/hpg/ - Headphone General

>Headphone purchase advice
pastebin.com/fYZLW7Ub
Please put some effort into your requests and questions.

If you dislike a suggestion, explain why and try giving a better suggestion to whomever asked.

For sub-$50 headphones and IEMs, check out infographic in >Sup Forums wiki headphone FAQ:
wiki.installgentoo.com/index.php?title=Headphones

Previous thread:

Other urls found in this thread:

amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLPRQMO
pricerunner.co.uk/cl/94/Headphones
staxusa.com/earspeaker/
kingsaudio.com.hk/headphone.html
amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-380-PRO-Headphones/dp/B001UE6I0G/
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

I need a pair of headphones - budget of < 50$, for music, video games and entertainment.

don't need a mic/buttons, going to use it on my desktop.

i've looked at the /csg/ infograph, but don't know which one i should get, which one is considered the best?

damn maki looks like THIS?

>yfw got meme'ed in to buying """"neutral"""" HD 600

This is actually kind of sad that we use v memes now.

what do you mean?

optical spdif is not bassy! it's shit!

you lied to me /hpg/!

any1 have that pic of the beyerdynamic headset with a spider in one of the ears?

I have 599 and 650 incoming next week. Am I in for a good time?

yeah if you're a cuck

Great

wtf i love tomatoes now

Ok assdrop I see your non-detachable cable HOWEVER

...

I need to get some plugs and reterminal the cable. It's actually I pretty nice cable.

how much work was this
im pissed at mines long ass bullshit

how is the superlux hd668b? Are there better alternatives for the same price(35$)

I managed to put in like 2 hours into the sr850 so far, so this is my first impression for now.

Out of the box, these headphones were not as heavy as I thought they were going to me, the leather headband was really comfortable, and for a bit, the force of the headphones on the head did feel a bit tight, but after about 30 minutes (also because I was still feeling nauseus), the "clamp" of it? I think either it loosened up or I got used to it, felt good for the remainder of the time.

The pads on these are new to me, these feel soft and they did not put any strain against the head for me, very breathable in my opinion, since my ears did not overheat. They did feel warm after a while, but not uncomfortably hot.

The cable of it felt solid too, the thickness of it feels like quality compared to those wires that are as thin as a piece of hair. They connection jack (the part you connect to your device) has this very nice material on it, i'm not sure if it was coated with rubber or some other stuff, but that piece felt solid too, usually headphones break in that spot, I don't expect these to do that.

The sound was clear but low compared to the apple earpods I had before. Eurobeat sounds good on them, but i'll have to do more testing in this section.

Overall, I think this was a good purchase, i'll probably do another review in a week to give myself more time to get familiar with these. As a first impression, these are pretty good.

Looking to buy an amp under $50.00 USD, any suggestions?

They're pretty good, but the stock pads are total garbage. Upgrade to velours as soon as possible. To me the treble can be kind of harsh in some songs too.

They're 'ok' if you have up the budget to $50 massdrop has AKG m220 for 49.99 which would be better imo

>AKG m220
interesting, i like that one, but i can get a pair of 688b's in 2 days, plus i can cheap out now, and buy a more expensive one as my next pair.

are pads universal? or should i look specifically for 688b's

Idiot

They take k240 pads, these are the ones I bought for mine. amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLPRQMO

You can get good velourpads for under $5 from Aliexpress by searching the model + velour or AKG 240. Anything under $30 on Amazon is the same thing resold. Alternatively you could buy brainwave HM memory foam earpads for $35.
At that point you shouldve bought a Somic or Takstar with velour earpada

You have to drill out the metal to make the hole just a tad bit larger to accommodate the jack. You have to cut the plastic surround of the driver to make space on the inside for the jack. Cut the wood of the cups so they can fit flush. And solder everything together. It's not hard took me about an hour I'd say.

Maki!

Does the Stax come with its own amp or will I need a Jotunheim?

great, thanks.

I'm planning to get:
sennheiser cx 5.00 for on the go
ath m40x for home/gaming use
good for beginner/casual use?

