi a couple years back, enjoyed them for about a year, then sold 'em and replaced with a set of gold SR325is (also used). The cabling was mangled on them when I got 'em, so I had 'em redone in nicer nylon-sleeved cable with a splitter. I pulled off the little circular tabs, cleaned/sanded down the black paint on the grilles, and wiped out the trim lettering. Also, the stock bowl pads killed my ears so I swapped 'em with a set of flats like you have on your Alessandros. Much more comfortable and maybe slightly increased bass response with the flats.
EDIT: found pic
I have them running off my PC soundcard and through a Little Dot I+ tube amp (yep, I got that used also ).
My knockaround setup is a pair of HD280s connected up to a cMoyBB tin amp. I've had em for about 5 years now; Not the best sound quality but I use 'em mostly for streaming video duty and the sound isolation makes them great nighttime headphones. The cMoy has a modest bass boost which helps warm up the HD280s a bit.
Hey jperry, do you have any pics of your cabling process? It looks great!
Hey man. I actually have a guy I met on head-fi that did it for me, I suck with a soldering iron. I've had a ton of headphone/iPod cables made and he does excellent work, great prices too. Shoot me a PM if you want and I'll show you some of the other stuff he's done for me and could put you in contact with him if interested.
I have the Sennheiser hd 555's which I modded to the hd 595's. There is just a piece of foil in the earcups that need to be removed to basically make them into HD 595s. I'm a big fan of the Sennheiser lineup.
After running into this thread a few weeks ago, I decided to check out the one of the portable headphone amps recommended on Head-Fi. I picked the PA2V2 from Electric Avenues based on the reviews.
It looks like the owner (Gary) is a one man operation up in Ontario. He hand builds these, so the Quality Control and customer service are both fantastic. I ordered directly from him for $60 on the 15th and got it in yesterday. I've got a good six hours on it through a set of Audio Technica ATH-M50, and I have to say I'm impressed at the difference. The bottom end is much fuller, even with my cheaper earbuds.
No affiliation or anything, just happy and thought I'd share the wealth.
Re: Budget Headphones
).
Linear Mode
