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Recommendation request thread

Xcakez

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Aug 6, 2021
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Budget: ~200-300US

Form factor: Over ear, open back.

Use case: Casual listening to music and some gaming (mostly rock and some edm) not competitive gaming more so for immersive and open games

Source information: Pc running to a topping d10s and jds atom amp

Things that are important to you: Comfort and durability

Your preferred sound signature/other headphones you've tried and liked/disliked: my first real headphone is the beyerdynamic mmx300 I like the bass response but feel like vocals get lost in heavier rock music and the treble to me is ear piercing I’d like that little smoother so maybe a less bright more warm sound with a little wider soundstage

Anything else you feel might be relevant: I am unable to eq
 

Robbo99999

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Budget: ~200-300US

Form factor: Over ear, open back.

Use case: Casual listening to music and some gaming (mostly rock and some edm) not competitive gaming more so for immersive and open games

Source information: Pc running to a topping d10s and jds atom amp

Things that are important to you: Comfort and durability

Your preferred sound signature/other headphones you've tried and liked/disliked: my first real headphone is the beyerdynamic mmx300 I like the bass response but feel like vocals get lost in heavier rock music and the treble to me is ear piercing I’d like that little smoother so maybe a less bright more warm sound with a little wider soundstage

Anything else you feel might be relevant: I am unable to eq
I really like the HD560s which should fit nicely in your budget. HD560s is my joint favourite headphone with my K702, and K702 is a bit expensive for USA customers and also has some durability issues re solder in the earcups, so HD560s is my personal recommendation. It's very close Harman Curve, and has a nice smooth frequency response to allow for successful EQ. It's got a nice soundstage too, both my K702 & HD560s are unique amoung my headphones re their soundstage prowess.....the K702 has a wider soundstage than the HD560s but the HD560s soundstage is extremely accurate and panning effects move super smoothly across the earcups to form a seamless soundstage (HD560s has angled drivers). Bass is also very good on the HD560s when EQ'd, clear & defined. There's an Oratory EQ available for the HD560s:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7amvtfabcizrc12/Sennheiser HD560S.pdf?dl=0
and following is the raw frequency response of the HD560s (from Oratory):
HD560s frequency response.jpg

I find it a comfortable headphone and my ears fit easily within both cups with room to spare, not touching any parts of the earcup. You mentioned gaming, I'm a big gamer in fps, and for me a headphone that performs well in that area is crucial, both my K702 and my HD560s are my best gaming headphones, and this is because of their great soundstage.....I've found good soundstage headphones make good gaming headphones. My recommendation to you is the HD560s:
https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/hd-560-s-audiophile-headphone-high-end-over-ear

Ah, just seen you're unable to EQ, that's a real shame generally (all you need is EqualiserAPO on PC & and input an Oratory EQ) and it really does elevate pretty much all headphones, but I still think HD560s would be good for you as it sits close to that Harman Curve.

EDIT: or you could buy the HD600 which sounds great without EQ, but the soundstage is really poor which is not great for gaming and music listening too (but depends how much you value this variable).....at the moment it's on sale on Amazon in the USA for $299. (I have the HD600 & the HD560s and prefer the HD560s a lot more for the soundstage reasons, but I only listen once EQ'd)
 
Last edited:

Simon66

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Hi all,

I only just signed up today on this site after reading some of the forum threads regarding headphones in the last few days. I hope it's ok to ask questions that might seem dumb or obvious and i was hesitant at first (too shy) to ask because i lack the knowledge about these things but in the end i thought i'd take the chance. I have hardly ever used headphones in any capacity, only ever used earphones for walkmans back in the 90's.

I have read whilst google searching, or heard on YouTube terms such as "Soundstage" wide/narrow and only today i read some mentioning "Deep soundstage"....as well as "Imaging". closed and open back headphones/headsets and also recently , semi-open headphones. Some saying that having too wide a soundstage pair of phones isn't necessarily good for gaming because then you lose the imaging side of things when it comes to playing games, pinpoint sounds. I hope i got that right.

In the last month or so i'd been looking at headsets for gaming (at first), but then came across the idea of using headphones- separate mic needed for headphones of course from what i gathered because a number of people recommended them for gaming too.

My primary needs are gaming (Xbox one- via the 3.5mm connection on the controller) but also am very interested in watching movies with headphones too so i'd say both needs, but in no particular order, if that is possible. I have only thus far tried what came to hand here at home. My nephew's headset, which i borrowed for a few days, brand name: Rockpapa, which i believe are very low budget from what i gathered when i searched the name. I tried cheap Sony earphones(very tinny sound) i used to use with my walkman...... I also enabled the Dolby Atmos app for my xbox so i could experiment a little perhaps.. The results were just ok at best, as you would imagine. When i played a film or series on netflix (I don't know if Amazon prime use it) that was Atmos it was just ok using the Rockpapa headset, but lacked any sense of distance, especially things in front and behind.... as expected i guess.

Today i also found out it was possible to to get amps to use with xbox because for some reason i had it in mind they were only used on PC's. The one that popped up first on Amazon was the Astro gaming mix amp(around £120). From what i gathered some headphones need an amp otherwise sound volume may be low, but i also read some ppl saying that amp might not be needed depending on which headphones we purchase. I don't know if there are any other amps so far that i can use with an xbox as i haven't looked further so far.

It's all left me a little baffled as to which headphones (or headset) i should get. I understand that headphones ,if i buy a half -decent pair usually have better sound quality, unless i'm mistaken.

If i've been mistaken in anything i've written please correct me. I hope to learn a little, or at least enough my tiny brain can handle:)

My price range for headphones is probably £100 -"£120 tops i think, anything less than that would be good if possible. If i end up needing an amp it might take me while longer to save up for one. My birthday is coming end of September and family members/member have kindly offered to chip in if needed.

