Best headphones to get under 500

[rice guru]

while Im not that big of a fan of the thx amps @HumdrumPenguin is and Im sure can provide you with a good DAC pairing if you intend to get a thx amp

[cadabri]

10 minutes ago, rice guru said:

you can definitely run it on a cheaper amp but I mean if your gonna spend that much on a headphone why not spend more on an amp and a dac. personally not the biiggest fan of thx AAA amps Im a bit of a contrarian that wad  and I think the heresy and the atom sound better for that much money but Im not a fan of the ultra linear sound signatures they present in the first place. they are good amps though with a fair amount of power with balanced outputs. I just like a nbit more color in my amps I really like things like the asgard 3 which is a warmer sounding solid state amp. also the reason why I run the liquid spark over all the other $100 amps. With something as revealing as the thx amps I would surely spend a bit more on a cleaner dac. 

Would linear be good for edm or no?

[rice guru]

35 minutes ago, cadabri said:

Would linear be good for edm or no?

Hard to say if it better or not honestly depends more on the headphone and the person listening. It will be fine headphones make the most difference in this respect

[HumdrumPenguin]

@cadabri

 

So, I went and read it all so far to get a grasp of what has been discussed. To start, there are lot's of things I don't agree with. All said here is MY opinion, based on my experiences, and the world is free to disagree (at least the part of the world who does something more than just reading freaking measurements).

 

1 - Many dacs sound the same. Many don't. The type of pre-amp/amp and headphone/speaker you are using will dictate how easy it will be for you to hear the differences in dac sound, assuming the ones being compared are not that far apart. THX tech present in amps like the Drop AAA 789, SMSL SP200, Benchmark HPA4, etc, are excellent at telling you the ups and downs of a dac. Since it would be your first amp, and THX normally makes people love it or hate it (quite ironically, I'm neutral about it), I'd stick to something a bit more traditional. Get the Schiit Asgard 3 and I'm sure you'll be very happy.

 

2 - The 789 paired with the M100 sounds like ass to my ears. The M100 resolves reasonably better than the Modi 3, giving you a bit more "air" in the sound as well. The Modi 3, however, has a better tonality for instruments.

 

3 - The HD660S doesn't sound that much better than the other 600 series cans.

 

4 - The HD6XX is the best scaling headphones of all times. It got oh so much better when I changed my source to a Bifrost 2 that it is hard to word it properly.

 

5 - I wouldn't get 2 budget headphones when starting, especially the Philips and Senns you've mentioned, since they don't complement each other that well.

 

6 - Nobody mentioned here, but the Focal Elex from Drop may be a better fit to your needs than anything recommend thus far.

 

7 - Consider the Geshelli Labs ENOG2 PRO for a dac since you are on a budget. You'll run SPDIF from your pc, but hey, no drivers

 

8 - I don't know about the AEON X, but I have 5 months experience with the AEON 2 and I like it playing on the Asgard 3. I do need to use the white felt insert (thicker one) that comes with it, otherwise I get hearing fatigue fast.

 

9 - I have other stuff in mind, but it's pointless to say because we'd be on the USD1500+ per piece playground.

 

Summarizing:

My recommendation to you is Schiit Asgard 3, Geshelli Labs ENOG2 PRO, Foca Elex.

Edited May 23, 2020 by HumdrumPenguin

[rice guru]

21 minutes ago, HumdrumPenguin said:

So, I went and read it all so far to get a grasp of what has been discussed. To start, there are lot's of things I don't agree with. All said here is MY opinion, based on my experiences, and the world is free to disagree (at least the part of the world who does something more than just reading freaking measurements).

 

1 - Many dacs sound the same. Many don't. The type of pre-amp/amp and headphone/speaker you are using will dictate how easy it will be for you to hear the differences in dac sound, assuming the ones being compared are not that far apart. THX tech present in amps like the Drop AAA 789, SMSL SP200, Benchmark HPA4, etc, are excellent at telling you the ups and downs of a dac. Since it would be your first amp, and THX normally makes people love it or hate it (quite ironically, I'm neutral about it), I'd stick to something a bit more traditional. Get the Schiit Asgard 3 and I'm sure you'll be very happy.

 

2 - The 789 paired with the M100 sounds like ass to my ears. The M100 resolves reasonably better than the Modi 3, giving you a bit more "air" in the sound as well. The Modi 3, however, has a better tonality for instruments.

 

3 - The HD660S doesn't sound that much better than the other 600 series cans.

 

4 - The HD6XX is the best scaling headphones of all times. It got oh so much better when I changed my source to a Bifrost 2 that it is hard to word it properly.

 

5 - I wouldn't get 2 budget headphones when starting, especially the Philips and Senns you've mentioned, since they don't complement each other that well.

 

6 - Nobody mentioned here, but the Focal Elex from Drop may be a better fit to your needs than anything recommend thus far.

 

7 - Consider the Geshelli Labs ENOG2 PRO for a dac since you are on a budget. You'll run SPDIF from your pc, but hey, no drivers

 

8 - I don't know about the AEON X, but I have 5 months experience with the AEON 2 and I like it playing on the Asgard 3. I do need to use the white felt insert (thicker one) that comes with it, otherwise I get hearing fatigue fast.

