Looking for a new set of headphones

[Sgt.emu]

I have been thinking about getting the senhizer 6xx headphones for a few years and am finally able to pull the trigger. Should I get a dac to go with it and which one should I get if so. Also would there be better headphones for the price? I would like them to be open back headphones, and I don't want to spend more than around 250$ USD.

[Tigerleon]

8 minutes ago, Sgt.emu said:

I have been thinking about getting the senhizer 6xx headphones for a few years and am finally able to pull the trigger. Should I get a dac to go with it and which one should I get if so. Also would there be better headphones for the price? I would like them to be open back headphones, and I don't want to spend more than around 250$ USD.

What type of music do you listen to? Do you play games?

[Cocococo]

HD6xx are absolutely untouchable price to performance, you need to spend a lot of money to get a "better" experience, honestly far as DAC's go onboard audio is usually fine (they don't want a lot of power to work) if you have USB-C IO on your PC then something like an Abigail CX1993 or Apple USB-C to 3.5mm jack is more than enough. HD6xx do scale very well with fancy DAC's and amps so it might be a good idea to hold off buying something mediocre now and get something better later (that being said the most i'd spend on a headphone DAC these days is whatever a Qudelix 5k costs in your country, that little thing is one of the best buys in audio) 

[ThePCNerd129]

19 minutes ago, Sgt.emu said:

I have been thinking about getting the senhizer 6xx headphones for a few years and am finally able to pull the trigger. Should I get a dac to go with it and which one should I get if so. Also would there be better headphones for the price? I would like them to be open back headphones, and I don't want to spend more than around 250$ USD.

Go with razer headphones... I've had mine for almost four years... Things are great...

[Sgt.emu]

41 minutes ago, Tigerleon said:

What type of music do you listen to? Do you play games?

I play Forza, and city skylines mostly ( while turning off in game music and playing my own obviously ) as for what I typically listen to, EDM while playing Forza and lofi during city skylines 

[Tigerleon]

16 minutes ago, Sgt.emu said:

I play Forza, and city skylines mostly ( while turning off in game music and playing my own obviously ) as for what I typically listen to, EDM while playing Forza and lofi during city skylines 

I would not recommend the 6XX for gaming or EDM because of its vocal forward signature with a smaller soundstage compared to other headphones. They are good headphones don't get me wrong but they aren't that "fun". What kind of signature would you like? A more vocal forward signature with an intimate soundstage with good mids or something more open more detailed and or bassy? This is all preference btw.

[Sgt.emu]

1 hour ago, Tigerleon said:

I would not recommend the 6XX for gaming or EDM because of its vocal forward signature with a smaller soundstage compared to other headphones. They are good headphones don't get me wrong but they aren't that "fun". What kind of signature would you like? A more vocal forward signature with an intimate soundstage with good mids or something more open more detailed and or bassy? This is all preference btw.

Honestly I'm just looking for a good quality pair of headphones. Most of the media I consume is on my PC, and I have a pair of edifier s351 speakers and sub for when I want to blast the bass. I would like these headphones to be good enough to listen to anything I would like to whether it be podcasts, YouTube, Netflix or games

[saintlouisbagels]

7 minutes ago, Sgt.emu said:

Honestly I'm just looking for a good quality pair of headphones. Most of the media I consume is on my PC, and I have a pair of edifier s351 speakers and sub for when I want to blast the bass. I would like these headphones to be good enough to listen to anything I would like to whether it be podcasts, YouTube, Netflix or games

I'm personally a huge fan of the DT770 Pro as my general purpose headphones because it's closed-back but somehow still a wide soundstage, but I've also never owned any of the legendary HD600 variants.

 

While I won't discount Tigerleon's advice, I will say that audio is extremely subjective and that you ultimately need to try everything for yourself. His impression of "aren't that fun" can be wildly different from yours.

 

As for DAC or amp... it's pretty unnecessary. If you're in the US, then the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm dongle is the best deal in audio.

[Sgt.emu]

I am in the US, and I also do have the dac that came with my hyperX cloud 2,

44 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

I'm personally a huge fan of the DT770 Pro as my general purpose headphones because it's closed-back but somehow still a wide soundstage, but I've also never owned any of the legendary HD600 variants.

 

While I won't discount Tigerleon's advice, I will say that audio is extremely subjective and that you ultimately need to try everything for yourself. His impression of "aren't that fun" can be wildly different from yours.

 

As for DAC or amp... it's pretty unnecessary. If you're in the US, then the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm dongle is the best deal in audio.

I am in the US and I have the DAC that came with my HyperX cloud 2, as well as I can plug it into the headphone jack on my ASUS x670 prime motherboard

[saintlouisbagels]

17 hours ago, Sgt.emu said:

as well as I can plug it into the headphone jack on my ASUS x670 prime motherboard

You were the one asking in your original post if you should get a DAC lol

The Apple one is reviewed to be transparent as DAC's that cost over 10x-20x as much (it's only $9).

 

How are you buying the headphones? I would just take advantage of Amazon's generous return policy and try out the 6XX first.

[atarione]

I own the DT770 Pro 80s (have done for over a decade) / DT880 250Ohms / and the HD6XX...

 

Personally I use the DT770's much more because of one simple reason, in my house despite being in another room down a hall, my wife will come and complain about sound leaking from either the DT880's or the H6XX.

