Best closed back, over-ear headphone under $250?

[creativepart]

Luckily, I have no idea what the "Harman Listenting Tests" are. So, I didn't know my Meze 99 Classic headphones were such crap. Here I was thinking "I like these things." Silly me. Oh well. I'll just keep enjoying them in ignorance.

 

[LuckyLuke575]

Damn, I didn't realize the Fiio Q1 Mk II had a balanced output and thought you were showing some witchcraft until I realized I was looking at 4 cables. Cool stuff!

Witchcraft indeed I enjoying looking at the whole setup for the whole day. I'm very happy with the whole setup, and that I can have that level of audio at work. Balanced gives more power, and I really enjoy the sound, plus the cable looks fancy

 

[LuckyLuke575]

Luckily, I have no idea what the "Harman Listenting Tests" are. So, I didn't know my Meze 99 Classic headphones were such crap. Here I was thinking "I like these things." Silly me. Oh well. I'll just keep enjoying them in ignorance.

Oh those Meze's are crap sounding? I've always been intrigued by them, but when I see things over designed like that it makes me think that the looks tend to overshadow performance.

 

[M00ndancer]

Luckily, I have no idea what the "Harman Listenting Tests" are. So, I didn't know my Meze 99 Classic headphones were such crap. Here I was thinking "I like these things." Silly me. Oh well. I'll just keep enjoying them in ignorance.

But with this post you are doing a informed decision to enjoy them. That's totally ok in my book. Personal preference rules here. I have headphones that aren't close to perfect but I enjoy them immensely anyway. When I want a "correct" sound I just fire up the parametric EQ.

 

[Robin L]

Yeah, that's why I've bought and kept the HD 598 Cs. I suppose that the Beyerdynamic DT 770s are also worth a look at for closed back at a similar price point (although being studio headphones, people complain about listening fatigue and a V shaped sound curve i.e. bass and treble).

I've been considering upgrading to something like the DROP + MRSPEAKERS ETHER CX CLOSED which go for $900, but I can honestly say that I would have a hard time changing the HD 598 Cs given the sound quality, comfort and enjoyment that I'm having with them.

That whole, new, HD5XX series is far and away the most comfortable collection of headphones for long-term listening. Wish my HD 599s didn't have the mid-bass boost, had more going on in the bottom octave, were a little bit more focused in the upper registers, But the comfort makes up for most of that.

 

[raif71]

OK...for office use, I've gone and take a chance on Audio Technica m50x after demo session at a local shop and getting a good price for it. The demo session went well.... I demoed Oppo PM3, Audio Technica msr7 and the m50x. I like all of them but Oppo, I had to increase the volume a bit more, msr7 sounded a tad bright so I bought the m50x for the sound and the price. I did asked for 598Cs and Beyers 770 Pro but the shop did not carry them.

 

[daftcombo]

I like my 1More Triple Drive Over-Ear.

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/1more-triple-driver-over-ear/

https://drop.com/buy/1more-triple-driver-over-ear-headphones

After a few months listening to it daily, I came to the conclusion that it is too bassy to be listened to without correction.
I also tamed the peak in the mids.
Here is my convolution file.

 

[solderdude]

Helping a friend. Could probably push the budget if needed.

In the end there is no 'best' headphone nor at a certain price point.
There are many of them. That's why there is a plethora of recommendations and others telling this or that is crap.

Some find A, others B, others C and yet other people D to sound best to THEM.

So.... you (or the one you are buying it for) should listen to them your/him/her-self.
Comfort and fit is also important and differ from person to person as well.

EQ can be really helpful as well once you found the most pleasant fit and price range.

 

[deafenears]

Drop has the Panda discounted at $319 (preorder). A little over the $250 per OP though. @solderdude any plans to have this one measured? Same driver as the Oppo PM-3s but tuned a little differently (so I've read).

 

[solderdude]

I have no direct line with drop anymore (my contact there left drop) so unless someone sends one to me the answer is no.

 

[raistlin65]

Drop has the Panda discounted at $319 (preorder). A little over the $250 per OP though. @solderdude any plans to have this one measured? Same driver as the Oppo PM-3s but tuned a little differently (so I've read).

It's not open for everyone to order. Just for those who had voted for it.

 

[preload]

FWIW:
View attachment 34786

OH NICE! Just what I was looing for. Did you make this? How did you distinguish between headphones that were the same price?

 

[bobbooo]

Very strange that the DT-990 Pro came so high. It has clear peaking in the HF-region and was very bright sounding according the the 30-headphone test conducted by Swedish Audio-Technical Society in 2003. Measurements did confirm its bright character. Both DT-880 and DT-150 was better. Sennheiser HD600 was regarded highly, as was the AKG271 Studio (original). Among the electrostatic headphones the KOSS ESP-950 was regarded well, as most of the Stax models (SR-202,303,404). Differences in the Stax models were in the bass region, and SR-404 distorted audibly in the 20-40 Hz region.

Do you have a link to the full results of that Swedish Audio-Technical Society listening test? Oh and by the way, I suspect the DT-990 Pro used in the Harman tests may have had somewhat 'used' pads, as Beyerdynamic's pads wear very quickly and used pads significantly reduce the high frequency peaks:

DT-990 new pads
DT-990 old pads

 

[M00ndancer]

OK...for office use, I've gone and take a chance on Audio Technica m50x after demo session at a local shop and getting a good price for it. The demo session went well.... I demoed Oppo PM3, Audio Technica msr7 and the m50x. I like all of them but Oppo, I had to increase the volume a bit more, msr7 sounded a tad bright so I bought the m50x for the sound and the price. I did asked for 598Cs and Beyers 770 Pro but the shop did not carry them.

Have you tried any of the versions of the Sony NC cans? Try from 1st gen to 4th. I prefer my gen one. Once I got them for work I haven't found any thing better, they are so comfortable (Current record wearing in one go is more than 20 odd hours work+travel with zero fatigue.) The noice cancelling is, really good, with some types of audio that it can't block. But it's really close to perfect for office/work/noisy environments. There are other like BOSE and Sennhieser, but I don't like the sound from them.

 

[raif71]

Have you tried any of the versions of the Sony NC cans? Try from 1st gen to 4th. I prefer my gen one. Once I got them for work I haven't found any thing better, they are so comfortable (Current record wearing in one go is more than 20 odd hours work+travel with zero fatigue.) The noice cancelling is, really good, with some types of audio that it can't block. But it's really close to perfect for office/work/noisy environments. There are other like BOSE and Sennhieser, but I don't like the sound from them.

I'm not into NC cans (wireless headphones if I understand you). So far, I prefer wired. Maybe I'm bias or old school. Despite many youtubers claiming wireless have been getting better, I still have my doubts about getting the hi-fi / hi-res quality from such cans.

 

[M00ndancer]

I'm not into NC cans (wireless headphones if I understand you). So far, I prefer wired. Maybe I'm bias or old school. Despite many youtubers claiming wireless have been getting better, I still have my doubts about getting the hi-fi / hi-res quality from such cans.

They work great with an ordinary 3.5 mm stereo cable. On, the Sony MDR-1000x it's even included in the box.