I hope this post hasn't been too long and boring..lol. Im not sure if i have left anything out, but if i remember anything else i'll post it here if it's ok to do so.


Simon
 
Last edited:

Jimbob54

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Hi all,

I only just signed up today on this site after reading some of the forum threads regarding headphones in the last few days. I hope it's ok to ask questions that might seem dumb or obvious and i was hesitant at first (too shy) to ask because i lack the knowledge about these things but in the end i thought i'd take the chance. I have hardly ever used headphones in any capacity, only ever used earphones for walkmans back in the 90's.

I have read whilst google searching, or heard on YouTube terms such as "Soundstage" wide/narrow and only today i read some mentioning "Deep soundstage"....as well as "Imaging". closed and open back headphones/headsets and also recently , semi-open headphones. Some saying that having too wide a soundstage pair of phones isn't necessarily good for gaming because then you lose the imaging side of things when it comes to playing games, pinpoint sounds. I hope i got that right.

In the last month or so i'd been looking at headsets for gaming (at first), but then came across the idea of using headphones- separate mic needed for headphones of course from what i gathered because a number of people recommended them for gaming too.

My primary needs are gaming (Xbox one- via the 3.5mm connection on the controller) but also am very interested in watching movies with headphones too so i'd say both needs, but in no particular order, if that is possible. I have only thus far tried what came to hand here at home. My nephew's headset, which i borrowed for a few days, brand name: Rockpapa, which i believe are very low budget from what i gathered when i searched the name. I tried cheap Sony earphones(very tinny sound) i used to use with my walkman...... I also enabled the Dolby Atmos app for my xbox so i could experiment a little perhaps.. The results were just ok at best, as you would imagine. When i played a film or series on netflix (I don't know if Amazon prime use it) that was Atmos it was just ok using the Rockpapa headset, but lacked any sense of distance, especially things in front and behind.... as expected i guess.

Today i also found out it was possible to to get amps to use with xbox because for some reason i had it in mind they were only used on PC's. The one that popped up first on Amazon was the Astro gaming mix amp(around £120). From what i gathered some headphones need an amp otherwise sound volume may be low, but i also read some ppl saying that amp might not be needed depending on which headphones we purchase. I don't know if there are any other amps so far that i can use with an xbox as i haven't looked further so far.

It's all left me a little baffled as to which headphones (or headset) i should get. I understand that headphones ,if i buy a half -decent pair usually have better sound quality, unless i'm mistaken.

If i've been mistaken in anything i've written please correct me. I hope to learn a little, or at least enough my tiny brain can handle:)

My price range for headphones is probably £100 -"£120 tops i think, anything less than that would be good if possible. If i end up needing an amp it might take me while longer to save up for one. My birthday is coming end of September and family members/member have kindly offered to chip in if needed.

I hope this post hasn't been too long and boring..lol. Im not sure if i have left anything out, but if i remember anything else i'll post it here if it's ok to do so.


Simon
Not a gamer much myself but I've heard the akg K701 or 702 can be quite good for that. @Robbo99999 might have some insight for movies and gaming. No eq possible though Rob
 

Robbo99999

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Hi all,

I only just signed up today on this site after reading some of the forum threads regarding headphones in the last few days. I hope it's ok to ask questions that might seem dumb or obvious and i was hesitant at first (too shy) to ask because i lack the knowledge about these things but in the end i thought i'd take the chance. I have hardly ever used headphones in any capacity, only ever used earphones for walkmans back in the 90's.

I have read whilst google searching, or heard on YouTube terms such as "Soundstage" wide/narrow and only today i read some mentioning "Deep soundstage"....as well as "Imaging". closed and open back headphones/headsets and also recently , semi-open headphones. Some saying that having too wide a soundstage pair of phones isn't necessarily good for gaming because then you lose the imaging side of things when it comes to playing games, pinpoint sounds. I hope i got that right.

In the last month or so i'd been looking at headsets for gaming (at first), but then came across the idea of using headphones- separate mic needed for headphones of course from what i gathered because a number of people recommended them for gaming too.

My primary needs are gaming (Xbox one- via the 3.5mm connection on the controller) but also am very interested in watching movies with headphones too so i'd say both needs, but in no particular order, if that is possible. I have only thus far tried what came to hand here at home. My nephew's headset, which i borrowed for a few days, brand name: Rockpapa, which i believe are very low budget from what i gathered when i searched the name. I tried cheap Sony earphones(very tinny sound) i used to use with my walkman...... I also enabled the Dolby Atmos app for my xbox so i could experiment a little perhaps.. The results were just ok at best, as you would imagine. When i played a film or series on netflix (I don't know if Amazon prime use it) that was Atmos it was just ok using the Rockpapa headset, but lacked any sense of distance, especially things in front and behind.... as expected i guess.

Today i also found out it was possible to to get amps to use with xbox because for some reason i had it in mind they were only used on PC's. The one that popped up first on Amazon was the Astro gaming mix amp(around £120). From what i gathered some headphones need an amp otherwise sound volume may be low, but i also read some ppl saying that amp might not be needed depending on which headphones we purchase. I don't know if there are any other amps so far that i can use with an xbox as i haven't looked further so far.

It's all left me a little baffled as to which headphones (or headset) i should get. I understand that headphones ,if i buy a half -decent pair usually have better sound quality, unless i'm mistaken.

