Suggestions for loud, clear and neutral headphones

[Raex]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for suggestions for new headphones.

I already have:
HifiMan HE400i (2016)
Sennheiser HD 595
Sony MDR-1A
AKG K530 limited edition
Philips Fidelio X2
Superlux HD681
Sony MDR-XB700 (garbage)

I'm looking for new ones that hit the harman-curve, sound clear (as little distortion as possible), can get very loud (again with as little distortion as possible) and wont make me poor (<650€/$).

Any recommendations?

 

[someguyontheinternet]

DCA Aeon RT is clean even with loud levels. Only 2 PEQ corrections needed to patch the shortfalls at about 150Hz and 3000Hz (to me personally the corrections are not that much of a difference, I can enjoy these a lot even without EQ).

 

[Jimbob54]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for suggestions for new headphones.

I already have:
HifiMan HE400i (2016)
Sennheiser HD 595
Sony MDR-1A
AKG K530 limited edition
Philips Fidelio X2
Superlux HD681
Sony MDR-XB700 (garbage)

I'm looking for new ones that hit the harman-curve, sound clear (as little distortion as possible), can get very loud (again with as little distortion as possible) and wont make me poor (<650€/$).

Any recommendations?

You need to state if you are prepared to EQ - very very few hit the Harman curve.

What is wrong with the Hifiman? And the X2?

 

[Raex]

You need to state if you are prepared to EQ - very very few hit the Harman curve.

What is wrong with the Hifiman? And the X2?

I'd be happy if the headphone hits the target as much as possible but a little eq is ok for me.

There is nothing really wrong with the 400i or the X2, but the Hifiman needs quite a lot of equalizing in the bass department and the X2 distorts quite early....a mixture of those two (as loud and clear as the 400i and as close to the target as the X2 plus a little more sub-bass) would be perfect.

 

[Zim]

AKG K371
2020 Hifiman Sundara + EQ on the bass side

 

[Oldasdrt]

I'd be happy with the 400 or the HD 595

 

[Jimbob54]

I'd be happy if the headphone hits the target as much as possible but a little eq is ok for me.

There is nothing really wrong with the 400i or the X2, but the Hifiman needs quite a lot of equalizing in the bass department and the X2 distorts quite early....a mixture of those two (as loud and clear as the 400i and as close to the target as the X2 plus a little more sub-bass) would be perfect.

I fear you will be compromising to one degree or another. Dont know how early the k371 mentioned above distorts but gets points for hitting HTC

 

[Joe Smith]

Even cheaper, the AKG K361.

 

[DVDdoug]

You can sort the ASR headphone reviews by "Recommended" which might be a good place to start.

I already have:

With all those headphones, perhaps you should be the one making the recommendations...

can get very loud (again with as little distortion as possible)

In my experience most headphones will get plenty-loud if your headphone output/amplifier has high-enough output. (But perhaps I don't listen as crazy-loud as when I was younger.) Maybe you are distorting your amplifier and you need higher sensitivity headphones or more output voltage. (My laptop doesn't go that loud with the headphones I have.)

If you boost the bass you can end-up clipping the digital data or amplifier, or distorting the headphones so you might want headphones that don't need boosted bass.

 

[Raex]

You can sort the ASR headphone reviews by "Recommended" which might be a good place to start.


With all those headphones, perhaps you should be the one making the recommendations...


In my experience most headphones will get plenty-loud if your headphone output/amplifier has high-enough output. (But perhaps I don't listen as crazy-loud as when I was younger.) Maybe you are distorting your amplifier and you need higher sensitivity headphones or more output voltage. (My laptop doesn't go that loud with the headphones I have.)

If you boost the bass you can end-up clipping the digital data or amplifier, or distorting the headphones so you might want headphones that don't need boosted bass.

Haha thanks for the input, I know I listen to music way too loud and probably should stop that for my own good but I just can't

I know the recommended list but there is no sort by soundpressure filter or anything like that.

I already own a Topping A30 pro and used to own a Gustad H16 aswell as a Singxer SA-1....all of them are more than capable of making any headphone distort without clipping themselves. So it's about what the headphone can take and how loud it can play without distorting too much.

Wherever I eq anything I only reduce frequencies rather than boosting for the very reason you mentioned.

I'm a purist though so I'm looking for a headphone where I don't need equalizing. This way I can have an unaltered signal all the way

I thought about buying the Beyerdynamic DT770 pro 250ohm but somehow doubt that they can provide my poor ears with my desired sound pressure without audible distortion.

