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Mr.President
4
Nov 21, 2016
so what do you say guys should i buy this headphones? its seems like there a lot of differences between the opinion of people here.
MaximusPrime
21
Nov 21, 2016
Mr.PresidentI think you should skip it. The piercing highs are fatiguing, the bass is kinda weird, and the huge soundstage does more harm than good imo. It just sounds like you enabled Dolby Headphones Surround on a normal pair of headphones. The mids do sound pretty good though, and they look nice.
Mr.President
4
Nov 21, 2016
Mr.President MaximusPrime can you recommend me a good headphones that cost no more then 200 usd ?
MaximusPrime
21
Nov 21, 2016
Mr.PresidentWhat kind of sound do you look for? If it's something rather neutral and balanced go for the HD598 or DT880 (though the 880 emphasize the highs a bit). If you're going for something more V-Shaped then check out the dt770. I would advice you to look for more reviews online and on head-fi before purchasing. You'd probably find other cans that might be better for you that I'm not familiar with.
leedhuevn
77
Nov 21, 2016
Mr.Presidenthd6xx if they ever drop again or the 400i is on sale on newegg right now for 225 dollar
Mr.PresidentCheck out the Lasmex L-85 headphones - currently being dropped: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/lasmex-l-85-headphones.
mastershake
376
Nov 21, 2016
leedhuevni am seeing 250$ where do you see 225$?
GUTB
238
Nov 21, 2016
Mr.PresidentA $200 budget is just going to get you into the upper end of lo-fi. There's some AKGs around that price point that might be borderline mid-fi though. If you hit the used market (hifishark is a good aggregation site) you will be able to a decent mid-fi set for that amount.
0-200 = lo-fi 300-900 = mid-fi 1000 - 5000 = hi-fi
There is a belief among headphone collectors that says the headphone is what matters, and the transport, DAC and amp don't matter after a certain point. That belief is utterly false. Just like headphones, the DAC and amp have an enormous impact on sound quality of a headphone.
PACoug
187
Nov 21, 2016
Triplew
16
Nov 21, 2016
PACougHopefully the server won't down again if that drop revived ;)
tradyblix
23
Nov 22, 2016
Mr.PresidentStop listening to the nonsense the people who are coming up with arbirtary rating schemes based on USD dollar amounts are spewing. It's totally absurd.
Taetertot
35
Nov 22, 2016
Mr.PresidentIf you can spend a bit more than that, you'll be able to find HifiMan HE 400i for around $250 this holiday season. Imho the HE 400i is the best all around headphone set you can get for under $500 right now.
housepianist
39
Nov 22, 2016
GUTBI find it odd that you would use price as a factor in determining whether a headphone is low, mid, or high fidelity. You probably could have used that descriptive years ago but with the explosion of headphone brands and models today, your price scale is kind of deceptive. I can think of a dozen headphones/IEMs that are considered hi-fi for under $900.00 and in some cases, WAY under that amount.
Having said that, I assume that your price scale implies new, unused 'phones. And I also believe that some of the cost factored in these hi-end cans is for the materials used and perhaps the technology behind their designs and functions. But keep in mind that a high-end (read: expensive) pair of headphones does not necessarily mean that it will have a "hi-fi" sound. There are a huge number of variables that can influence how something could or should sound regardless of price. Sorry, but your price chart is mostly inaccurate and misleading, especially in the so-called mid-fi range. I guarantee that for under $1000, you can get a LOT of very serious hi-fi cans that would make even considering spending more a futile exercise in diminishing returns.
GUTB
238
Nov 22, 2016
housepianistIn reality you can't name even a single pair of hi-fi headphones under $900. Between 300-900 there are some good mid-fi headphones, such as the HE-400i, Nighthawk, and TH600, etc, but these are mid-fi, not hi-fi. BTW, in my opinion the HD6x0 headphones do not fit the category of "good" mid-fi, let alone hi-fi.
Also, there isn't an explosion of hi-fi brands. That segment consists almost entirely of Audeze and HiFiMAN due to rise of the modern planar magnetic, who have left the major manufacturers in the dust in the high end. The ultra high end you have Abyss (planar) and Stax (electrostat). Dynamics are being left behind. The one and only hi-fi product Senn makes (HD800) is pretty bad unless mated with high end equipment and modded -- oh, and it costs $1,000 (old version). There's a number of boutique manufacturers like Mr. Speakers, ALO, etc that puts out hi-fi products, but they are all well over $1,000.
