Looking for a headphone that's going to replace speakers when i can't use them

[Viktor277]

I bought Sennheiser HD 569 in hope that it's not going to be absolute crap and as a headphone that i'm going to use when its late at night, because i have been getting some noise complaints. Also didn't wanna break the bank but it seems that i have to. They sound really hollow and quite dull and have zero sound stage, not nearly as much as detail as i was hoping for, sound is just less full, i mean its not really a fair comparison comparing headphone to speakers but yeah, i was very let down. For a pair of headphones they probably dont sound half bad but im just used to different quality of sound and these are my first headphones actally. I got a good offer for Austrian Audio X-55, they are also closed back but i read some reviews about them and they say that they are very good (i guess same was said about the 569 but it was probably in context of price range). Are X-55 the upgrade that im looking for or do i need to sell my kidney and step up to HD 800?

On the other hand, i "tested" 569 and Rog Theta 7.1 just hands on, and considering that the 569 are literally half the price, build quality is on par, except that theta utilizes metal on hinges and headband, comfort wise, 569 easily win, actually very well built and they have some of the greatest cushioning on ear pieces and head band i've seen on a headphone, better that on theta definitely. Very comfortable headphone. I haven't heard theta, so i cant really comment on them, since they're a usb c headset for some reason and the store that i tried them in didnt have usb c to 6.3 adapter or at least 3.5, if there is such thing. So yeah just some of my thoughts,

[OfficialTechSpace]

It's not complete crap, but for the price it's not great. Which is being polite. Normally we ask these kinds of questions before we make purchases, but we live and learn.

 

I would've recommended the HiFiMan HE400SE's over the HD569's. They're both better and cheaper, in terms of technical performance and tuning. 

2 hours ago, Viktor277 said:

Are X-55 the upgrade that im looking for or do i need to sell my kidney and step up to HD 800?

Overpriced, and underperforming. I wouldn't recommend spending more than $100 on a closed-back headphone in 2022, you hit diminishing returns very quickly. There are in-betweens that exist between an HD569 and an HD800S. I wouldn't consider the HD800S a viable endgame either, it's not very well-rounded. It has a nice imaging/soundstage party trick, but that's literally it.

[Viktor277]

7 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

It's not complete crap, but for the price it's not great. Which is being polite. Normally we ask these kinds of questions before we make purchases, but we live and learn.

 

I would've recommended the HiFiMan HE400SE's over the HD569's. They're both better and cheaper, in terms of technical performance and tuning. 

Overpriced, and underperforming. I wouldn't recommend spending more than $100 on a closed-back headphone in 2022, you hit diminishing returns very quickly. There are in-betweens that exist between an HD569 and an HD800S. I wouldn't consider the HD800S a viable endgame either, it's not very well-rounded. It has a nice imaging/soundstage party trick, but that's literally it.

So are you saying that there are better headphones for less money than HD 800? How about IE 600 that linus reviewed recently? Honestly it doesnt matter if they are over ear in ear or whatever just want them to sound good.

[OfficialTechSpace]

1 hour ago, Viktor277 said:

So are you saying that there are better headphones for less money than HD 800? How about IE 600 that linus reviewed recently? Honestly it doesnt matter if they are over ear in ear or whatever just want them to sound good.

There are plenty of better options under the $2000 MSRP of the HD800S, it's not endgame material. Normally you'd look for a very balanced response, with few gripes to be had as a start. The HD800S has a very peaky treble response, for one. A reasonable endgame would look more like the HiFiMan Arya, or Focal Clear (not the Clear-MG). That's not to say I'd recommend you drop ~$1200 on either of those, plus another $500+ on a DAC/Amp solution... just pointing out what we'd consider to be better rounded.

 

IEMs are a completely different ballgame, and due to the physical limitations of the form-factor have their own issues (soundstage, imaging, etc). I'd recommend them for portability, not desktop use. The IE600 in particular is good, and probably Sennheiser's best option in terms of IEMs. That's not saying much though, the others tended to miss their mark.

 

For a good starter setup, and one that'd not break the bank to an unreasonable degree... this is what I'd recommend. Obviously, a clean source is the start of any great system, so I'd recommend anything worthy of being stamped reference-grade in the sub ~$350 range. THX amps made a big splash a few years ago, and they're still not a bad choice. Prices have come down, and options like the SMSL SP200 THX-888 AAA are under $200 (I personally own this). It uses the same chip as the $3000 Benchmark amp. That, plus even a cheaper option like the SMSL Sanskrit 10th MKII would be great (I also own this, in case you're noticing a trend). There's a wide variety of headphones I'd recommend anywhere from $50-$2000, but honestly about $500 is the budget to aim for. I gets you all of the features you need, and sets you up for many years to come. For that, I'd point to the HiFiMan Edition XS. It's the younger, cheaper brother to the Ananda's (which I own), and they're a solid performer all around. They can be had for as little as $499.

