I need some headphones. Update: Bought Grado SR-80s. Update2: Recieved. Update3: Bought some new pads. Update4: Recieved

[calyco]

I had the SR125, Grados are only good for rock but suck for other types of music imo. For $100 I would go with the Audio Technica A500 for best all around headphones (I had the A900).

 

[aux]

Originally posted by: Eli
Wow, recieved them way earlier than I thought. USPS Priority is way faster than UPS Ground.

Well... hmm.

The comfort thing is definately going to be an issue.

When I first got them, the spring was so stiff that it made my ears/head hurt after a half an hour. A bit of stretching and adjusting has eased the clamping force on my head.

The biggest problem is that I guess my ears are small, so my ears try to fit inside the cups.. Parts of my ears are resting against the harsh plastic driver grill instead of the foam.

I'm thinking that if I can get new foam pieces for them, that it will be OK.

As for the sound, they sound great. You must take into account that before this, I have never had a pair of headphones that was over 10$.. so I do not exactly have a lot to compare it to.

They definately sound better than the 10$ headphones I had(Sony MDR-201). And they haven't even broken in yet. Although I do have to admit, I don't know if the difference is worth 8x the price... I haven't objectionally listened to enough headphones.

The bass is more full. It sounds much more like listening to the stereo through the regular speakers, than tinny headphones.

Mids and highs are crisp and non-fatiguing. I put on the other headphones to compare and immediately noticed the incredible ammount of high frequency distortion my old headphones were giving off, even at only moderate volume levels. It was really grating compared.. And to think, I was used to it.. :Q

I've only logged about an hour with them so far, but I let them play all day yesteray to help break them in.

Are there different foam pads you can get for these 'phones?

There are some aftermarket pads for Grados, check the forums at head-fi.org. I haven't tried any of them, still using my SR-80 with the original pads, it took a couple of months to adjust from HD 280, but I still prefer the Grados.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: deviant03
I had the SR125, Grados are only good for rock but suck for other types of music imo. For $100 I would go with the Audio Technica A500 for best all around headphones (I had the A900).

Yes. My A500s are hella comfortable.

 

[Viper GTS]

Which pads to you have for the SR-80's?

I have a pair of SR-60's, I never had any comfort issues with them.

Make sure you drive them pretty hard during break-in, definitely louder than you would ever use for listening.

What are you driving them with? SR-80's are notoriously difficult to drive without an amp, that may be part of why you're not hearing the night & day difference vs your $10 cheapos.

[EDIT]Nevermind I see what you're driving them with... That should be fine. What are you using as a source?[/EDIT]

Viper GTS

 

[imported_Reck]

sennheiser phones are highly overrated.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Reck
sennheiser phones are highly overrated.

At the low end perhaps but their high end stuff is quite good.

Viper GTS

 

[konakona]

What are you driving them with? SR-80's are notoriously difficult to drive without an amp, that may be part of why you're not hearing the night & day difference vs your $10 cheapos.

Something I should add is that I'm running them through a Dynaco SCA-80Q for now.

i dont know much about that particular model, but in one of those vintage amp discussions on head-fi they were saying dynaco stuff is very good, almost up there with the legendary fisher400 (speaking of which, i need to get mine fixed but fisherdoctor has not replied to my mail for over half year... wtf)

sennheiser phones are highly overrated.

what else do you want, stax or R-10? :disgust:

 

[sharkeeper]

Did you try some of the trippy stuff?

A binaural recording like this one sounds neat.

NOTE: The original project was played back through a 5.1 system and the "head" with the two microphones was positioned in the sweet spot.

 

[imported_Reck]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: Reck
sennheiser phones are highly overrated.

At the low end perhaps but their high end stuff is quite good.

Viper GTS

no they boring and non musical imo. detailed does not mean good. they are good for using just before you go to sleep.

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: Reck

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: Reck
sennheiser phones are highly overrated.

At the low end perhaps but their high end stuff is quite good.

Viper GTS

no they boring and non musical imo. detailed does not mean good. they are good for using just before you go to sleep.

can you list specs of associated gear? i can only speak personally from my modest singlepower ppx3-6cg7/modded EMU-1212M, which is quite good imo... but hd-650 paired up with monoblocks are supposed to be one of the best things out there from what i heard.

 

[Eli]

I picked up some "Mod" pads for them.

They're pads for the Sennheiser HD414's. Apparently they fit perfectly and are more comfy.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Which pads to you have for the SR-80's?

I have a pair of SR-60's, I never had any comfort issues with them.

Make sure you drive them pretty hard during break-in, definitely louder than you would ever use for listening.

