I currently own a set of Sennheiser HD212 Pro's and am looking for a more professional and even better set of headphones because I'm a bit of an audiophile. The two options I was considering are these:

Sennheiser 280 Pro
The best Sennheisers you can get without needing a headphone amp, I'm told. I'm worried that the sound won't be a huge leap from what I have now though. But they are supposedly comparable to:

Sony MD7506 Studio
Professional studio headphones with really accurate sound and can compete with very high end Sennheisers. My worry here is that the sound is accurate, but reportedly a bit flat and not as 'warm' as Sennheisers. Quality apparently depends a lot on the EQ- people report too much bass and others say the sound's too bright.

I did look at the Bose Quietcomfort 2 but from what I've read they're overpriced crap.

Let's say my price limit is £100. Are there any audiophiles here who would be able to recommend either one of these two sets, or something completely different? Also, am I wrong about the Bose?

no highs, no lows, must be a bose.

I can't give an honest recommendation here since a) I dislike Sony products b) prefer open back and, most importantly c) have never heard either set of cans.

Seeing that those Senns cost almost four times what you current ones cost, I'd expect a pretty dramatic leap in quality. I went from £45 phones to £110 and the difference was huge, mostly clarity that improved.

Thanks guys, I'll stay away from Bose and expect a quality leap either way

Question is, do I want Sony's 2nd-best studio headphones and a more natural (if sometimes bright) yet still bassy sound, or Sennheiser's pumping bass and a slightly lacking midrange...

Grado headphones are amazing, get whichever pair you can afford and you won't be disappointed, even the cheapest ones are fantastic.

Sony and Sennheiser are overrated, as with most well-known brands (BOSE especially)

Quote from spookthehamster :

Grado headphones are amazing

Not amazingly comfortable though. Since all their models share the same basic design, I'm glad I didn't get the circa £300 model I was eyeing up or I would have been disappointed.

Quote from TiJay :

Question is, do I want Sony's 2nd-best studio headphones and a more natural (if sometimes bright) yet still bassy sound, or Sennheiser's pumping bass and a slightly lacking midrange...

are you ordering these online, or buying from a local store? if you are buying locally, i'd highly recommend that you take a cd and try out various headphones in person, because I can't tell you to go with a natural & full sound, or a bassy & flat (ish) sound because my personal preference might be different than yours.

short of that, figure out what your preference is, and then read some reviews of those headphones and see how closely your preference matches the reviewers perception of sound they put out.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Not amazingly comfortable though. Since all their models share the same basic design, I'm glad I didn't get the circa £300 model I was eyeing up or I would have been disappointed.

I picked up the Grado SR125's about 8 months ago and didn't have any problems with comfort after I stretched them out a bit. They can come loose if I sneeze or otherwise tilt my head down a lot but otherwise stay in place just fine with just enough pressure on my head.

In terms of sound quality, the clarity is incredible. Unfortunately, if you use it with your computer, there's also a downside. Cheaper headphones will smooth over any distortion or popping. The Grado's will just play it the way it is and it can be rather irritating to hear, especially the popping, which I noticed mostly in TDU.

Spook/Forbin- I haven't looked at Grados yet because the impression I got is that they'll be way out of my price range. But I'll check them out.

glyphon- I'm buying from Amazon and all I've got to go on is the reviews (which vary hugely- some people say the Sonys are too sharp, some say too bassy etc), but if anybody knows of somewhere in Essex I can try headphones out please let me know?

can't help you with local stores, but you can sort of standardize the reviews by looking up your current headphones, and find a review that matches what you think of them. then the reviews for the ones you are looking at should be pretty close to your perception.

of course you could always try google maps for potential local stores
http://maps.google.com/maps?f= ... ie=UTF8&z=10&om=1

I can vouch for Sony Studio Monitor headphones. They are good all around. Most comfortable out of other suggested brands too.

Nice long cord, and pretty durable. As much as I dislike most Sony products, these headphones are the ONLY Sony brand product that I ever suggest others to buy, and they all love the headphones too. The BAD Sony models are the cheap plastic ones that are most common... but the Studio headphones are for those seeking much greater audio experience. Lots of people use these professionally.