 

All-in, you're looking at maybe $750 for a setup you may never upgrade. At least, for the foreseeable future. If this is too high though, I can jot down some other options.

stock HiFiMan Edition XS                                                                                              EQ-corrected HiFiMan Ananda (ignore missing channel balance data)

[Viktor277]

12 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

There are plenty of better options under the $2000 MSRP of the HD800S, it's not endgame material. Normally you'd look for a very balanced response, with few gripes to be had as a start. The HD800S has a very peaky treble response, for one. A reasonable endgame would look more like the HiFiMan Arya, or Focal Clear (not the Clear-MG). That's not to say I'd recommend you drop ~$1200 on either of those, plus another $500+ on a DAC/Amp solution... just pointing out what we'd consider to be better rounded.

 

IEMs are a completely different ballgame, and due to the physical limitations of the form-factor have their own issues (soundstage, imaging, etc). I'd recommend them for portability, not desktop use. The IE600 in particular is good, and probably Sennheiser's best option in terms of IEMs. That's not saying much though, the others tended to miss their mark.

 

For a good starter setup, and one that'd not break the bank to an unreasonable degree... this is what I'd recommend. Obviously, a clean source is the start of any great system, so I'd recommend anything worthy of being stamped reference-grade in the sub ~$350 range. THX amps made a big splash a few years ago, and they're still not a bad choice. Prices have come down, and options like the SMSL SP200 THX-888 AAA are under $200 (I personally own this). It uses the same chip as the $3000 Benchmark amp. That, plus even a cheaper option like the SMSL Sanskrit 10th MKII would be great (I also own this, in case you're noticing a trend). There's a wide variety of headphones I'd recommend anywhere from $50-$2000, but honestly about $500 is the budget to aim for. I gets you all of the features you need, and sets you up for many years to come. For that, I'd point to the HiFiMan Edition XS. It's the younger, cheaper brother to the Ananda's (which I own), and they're a solid performer all around. They can be had for as little as $499.

 

All-in, you're looking at maybe $750 for a setup you may never upgrade. At least, for the foreseeable future. If this is too high though, I can jot down some other options.

stock HiFiMan Edition XS                                                                                              EQ-corrected HiFiMan Ananda (ignore missing channel balance data)

I saw that ur using the planar magnetics, which is cool. And that has to be some of the flattes frequency response on a headphone that i've seen, never understood how headphone and speaker graphs compare to each other, since most speakers have way flatter line that most headphones. Now, as i said in the beginning, i'm looking for headphones that im going to use at night, so ill use them like 10-15% of the total listening time including speakers, so i don't think its a good idea to shell out that much money for them, i'd rather get an amp upgrade. I never expected headphones to be on the level of the speakers, just hoped that they wont be dogcrap. I have a khadas tone 1 which is considered a ~100$ king of dacs as i understood, and i can verify that nothing under 400$ will sound as good, so im driving the headphones with it through my integrated amp, also serves as an amp for the headphones since theyre only 23 ohms. i appreciate your thorough devotion to replying to this random convo, i'll be sure to ask more questions if some arise, since i saw that youre pretty audio educated. thank you

[OfficialTechSpace]

30 minutes ago, Viktor277 said:

i appreciate your thorough devotion to replying to this random convo, i'll be sure to ask more questions if some arise, since i saw that youre pretty audio educated. thank you

No problem  anytime. Here's some cheaper offerings in case they're more down your alley.

 

$100-$200

HiFiMan HE400SE (C+)

Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro / TYGR 300R (C)

 

$200-$350

AKG K612 Pro (B-)

Audio Technica ATH-R70x (B-)

 

$350-$500

HiFiMan Sundara (B)

 

$500-$700

HiFiMan Edition XS (B+)

[Viktor277]

15 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

No problem  anytime. Here's some cheaper offerings in case they're more down your alley.

 

$100-$200

HiFiMan HE400SE (C+)

Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro / TYGR 300R (C)

 

$200-$350

AKG K612 Pro (B-)

Audio Technica ATH-R70x (B-)

 

$350-$500

HiFiMan Sundara (B)

 

$500-$700

HiFiMan Edition XS (B+)

How about hd 560s?

[rice guru]

43 minutes ago, Viktor277 said:

How about hd 560s?

It's a pretty ok headphone average soundstage for open back , ok bass , mids are good and treble is pleasant, imaging and layering is on the meh side of things. It's a perfectly fine headphone. They are very neutral. If you have a headphone amp or a speaker amp that has a powerful headphone out. I think the 880 600 ohm is one of the best options at this price point if you wish to have good staging. And ok bass. If your ok with spending  a bit more cash an akg k712 pro is an excellent option as well. 