How comfortable are dt770 i0 ohms?

how is the Samson SR850 compared to superlux 668b?

80 ohm*

>Budget
£120
>Location
UK, pricerunner.co.uk/cl/94/Headphones
>Source
laptop
>Type of headphone
full-sized
>Open or closed
closed
>Comfort level
have to be pretty comfy
>Sound signature

>Past headphones
nothing worth taking note of

I'm counting on you guys

Something's going on

Very

Awesome, upgrading from super old m50s, I couldnt take the pain anymore

You could try MSR7 pads first, DT770 will sound better though.

fuck you

This is the thing I was talking about, it feels solid in the hand

Are more expensive IEMs worth it? Are they actually good? I just get the feeling that since they're so small that they can't deliver as good sound as a comparable headphone.

Like the Sennheiser HD600 is the king of mid-fi and Sennheiser HD800 is the king of hi-fi. I feel like IEMs will never reach that sound quality purely because they're too small. Is this right or am I wrong?

>Like the Sennheiser HD600 is the king of mid-fi and Sennheiser HD800 is the king of hi-fi.
10/10

>worth it
Shut up.
>actually good
Can be. Best are better than any other headphone, imo.
>size
Doesn't tell you how something sounds like. They operate inside of your ear canal where small driver can easily provide enough SPL.

Are there any good Stax headphones, as opposed to "earspeakers"?
If not are there any good and comfortable electrostatic headphones from other manufacturers. Preferably under $2000

ath es 10 are so fucking good actually

>earspeakers
This is actually kind of sad that we use reddit memes now.

>we
staxusa.com/earspeaker/
Even anime calls them earspeakers

Sorry but headphones will never be hi-fi.
The only thing that can be true hi-fi is speakers, end of discussion.

Should I buy AKG or STAX if I want to be a cute anime girl and not be singled out by my fellow anime girl friends.

Dynamic drivers of any kind can never be Hi-Fi.
Regardless of formfactor.

Is there anything wrong with the monoprice DAC/AMP? Seems like a fair alternative to the Fulla 2 if you dont need portability

Anything that produces sound normally will never be Hi-Fi. Only direct brain nerve connections to electrical signals that produce sound directly inside the brain is Hi-Fi. Anything else is mid-fi

Where can I buy *genuine* Beyerdynamic pads that isn't $50 for 2 velour foam rings?

Alternate pads from other cans of reputable brands are OK too, but no cheap chinese shit.

What? Digital transfer protocol/interconnect doesn't alter the frequency magnitude. Absurd idea.

What? Jotunheim won't drive electrostatic headphones. There are Stax + amplifier combos available.

>"earspeaker"
Stax marketing lingo. Stax is the only manufacturer of electrostatic headphones right now. Koss made ESP-9 and Sennheiser had HE-60, HE-90 and HE-1.

Akiba's trip was obviously making fun of the term.

Headphones have a lot of potential with DSP and they are the only way to properly listen binaural recordings. Headphones can be ideal for video games. With stereo recordings and without any signaling processing they will always be lacking.

I hope there's nobody who believes this. Better not give people these ideas either.

I don't have the luxury of being able to use speakers even though I have more than enough money for it.

So your point is invalid in my case.

IS that even hifi?
I mean even a direct electrical impulse is going to be 'colored' by the sheer fact that your ears were colored and that how you remember things.

Ideally, we need to not only directly feed impulses, but find a way to simulate the direct listing conditions of the composers head.

>I don't have the luxury of being able to use speakers even though I have more than enough money for it.

What kind of situation even is this? Walls made of literal paper? But you would have money to move somewhere better?

>I hope there's nobody who believes this. Better not give people these ideas either.
There are.
Electrostatic > Dynamic
Every day of the week.
Too bad Anything less than ~160hz is pretty much fucking impossible in a reasonable size and power footprint.

Thus for a reasonable Hi-Fi setup you'd want 10-40hz, 40-80hz, 80-160hz in dynamic and electrostatic in 2hz bins to 22,000hz.