If i've been mistaken in anything i've written please correct me. I hope to learn a little, or at least enough my tiny brain can handle:)

My price range for headphones is probably £100 -"£120 tops i think, anything less than that would be good if possible. If i end up needing an amp it might take me while longer to save up for one. My birthday is coming end of September and family members/member have kindly offered to chip in if needed.

I hope this post hasn't been too long and boring..lol. Im not sure if i have left anything out, but if i remember anything else i'll post it here if it's ok to do so.


Simon
Hi Simon, good to see you decided to post here, I think/hope it will be worth your while having done so. I'm a big gamer in online fps type games and using sound to accurately locate enemies is a big part of my game. I'm also fairly into my headphones over the past couple of years and have learnt a lot from this site, bought a number of different headphones and tried them all in gaming (as well as music listening) to understand what makes a good gaming headphone. The long & short of it is that I recommend the Sennheiser HD560s to you. It's fantastic for gaming which is related to it's soundstage capabilities, and also it doesn't really require EQ as it sits very close to the Harman Target Curve (which has been shown statistically to mean good sound for most people). It's very easy to drive, you don't need an amplifier to drive it, and it's also a very comfortable headphone......it's also very reliable each time you remove it & put it back on your head - it's easy to get a good seal on it, so it sounds the same each time you bung it on your head......it also doesn't have any reliability issues that I'm aware of. It's about £160 here in the UK though, but I think it's worth upping your budget, because I really don't think anything will come close to such a complete package for you.

I do own 2 pairs of AKG K702 though, and they're a very good gaming headphone too, and my joint favourites with the HD560s which I recommended in the previous paragraph.....but I don't want to recommend the K702 to you because they tend to perform better with an amplifier and they really do require EQ to sort out the frequency response, and to top it off they have reliability issues with the solder failing, which means you'd have to learn how to solder the wires back on, lol! It is only £109 from Amazon though, but really I'd only recommend you the K702 if you were going to be using EQ and if you were happy to solder those bloody wires back on after a couple of years! It's a great headphone when EQ'd though.
 

Simon66

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Aug 19, 2021
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Location
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Hi Simon, good to see you decided to post here, I think/hope it will be worth your while having done so. I'm a big gamer in online fps type games and using sound to accurately locate enemies is a big part of my game. I'm also fairly into my headphones over the past couple of years and have learnt a lot from this site, bought a number of different headphones and tried them all in gaming (as well as music listening) to understand what makes a good gaming headphone. The long & short of it is that I recommend the Sennheiser HD560s to you. It's fantastic for gaming which is related to it's soundstage capabilities, and also it doesn't really require EQ as it sits very close to the Harman Target Curve (which has been shown statistically to mean good sound for most people). It's very easy to drive, you don't need an amplifier to drive it, and it's also a very comfortable headphone......it's also very reliable each time you remove it & put it back on your head - it's easy to get a good seal on it, so it sounds the same each time you bung it on your head......it also doesn't have any reliability issues that I'm aware of. It's about £160 here in the UK though, but I think it's worth upping your budget, because I really don't think anything will come close to such a complete package for you.

I do own 2 pairs of AKG K702 though, and they're a very good gaming headphone too, and my joint favourites with the HD560s which I recommended in the previous paragraph.....but I don't want to recommend the K702 to you because they tend to perform better with an amplifier and they really do require EQ to sort out the frequency response, and to top it off they have reliability issues with the solder failing, which means you'd have to learn how to solder the wires back on, lol! It is only £109 from Amazon though, but really I'd only recommend you the K702 if you were going to be using EQ and if you were happy to solder those bloody wires back on after a couple of years! It's a great headphone when EQ'd though.


Hi Robbo,

Thank you for you prompt response and i'm glad i posted here too... The HD560 does fit right up my alley by the description you gave. £160 does seem a little steep but if it definately does not need an amp then i will take a look and see. When i told a family member i might need to spend around £120 their mouth opened in mild shock. If i tell them i might to go up to £160 i think their jaw will drop further (a bit like Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol)...lol..I had no clue until recently headphones can go up much, much further in price...haha.

So, the HD560 covers the areas i'm looking for it seems. Just to be sure, do you think the HD560 will be good for watching films too? How has your experience been in that regard? Oh and have you ever tried watching any films using headphones with spactial sound such as Atmos? Will using the app on my xbox have any effect, good or bad using the headphones you mentioned... I know it's called "virtual" but it does sound interesting to at least try it out. Might be hit and miss though..lol
 

boba

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2021
Messages
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Hi all,

I only just signed up today on this site after reading some of the forum threads regarding headphones in the last few days. I hope it's ok to ask questions that might seem dumb or obvious and i was hesitant at first (too shy) to ask because i lack the knowledge about these things but in the end i thought i'd take the chance. I have hardly ever used headphones in any capacity, only ever used earphones for walkmans back in the 90's.

I have read whilst google searching, or heard on YouTube terms such as "Soundstage" wide/narrow and only today i read some mentioning "Deep soundstage"....as well as "Imaging". closed and open back headphones/headsets and also recently , semi-open headphones. Some saying that having too wide a soundstage pair of phones isn't necessarily good for gaming because then you lose the imaging side of things when it comes to playing games, pinpoint sounds. I hope i got that right.

In the last month or so i'd been looking at headsets for gaming (at first), but then came across the idea of using headphones- separate mic needed for headphones of course from what i gathered because a number of people recommended them for gaming too.