You can pick up Grado SR80s for under a ton (just like I did). You're still out of luck though if you're spcifically after closed back studio style headphones.

Forbin - it's not that they're particularly uncomfortable, but my ear lobes begin to ache after a couple of hours use. Also the foam material is quite hard and rough (by headphone standards anyway), although this has improved with use. My previous Beyerdynamic headphones were much better in this respect, they really pampered your ears and you could wear them all day without side effects.

Simple advice...


...Buy a half decent set of Speaks

Try some AKG's,trust me, you won't be disappointed. May be slightly out of your price range though.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/audio_technica_athm40fs.htm

I recommend these, very detailed sound.
The Grados are nice value for money too, but hurt my ears after a while.

I have these since almost 3 years now...



I know they are quite expensive, but i love them. Very strong bass, very good quality.

Not Sure: Those look quite good, have to see how they compare to the Sony's.

I'll also look at the AKG 240's and some Grados.

EDIT: Ooh, the AKG240's look ugly but sound good. Apparently. Thing is, neither the Grado or AKG go low enough (My current headphones go down to 12Hz).

Quote from Bob Smith :

Forbin - it's not that they're particularly uncomfortable, but my ear lobes begin to ache after a couple of hours use. Also the foam material is quite hard and rough (by headphone standards anyway), although this has improved with use. My previous Beyerdynamic headphones were much better in this respect, they really pampered your ears and you could wear them all day without side effects.

Well I will have to disagree with you on that Bob. Having bought the Beyerdynamic headphones of you I can say after a few hours of wearidge my ears ache. Although having tried on your Grado's I must say the Beyer's are still a lot more comfy. I guess it depends on how your ears are shaped but certainly I suffer pain after about 4 hours..... top part of my ears ache's like f***

Can't fault them on sound quality or the price £20 was certainly worth it.

I think I'm going to have to find an audio store and compare some of these. Probably the MDR7506, AKG 240 and Grado SR80. Thanks for the Maps link, glyphon.

There's a reason the headphones don't need to go that low...

From what I've heard from my father who spent a large portion of his life as an amateur recording engineer, AKG's headphones tend to be very nice but also have a dead flat response curve and carry a very high price tag. If you're using them for their intended purpose (i.e. studio monitoring) they're great, but for personal music listening, they're not ideal, especially at the price.

Forbin: The Sony's also seem to have a flat response curve. I figured that I could get the sound I wanted by using the EQ, so a flat curve is a good place to start as it lets me tweak the sound to my taste?

Spook: Could you elaborate on that please? I've been wondering why the superior Sony headphones are 10-20,000 yet the Sennheiser 280s are 5-28,000?

It is believed that the human ear can hear only between 20 and 20,000 Hz. This range also reduces with age, especially at the high end. I've tested this on myself by generating sine waves with Audacity and listening to them through my headphones. It seemed to me that I could hear up to about 19kHz. I should note that the waves also appeared to be progressively more distorted above 8 kHz judging by the graphical representation with a 44.1kHz sample rate. If you crank the sample rate up it gets better but I don't know if any modern sound cards can play at a sample rate above 48kHz.

Thanks, I knew the human hearing limits were 20-20,000 and thought you 'felt' the ones below 20Hz (eg pumping bass).

Am I right in thinking that a downmix of a Dolby Surround signal still includes the LFE, as that is at 10Hz so it would be quite good to have headphones which support a frequency this low when watching movies?

I bought a set of Shure Earphones for using at work. I have the E3's but here is a link to their best earphone model http://www.shure.com/PersonalA ... es/us_pa_E500_pth_content

I really enjoy my set. Because they fit into the eardrum and the foam they use it's just like having earplugs in. I cannot hear a word people are saying unless they scream and I am constantly having to pull them out of my ear to listen to someone.

They also create headphones and other audio equipment I recommend the earphones for anyone working in a noisy environment and can listen to music!