I live in the central area of my city in a newly built apartment complex with lots of neighbors around. I don't want to move because the location is perfect for work.

I doubt anybody would complain or even hear

>Stax is the only manufacturer of electrostatic headphones right now
I'm pretty sure Koss hasn't discontinued the esp950 (which also is included in their lifetime warranty, afaik).

Also KingSound is makes electrostatic headphones as well, for under $2000
kingsaudio.com.hk/headphone.html

Haven't read much about them, so I wouldn't know if they're like the hifiman of electrostats or not (in terms of QC/CS).

>Stax is the only manufacturer of electrostatic headphones right now.
Sennheiser HE-1
Hifiman Shangri-La
MrSpeakers is working on one

Just made this thread, wonder if any of you could help me.

I have been plagued by headphone problems for a long time now.

My computer does not recognise headphones when I connect them.

However, audio plays out of the headset, but when I click on playback devices in the sound panel, the computer is reading my headphone input as "speakers(via hd audio)"

I click the recording tab and it says mic not plugged in. The only thing it reads is "Stereo Mix via HD Audio".

I try updating all the drivers etc, they're all up to date, yet these problems persist.

Any idea what the FUCK is going on here?

Appreciate any help you can give me. Fanks.

Solution:
Turn up speakers to your hopeful listening level, walk out of your apartment and close the door.
Then go to your neighbours apartment and simply ask them if they hear your music right and if so is it too loud?

You'll probably find they can't heat it at all, since modern apartments are usually built a fairly soundproof as secondary benefit of al lthe fireproofing done to make sure the builder and owner isn't liable for hundreds of deaths if you're an idiot and start a fire.

what this guy is saying.. besides, even if they did hear the faintest sound, they wouldn't be able to complain to anyone about it

you would have to go deaf yourself for your neighbors to hear anything and be able to complain about it

Nothing, that's what the audio jacks are called - Windows doesn't know you've plugged in headphones or speakers, all it knows is you've plugged some shit into an audio jack.

Only USB headphones get recognition, since they can tell windows "hey I'm a stupid USB gamer headphone"

There is no problem, if you want them to say Headphones and Mic, just open the properties and change the name and icon.

>poorfags think that dropping $3,000 on headphones is too much
The average 1st world middle class home has a home theater system in the 1k-5k range. Even my dad who made a measly 100k yearly before retiring managed a hi-fi surround setup that cost at least 4k. I spent about as much on basic kitchen cabinets.
If you honestly think something like the SR-007MK2 is "too expensive", you are a teenager, jobless college student, living on SNAP, or a third worlder.
There isnt anything necessarily wrong with that but you should not be advising other anons on headphone purchases and you need to stop touting the HD 600 as "end-game".

>MrSpeakers is working on one

People still give this jew money?

>Mad Dog comes out
>HOLY SHIT REVOLUTION
>Mad Dog Pro comes out
>OH MY GOD TAKE MY MONEY
>Alpha Dog comes out
>H-Hey might wanna cool it with the jew stuff, eh?
>Ether, Aeon and whatever the fuck else comes out
>S-Surely people aren't giving this jew any money, r-right?

Found the poorfag being mad as fuck lmao.

you forgot that an expensive home system compared to garbage tv or tiny speakers is a ridiculous improvement.. like let's say 1000% improvement, but this isn't true for headphones
$2000 headphone setup compared to $300 headphones is not even 200% improvement

Just EQ your dynamics theyll sound as good as electrostatics lmao

>You aren't allowed to upgrade your product otherwise you're a Jew.

>his setup isn't a dynamic amount of speakers for each instrument on whatever track he is listening to placed to match their placements in the studio they were recorded in with the exact same accoustics as the studio room etc

you will never be hi-fi

Theres definitely a bigger improvement jumping from the mid range hellhole to $1000+ headphones than you get from adding some meme like Dolby Atmos ceiling speakers.