My primary needs are gaming (Xbox one- via the 3.5mm connection on the controller) but also am very interested in watching movies with headphones too so i'd say both needs, but in no particular order, if that is possible. I have only thus far tried what came to hand here at home. My nephew's headset, which i borrowed for a few days, brand name: Rockpapa, which i believe are very low budget from what i gathered when i searched the name. I tried cheap Sony earphones(very tinny sound) i used to use with my walkman...... I also enabled the Dolby Atmos app for my xbox so i could experiment a little perhaps.. The results were just ok at best, as you would imagine. When i played a film or series on netflix (I don't know if Amazon prime use it) that was Atmos it was just ok using the Rockpapa headset, but lacked any sense of distance, especially things in front and behind.... as expected i guess.

Today i also found out it was possible to to get amps to use with xbox because for some reason i had it in mind they were only used on PC's. The one that popped up first on Amazon was the Astro gaming mix amp(around £120). From what i gathered some headphones need an amp otherwise sound volume may be low, but i also read some ppl saying that amp might not be needed depending on which headphones we purchase. I don't know if there are any other amps so far that i can use with an xbox as i haven't looked further so far.

It's all left me a little baffled as to which headphones (or headset) i should get. I understand that headphones ,if i buy a half -decent pair usually have better sound quality, unless i'm mistaken.

If i've been mistaken in anything i've written please correct me. I hope to learn a little, or at least enough my tiny brain can handle:)

My price range for headphones is probably £100 -"£120 tops i think, anything less than that would be good if possible. If i end up needing an amp it might take me while longer to save up for one. My birthday is coming end of September and family members/member have kindly offered to chip in if needed.

I hope this post hasn't been too long and boring..lol. Im not sure if i have left anything out, but if i remember anything else i'll post it here if it's ok to do so.


Simon

Drop+Sennheiser PC38X is a solid option. It was reviewed here and includes a separate TRRS cable for your Xbox controller. It's reasonably priced with the current "SAVE21" deal. I believe there's also a small discount for first time buyers if you hunt down the right link.

Oh and greetings to everyone on this very useful forum.
 

Simon66

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Location
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Drop+Sennheiser PC38X is a solid option. It was reviewed here and includes a separate TRRS cable for your Xbox controller. It's reasonably priced with the current "SAVE21" deal. I believe there's also a small discount for first time buyers if you hunt down the right link.

Oh and greetings to everyone on this very useful forum.


Thanks baba, i'll look into it. What is Drop?

Welcome to you too. Nice meeting you all.
 

Jimbob54

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Thanks baba, i'll look into it. What is Drop?

Welcome to you too. Nice meeting you all.
It's a US based retailer (formerly massdrop). Exclusives and get some recent (edit, decent) discounts on some lines. But if you're UK based you have to add vat and import charges to price, so not as attractive. If its a big purchase, might work out better than amazon etc in the UK, but not on a £100 product
 
Last edited:

Robbo99999

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Hi Robbo,

Thank you for you prompt response and i'm glad i posted here too... The HD560 does fit right up my alley by the description you gave. £160 does seem a little steep but if it definately does not need an amp then i will take a look and see. When i told a family member i might need to spend around £120 their mouth opened in mild shock. If i tell them i might to go up to £160 i think their jaw will drop further (a bit like Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol)...lol..I had no clue until recently headphones can go up much, much further in price...haha.

So, the HD560 covers the areas i'm looking for it seems. Just to be sure, do you think the HD560 will be good for watching films too? How has your experience been in that regard? Oh and have you ever tried watching any films using headphones with spactial sound such as Atmos? Will using the app on my xbox have any effect, good or bad using the headphones you mentioned... I know it's called "virtual" but it does sound interesting to at least try it out. Might be hit and miss though..lol
Hi, I know, headphones can get very expensive, thousands of pounds, but often times those really expensive headphones are worse than this HD560s I'm recommending you.....in fact it's proven in some Harman research that price is not an indicator of quality when it comes to headphones. But yeah, £160 can seem like a lot if all you've been buying is some super budget options. About movie watching, I've never used my headphones for movie watching, and I do have Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound capability courtesy of my SoundblasterX G6 DAC and that offers very good surround sound in games for locating enemies front vs back (you can hear the difference)....so yeah theoretically I could use my headphones for Virtual 7.1 surround sound movie viewing, but I've not done so, so I can't speak for it's effectiveness in movies, although I expect it would work well for movies if it does for games (the Soundblaster G6 DAC). The HD560s headphone works very well with virtual 7.1 surround sound, and that's the mode I have it in all the time for the games I play, and the creation of the virtual sound space is why the HD560s and the K702 are my favourite headphones for gaming - this also translates to a good soundstage for music listening (which I do with just regular 2-channel stereo, no virtual surround sound processing).

In terms of the different virtual surround sound processing solutions, I've tried Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic, and Soundblaster SBX. Soundblaster SBX was the clear winner with definitive sound positioning in game - whereas Dolby Atmos & Windows Sonic was a confusing cacophony. Yeah, so that's why I bought the SoundblasterX G6. I did buy a really cheap SoundblasterX G1(dongle) to start with just to try out Soundblaster's take on Surround Sound and I knew from that trial that it was the one to get. I could have stayed with the G1, but I wanted a more audiophile sound card for music listening, and hence purchased the G6.....I find it also a slightly more convincing version of surround sound on the G6, but the G1 was still a clear step up from Dolby Atmos and Windows Sonic. I started a thread on Virtual 7.1 surround sound here:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urround-sound-processing-in-headphones.25613/
You might find something useful in there, but you're using X-box and that's more of a thread for PC.....I'm not really aware of the different options available to you on Xbox, so can't recommend anything there, but I think the G6 I have is compatible with X-box but don't know to what extent. Also the G6 is not cheap at about £129. Your best bet is to get a good headphone like the HD560s and then explore software solutions (in game?) of surround sound that is offered by X-box and the game developers themselves (I assume they might build somekind of virtual surround for headphones into some their games, but I'm guessing......I don't know much about consoles).
 

