So I’ve been crazy busy lately, which hasn’t allowed me a ton of desk setup time. A lot of my listening has been kind of like casual portable listening. I have the Andromeda which I love, but I’d like a closed back for the times I don’t feel like iems. I’m not looking to spend a ton here, and as such I’m not expecting the world out of this purchase. What I’d really like is essentially the closest thing to a 58x in closed back form. I have loved pretty much every sennheiser I’ve tried, I’m not sure if this is the correct explanation but I believe it’s the tonal balance that I love so much. I’d like to find something that comes close to that in a closed back, preferably $200 and under range, but I can go up a little if I have to. I got the Sony mdr1am2 to try for this purpose and I’m really not a fan of the tuning.
I haven’t listened to it in a long time, but I wonder if a Sennheiser HD 25 would be a reasonable pick? It’s sold as a monitoring headphone (think something like a Sony 7506), but it’s a closed-back Senny for under $200.
EDIT: Oh, also, note that it’s an on-ear, so that could be a deal-breaker if you don’t want things touching your ears.
I think sennheiser has basically 3 headphones that might work, and I’ve heard none of them.
HD598Cs Slightly over budget, I have the open version, and quite like them for what they are
HD569 Never heard it
HD300 Pro which are sold as monitoring headphones.
But I’ve found most lower priced closed back headphones really struggle against the open counterparts.
The 361 was very bright. The 371 was a hardcore Harman Tuning that actually sounded decent for a slight V shape signature. That is a tough price point, even for open backed headphones.
If it were me and I had to buy a closed back under 200, the best choice would be the creative aurvana live IMO. Price is so low, you can save up for a better closed back later on down the road.
There were some sales where the focal listen pro dropped below 200, so I’d potentially consider that if you can find them. Sony mdr-1am2 is solid when they go on sale if you don’t mind a bit more consumer sig. Both of those are not amp demanding, comfortable, a warmer more fun sort of sig (sony is more warmer wider and relaxed slightly v’d, whereas the listen pro is a bit of a w shape) with reasonable technical ability and detachable cables (sony even comes with a 4.4 out of the box iirc)
I bought this a couple of months ago as a general computer/games headphone and I’ve ended up listening to music on it more than expected. Surprisingly comfortable and sealing for an on ear. I plan to buy some thicker Yaxi pads for it for extra comfort.
Sound wise I really like it. Decent bass and decent detail for the price. I find the balance to be better than my ATH-MSR7b. Less piercing treble, better mids.
Only issues with it is don’t mess about with the cables unless you want to buy a replacement cable. After only a few repluggings they get wiggly and sound cuts out sometimes. Serves me right for curiosity and wondering if I could sleeve the cable
In my opinion worth the buy if you want most of the benefits of a closed back but want something lighter and more workhorse at a very good price.
The HD25 is pretty nice, overall tonality to me sounds like a toned down and more linear HD650. Comfort can be a problem but Yaxi pads do help. It’s also got modding potential to become much more bass heavy. My personal portable casual headphone tho is Denon MM400
I’ve found with casual portable listening convenience is king for me. I tend to agree with @Littledrummerboy on this one. Right now the Galaxy Buds + gets a lot of listening time for me because of the convenience factor alone. Mostly that is podcasts and audiobooks but if I were listening to music more on the go I would probably be looking for decent wireless set. Especially now that high resolution bluetooth seems to be coming along nicely. Dt177x seems like a solid option, and for that matter you could also look for a deal on a used set of Elegias if you bump your price range a little more. Sorry, not really helping in your budget… lol.
