Time for new headphones.

Now i have the sony mdr v600 that i love but after 3 years they're falling apart. So I've been reviewing all these differnt headphones and i came down to sennheiser hd 580 for 150$, hd 600 for 250$ and sony mdr v900 around 200$.

Im not sure if I should get the hd 580 or add another 100$ and get the hd 600 with a amplifier which is recommended to get. Then i have no clue on what amp to get or how much would it be? Or I could get the sony mdr v900 that work great without an amp.

Any suggestions?

try going here: www.headfi.com
alot of people will be able to help you

What are you useing them for. I have the beyer dts 770/ 80 and the audio technica A900s. I love them both but prefer the a900s, If I where you, assuming you game and listen to music go with the a900s over everything you listed, they are the jack of all trades headphones and do not need a amp at all like most of the phones you listed need them to shine.

Cole, how do you compare the sound of the A900 against your beyer DT770/80? I used to own the A900's, and I really loved them. I'm regretting why I ever sold them . I auditioned the DT770/80 at my local guitar center, and it was lacking bass . you're not gonna believe me, but its true. maybe the ones I auditioned had something wrong with them.

I amped my A900's with a Gilmore Lite, you won't believe the improvement. MUCH bigger soundstage. the bass extension went deeper, the bass impact was so much tighter. the mids were no longer that recessed like everyone is saying.

Look on the F/S section of the Headfi classifieds. I nabbed some Sennheiser HD580s for 100 bucks, used but nothing wrong with them.

Bleed said:

Cole, how do you compare the sound of the A900 against your beyer DT770/80? I used to own the A900's, and I really loved them. I'm regretting why I ever sold them . I auditioned the DT770/80 at my local guitar center, and it was lacking bass . you're not gonna believe me, but its true. maybe the ones I auditioned had something wrong with them.

I amped my A900's with a Gilmore Lite, you won't believe the improvement. MUCH bigger soundstage. the bass extension went deeper, the bass impact was so much tighter. the mids were no longer that recessed like everyone is saying.

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The A900s are a good bit better to me, both are great phones but the beyers are so week in the mids and strong in the bass that about 30% of what i listen too does not sound great. The beyers do have a little more bass and it is clearer but I find them completely unbalanced because the highs and bass are phenominal but the midrange is dead. I went with the a900s because of this and find them to be better overall. I have ben told that i need to amp the beyers but most of the amps people say to get are expensive so I took the gambel on buying the a900s because everyone argues about the two but after a headfyer with 6,000 pluss post count told me he had both and like the a900s considerable more and they where one of his favorite phones and he had some really sick setups. He even tried the beyers amped and still liked the a900s better. The blue tach mod to the a900s is supposeed to make them sound much better but takeing my $200 phones apart is scary but i will get around to doing it. If you miss them so much i suggest you put up a WTB post in the forums on head-fi, that is what i did and i got a brand new pair essentially for $150 shipped.

Out of the headphones listed, I would definitly go with the HD580, I love mine. The extra $100 isnt worth it for the cosmetic differences, since the HD580 and HD600 share the same drivers. For the amp, something like the M^3 or PPA would be excellent choices, but I am loving the sound I get out of a Pimeta right now.
Bleed: The a900 and gilmore lite gone, sure is a huge change in the system. The DT770 that you tried probably didnt have any bass because it wasnt amped nearly enough.

My 770s arent amped and there is plenty of base, what a amp does for the 770/80s is bring up the mids to be a whole lot more balanced. 770s/80 dont need much power but the like of mids makes some music dull to listen to out of them the other 770s need a lot of power to shine.

Cole: thanks very much for that impression . the Blu tak mod brings out the mids a bit more, and it reduces the bass. I never did the mod myself since I loved how it sounded stock to me.

cetoole: . I wanted to try something different. as much as I loved my a900's, vocals and rock isn't exactly the a900's strong point. the thing I really like about my 325i is the instrument separation. listening to something live feels like im infront of the stage. I wasn't gonna replace my Glite, but someone hooked me up with the LD II im using now. It's smoother than my Glite, very lush and warm(typical tube sound?). with bass impact, the Glite had more of it.

Bleed: I just cant wait for those PS-1 to arrive, they should be decent for rock.

damn!!!!! [napoleon]Lucky!!!![/napoleon]

The DT770/80ohm's definitely have a lot of bass... The mids are lost because they are in fact overpowered by the bass itself. If you have a good 10 band equalizer (NOT WINAMP's) then you can drop the bass by 1-3 dbs and raise the mid 300-900 about the same. (with a curve of course) and they sound perfect.

Thanks guys, im gonna go with the hd 580 (true there isn't a big difference between the 580 and 600 and another 100$ isnt really worth it ) basically for musis and gaming. Im not sure about getting the amp yet, but I'll wait a while and see what happens.

Bleed said:

Cole: thanks very much for that impression . the Blu tak mod brings out the mids a bit more, and it reduces the bass. I never did the mod myself since I loved how it sounded stock to me.

cetoole: . I wanted to try something different. as much as I loved my a900's, vocals and rock isn't exactly the a900's strong point. the thing I really like about my 325i is the instrument separation. listening to something live feels like im infront of the stage. I wasn't gonna replace my Glite, but someone hooked me up with the LD II im using now. It's smoother than my Glite, very lush and warm(typical tube sound?). with bass impact, the Glite had more of it.

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How did you like the gilmore light, I have basicly $300 to spend on a amp or sa5000s and I think I should have a amp before I get better headphones. This is the most addictive hobby ever. I just put the beyers up for sale as they are to similar to the a900s to justify keeping.