 

Of the three, the HD6xx is by far the least comfortable... they do loosen up a little but the skull clamping force I don't really like very much.      The DT770 and DT880's both are much more comfortable.   

 

Sound wise the 770 pro 80, certainly have the most "fun" V-shaped sound .. which I personally quite like.   But the HD6XX and DT880's both sound very good, some people find the highs on beyers to be a bit much for them, I don't find this to be the case for myself.. I would say I am a fan of the beyer house sound i guess.. I would think the DT770's would be more suited to EDM than the HD6XX's.

 

Regardless you don't need a DAC per se but what you are going to need for pretty much anything HD6XX or DT770 /DT880 is an AMP... you don't need the world's most powerful amp but you need something besides your pc's audio out... None of these headphones are going to deliver their full potential without an amp.

 

Something like a Schiit magni or JDLabs Atom amp 2 would be great.

 

 

[Cocococo]

2 hours ago, atarione said:

Of the three, the HD6xx is by far the least comfortable... they do loosen up a little but the skull clamping force I don't really like very much.      The DT770 and DT880's both are much more comfortable.   

 

None of these headphones are going to deliver their full potential without an amp.

 

Something like a Schiit magni or JDLabs Atom amp 2 would be great.

 

 

Comfort is super subjective, more than even sound quality (suspension headbands are generally a safer recommendation for comfort, i really hate beyerdynamic fitment but love HD6xx)

 

If your headphone sounds bad out of a bad amp they'll sound bad out of a good amp, "full potential" is entirely marketing these days and you can get insanely transparent dongle dac's (Apple USB-C in USA, Abigail CX1993 everywhere else) for much cheaper than Schiit Magni's or JDS Labs Atom's.

Best headphone amp out there tbh is a Qudelix 5k, if i didn't run speakers i would use that little brick for everything, it runs my FT3's no problem, my Focal Clears sound outstanding off the 5k, hell they can run Audeze LCD5's and Hifiman Ananda Stealth's no sweat. All while having some of the best EQ software i've used and super easy to copy presets from oratory over, desktop power doesn't go near the battery so it won't wear out like many FiiO and iFi bluetooth dac's do. 

 

Also OP it's pretty unlikely but if you can find Audio Technica R70X or FiiO FT3 headphones in your price range i would use both over the HD6xx for gaming and music, FiiO FT3 are some of the best gaming headphones i've ever tried, Audio Technica R70X are closer to FT3 than 6xx, FT3 has the best soundstage of any headphone under about $500, 6xx aren't known for their soundstage and imaging, 6xx have a more bassy sound signature than the R70 or FT3 (unless you put the velour pads on FT3, then FT3 sound similar but way more detailed) all three have nowhere near the levels of bass you'd find in a Beyerdynamic headphone (some people like it, i'm not one of them) and tbh unless you play games with really good sound design you likely won't notice an audible difference regardless of choice.

[atarione]

7 hours ago, Cocococo said:

Comfort is super subjective, more than even sound quality (suspension headbands are generally a safer recommendation for comfort, i really hate beyerdynamic fitment but love HD6xx)

 

If your headphone sounds bad out of a bad amp they'll sound bad out of a good amp, "full potential" is entirely marketing these days and you can get insanely transparent dongle dac's (Apple USB-C in USA, Abigail CX1993 everywhere else) for much cheaper than Schiit Magni's or JDS Labs Atom's.

Best headphone amp out there tbh is a Qudelix 5k, if i didn't run speakers i would use that little brick for everything, it runs my FT3's no problem, my Focal Clears sound outstanding off the 5k, hell they can run Audeze LCD5's and Hifiman Ananda Stealth's no sweat. All while having some of the best EQ software i've used and super easy to copy presets from oratory over, desktop power doesn't go near the battery so it won't wear out like many FiiO and iFi bluetooth dac's do. 

 

Also OP it's pretty unlikely but if you can find Audio Technica R70X or FiiO FT3 headphones in your price range i would use both over the HD6xx for gaming and music, FiiO FT3 are some of the best gaming headphones i've ever tried, Audio Technica R70X are closer to FT3 than 6xx, FT3 has the best soundstage of any headphone under about $500, 6xx aren't known for their soundstage and imaging, 6xx have a more bassy sound signature than the R70 or FT3 (unless you put the velour pads on FT3, then FT3 sound similar but way more detailed) all three have nowhere near the levels of bass you'd find in a Beyerdynamic headphone (some people like it, i'm not one of them) and tbh unless you play games with really good sound design you likely won't notice an audible difference regardless of choice.

Well... the "little brick" as you call it is still an amp and I also mentioned you didn't need the "best" amp just an amp... That Qudelix 5k is actually well in the same ballpark price wise at $108~ on amazon vs. $125 for the atom amp 2.      For myself if I was looking for a headphone to use at my pc (desktop) I would MUCH rather have something like the Magni / ATOM Amp 2 as the the ergonomics are better, bigg~ish volume knob, the volume knob on my amp is something I use very much and adjust volume on the fly from right in easy reach on my desk excellent.  The pre outs are also quite useful in a desktop setup if he wants to run speakers as well.

 

regardless he still needs an amp what style of amp he chooses is his choice but an amp is going to be needed to get anyone of these sound decent./ have decent volume output.

 

All in all we seem to have drastically different preferences, which is fine...   OP should try some gear out and see what works for him...