[OfficialTechSpace]

3 hours ago, Viktor277 said:

How about hd 560s?

I'd say no. Sennheiser is pretty lacking in most technical regards, and this particular option is pretty bright. Tuning is okay otherwise. I don't think it'd be very impressive for a new setup.

 

I might say maybe if you were looking for some cheap studio monitoring cans, but even then there are better suited headphones for the price. Again, not as well-rounded. The HD6XX I reviewed left a bad taste in my mouth, so I'm pretty meh on everything Sennheiser.

 

I keep my recommendations list very compact, and exclude anything that I think could be outperformed for the same price or less.

[Viktor277]

3 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

I'd say no. Sennheiser is pretty lacking in most technical regards, and this particular option is pretty bright. Tuning is okay otherwise. I don't think it'd be very impressive for a new setup.

 

I might say maybe if you were looking for some cheap studio monitoring cans, but even then there are better suited headphones for the price. Again, not as well-rounded. The HD6XX I reviewed left a bad taste in my mouth, so I'm pretty meh on everything Sennheiser.

 

I keep my recommendations list very compact, and exclude anything that I think could be outperformed for the same price or less.

I thought maybe i made a bad decision because these are closed back so maybe even 599 would be sufficient because of open back cups?

[OfficialTechSpace]

38 minutes ago, Viktor277 said:

I thought maybe i made a bad decision because these are closed back so maybe even 599 would be sufficient because of open back cups?

It's just an enclosure design, it's still up to the manufacturer whether or not to take advantage of it. Most of Sennheiser's HDXXX lineup could be completely closed-back and you'd notice little difference. They're all pretty narrow and closed-sounding for what they are, and the veiled/masked/recessed air frequencies don't help. If they were worth checking out, they'd be on my recommendation list. The HiFiMan HE400SE's are better for half of the price.

[Edins]

I also recommend the HiFiMan Sundara, I have found they are good for more than just games with their wide sound stage. Planars have a sort of nice roundness to them but also accurate, hard to describe. The HD800S sound like doodoo in my opinion and stay away from any USB headset.

[OfficialTechSpace]

1 hour ago, Edins said:

The HD800S sound like doodoo in my opinion

I share the same opinion tonality-wise, I just chose to not make a comparison to fecal matter for the sake of class  but thank you. All input is appreciated.

[Viktor277]

12 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

I share the same opinion tonality-wise, I just chose to not make a comparison to fecal matter for the sake of class  but thank you. All input is appreciated.

I forgot i also have a huge question. I moved recently and before i was in a 20 square meter room, now i had no choice to move in to much smaller room at 6 square meters. Before did not have speakers wall mounted, instead they were on the floor just sitting there (pro cinema speakers, not intended for home use). When i moved to this smaller room i wall mounted them and they are facing directly to a blank wall, then naturally have a downward facing housing so they arent a complete box shaped. 2x jbl 9350 and 2x jbl 8330, small by cinema standards, huge by any other, so i made some compromises here and there, almost whole room is covered in speakers lol, i use 9350 only for parties since theyre extremely  impractical. So i have some acoustics issues, wondered if i added some sound dampening on the walls it would probably fix the reflections? Since the day i brought them in the immense echo from this room is so irritating, and i really dont get it how a small room achieves such bad acoustics, guess its just my luck. So, should i put dampening on the walls?

[OfficialTechSpace]

4 hours ago, Viktor277 said:

I forgot i also have a huge question. I moved recently and before i was in a 20 square meter room, now i had no choice to move in to much smaller room at 6 square meters. Before did not have speakers wall mounted, instead they were on the floor just sitting there (pro cinema speakers, not intended for home use). When i moved to this smaller room i wall mounted them and they are facing directly to a blank wall, then naturally have a downward facing housing so they arent a complete box shaped. 2x jbl 9350 and 2x jbl 8330, small by cinema standards, huge by any other, so i made some compromises here and there, almost whole room is covered in speakers lol, i use 9350 only for parties since theyre extremely  impractical. So i have some acoustics issues, wondered if i added some sound dampening on the walls it would probably fix the reflections? Since the day i brought them in the immense echo from this room is so irritating, and i really dont get it how a small room achieves such bad acoustics, guess its just my luck. So, should i put dampening on the walls?

Dampening is definitely a good way to remove some reflections, although its a good idea to not overdo it. Reflections and defractions are nasty, but we start to change the sound of our system when we overdampen. Typically it gets very dull, soft, and kills the top-end. Among other things.

 

There are also a few tests you can do to help find any annoying resonances in your room, etc. which pretty much just involve playing the same track over-and-over whilst moving around sound deadening material until they disappear. Speaker placement is an equally large issue to tackle, if not more.