Neutral, low-budget closed-back headphones?

[Kouioui]

How else would people know who you are or what format you should use them for (not LP, obviously) otherwise?

Too early for April 1st and must have missed the sarcasm in his post. Too little sleep and not enough coffee for this insomniac!

 

[Veri]

Too bad they've been discontinued. They look pretty cool. I see a used pair for $150 on US Audio Mart.

Stock without earpad mod, they are a tight on-ear fit, though. With larger ears this might be unbearable but for me personally it's passable. Just not "comfortable". Hence the looking at new earpads

 

[bobbooo]

My work is high concentration so I normally don't mess with my phone unless I'm taking a break, when I usually leave my desk.

I'm holding out for a new job and a companion Atom DAC

You could just use an old phone, or an Android DAP. The brilliant Neutron Player app has a max 30-band parametric equalizer built-in, so you can apply Oratory1990's excellent EQ profiles. Here's a full-featured trial.

Or you could wait for the Qudelix 5K to come out next month, which has a 20-band hardware PEQ for system-wide EQing of any source, the choice of USB or Bluetooth (including LDAC) connection, and dual ES9218P Sabre DACs (the same as in the lauded LG phones like the G7) with a max 4V max output (balanced, 2V unbalanced connection available), so should power pretty much any headphones. It's made by the same developer as the ES100 so I have high hopes.

 

[617]

I find the Sennheiser HD380 to be very neutral and comfortable. I listen to them all the time.

 

[pozz]

You could just use an old phone, or an Android DAP. The brilliant Neutron Player app has a max 30-band parametric equalizer built-in, so you can apply Oratory1990's excellent EQ profiles. Here's a full-featured trial.

Or you could wait for the Qudelix 5K to come out next month, which has a 20-band hardware PEQ for system-wide EQing of any source, the choice of USB or Bluetooth (including LDAC) connection, and dual ES9218P Sabre DACs (the same as in the lauded LG phones like the G7) with a max 4V max output (balanced, 2V unbalanced connection available), so should power pretty much any headphones. It's made by the same developer as the ES100 so I have high hopes.

I've known of Neutron for while though I've never tried it. I'm not into portable setups to be honest. I mostly use my phone to read and check email.

 

[pozz]

I find the Sennheiser HD380 to be very neutral and comfortable. I listen to them all the time.

Inner Fidelity

Not bad at all.

 

[SMc]

SoundStage
RTings
Oratory1990
Inner Fidelity

Nice, though I'd have to look for them. They don't seem very available.

I’d guess the PSB M4U 1 from the same designer would be quite similar to the NAD HP50 and seem to still be available.

 

[LightninBoy]

The K371's are not exactly neutral as they follow the Harmon target. The neutral monitoring version is supposed to be the K361, which I have not tried. Guitar Center and Sweetwater have some offers for them I think as they BT version is on its way.

When someone says "neutral headphones" I assume they mean the Harman curve, becasue if they mean "flat" from 20-20K then that would be like ice picks in the ear. Is there a different "neutral" curve and if so where can I go to read about it and the supporting research?

 

[pozz]

I’d guess the PSB M4U 1 from the same designer would be quite similar to the NAD HP50 and seem to still be available.

Never even knew PSB made headphones.

PSB M4U 1

But they are... so ugly: https://www.psbspeakers.com/product/m4u-1-headphones/

 

[ZolaIII]

Creative Aurvana Live (first gen) if you don't need much sound isolation for 55$ I think nothing comes close. The driver's are from Foster the 40 mm RP paper cone ones (my biggest regret is that Creative never made any with 50 mm one's).
Mesurements:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/CreativeAurvana.pdf
You can find review and disassembly there if interested.

 

[pozz]

Real gems in this thread.

 

[LightninBoy]

Never even knew PSB made headphones.

PSB M4U 1

But they are... so ugly: https://www.psbspeakers.com/product/m4u-1-headphones/

HA! Ironically, I think they were going for something more stylish/Beats like.

 

[Doodski]

HA! Ironically, I think they were going for something more stylish/Beats like.

 

[SMc]

Creative Aurvana Live (first gen) if you don't need much sound isolation for 55$ I think nothing comes close. The driver's are from Foster the 40 mm RP paper cone ones (my biggest regret is that Creative never made any with 50 mm one's).
Mesurements:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/CreativeAurvana.pdf
You can find review and disassembly there if interested.

I have these and use them daily! Great value. I got them to retrain my ears after years of Grados.

 

[solderdude]

I did measure the 780

 

[pozz]

I did measure the 780

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/ultrasone/

The way they look reminds me of some DJ headphones, like the ones Pioneer made, from 10-15 years back.

 

[ZolaIII]

The way they look reminds me of some DJ headphones, like the ones Pioneer made, from 10-15 years back.

Only great one's Pioneer ever made ware Monitor 10 II & that whose in mid 70's.

 

[pozz]

Only great one's Pioneer ever made ware Monitor 10 II & that whose in mid 70's.

Inner Fidelity

Pretty damn impressive.

Trawling through all these headphones measurements in so many sources really shows how much a standard, public database is needed.

 

[bobbooo]

Inner Fidelity

Pretty damn impressive.

Trawling through all these headphones measurements in so many sources really shows how much a standard, public database is needed.

Oratory1990's full Dropbox folder of all his measurements is the most accurate resource I'm aware of.

 

[pozz]

Oratory1990's full Dropbox folder of all his measurements is the most accurate resource I'm aware of.

I've compiled all the sources I can find here: Meta-Database