$300 Closed Headphones

[monjanger]

I have owned quite a few pairs of open cans, but want to buy a nice pair of closed ones for portable use. I love the sound of my 650s, and also enjoy my X2s, and am looking for similar closed back headphones. Preferably easy to drive with the ability to attach a Vmoda Boom  Pro. 

[Gofspar]

Alot of the current closed cans are kind of lack luster at that price range, you could go for a T50 mod like Talos from Cascadia Audio or Argon from ModHouseAudio.
if you have a decent phone they'll get up and go, but they arent the easiest things to drive.

Argon is a darker, wider sound signature and Talos is a brighter and more forward soundsig that puts detail in the front seat over tonality.

you could try an IEM, good example of a cheap godtier iem is SuperAudio 2DD+2BA

[monjanger]

1 minute ago, Gofspar said:

Alot of the current closed cans are kind of lack luster at that price range, you could go for a T50 mod like Talos from Cascadia Audio or Argon from ModHouseAudio.
if you have a decent phone they'll get up and go, but they arent the easiest things to drive.

Argon is a darker, wider sound signature and Talos is a brighter and more forward soundsig that puts detail in the front seat over tonality.

I would agree that open cans are superior in nearly every way... I will look into them for sure, do you have any thoughts on the Sony MDR-1A and Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7BK?

[Gofspar]

Just now, monjanger said:

I would agree that open cans are superior in nearly every way... I will look into them for sure, do you have any thoughts on the Sony MDR-1A and Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7BK?

if you're between those two MSR7 are probably superior, but I'd take a t50 mod over both.

Theres alot of choices when it comes to good t50 mods now, theres also ALOT of good guides, you could maybe try making your own mod tailored to your sound preference.

[KaminKevCrew]

2 hours ago, Gofspar said:

if you're between those two MSR7 are probably superior, but I'd take a t50 mod over both.

Theres alot of choices when it comes to good t50 mods now, theres also ALOT of good guides, you could maybe try making your own mod tailored to your sound preference.

Too bad there's no way OP will be able to power the T50 on a portable setup (unless they already have a pretty good portable amp).

 

2 hours ago, Gofspar said:

cheap godtier iem is SuperAudio 2DD+2BA

 I fundamentally disagree with any factory produced IEM that says "custom" anywhere it's being sold. If it isn't custom molded to your ear, it's not custom. Also, I have a *very* hard time believing they sound anywhere near as good as $1,000+ IEMs, custom or otherwise (calling them god-tier sort of implies that they can hold their own against the best.)

 

Additionally, assuming the 2DD stands for dual dynamic drivers (per earpiece) I imagine it's a basshead iem. (Nothing wrong with that if it's your preference, but I doubt that's OP's, as they love the HD650.)

 

I would suggest used OPPO PM-3. They are an excellent headphone with a somewhat laid back sound signature that allows for long listening sessions without fatigue when out and about. (Oh, and they'll work with the Vmoda Boom pro, so there's that.) 

[Gofspar]

1 hour ago, KaminKevCrew said:

Too bad there's no way OP will be able to power the T50 on a portable setup (unless they already have a pretty good portable amp).

 

 I fundamentally disagree with any factory produced IEM that says "custom" anywhere it's being sold. If it isn't custom molded to your ear, it's not custom. Also, I have a *very* hard time believing they sound anywhere near as good as $1,000+ IEMs, custom or otherwise (calling them god-tier sort of implies that they can hold their own against the best.)

 

Additionally, assuming the 2DD stands for dual dynamic drivers (per earpiece) I imagine it's a basshead iem. (Nothing wrong with that if it's your preference, but I doubt that's OP's, as they love the HD650.)

 

I would suggest used OPPO PM-3. They are an excellent headphone with a somewhat laid back sound signature that allows for long listening sessions without fatigue when out and about. (Oh, and they'll work with the Vmoda Boom pro, so there's that.) 

The superaudio measure pretty flat, measure them on my IMM6 iem rig.
They sound neutral next to my HD 800 and LCD-X.
literally read any Head-Fi review or even verumsonus, they are good iems for the money.

also T50RP on a non-shit phone is fine, what.