 

[Oldasdrt]

Haha thanks for the input, I know I listen to music way too loud and probably should stop that for my own good but I just can't

I know the recommended list but there is no sort by soundpressure filter or anything like that.

I already own a Topping A30 pro and used to own a Gustad H16 aswell as a Singxer SA-1....all of them are more than capable of making any headphone distort without clipping themselves. So it's about what the headphone can take and how loud it can play without distorting too much.

Wherever I eq anything I only reduce frequencies rather than boosting for the very reason you mentioned.

I'm a purist though so I'm looking for a headphone where I don't need equalizing. This way I can have an unaltered signal all the way

I thought about buying the Beyerdynamic DT770 pro 250ohm but somehow doubt that they can provide my poor ears with my desired sound pressure without audible distortion.

I like mine loud, cause I have hearing loss

 

[JWAmerica]

I'm surprised your Sony MDR-1A's don't do the job for you with some EQ. Tame the 9khz peak and boost the bass a bit.

 

[Raex]

I'm surprised your Sony MDR-1A's don't do the job for you with some EQ. Tame the 9khz peak and boost the bass a bit.

Those actually are way too bass heavy....a more capable X2 or better yet a 400i with more (sub)bass would be perfect

 

[b7676]

I'm a purist though so I'm looking for a headphone where I don't need equalizing. This way I can have an unaltered signal all the way

Like hoping room that won't be better with treatment AND correction processing.

 

[Raex]

Like hoping room that won't be better with treatment AND correction processing.

Sure even headphones meeting my wishes will sound better with additional eq, but the goal is to find a pair that sounds very pleasing and hard hitting (not bloated like the Sony 1A's nor light like the 400i's) without eq.

 

[MayaTlab]

AKG K371

I wouldn't recommend these if the goal is to reach the Harman target without a way for @Raex to actually measure the on-head bass response he's getting. Too much variability across listeners : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-4/graph#1671/4007

If one wants to experience what the Harman target actually sounds like, I'd rather focus on extensively measured headphones where we have a good idea of the sample variation and on-head behaviour (a typical example of that would be the HD6... series), or if the concerns are limited to Harman's bass shelf only and not on the target above 1kHz, even better to get the exact absolute values are ANC headphones with a robust feedback mechanism which can deliver an exact FR below x frequency regardless of sealing concerns.

the Hifiman needs quite a lot of equalizing in the bass department

Do you have specific concerns in that regard ? The audibility of THD doesn't seem to be quite clear cut yet but once it's low enough it seems to be poorly correlated with listener's subjective impressions and and at low frequencies it seems one needs quite a good deal of it for it to matter. The 400i seemingly measures pretty well in terms of THD at low frequencies (I'd rather be somewhat worried about its THD figures higher up).

I'm a purist though so I'm looking for a headphone where I don't need equalizing. This way I can have an unaltered signal all the way

I'm not exactly understanding this concern. If your HPs' FR is unsatisfying (ie not the equivalent of what "decent speakers in a decent room" would result in your case - which is what you're after if you want something similar in spirit to Harman's target), it's "altering" the signal in the first place, no ? EQ is precisely there to remedy that problem, to make it less "altered", not more.

I get that one might want to be looking for something close to Harman's target without EQ when the latter isn't practically feasible (ex : iOS), but that doesn't seem to apply to your situation unless I'm mistaken.

 

[JWAmerica]

Those actually are way too bass heavy....a more capable X2 or better yet a 400i with more (sub)bass would be perfect

EQ works in both directions. Excess bass is easier to deal with than boosting anemic bass. You should really try the MDR-1A's with EQ to match the Harman average preference curve. You have at least two or three pairs of headphones already that could be tweaked to match the Harman average pretty easily.

 

[AudioManNewb]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for suggestions for new headphones.

I already have:
HifiMan HE400i (2016)
Sennheiser HD 595
Sony MDR-1A
AKG K530 limited edition
Philips Fidelio X2
Superlux HD681
Sony MDR-XB700 (garbage)

I'm looking for new ones that hit the harman-curve, sound clear (as little distortion as possible), can get very loud (again with as little distortion as possible) and wont make me poor (<650€/$).

Any recommendations?

Mackies MC seriers of headphones have a loud and clear sound. Headphonecheck has measurements and the seem to be harmanish.

 

[sfdoddsy]

AutoEq/results/RANKING.md at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

github.com

This is a list of headphones closest to the Harman curve.

Any of them, or the ones you have, could be EQed even closer.

EQ may be debatable for speakers due to room effects. But for headphones and IEMs there is no such downside as long as you know your target curve and raw response.

An active ANC headphone is likely to come closest to your desire. But that’s because they do the EQ for you