There's nothing they do better than moving coil drivers in a decent cabinet and their directivity is awful. Why three woofers to cover 160Hz and below? You could do that with one per channel and a sub array.

>He's using dynamic drivers
You'll never be Hi Fi.

Unless you're listening to one man jazz sax, I guess you could do then for your single instrument.

Consider that this setup would be around ~5meters*0.8m*2m for one channel.

>Bait
What the hell are you going on about, user?

>he uses a soundcard instead of a Roland-SC88
Do you just hate music

>He doesn't have literal live shows right in his fucking home with the absolute perfect acoustic setup in the room

You will never be fucking hi-fi, just give up

>Music is recorded on electrostatic condenser microphones instead of dynamic microphones
>retards think that reproducing music made with electrostatics on dynamics will ever compare to reproduction on electrostatics

>live
eh
How do I know the artist didn't go on a bender the night before my private show?
At least I know the recording is a good take, not a shit set.

>Stax is the only manufacturer of electrostatic headphones right now.
Wew.

>>retards think that reproducing music made with electrostatics on dynamics will ever compare to reproduction on electrostatics

Are you a retard?

are you trying to be funny with me right now

I'm having a hard time finding a good price index for head phones.

I'm not certain what they're supposed to cost really.

I'm looking for open backs, and I really don't want to pay too much or get anything less than the best bang/buck

r u av.in a google at my current person right now fellow?

>$300 headphones
>Not a poor faggot solution

Koss ESP-950 is middling on the base amp and needs an adaptor to work on stax socket amps. Basically in the sort of lambda tier but with a darker, less detailed sound. Also gets pretty common dust problems. Which sucks because I had Koss stats from the 1960's that didn't have that issue.

Kingsound generally is said to suck compared to Stax and Koss but I never hear of someone using them on anything but the packaged energizer so I don't know if it's that or the headphones themselves.

I should buy a Kingsound and run it through my Carbon one of these days. As long as the bias voltage is 580 or less anyway.

I want my headphones and speakers to share one line out, will a 3.5mm splitter have any real effect on audio quality?

condenser technology is basically electrostatics in reverse

This. Ghetto blasters used to cost $200 and with inflation its like $500 today

In the long run, STAX SR-007MK2 is your best value. Once you feel the sheepskin leather on your ear you will thank me.

Max Price $110
Closed

What are the best options?

amazon, camelcamelcamel.

Going to your local hi-fi shop and trying out their offerings instead of asking this braindead general for advice.

>Going to your local hi-fi shop and trying out their offerings instead of asking this braindead general for advice.
Actually that's not gonna work, particularly if he has no experience with headphones past beats crap.

He'd walk out of the shop with some overpriced v-shaped garbage, because that's what sounds good to the untrained ear over a short testing period.

I'd suggest you get some headphones targeting a neutral frequency response, because that's what's most true to the recording and what will sound the best after a few days of use.

Something like this: amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-380-PRO-Headphones/dp/B001UE6I0G/

I own and love these. I use them at work. They are reputable (you can easily find plenty of reviews), comfortable, got good isolation (32dB), and they're pretty neutral (just slightly bassy), giving a similar overall feeling as my good HD600 at home.

I have recommended this to two irl friends who then bought and are now also enjoying them. You simply can't go wrong with these.

This to be honest. Everyone here who isnt straight shitposting are just regurgitating headfi and reddit guides. Its easy to see from how any suggestion for DACs or amps are either fiio e10k or schiit shilling. No one here has any experience outside of that and cant afford to actually test or compare anything else.

>anime posting
>reddit spacing

These are often recommended because they are good value per price.

Smartasses like you will cry fiio/shit shill to no end, but fail to recommend suitable alternatives.

>good value per price
They did have a good value at the time but the landscape has changed.
Schiit has built a cultlike following that will only disregard any other alternatives. This creates a positive feedback loop where streams of poorfags who cant afford to play around with more than a couple hundred bucks just settle on the Schiit stack from their good experience and recommend only those instead of exploring anything else.