I have been struggling with my audio experience lately. I am almost always either walking somewhere or sitting down at a desk with lots of noise around me, and sometimes traveling. I have tried to use my KSC75 and my 1More Triple Driver Over-Ears for portable on-the-go listening, and they are just not working well for my specific use case, even though I love them anyways for listening to. I find that while walking around the 1More are too hard to power and are not very comfortable, and they do not isolate as well as I want (some people have complained to me about hearing the music too). The KSC75 are great but being completely open makes it nearly impossible to focus on my work when I am in my library for example (university libraries get surprisingly loud) or outside and people are being loud all around me.
I need something that I can basically wear around most of the day walking around and other activities (comfort), isolates really well, and isn’t too hard to drive that I can take with me traveling.
As far as sound signature goes, I would say I am fairly open to most things so long as they have good bass impact, which does not need to be crazy or anything, just enough for when I am listening to my pump up playlists before my team matches (I play tennis at my university) or I want something fun. I tend to prefer slightly V shaped signatures, not anything crazy like a DT770 though. Even my triple driver I would not listen to all day, they are an extreme v shape and while fun for short periods of time, it gets old after a while.
Concerning budget, $250 is pretty much my max, although I might consider $300 if it was really worth it, but at that price point I would really have to be wowed by whatever it is.
What I have considered so far:
AKG K371: I have heard mixed reviews on the build quality and quality control of them, and some people said the isolation was not good with them. I personally like harman tuning so sound wise they would probably be fine.
Takstar Pro 82/Cooler Master MH751: These get really good reviews regarding comfort and build quality, I am just a little worried they might be too bland or unengaging in their sound.
Focal Listen Pro: These were suggested to me once, but I really have no information on them. The price tag would really have to be worth it for these.
If anyone has suggestions or advice they would be willing to share, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!
If you can get your hands on a Sennheiser HD600/HD650 head cushion, those can be held to the headstrap using a couple of hair ties (will post pictures later). They have comfort issues outside of that though.
Same issue here.
Did not like them when I demoed them in store.
From the reviews on Thomann.de, these are like a Demo-Version of what Focal can do.
HD-25’s have pretty tight on-ear clamp, not sure about the “HD-25 Light”
Yeah, I think the earpads themselves are what is uncomfortable, I actually don’t find the headband uncomfortable. I would just prefer to have something that is a bit more of an all-rounder too than the 1More.
Really? That’s interesting. What did you not like about them? Isolation? Sound?
Yeah I remember I asked M0N about them once, they are more of a monitoring tuned headphone from Focal, which may not be a bad thing. Would love to try them if I had a chance.
Yeah I actually saw one of my favorite artists using these during his live performances, I heard they are an industry standard when it comes to live music, but that they are tight because of that purpose. Never tried them.
I wonder if beyerdynamic has made any headphones recently that more lightweight than the DT770, because I remember those being pretty comfortable and very good isolation, only issue was the weight and extreme V shape sound.
The Aeon R/T closed would actually be perfect for your needs.
Closed, v-shaped enough.
It just needs a good source like an Ifi Hip Dac 2 and the fun starts.
If you could find a used one, it would be a good one.
Apart from the Beyerdynamic Dt closed headphones, I can’t think of any other closed headphones.
The Letshouer Z12 would not necessarily be wrong.
It has a good Lcd 2 touch, almost close to it.
You can hardly go wrong with the Air 2 tips made of foam and a closed headphone.
Otherwise, there are closed Iem’s where the deal might be.
I see. Yeah I have heard Dan Clark makes some good headphones. It seems a bit large for portability but perhaps I could make it work. Not sure.
Yeah I forgot to mention I cannot wear IEMs. My left ear is shaped very strangely and I have never been able to get any IEM to fit in it unfortunately.
Thank you for the suggestions though! Much appreciated.