 

9 - I have other stuff in mind, but it's pointless to say because we'd be on the USD1500+ per piece playground.

 

Summarizing:

My recommendation to you is Schiit Asgard 3, Geshelli Labs ENOG2 PRO, Foca Elex.

I aggree with the elex pick here amnd the geshelli stack. very good natural sounding amp and really clean dac as well. Im just a little hesitatnt to generally reccomend the geshelli stack to those that like aesthtics though cause there is some stuff about the stack that causes minor or major inconveniences depending how you look at them like the dac having power and signal in from the front of the unit making the stack look really wierd. 

[HumdrumPenguin]

6 minutes ago, rice guru said:

I aggree with the elx pick here amnd the geshelli stack. very good natural sounding amp and really clean dac as well. Im just a little hesitatnt to generally reccomend the geshelli stack to those that like aesthtics though cause there is some stuff about the stack that causes minor or major inconveniences depending how you look at them like the dac having rca out from the front of the unit making the stack look really wierd. 

I mentioned the Asgard 3, not a Geshelli unit (Archel2.5 Pro) for the amp, so I'm not sure what you mean by stack. I would just keep the ENOG2 (dac) somewhere were you can't see it, and have the A3 at arms length for volume control. PS.: I do I understand your pain about stuff that don't match.

Edited May 23, 2020 by HumdrumPenguin

[rice guru]

2 minutes ago, HumdrumPenguin said:

I mentioned the Asgard 3, not a Geshelli unit (Archel2.5 Pro) for the amp, so I'm not sure what you mean by stack. I would just keep the ENOG2 (dac) somewhere were you can't see it, and have the A3 at arms length for volume control. PS.: I do I understand your pain about stuff that don't match.

yep I saw I also reccd the asgard myself. ah I should have honestly comprehended what you wrote more carefully I just noticed you recc the enog alone not the stack. I personally doont care about thiongs matching Im very much a function over form kinda guy when it comes to my gear. but I have recommended non matching gear to people in the past and just trying to convince people that the worse looking gear is better in the long run is sometimes more trouble than its worth. 

[cadabri]

9 hours ago, HumdrumPenguin said:

@cadabri

 

So, I went and read it all so far to get a grasp of what has been discussed. To start, there are lot's of things I don't agree with. All said here is MY opinion, based on my experiences, and the world is free to disagree (at least the part of the world who does something more than just reading freaking measurements).

 

1 - Many dacs sound the same. Many don't. The type of pre-amp/amp and headphone/speaker you are using will dictate how easy it will be for you to hear the differences in dac sound, assuming the ones being compared are not that far apart. THX tech present in amps like the Drop AAA 789, SMSL SP200, Benchmark HPA4, etc, are excellent at telling you the ups and downs of a dac. Since it would be your first amp, and THX normally makes people love it or hate it (quite ironically, I'm neutral about it), I'd stick to something a bit more traditional. Get the Schiit Asgard 3 and I'm sure you'll be very happy.

 

2 - The 789 paired with the M100 sounds like ass to my ears. The M100 resolves reasonably better than the Modi 3, giving you a bit more "air" in the sound as well. The Modi 3, however, has a better tonality for instruments.

 

3 - The HD660S doesn't sound that much better than the other 600 series cans.

 

4 - The HD6XX is the best scaling headphones of all times. It got oh so much better when I changed my source to a Bifrost 2 that it is hard to word it properly.

 

5 - I wouldn't get 2 budget headphones when starting, especially the Philips and Senns you've mentioned, since they don't complement each other that well.

 

6 - Nobody mentioned here, but the Focal Elex from Drop may be a better fit to your needs than anything recommend thus far.

 

7 - Consider the Geshelli Labs ENOG2 PRO for a dac since you are on a budget. You'll run SPDIF from your pc, but hey, no drivers

 

8 - I don't know about the AEON X, but I have 5 months experience with the AEON 2 and I like it playing on the Asgard 3. I do need to use the white felt insert (thicker one) that comes with it, otherwise I get hearing fatigue fast.

 

9 - I have other stuff in mind, but it's pointless to say because we'd be on the USD1500+ per piece playground.

 

Summarizing:

My recommendation to you is Schiit Asgard 3, Geshelli Labs ENOG2 PRO, Foca Elex.

Thanks for the recommendation! at this point, I actually already purchased the Topping e30, and I think I will probably be grabbing the 789 with the Aeon X. I actually hopped into the private telegram with z reviews, and he thinks it will be a pretty safe bet for me to go with, but as far as I see between the two there won't be a huge difference, 

[HumdrumPenguin]

5 hours ago, cadabri said:

Thanks for the recommendation! at this point, I actually already purchased the Topping e30, and I think I will probably be grabbing the 789 with the Aeon X. I actually hopped into the private telegram with z reviews, and he thinks it will be a pretty safe bet for me to go with, but as far as I see between the two there won't be a huge difference, 

I usually have different opinions than Z on audio products, with Joshua Valour and Metal being the ones hitting the spot most of the time. As long as you are happy with what you hear in the end, that's what matters the most. I hope you have a good experience, and that your setup may surpass your expectations.