38yEj5SxGA

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Country: Australia

Budget: (in local currency and maybe USD): $220USD / $300AUD (Slightly flexible on this), available to purchase on Amazon AU

Form factor: (e.g. over ear, on ear, IEM, open back etc.): Over Ear, Prefer Open Back (or Wiiiiide soundstage Closed Back), Cabled (prefer single side 3.5mm for compatibility with v-moda boompro).

Use case: (e.g. casual listening while at work, critical listening etc.): Music (Spotify, most genres), gaming on PS5 (at a desk, so cabled is fine, and preferred).

Source information: (your amp/lack of amp if you feel it's relevant): Sound Blaster G3 DAC/Amp (For 10 Band Graphic EQ), unfortunately the PS5 is limited to UAC1 compatibility, so DAC/Amp options are limited.

Things that are important to you: (e.g. comfort, portability, durability etc.): 1) Wiiide Soundstage and good imaging/detail (for gaming), 2) Decent out of box/un-EQ'd sound which EQ's very very well, I want something that you can raise and lower the EQ of to get amazing results with minimal distortion. Something that is on the cheaper side that sounds decent without EQ, but when you add EQ it comes alive and is something very special, and you can tweak it to your own individual preferences with plenty of leeway. The key here is EQ flexibility to find the sound that suits me. I rarely have my music loud, so my EQ'ing may be less prone to distortion and would prefer something that sounds great at moderate listening levels.

Your preferred sound signature/other headphones you've tried and liked/disliked: I have come to the realisation here that I prefer considerably more treble than most people. Tried the Sony XM4's, they sounded bass and lower mid heavy, tried the Sundara's, they didn't quite sound sharp enough and slightly lacking in the bass. This is very much subjective, and how I hear things. I know the Sundara's are something special, they just didn't work for me and I figure why fork out 350USD for something when I could be happy EQ'ing a HP for a lot less. With me I have seen a trend of not being too happy with the sharpness of headphones, so obviously trying another 5 isn't going to work, and I should just go straight for the EQ for salvation.

I have read a lot of good things about the Philips Fidelio X2HR, they seem like a great bang for your buck. Would they be considered ideal for my requirements? Please be gentle, I am not trying to be a troll, I think I just have weird tastes.

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:

Simon66

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Aug 19, 2021
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Location
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Hi, I know, headphones can get very expensive, thousands of pounds, but often times those really expensive headphones are worse than this HD560s I'm recommending you.....in fact it's proven in some Harman research that price is not an indicator of quality when it comes to headphones. But yeah, £160 can seem like a lot if all you've been buying is some super budget options. About movie watching, I've never used my headphones for movie watching, and I do have Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound capability courtesy of my SoundblasterX G6 DAC and that offers very good surround sound in games for locating enemies front vs back (you can hear the difference)....so yeah theoretically I could use my headphones for Virtual 7.1 surround sound movie viewing, but I've not done so, so I can't speak for it's effectiveness in movies, although I expect it would work well for movies if it does for games (the Soundblaster G6 DAC). The HD560s headphone works very well with virtual 7.1 surround sound, and that's the mode I have it in all the time for the games I play, and the creation of the virtual sound space is why the HD560s and the K702 are my favourite headphones for gaming - this also translates to a good soundstage for music listening (which I do with just regular 2-channel stereo, no virtual surround sound processing).

In terms of the different virtual surround sound processing solutions, I've tried Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic, and Soundblaster SBX. Soundblaster SBX was the clear winner with definitive sound positioning in game - whereas Dolby Atmos & Windows Sonic was a confusing cacophony. Yeah, so that's why I bought the SoundblasterX G6. I did buy a really cheap SoundblasterX G1(dongle) to start with just to try out Soundblaster's take on Surround Sound and I knew from that trial that it was the one to get. I could have stayed with the G1, but I wanted a more audiophile sound card for music listening, and hence purchased the G6.....I find it also a slightly more convincing version of surround sound on the G6, but the G1 was still a clear step up from Dolby Atmos and Windows Sonic. I started a thread on Virtual 7.1 surround sound here:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urround-sound-processing-in-headphones.25613/
You might find something useful in there, but you're using X-box and that's more of a thread for PC.....I'm not really aware of the different options available to you on Xbox, so can't recommend anything there, but I think the G6 I have is compatible with X-box but don't know to what extent. Also the G6 is not cheap at about £129. Your best bet is to get a good headphone like the HD560s and then explore software solutions (in game?) of surround sound that is offered by X-box and the game developers themselves (I assume they might build somekind of virtual surround for headphones into some their games, but I'm guessing......I don't know much about consoles).


Hi Robbo,

I would have replied sooner but for some reason i didn't see the email with your reply. It was ok yesterday when i was logged in though.

Firstly, regarding the G6. I can look into that as i go along on this headphone journey but i really have liked the advice you and others given so far , nice and detailed so i can delve deeper, the better:) . It is a slow process for me though as i'm not very good at most things..haha....BTW..I read that some reviewers on Amazon got their HD560 on special daily deals..or maybe black friday...Not sure.

As for the headphones, i looked at some reviews last night and overall they are mostly very positive for the HD560 and im really liking them from your advice as well as reviews. I gotta tell you though, it is a bit difficult convincing others in the family who live with me that headphones at that price are worth buying.. They think it's crazy at £120 and i still ain't told em about the HD560 yet..lol..Maybe you could tell them for me:) Just as an an assurance i don't get sectioned......again:)

Just a couple more questions i have for you about them...I can't remember fully, but i read that regarding the ohms a headphone has , the higher the ohms, the lower volume it will be without an amp. I understand HD560's are quite high and i just want to be sure for certain i won't need an amp. Oh, the other thing. Which mic would you recommend i buy for it? I'm in no hurry as yet but i read the imput on the headphone itself is 2.5mm so will the mic with any accessories it comes with, cater for that? on the other end i might need an adaptor that splits for mic + headphone or am getting it all wrong?..I hope i got that right.