If you want to delve deeper into that a T50 cant be powered on a phone, I can give you the impulse measurement graphs for them powered on my NFB-1AMP vs my tracphone @ 75db

[KaminKevCrew]

1 hour ago, Gofspar said:

The superaudio measure pretty flat, measure them on my IMM6 iem rig.
They sound neutral next to my HD 800 and LCD-X.
literally read any Head-Fi review or even verumsonus, they are good iems for the money.

also T50RP on a non-shit phone is fine, what.

If you want to delve deeper into that a T50 cant be powered on a phone, I can give you the impulse measurement graphs for them powered on my NFB-1AMP vs my tracphone @ 75db

What does "pretty flat" mean? There's a lot of wiggle room there.

So, they sound like an HD600?

 

Head-fi... heh... Honestly, I'd really only believe head-fi for the most cursory of information - they get a little bit... oily over there.

 

The T50RP has a relatively low sensitivity (certainly for what I would consider to use on mobile and/or onboard audio) at 98dB/mW. Additionally, most phones that are out nowadays have pretty low powered headphone outputs - 75dB is not anywhere close to loud enough for the vast majority of listeners; I'd say that 85dB is the bare minimum in a quiet environment, with 90-95dB being more optimal for listening in a busy environment, especially with semi open headphones.

 

I would love to see some graphs though - I'm always up for looking at some.

 

Oh, and that's not even talking about how utterly inconvenient the T50rp would be when compared to something like the OPPO PM3, as the Fostex don't even fold, iirc. Plus, they're huge, and would look utterly ridiculous on most people's heads out in public.

[spwath]

2 hours ago, Gofspar said:

The superaudio measure pretty flat, measure them on my IMM6 iem rig.
They sound neutral next to my HD 800 and LCD-X.
literally read any Head-Fi review or even verumsonus, they are good iems for the money.

also T50RP on a non-shit phone is fine, what.

If you want to delve deeper into that a T50 cant be powered on a phone, I can give you the impulse measurement graphs for them powered on my NFB-1AMP vs my tracphone @ 75db

Nice, you have measurement rig too. Can be handy for showing imprressions to others.

 

Surprised you can go on headfi if you use logical things like measurements... Though I guess jude likes that now with his gras

 

34 minutes ago, KaminKevCrew said:

What does "pretty flat" mean? There's a lot of wiggle room there.

So, they sound like an HD600?

 

Head-fi... heh... Honestly, I'd really only believe head-fi for the most cursory of information - they get a little bit... oily over there.

 

The T50RP has a relatively low sensitivity (certainly for what I would consider to use on mobile and/or onboard audio) at 98dB/mW. Additionally, most phones that are out nowadays have pretty low powered headphone outputs - 75dB is not anywhere close to loud enough for the vast majority of listeners; I'd say that 85dB is the bare minimum in a quiet environment, with 90-95dB being more optimal for listening in a busy environment, especially with semi open headphones.

 

I would love to see some graphs though - I'm always up for looking at some.

 

Oh, and that's not even talking about how utterly inconvenient the T50rp would be when compared to something like the OPPO PM3, as the Fostex don't even fold, iirc. Plus, they're huge, and would look utterly ridiculous on most people's heads out in public.

I wore my T50rps out in public a few times....

 

[KaminKevCrew]

Just now, spwath said:

I wore my T50rps out in public a few times....

I'm not surprised. I'm also not surprised that you didn't say it's a regular thing

[spwath]

1 minute ago, KaminKevCrew said:

I'm not surprised. I'm also not surprised that you didn't say it's a regular thing

Well ive sold them now, because they were no good, especially with the way I had tuned them to sound like grados (and succeeded, but grados just don't sound good (to me, anymore)).

 

Next step, wear my TH-X00 or HD650 in public...

[KaminKevCrew]

Just now, spwath said:

Well ive sold them now, because they were no good, especially with the way I had tuned them to sound like grados (and succeeded, but grados just don't sound good (to me, anymore)).

 

Next step, wear my TH-X00 or HD650 in public...

I once listened to a pair of Grados that I liked. They cost $1,000, and they were playing AC/DC on some ridiculous kilobuck portable setup owned by an older gentleman. Boy, did they sound good there.

 

I've worn my HD650 in public before I sold them. I also regularly wore my Sony MDR XB1000 in public before my Aunt's dog stepped on them and broke a cup out of the headband. They're sort of fixed right now, but I need to grab some more wire. Then I'll wear them everywhere!!!