[PA] Need help w open back headphones €100 no amp

[RobRonnie]

So as you can tell by the title I’m looking for a pair of open back headphones that I’ll mostly use for gaming around €100 (not 150) without an amp. I’ll sometimes listen to hip hop music. The most important thing I’m looking for is being able to pick up where people are in game, listening to hip hop music is less important. I use my laptop on board sound card that can run up to 50 ohm’s, may struggle at 80, may not I haven’t tested.

 

I’ve had the dt990 pro’s and I liked the sound of them, especially the positional cues in games were fantastic. The v shaped sound signature of the headphones kinda bothered me a tiny bit but that’s just me nitpicking. The reason I returned them was because of them needing an amp to run properly which I don’t have and have no interest in buying. 

I just got Sennheiser HD559’s but the positional audio on the headphones are terrible compared to the dt990’s so I’m returning them as well.

 

I’m open to new sound signatures, I just need the best positional audio I can get, if the headphones play hip hop well too that’s a plus.

 

I heard that the Philips shp9500 are really good and I can get them for €85. All recommendations are appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance guys, really appreciate it!

[The Torrent]

Check out the dt 770

 

theres a few different versions but you can chose from the 32ohm or the 80ohm

[rice guru]

19 minutes ago, The Torrent said:

Check out the dt 770

 

theres a few different versions but you can chose from the 32ohm or the 80ohm

If you can somehow find the Fidelio x2 hr on sale for that they would be my pick over the shp9500s. Another one would be had 559 or hd599

[kokakolia]

I don’t like the SHP 9500 at all! Fuzzy sharp highs, no bass. 

[RobRonnie]

1 hour ago, The Torrent said:

Check out the dt 770

 

theres a few different versions but you can chose from the 32ohm or the 80ohm

I prefer open back headphones plus the 770’s with lower impedance are €150 or more

[RobRonnie]

1 hour ago, kokakolia said:

I don’t like the SHP 9500 at all! Fuzzy sharp highs, no bass. 

A lot of people put it in the same category as the HD600 which surprises me but considering so many people like it, it can’t be a bad pair of headphones right? Maybe personal preference

[RobRonnie]

1 hour ago, rice guru said:

If you can somehow find the Fidelio x2 hr on sale for that they would be my pick over the shp9500s. Another one would be had 559 or hd599

I’ve just used the hd559 and the positional audio is very bad compared to the 990’s without an amp . For audio in general it’s alright but I can get 990’s for 115 which is €30 more or something so idk. The fidelio’s are not on sale, it’s not even being sold in most stores  

[The Torrent]

11 minutes ago, RobRonnie said:

I prefer open back headphones plus the 770’s with lower impedance are €150 or more

oh not in uk

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, RobRonnie said:

I’ve just used the hd559 and the positional audio is very bad compared to the 990’s without an amp . For audio in general it’s alright but I can get 990’s for 115 which is €30 more or something so idk. The fidelio’s are not on sale, it’s not even being sold in most stores  

The problem is the only other headphones that can compare to the 990 in terms of imaging and soundstage as out of my collection is my first pick is above budget or just hard to drive. Like the he 4xx, 400i, dt 880 , or a nighthawk

[kokakolia]

1 hour ago, RobRonnie said:

A lot of people put it in the same category as the HD600 which surprises me but considering so many people like it, it can’t be a bad pair of headphones right? Maybe personal preference

Well, to me the 558 was the BETTER headphone over the SHP 9500. I kinda judge headphones based on overall smoothness, vocals and versatility. The SHP 9500 was overrated trash IMHO. Nothing sounded good on the SHP 9500 except for classical music. The bass was so weak, the highs were grainy. The mids were OK, but forgettable. Nothing was smooth and musical on the SHP 9500. Whereas the 558 is just YES. As soon as you put them on, you can just sit back and enjoy your tunes. Everything sounds intentional on the 558. It’s not the most revealing headphone, but it doesn’t try to be. It just exists to massage your ears with sweet gooey sound goodness. In comparison, the SHP 9500 is a stale tasteless dry cracker. 
 

I don’t like most headphone reviewers because they focus too much attention on detail and frequency graphs. So perhaps the SHP 9500 got all the praise for being cheap, open back and quite revealing. 

[RobRonnie]

36 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

Well, to me the 558 was the BETTER headphone over the SHP 9500. I kinda judge headphones based on overall smoothness, vocals and versatility. The SHP 9500 was overrated trash IMHO. Nothing sounded good on the SHP 9500 except for classical music. The bass was so weak, the highs were grainy. The mids were OK, but forgettable. Nothing was smooth and musical on the SHP 9500. Whereas the 558 is just YES. As soon as you put them on, you can just sit back and enjoy your tunes. Everything sounds intentional on the 558. It’s not the most revealing headphone, but it doesn’t try to be. It just exists to massage your ears with sweet gooey sound goodness. In comparison, the SHP 9500 is a stale tasteless dry cracker. 
 