Thank you so much for you advice...
 
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Robbo99999

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Budget: (in local currency and maybe USD): $220USD / $300AUD (Slightly flexible on this), available to purchase on Amazon AU

Form factor: (e.g. over ear, on ear, IEM, open back etc.): Over Ear, Prefer Open Back (or Wiiiiide soundstage Closed Back), Cabled (prefer single side 3.5mm for compatibility with v-moda boompro).

Use case: (e.g. casual listening while at work, critical listening etc.): Music (Spotify, most genres), gaming on PS5 (at a desk, so cabled is fine, and preferred).

Source information: (your amp/lack of amp if you feel it's relevant): Sound Blaster G3 DAC/Amp (For 10 Band Graphic EQ), unfortunately the PS5 is limited to UAC1 compatibility, so DAC/Amp options are limited.

Things that are important to you: (e.g. comfort, portability, durability etc.): 1) Wiiide Soundstage and good imaging/detail (for gaming), 2) Decent out of box/un-EQ'd sound which EQ's very very well, I want something that you can raise and lower the EQ of to get amazing results with minimal distortion. Something that is on the cheaper side that sounds decent without EQ, but when you add EQ it comes alive and is something very special, and you can tweak it to your own individual preferences with plenty of leeway. The key here is EQ flexibility to find the sound that suits me. I rarely have my music loud, so my EQ'ing may be less prone to distortion and would prefer something that sounds great at moderate listening levels.

Your preferred sound signature/other headphones you've tried and liked/disliked: I have come to the realisation here that I prefer considerably more treble than most people. Tried the Sony XM4's, they sounded bass and lower mid heavy, tried the Sundara's, they didn't quite sound sharp enough and slightly lacking in the bass. This is very much subjective, and how I hear things. I know the Sundara's are something special, they just didn't work for me and I figure why fork out 350USD for something when I could be happy EQ'ing a HP for a lot less. With me I have seen a trend of not being too happy with the sharpness of headphones, so obviously trying another 5 isn't going to work, and I should just go straight for the EQ for salvation.

I have read a lot of good things about the Philips Fidelio X2HR, they seem like a great bang for your buck. Would they be considered ideal for my requirements? Please be gentle, I am not trying to be a troll, I think I just have weird tastes.

Thanks in advance!
Hi, well I think the X2HR that you mentioned isn't a bad option, but I don't have personal experience with that headphone, it's supposed to have a good soundstage and Amir reviewed that headphone on this site if you can find it (can't remember what he thought to it, don't think he was particularly impressed, maybe distortion). Here's the frequency response of the X2HR on the left, so it's got that treble peak you might like too:
X2HR.jpg


My other recommendation from me would be the AKG K702, specifically because you mentioned wiiiide soundstage & gaming, and in my experience of all my headphones it has the widest soundstage and is joint best headphone for gaming with my HD560s (which has a narrower but still accurate well defined soundstage). K702 works great with EQ, and it also has the treble peaks that you might like (which you mentioned)....it's probably more likely to need more EQ than the X2HR as it sits further from the Harman Target Curve and has 2 peaks rather than the one of the X2HR, so here's the K702 frequency response on the left:
AKG K702.jpg

K702 has a solder issue though that I must tell you about, it's possible that the solder will fail in the right ear cup after a year or two of use, at which point you can solder the wires back on if you're that way inclined.....I did that already with my older K702 (I have two of them in case they stop making them, lol!). But they're a very comfortable headphone and really have some high fidelity once EQ'd in terms of a great soundstage which is crucial for gaming (& music listening) and the detail retrieval of this headphone is very good once EQ'd and praps my best (or joint best) headphone for that aspect - I EQ them to the Harman Curve.

I don't really want to push either the X2HR or K702 too hard on you in any of the two directions, because I don't have experience with the X2HR whilst the K702 has the solder fault....but I do know that K702 once EQ'd is my joint best gaming headphone and likewise for music listening once EQ'd. You could consider the HD560s too of course, it has a little treble peak as well at around 5kHz if I remember, but it's got a narrower soundstage (although a very good one) than the K702, and you expressly said "wiiiiiiide soundstage".
 

38yEj5SxGA

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Hi, well I think the X2HR that you mentioned isn't a bad option, but I don't have personal experience with that headphone, it's supposed to have a good soundstage and Amir reviewed that headphone on this site if you can find it (can't remember what he thought to it, don't think he was particularly impressed, maybe distortion). Here's the frequency response of the X2HR on the left, so it's got that treble peak you might like too:
View attachment 148641

My other recommendation from me would be the AKG K702, specifically because you mentioned wiiiide soundstage & gaming, and in my experience of all my headphones it has the widest soundstage and is joint best headphone for gaming with my HD560s (which has a narrower but still accurate well defined soundstage). K702 works great with EQ, and it also has the treble peaks that you might like (which you mentioned)....it's probably more likely to need more EQ than the X2HR as it sits further from the Harman Target Curve and has 2 peaks rather than the one of the X2HR, so here's the K702 frequency response on the left:
View attachment 148642
K702 has a solder issue though that I must tell you about, it's possible that the solder will fail in the right ear cup after a year or two of use, at which point you can solder the wires back on if you're that way inclined.....I did that already with my older K702 (I have two of them in case they stop making them, lol!). But they're a very comfortable headphone and really have some high fidelity once EQ'd in terms of a great soundstage which is crucial for gaming (& music listening) and the detail retrieval of this headphone is very good once EQ'd and praps my best (or joint best) headphone for that aspect - I EQ them to the Harman Curve.