There area huge number of variables -- that boils down to the quality of your equipment in the playback chain, including your headphones. For example, I have a playback chain that is worth around $4,000 not counting headphones. I plugged my $60 Superlux HD668B into it....and it sounded so bad I couldn't bear to listen to for more than a minute. Likewise, plugging my $1,300 TH900 into a $120 Chinese custom build amp from eBay (selected for it's impedance to play well with the TH900) -- sounds like trash compared to my reference system.
housepianist
39
Nov 22, 2016
GUTBI think you're missing the point. I'm saying that price had nothing to do with whether headphones are considered hi-fi or not, especially in that mid to upper hundred dollar range. And I would go as far as saying even those cans over$1000 doesn't automatically mean hi-fi.
You even make a case for the importance of using amps, DACs and other related equipment with these headphones to get the best out of them. Well you can do the same thing to mid-fi cans and make them "better". I think your reference system is what it is because of what you spent on it so it has to be good, right? In fact, I think for you, any cans with a 4-figure price tag on it is hi-fi and that's simply not true. Maybe to your discerning (undiscerning maybe?) ears, that holds true but to tell someone that spending $300 to $900 on cans will only get you mid-fi quality is just flat out wrong.
Like I said before, I can name several hi-fi offerings in this price range but you say I can't even mention one. You know what? You're right. Because you're own logic will tell you that no matter what I say, you'll classify it as mid-fi simply because of the price. Thanks goodness this misconstrued ideology is not the industry's de facto standard.
GUTB
238
Nov 22, 2016
housepianistThe price doesn't determine the sound, but the sound DOES have a cost. There is a HUGE difference between, say, the HD800 and the HD600. Perhaps not as night-and-day between the HD600 and some $100 lo-fi mass consumer junk, but the difference is very large. The belief in the big lie of "diminishing returns" is just a way to help people who don't want / can't spend the money on hi-fi to feel better about their purchases. "You get what you pay for" is common knowledge that often gets lost in the noise of the Internet.
For example, when I owned the HD600 (while my HE-6 was in storage), I grabbed a used TH900 for $900. Even with modest amping and DAC at the time, the TH900 obliterated the HD600. Attack speed was so much higher that it literally made me wince coming from the HD600. The HD600 has good resolution, but the TH900 was greater still. Bass performance went through the roof. But most importantly of all, micro-details came pouring out -- kick drums sounded like something hitting a drum skin instead of an indiscriminate thump. Where a violin sounded like a violin played from a keyboard on the HD600, the TH900 made it sound like bow fibers rubbing against strings. The TH900 sounds so much better not because it costs nearly $1,000 more, but because it uses priority cellulose drivers, premium wood cups, carefully matched parts, and and a high-end cable -- but, not surprisingly, that level of engineering and technology costs money.
Badera
20
Nov 22, 2016
GUTBThis is only your personal opinion. Another personal opinion is mine which is: I know no better headphone than my T90 in the range up to 1000 bucks. A few seem to sound different, less aggressive in the highs or maybe even slightly better, but not that much that such a jump in the prize is justified - for me. And that is not because I could not afford afford the more expensive ones. They just sound disappointing for the prizes. AKG - uah, shiver, HD700 too aggressive, T1 interesting, but I think I wouldn't even pay 300 bucks for it. And so on. Prize is not everything. With this drop, in general I'm interested to hear a cheap Hifiman to compare with my favourites in the 200-bucks-range, but otoh I already have too many headphones. ^^ What puzzles me a bit are the wide-spread opinions here about that HE-350. I am not sure how many of the bashing posts come from people who never had nor heard that HE-350 . Of course I don't expect the HE-350 to be able to compete with the T90, but maybe with an K701, B&O H7 or MSR7? Then this drop would be a bargain.
Degy
1
Nov 22, 2016
housepianistthat guy is impossible to reason with. lol
Chisora
6
Nov 22, 2016
GUTBlol
bjw
290
Nov 23, 2016
Mr.PresidentX2. Or hd600-650's
housepianist
39
Nov 23, 2016
GUTBOk, so what if that technology trickles down into something less expensive? Does that make those items mid-fi? Oppo's planar magnetic headphones, for example, trickled down from the PM-1's at over $1000 to a more manageable $350 for the PM-3's. Same tech, smaller size. Mid-fi? Also, keep in mind that some of the money in those über cans goes into the exterior design and the materials used for those designs. How much do you think HiFiMan spent on the exterior design and materials on their HE-1000 v2 which cost $2999? And how much do you think it cost for making their planar drivers larger and thinner in those same cans?
And how much of that $2999 is simply what Dr Fang thinks they're worth?
It's not as simple as saying "sound has a cost". There are other factors to consider because I can guarantee that every headphone in that hi-fi price range are not going to sound fantastic just as everything in your $300 - $900 range is not going to sound mid-fi, however you define that, and you've proven that with your TH900 description. But you paid under $1000 for them used so maybe they were demoted to "mid-fi". I'm sure they didn't sound like that to you.
GUTBSo Beats are mid-fi... TIL
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