I don’t like most headphone reviewers because they focus too much attention on detail and frequency graphs. So perhaps the SHP 9500 got all the praise for being cheap, open back and quite revealing. 

Hmm yeah I like the music aspect of the 559’s as well but the positional audio is awful in games! Thanks for the reply though very nice description

[RobRonnie]

3 hours ago, rice guru said:

The problem is the only other headphones that can compare to the 990 in terms of imaging and soundstage as out of my collection is my first pick is above budget or just hard to drive. Like the he 4xx, 400i, dt 880 , or a nighthawk

Hm okay, the problem is I can’t properly power the headphones I think. The sound was kind of dull and not crisp on lower volumes. I had to turn up the volume till my ears bled to hear crisp sound. Also the left ear was more silent than the right.

[rice guru]

11 hours ago, RobRonnie said:

Hm okay, the problem is I can’t properly power the headphones I think. The sound was kind of dull and not crisp on lower volumes. I had to turn up the volume till my ears bled to hear crisp sound. Also the left ear was more silent than the right.

So either the headphones were defective or your onboard audio is broken

[RobRonnie]

2 hours ago, rice guru said:

So either the headphones were defective or your onboard audio is broken

Okay good to know thanks! Do you think the HD58x and fidelio x2hr can compete with the dt990 pro in terms of in game imaging and stuff? Appreciate the replies btw

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, RobRonnie said:

Okay good to know thanks! Do you think the HD58x and fidelio x2hr can compete with the dt990 pro in terms of in game imaging and stuff? Appreciate the replies btw

The closest things in my experience in competing in that price range are the he4xx, dt880, and the he 400i. 

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, RobRonnie said:

Okay good to know thanks! Do you think the HD58x and fidelio x2hr can compete with the dt990 pro in terms of in game imaging and stuff? Appreciate the replies btw

 Here is something I wrote for another post

For a pure gaming standpoint the 990 or the 58x wins. The 990 has the treble spikes yes but they help with locating footsteps or other details in games. Imaging with them are excellent like other beyerdynamic headphones with a wide soundstage giving you a very accurate placement where they are I play a lot of siege and this is my choise as say I'm playing anchor and defending a point a wide soundstage can help priotise and angle over being overwhelmed with sound  cues. The 58x is a more intimate headphone but imaging is excellent. It's very good when you need to know which direction to look at right away in a fast game like quake or black ops 4 where anyone can pop out of anywhere. 

 

The Fidelios a re great of games where you want complete emmersion wide soundstage very musical headphone for soundtracks. Not enough treble and too much bass for competitive. Imaging which is more important than soundstage is the weakest out of the 3 headphones. Instead of highlighting footsteps you get more explosions and your own gunshots

[RobRonnie]

1 hour ago, rice guru said:

 Here is something I wrote for another post

For a pure gaming standpoint the 990 or the 58x wins. The 990 has the treble spikes yes but they help with locating footsteps or other details in games. Imaging with them are excellent like other beyerdynamic headphones with a wide soundstage giving you a very accurate placement where they are I play a lot of siege and this is my choise as say I'm playing anchor and defending a point a wide soundstage can help priotise and angle over being overwhelmed with sound  cues. The 58x is a more intimate headphone but imaging is excellent. It's very good when you need to know which direction to look at right away in a fast game like quake or black ops 4 where anyone can pop out of anywhere. 

 

The Fidelios a re great of games where you want complete emmersion wide soundstage very musical headphone for soundtracks. Not enough treble and too much bass for competitive. Imaging which is more important than soundstage is the weakest out of the 3 headphones. Instead of highlighting footsteps you get more explosions and your own gunshots

Wow very well explained thank you so much! I’m picking up the dt990’s then  I’m thinking of getting a Fiilo ek10 is that a good one or are there better ones for a lower price? I just want them to drive my headphones nothing fancy or anything, idc if it’s a brick. 

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, RobRonnie said:

Wow very well explained thank you so much! I’m picking up the dt990’s then  I’m thinking of getting a Fiilo ek10 is that a good one or are there better ones for a lower price? I just want them to drive my headphones nothing fancy or anything, idc if it’s a brick. 

An fx audio DAC x6 is better and has more power I would go for that instead

[CTR640]

On 1/9/2020 at 7:55 PM, RobRonnie said:

I prefer open back headphones plus the 770’s with lower impedance are €150 or more

What? Where do you live? Here in the Netherlands the 770's are €114 and the highest is €139.

[RobRonnie]

49 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

What? Where do you live? Here in the Netherlands the 770's are €114 and the highest is €139.

Oof my bad I used the pricing of the 32 ohm dt990’s. I don’t like closed back headphones for gaming though so 770’s aren’t an option.