I don't really want to push either the X2HR or K702 too hard on you in any of the two directions, because I don't have experience with the X2HR whilst the K702 has the solder fault....but I do know that K702 once EQ'd is my joint best gaming headphone and likewise for music listening once EQ'd. You could consider the HD560s too of course, it has a little treble peak as well at around 5kHz if I remember, but it's got a narrower soundstage (although a very good one) than the K702, and you expressly said "wiiiiiiide soundstage".

Thanks for taking the time to provide such a thorough response, much appreciated. The AKG K702 wasn't on my radar before, so very happy you suggested it, and I am certainly taking your comments into consideration. It is the front runner now, especially given the price. On a side note, is there a method to EQ the Oratory settings with a 10 band fixed EQ? From what I can see there's only the PEQ configuration, which is obviously a lot more accurate, but my DAC Amp only has the option for fixed EQ.

Given my unique taste in EQ, I am considering just learning to EQ on my own instead, with the right headphones it would be pretty fun I think.
 
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Jimbob54

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Thanks for taking the time to provide such a thorough response, much appreciated. The AKG K702 wasn't on my radar before, so very happy you suggested it, and I am certainly taking your comments into consideration. It is the front runner now, especially given the price. On a side note, is there a method to EQ the Oratory settings with a 10 band fixed EQ? From what I can see there's only the PEQ configuration, which is obviously a lot more accurate, but my DAC Amp only has the option for fixed EQ.

Given my unique taste in EQ, I am considering just learning to EQ on my own instead, with the right headphones it would be pretty fun I think.
Look on auto eq for some fixed band eq. Choose the ones based on oratory or crinacle measurements
 

Robbo99999

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Hi Robbo,

I would have replied sooner but for some reason i didn't see the email with your reply. It was ok yesterday when i was logged in though.

Firstly, regarding the G6. I can look into that as i go along on this headphone journey but i really have liked the advice you and others given so far , nice and detailed so i can delve deeper, the better:) . It is a slow process for me though as i'm not very good at most things..haha....BTW..I read that some reviewers on Amazon got their HD560 on special daily deals..or maybe black friday...Not sure.

As for the headphones, i looked at some reviews last night and overall they are mostly very positive for the HD560 and im really liking them from your advice as well as reviews. I gotta tell you though, it is a bit difficult convincing others in the family who live with me that headphones at that price are worth buying.. They think it's crazy at £120 and i still ain't told em about the HD560 yet..lol..Maybe you could tell them for me:) Just as an an assurance i don't get sectioned......again:)

Just a couple more questions i have for you about them...I can't remember fully, but i read that regarding the ohms a headphone has , the higher the ohms, the lower volume it will be without an amp. I understand HD560's are quite high and i just want to be sure for certain i won't need an amp. Oh, the other thing. Which mic would you recommend i buy for it? I'm in no hurry as yet but i read the imput on the headphone itself is 2.5mm so will the mic with any accessories it comes with, cater for that? on the other end i might need an adaptor that splits for mic + headphone or am getting it all wrong?..I hope i got that right.

Thank you so much for you advice...
Ha, I know, I'm sorry I recommended you a headphone that was £40 more than your budget, but yeah sometimes they're on sale, you could look on camel tracker to see the price history of the HD560s on Amazon for instance. About the ohm rating, it's not as simple as increased ohm headphones are harder to drive, that's not necessarily the case. I think the most useful parameter to look at is the Sensitivity Rating, and the HD560s is 110dB / 1Vrms, which is quite a sensitive easy to drive headphone, most reviewers say you can just plug it straight into a phone and get decent volume for instance.

About the mic, I don't use a mic, so can't really advise you on that, but I'm envisaging that you'd buy a completely seperate mic and just plug that into the mic port of your device, so it doesn't have anything to do with the HD560s, it's not like the HD560s has a mic port or something. So I'm assuming you'd plug your headphone into the headphone port & the mic into the mic port. I think some headphone ports are both mic & headphones (don't know really), but in that case you might need a splitter. Really don't know anything about mics!

Take it easy & save up for that headphone, I'm comfortable recommending it to you.....I really do think it's the best headphone for it's price considering your usage needs, and straight up a good value headphone even for people with less restrictions (eg people who have the flexibility of EQ or who have headphone amps), it's just a darn good headphone.
Thanks for taking the time to provide such a thorough response, much appreciated. The AKG K702 wasn't on my radar before, so very happy you suggested it, and I am certainly taking your comments into consideration. It is the front runner now, especially given the price. On a side note, is there a method to EQ the Oratory settings with a 10 band fixed EQ? From what I can see there's only the PEQ configuration, which is obviously a lot more accurate, but my DAC Amp only has the option for fixed EQ.