I like these a lot these would be my recommendation. these are like pulled back sony tuning. It’s like a tasteful amount of fun unlike a meze 99 noir or neo which are all about the bass and not too much detail. the MDR1 AM2 is tuned very nicely definitely colored as it still has boosted midbass like most sony headphones it certainly doesn’t miss out on much detail unlike it’s competitors. in terms of build quality and comfort it’s a step ahead of the akg k371/k361 and even the 770 I may argue in terms of overall enjoyability I prefer it over the 770 and the takstars.FOr you if you like Harman tuning the akg k371 presents excellent value as the price to performance on them is pretty great especially for a closed back. but if you dont mind the risk of not the sony’s I would reccomend buying them on amazon and returning them if your not into them. The AM2’s biggest draw back is lack of seal
My go to bassy but comfy just chilling headphones are the Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7b with the Yaxi MSR7 Comfort Earpads. To be fair the stock pads are pretty nice too.
I use these for games or films when partner is working or train journeys - so long listens. Super comfy, light and a decent sound unless you have treble sensitivity. They also flatten well and come with a soft case for easy portability.
These days they are getting pretty cheap as well, around 250.
They’re the same, except the Neos have plastic ear cups, while the Classics and Noir have wooden cups.
That’s why the Neo are $110 cheaper. I’m not sure how much the plastic changes the sonic signature compared to wood, but there may be some effect since these are closed-backs, with sound bouncing around the cups.
Yeah I really think these could be a great option, this is my only concern. Isolation is pretty important to me for my use case. I suppose I could try what you said though. They are in stock on Amazon right now.
I have heard some good things about these, only concern is I heard some people say the clamping force is uncomfortable, although it sounds like you did not have that experience with them.
Might be another pair to look into. Sounds interesting. I’m not super sensitive to treble but I would say my hotspots in treble are actually not the usual. I find my Nighthawk Carbon more harsh on treble actually than my 1More Triple Drivers, and I found the 80 ohm DT770 harsh in treble for example as well.
I see. I did some research and it sounds like the general consensus was it was hard to tell a difference but that the Neo was a little more fun and bassy than the classics, but that personal experiences still varied a lot. It definitely seems like great build quality. How is isolation on them?
Apologies if I missed this rec as I skimmed through, but you could potentially find a pair of Nightowls in range. I think they’re supposed to be a little less unique sounding than the Nighthawks, but same build, which I find super comfy.
Isolation is excellent. Closed cups with minimal porting.
But as others have noted, these are warm, bassy headphones with a bit of bloom into the mids. I disagree that they lack detail, especially compared to other cans $300 and below.
Sure, anything is bassy compared to a Beyerdynamic DT 770 and its ear-gouging treble. But make no mistake, the bass is front and center all the time with the Classics/Noir/Neos.
These are NOT neutral cans. But they’re a lot of fun, especially if you’re not a slave to idyllic frequency curves.
Maybe at first? I honestly cannot remember. I do think they have loosened with time. Clamp is certainly way less than with Sennheisers. I think slightly firmer pads did help with comfort and also the sound. They are fairly V shaped but mids are still there. They can be blurred compared to better headphones too and sometimes lose definition for very deep or high notes and that is when treble harshness or bass gets overwhelmed on some music genres and on some devices. But then they are not expensive and I am happy to wear them where they might get scuffed. I like them a lot for that kind of every day use. My biggest con is they use Audio-Technica’s weird ADC connector at the cups. Decent headphones. I sometimes put them down all summer (too warm for headphones!) and they surprise me when I haven’t heard them for a while. A decent low cost v-shaped headphone.
Yeah I think those would just be too big to wear for portability and too big to carry around and stuff. A good recommendation I imagine though considering how much I love my Nighthawk Carbon.
That’s good to know. Isolation is becoming more and more important I guess to me .
And yeah I don’t mind more bassy headphones or whatever people say about “but you can’t hear detail with these no”, I can still listen to music on my apple earphones that I EQ for way more bass and enjoy it.
Thank you for the detailed information! I have tried HD650s before and didn’t mind the clamp so that is good to know. And yeah, I think that’s another good point to make is that I probably will not be as gentle with these as the headphones I prefer to keep in my room, so being less expensive is a plus in case worst comes to worst! I will probably wear these while being very active so knowing they can get warm helps too.
I think I am starting to narrow it down to probably the K371 or Meze 99s of the headphones mentioned so far. Another few I had not thought about were the AT M40x (possibly with pad replacements), beyerdynamic DT700 Pro X ($260 USD on amazon), or perhaps even DT177x Go (about $300 USD on Drop, found used for much less).
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