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Headphone Recommendation - Professional advice needed

audiofilet

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Hi everybody!

I'm looking for headphones between 250 - 300$.

Requirements: Sufficient Treble clarity, pronounced and deep low end, good sound stage
Comfort: I'm not very picky, and can tolerate pretty much any pads and clamping force.
EQ: I use an equalizer, so the HP's don't have to be perfect out of the box.

My Setup:
OS: Audiophile Linux / AVLinux
DAC: (Interface) Steinberg UR22 mk2
AMP: JDS Labs EL

Use cases: Mixing, high bitrate music - classical, orchestral movie score, electronic, rock/metal, movies & some minor gaming

What I've tried so far: DT 990 Edition 600 Ohm, DT 770 Pro 250 Ohm, DT 1990 Pro, HD650, various HD5xx, various AudioTechnica & Sendy Aiva

Out of the ones I've tried I enjoyed the 990 600 Ohm the most, however I had to use High Gain at almost 80% and it created too much noise for my taste.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciate, thank you! :)
 
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daftcombo

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Are you OK with applying equalization or do you want it to sound good out of the box?
 

DVDdoug

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You can search the ASR Headphone Reviews and sort by "recommended". The "best deal" for sound quality is the AKG K371. However, it does have a reputation for being "fragile" (not rugged and it breaks easily). Comfort is a personal-preference thing, and it's sealed/closed-back which is also personal preference.

however I had to use High Gain at almost 80% and it created too much noise for my taste.
What do you mean by "noise"? You could be distorting your headphone amp. High impedance headphones do generally require more voltage to drive because higher impedance means less power (watts or milliwatts) with a given voltage.

Usually "noise" is "unwanted sound", like hiss & hum mixed with the music, or a dog barking, etc. (Every parent says their kid's music is noise. :D ) Passive headphones don't generate noise and they don't change the signal-to-noise ratio (unless they rattle when turned-up, or something like that).
 
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audiofilet

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Are you OK with applying equalization or do you want it to sound good out of the box?
Hello! Yeah, I always use an equalizer for different genres or specific mixes, so I'll need to adjust anyways.

The "best deal" for sound quality is the AKG K371. However, it does have a reputation for being "fragile" (not rugged and it breaks easily).
Hi, thanks for the recommendation!

What do you mean by "noise"? You could be distorting your headphone amp. High impedance headphones do generally require more voltage to drive because higher impedance means less power (watts or milliwatts) with a given voltage.

Usually "noise" is "unwanted sound", like hiss & hum mixed with the music, or a dog barking, etc. (Every parent says their kid's music is noise. :D ) Passive headphones don't generate noise and they don't change the signal-to-noise ratio (unless they rattle when turned-up, or something like that).

Oops, sorry for using the wrong terminology, I'm still pretty new to all this.
What I meant by "noise" is that the Amp at 80% High Gain was introducing a feint hissing sound.
Exactly, this only happened with the 600 Ohm version, I couldn't drive them properly with my stuff.
 
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audiofilet

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Hi, thanks for the contribution! Yeah, I've been looking at Hifiman stuff. The Sundara's are very nice, I tested those in the store.

I just found a pretty cheap offer for the Hifiman 400S / used / 190 Euros
https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-und-verkaufen/d/hifiman-400s-499493029/

Also, a Hifiman 400i
https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-und-verkaufen/d/hifiman-he-400i-494343317/

What do you guys think? I tried to check on Amazon what they cost brand new, but its not available. I think they were once around 400 Euros.
 
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Zensō

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Hi, thanks for the contribution! Yeah, I've been looking at Hifiman stuff. The Sundara's are very nice, I tested those in the store.

I just found a pretty cheap offer for the Hifiman 400S / used / 190 Euros
https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-und-verkaufen/d/hifiman-400s-499493029/

What do you guys think? I tried to check on Amazon what they cost brand new, but its not available. I think they were once around 400 Euros.
All headphones have some anomalies in their frequency response. To have any hope of creating mixes that translate well you’ll want to EQ your headphones to a known target. This can be quite the rabbit hole to run down, so unless you’re up for the mass confusion surrounding headphone EQ, I’d suggest using the Sonarworks headphone plugin. This is, in my opinion, more important than the exact headphone you choose. If you choose to use the SW target, you need to make sure the headphones you purchase are on this list:

https://www.sonarworks.com/soundid-reference/resources/supported-headphones
 
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audiofilet

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Thanks, I'll be sure to check that out.
It's extremely difficult to find a solid pair that's reasonably priced tbh.
 
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