Headset for my Dad

[Thue500]

Hi, I and some of my family are thinking to buy a headset to my dad. We have a budget around the 170$/160€. 

We live in Denmark so it would be best if we can buy them in EU (no US links )

He will only use them to music his favorite genre is Rock. 

 

If you are recommending a headset and just have them yourself please tell how the highs, mids, and lows are. If you just have heard about some please write as well. 

 

If there are something you think I'm missing in the description please say so.

[Thue500]

Just now, wrathoftheturkey said:

Closed back or open back?

Doesn't matter.

If we can get a better sounding headset that is open or closed back it's those we take.

[JSD10]

Grado sr60/80

[Thue500]

Just now, wrathoftheturkey said:

huh? They're two completely different sound experiences, it isn't about which is objectively better, it's about which one he prefers. 

I know he had an open backed headset back in the day he loved but those were also pretty expensive. But he has also tried my bose Q15 he liked the sound in those but not the sound channeling. If you know good pair of open backed and closed backed please link me them

I haven't really tried any good open backed only som bad gaming headsets.

[Thue500]

2 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

The 598 Cs (closed back) are what I have and they're great, the Audio Technica ATH-m50x is also a popular buy for this budget. As far as open back goes though, the 598 (open back, totally different headphones just with the same name and look for some reason) is one of your best bets

 

Thanks can you tell me if you have tried both what the difference are between the 598cs and opened?

[Thue500]

1 minute ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

@Chaos_Sorcerer has the regular 598, and @STRMfrmXMN seems to know stuff about headphones, so correct me if I'm wrong guys.

 

I've used closed backs all my life, but people describe open backs as more natural sounding, with a much larger soundstage (like the music is happening around you). But the sound leakage is pretty bad, so you'll hear your music beautifully but so will everybody else in the room. That and open-backs also don't isolate you from your environment, so any background noise is going to be a pain.

 

That said, they're both good-quality, good sounding headphones

 

Thanks a lot for your time  

[Moist_Sock]

Why a headset? Unless you're just confusing the language as I assume it's not your primary lang, a proper headphone will out-perform headsets quite easily.

[Thue500]

What's the difference between headsets and headphones? And yes English is not my primary language.

[Moist_Sock]

Quote

What's the difference between headsets and headphones? What's the difference between headsets and headphones?

 

Headsets have a microphone attached, headphones do not.

Headsets are typically marketed for gaming or voice chat, whereas headphones are obviously marketed for music or monitoring. This typically results in getting worse audio quality for your money from headsets.

 

That said, a good option would be Sennheiser HD 558's. Rock is a fairly mids based genre, so the forward midrange of 558's and large soundstage would both be fairly nice. They don't require a dedicated amp either. They are very comfortable for long listening sessions, though they're open back, so if you have a noisy house, that may become a negative.

[Thue500]

1 minute ago, Moist_Sock said:

Headsets have a microphone attached, headphones do not.

Headsets are typically marketed for gaming or voice chat, whereas headphones are obviously marketed for music or monitoring. This typically results in getting worse audio quality for your money from headsets.

 

That said, a good option would be Sennheiser HD 558's. Rock is a fairly mids based genre, so the forward midrange of 558's and large soundstage would both be fairly nice. They don't require a dedicated amp either. They are very comfortable for long listening sessions, though they're open back, so if you have a noisy house, that may become a negative.

 

Thanks for explaining the headset headphones part it all makes sense now. 

About the HD 558's I can see they are on the "cheaper" side if you should go a price class up what would it be then?

 

[Moist_Sock]

Quote

I can see they are on the "cheaper" side

Somewhat, but mostly due to them being an older generation. HD 559 just came out, so the 558 are slowing going out of circulation.

Either way, you may want to take a look at Beyerdynamic DT 880, if you've got the budget to spare. Sound quality will be slightly better, and it's a somewhat more neutral headphone. It's build a fair bit better than the 558 too.

 

What site are you buying from? Might be some other options i'm not aware of due to me not being familiar with EU pricing.

 

[Thue500]

3 minutes ago, Moist_Sock said:

Somewhat, but mostly due to them being an older generation. HD 559 just came out, so the 558 are slowing going out of circulation.

Either way, you may want to take a look at Beyerdynamic DT 880, if you've got the budget to spare. Sound quality will be slightly better, and it's a somewhat more neutral headphone. It's build a fair bit better than the 558 too.

 

What site are you buying from? Might be some other options i'm not aware of due to me not being familiar with EU pricing.

 

 

I don't know what site I'm gonna mine from. I come from Denmark but can easily buy from UK, Germany etc. if they have a good price on something. And because the country I live in is so small we don't have that my shops with special headphones or a big variety. But I will take a look on the headphones

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

@Chaos_Sorcerer has the regular 598, and @STRMfrmXMN seems to know stuff about headphones, so correct me if I'm wrong guys.

 

I've used closed backs all my life, but people describe open backs as more natural sounding, with a much larger soundstage (like the music is happening around you). But the sound leakage is pretty bad, so you'll hear your music beautifully but so will everybody else in the room. That and open-backs also don't isolate you from your environment, so any background noise is going to be a pain.

 

That said, they're both good-quality, good sounding headphones

I've owned 518s which have the same drivers and are nearly closed back when comparing to the more open 598. The 598s have less boom in the bass due to softer plastics and less "stuff," for lack of better wording, blocking low frequencies from escaping. I much prefer the sound of the 598s. That said, the closed back ones are probably a fair bit bassier and will probably have slightly boomier bass and much shorter soundstage, which is already not exactly plentiful ion the 598s to begin with (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, some people like a less roomy soundstage).

 

They're certainly a good headphone to start with. If you want super open-back headphones with a lot of soundstage then any Grado headphone or Audio Technica AD-XXXX series should do well. If you want closed back then, in my opinion, it's hard to beat ATH M40xs or NVX XPT100s. I own the XPT100s and love them but the M40x sound quite good.