Given my unique taste in EQ, I am considering just learning to EQ on my own instead, with the right headphones it would be pretty fun I think.
That's ok, no problem. K702 is quite a unique headphone re soundstage, not many headphones like it, so it's got your wiiiidness that you wanted.....and you know about the solder issue which is the largest downside, but they're only £109 here in the UK, so it's a balance.
@Jimbob54 above gave you some good advice re using Graphical EQ Presets (Fixed Band Equalisers) from the AutoEQ project, but make sure you use the ones based on Oratory's measurements as they're generally the most thorough in terms of the work that goes into the creation of the measurement (the 2nd link has the detail you need):
https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/tree/master/results/oratory1990/harman_over-ear_2018/Sennheiser HD 560S
Alternatively, you could contact Oratory over on his reddit site, and ask him if he'd do a 10 band fixed EQ for it, he does that sometimes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/

EDIT: sorry, where's my brain, I had to cross out the above stuff as that's the for the HD560s and not the K702 that you're talking about! Also AutoEQ haven't updated their databases for the K702 Oratory measurement which was done this Summer, so your best bet is to contact Oratory at the link above. You could use the AutoEQ from Crinacle's measurement but for some reason the sample he measured didn't have the 5kHz peak, which was present on both my units of K702 that I sent to Oratory, so I would still ask Oratory for a Fixed Band EQ, but here's the K702 from Crinacle if you want to try it:
https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...cle/gras_43ag-7_harman_over-ear_2018/AKG K702
 
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Dipypang

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Budget: USD 2,000

Form factor: Over-ear, Open-back

Use case: Critical Listening

Anything else you feel might be relevant:
I'm currently using Sennheiser Momentum v.1 (2013). I've been browsing for a while to find a headphone that suit me best but there are too many choices, please help.
I'm currently looking at HD800s, Hifiman Arya. But dynamic or planar better or any recommendation?
 

boba

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Thanks baba, i'll look into it. What is Drop?

Welcome to you too. Nice meeting you all.

Looks like your question was covered already. Another option is the PC37X. Refurbished ones are $85. The "Game One" headset is supposedly the same thing just without the Drop collaboration. Maybe that makes more sense for you over the PC37X or PC38X because of shipping and importing fees. The reason I recommend these headphones is that they actually have a microphone built-in and don't have flashy gamer aesthetics.

The PC37X is bass deficient compared to the PC38X, but some people actually prefer that for gaming to focus on positional cues over sound quality. You could always EQ when using a computer. Here's a comparison between the two. Note the bass drop-off on the PC37X:

pc37x_pc38x.png


Like Robbo, I also own the HD560S and really enjoy them but I was trying to keep the cost down with my recommendations. Everything Robbo said about the HD560S lines up with my personal experiences as well. If you can save up, go for it. The only thing I'll add is that I've personally used an Antlion ModMic which is a popular way to add a microphone to the side of your headphones and isn't permanent if you want to remove it later. Unfortunately that's an extra cost on top of the more expensive headphones. The V-MODA BoomPro is another popular choice.

Either way, if you'd like to connect any of these to your Xbox controller you'll want an inexpensive cable for the mic and headphone jacks (search "TRRS CTIA headset splitter", CTIA is what Xbox controllers use).
 
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Robbo99999

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Budget: USD 2,000

Form factor: Over-ear, Open-back

Use case: Critical Listening

Anything else you feel might be relevant:
I'm currently using Sennheiser Momentum v.1 (2013). I've been browsing for a while to find a headphone that suit me best but there are too many choices, please help.
I'm currently looking at HD800s, Hifiman Arya. But dynamic or planar better or any recommendation?
I was just looking through the headphone review listings on Amir's site here for headphones that are recommended for under $2000 and looked at all of them and discounted the ones with nasty jagged frequency responses, what I was left with was the Hifiman HE6se for $1800:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/hifiman-he6se-review-headphone.23576/
And here's the frequency response from Oratory at the following link along with a pic of the frequency response measured by Oratory, you'll notice that it EQ's super well to the Harman Curve, nice & smooth:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/638c1dgypzw7eit/Hifiman HE6se.pdf?dl=0
HE6se.jpg

It's a super low distortion headphone, especially in the bass, as seen in Amir's review. It's got angled pads so spatial soundstage qualities are likely to be good. I have the Hifiman HE4XX and the spatial soundstage qualities of that headphone are quite good, and it's a very similar overall design to the pads & cups, so roughly comparable in my mind.

If you know you really value soundstage over anything else, then I'd probably recommend the HD800s to you $1300:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/sennheiser-hd800s-review-headphone.18424/
And from Oratory:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zsp3jucy5lsty0m/Sennheiser HD800S.pdf?dl=0
HD800s.jpg


If soundstage is not the most important thing for you then I'm pretty sure the HE6se is a better headphone overall. You're definitely gonna need a headphone amp for the HE6se:
1629621863442.png


(HE6se is planar, HD800s is dynamic)
 

Dipypang

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I was just looking through the headphone review listings on Amir's site here for headphones that are recommended for under $2000 and looked at all of them and discounted the ones with nasty jagged frequency responses, what I was left with was the Hifiman HE6se for $1800:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/hifiman-he6se-review-headphone.23576/
And here's the frequency response from Oratory at the following link along with a pic of the frequency response measured by Oratory, you'll notice that it EQ's super well to the Harman Curve, nice & smooth:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/638c1dgypzw7eit/Hifiman HE6se.pdf?dl=0
View attachment 148907
It's a super low distortion headphone, especially in the bass, as seen in Amir's review. It's got angled pads so spatial soundstage qualities are likely to be good. I have the Hifiman HE4XX and the spatial soundstage qualities of that headphone are quite good, and it's a very similar overall design to the pads & cups, so roughly comparable in my mind.

If you know you really value soundstage over anything else, then I'd probably recommend the HD800s to you $1300:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/sennheiser-hd800s-review-headphone.18424/
And from Oratory:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zsp3jucy5lsty0m/Sennheiser HD800S.pdf?dl=0
View attachment 148908

If soundstage is not the most important thing for you then I'm pretty sure the HE6se is a better headphone overall. You're definitely gonna need a headphone amp for the HE6se:
View attachment 148909

(HE6se is planar, HD800s is dynamic)
Thanks for your recommendation sir, i will look it up
 
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