What are you driving them with? SR-80's are notoriously difficult to drive without an amp, that may be part of why you're not hearing the night & day difference vs your $10 cheapos.

[EDIT]Nevermind I see what you're driving them with... That should be fine. What are you using as a source?[/EDIT]

Viper GTS

Yeah, it has no problem driving them... Can't go passed 1/4 volume.. lol

My computer is the source.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Eli
My computer is the source.

What sound card?

That's probably where your problem is.

At minimum you should be using something like an AV710.

If you can afford to get something dedicated to high quality stereo you might look at something like a bithead (or one of the DIY DAC alternatives since you already have a high quality amp).

Viper GTS

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: Eli
My computer is the source.

What sound card?

That's probably where your problem is.

At minimum you should be using something like an AV710.

If you can afford to get something dedicated to high quality stereo you might look at something like a bithead (or one of the DIY DAC alternatives since you already have a high quality amp).

Viper GTS

Just the onboard Nvidia Soundstorm.

I don't think driving them is an issue.. like I said, I can't turm them up passed 1/4 volume or my ears would bleed...

I just got the Sennheiser HD414 earpads. Tight fit onto the headphones, but wow, it makes all the difference. They're much, much more comfy now.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Nohr
Sennheiser HD497 and Grados are popular in the $50-$100 range.

yup, 497 on sale in hotdeals. amazon.com

 

[konakona]

I don't think driving them is an issue.. like I said, I can't turm them up passed 1/4 volume or my ears would bleed...

the questino here is not if you can sustain adequate of level of volume; rather it is what quality of sound you get out of it. soundstorm is ok for games and movies, but for music it leaves a lot to be desired. if you are skeptical about these claims, just grab a av-710 and hear the differerence yourself. those cards going for ~$25 shipped, what is there to lose?

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: VanillaH

I don't think driving them is an issue.. like I said, I can't turm them up passed 1/4 volume or my ears would bleed...

the questino here is not if you can sustain adequate of level of volume; rather it is what quality of sound you get out of it. soundstorm is ok for games and movies, but for music it leaves a lot to be desired. if you are skeptical about these claims, just grab a av-710 and hear the differerence yourself. those cards going for ~$25 shipped, what is there to lose?

Precisely. You're using an amp to drive it, power isn't the issue.

Viper GTS

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: VanillaH

I don't think driving them is an issue.. like I said, I can't turm them up passed 1/4 volume or my ears would bleed...

the questino here is not if you can sustain adequate of level of volume; rather it is what quality of sound you get out of it. soundstorm is ok for games and movies, but for music it leaves a lot to be desired. if you are skeptical about these claims, just grab a av-710 and hear the differerence yourself. those cards going for ~$25 shipped, what is there to lose?

hmm... I thought the Soundstorm was pretty good.

A 25$ sound card is better?

Man, I'm way out of the hardware loop.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: VanillaH

I don't think driving them is an issue.. like I said, I can't turm them up passed 1/4 volume or my ears would bleed...

the questino here is not if you can sustain adequate of level of volume; rather it is what quality of sound you get out of it. soundstorm is ok for games and movies, but for music it leaves a lot to be desired. if you are skeptical about these claims, just grab a av-710 and hear the differerence yourself. those cards going for ~$25 shipped, what is there to lose?

hmm... I thought the Soundstorm was pretty good.

A 25$ sound card is better?

Man, I'm way out of the hardware loop.

SoundStorm is pretty decent for onboard audio (good feature set), but yes a $25 AV710 is much, much better for music.

In fact the AV710 is better than cards costing several times that.

Grab the AV710, make sure you use the VIA chipset drivers (not the garbage supplied by chaintech), & you should be much better off.

You can continue to use your SoundStorm for games.

Viper GTS

 

[randomlinh]

I want to get the sr60/80's... but they are open unfortunately That and there's nothing quite as portable as ear buds. Thanks for the tips on the 414 pads tho.. i'll keep that in mind if i ever get to buying some headphones (my Sen HD 495's broke )

 

[konakona]

while AV710 is still a great bargain at that ridiculously low price, there is a new onkyo card (actually two of them, SE-90PCI and SE-150PCI namely) starting to get a lot of attention among the head-fi geeks. for tried and true, EMU-0404 will be another quantam leap from AV-710 at a decent price ($99 MSRP)

 

[Chesebert]

The 24/96 DAC on AV710 has some very good responses, much better than the Audigy4 pro and I can't imaging EMU do much better. Only use the optical out or the high res output (alt-out) from AV710, the regular outputs are just as bad as your onboard DAC.