headphones under 10K

[ezcompany1977]

Hi
I'm looking for headphones (on-ear/over the ear) within a budget of 10k.

My requirements are as follows

music - all indian, western classical, Dave Mathews Band kind of music.
Source - Blackberry, Ipod Nano, Moto-X ( as of now)
budget - 10K
AMP/DAC - not as of now
Looking for - balanced sound and good SQ

Shortlisted the following after researching for a week and with whatever little knowledge i have.

ATH-M50 - 7999 at Flipkart
Grado SR80i - 8900 @ snapdeal
Harman Kardon CL - 7800 @ snapdeal

Thanks in advance for helping me in this.

 

[thampi]

bose mie2i is an excellant choice.7000k ,panasonic rp htx7 4000k .both are 5star winners

 

[mpw]

for playing off portable devices without an external dac.. the grado sr60i would be better and cheaper too..

since the grado sr80i is already on the shortlist.. the sr60i is very similar but with a smaller driver which the portable music players seem to handle better. There will be hardly any difference noticed vis a vis the SR80i..

i own the sr80i and dont have much experience with other brands.

To my mind, the Grado SR80i / SR60i sound is quite natural; and i love it. I use a Sansa portable flac player

but your call in the end..

mpw

 

[turgid]

bose mie2i is an excellant choice.7000k ,panasonic rp htx7 4000k .both are 5star winners

I hope you are not serious!

ATH-M50 is pretty narrow in sound-stage.Shure SRH-840, SRH-750DJ are also good options in that range but fit is a hassle on the latter.

My choice would be the Brainwavz HM-5 you can get thru pristinenote.com

Same as the Fischer FA-003 which is raved in Head-fi.

Best regards,
A~

 

[ezcompany1977]

Thanks for the other recommendations.

Read through a couple of reviews and realize these are among the best neutral sounding headphones out there. but availability seems to be a problem...

I see that HM5 and FA-003 are not listed in many places.

Where can i at least see them in Chennai?

Or in any other website like pristine note?

 

[shibashis]

I hope you are not serious!

ATH-M50 is pretty narrow in sound-stage.Shure SRH-840, SRH-750DJ are also good options in that range but fit is a hassle on the latter.

My choice would be the Brainwavz HM-5 you can get thru pristinenote.com

Same as the Fischer FA-003 which is raved in Head-fi.

Best regards,
A~

I am not sure that I agree about ATH-M50's narrow sound-stage. I find them to be quite the contrary, having said that they do need quality source and decent player with proper DAC and output.

As for the OP's question I would advocate the ATH-M50 from personal experience, great headphones for this price. I have heard great things said about the Grados but do not have any experience on them.

Best of luck in the hunt, and do let us know which one you choose and how the experience is. :thumbsup:

 

[shibashis]

bose mie2i is an excellant choice.7000k ,panasonic rp htx7 4000k .both are 5star winners

7000K and 4000K....err...a little too pricey don't you think?

 

[mukuntharajaa]

Don't miss sennheiser in this list. I've HD 518 with me. My team mate has ath m50. My team mate actually liked mine more than him. S sound stage is slightly better on senn. Senn cans you can actually demo at some apple stores

 

[RajithKumar]

Hi, Based on my experience,Try Senheiser HD280 Pro..Its very good in clarity of sound but lacks little bass..
It will be slightly bulky but adjustble ...the clarity of sound is very good.Actually it's a studio monitoring headphone...U can check the intrenet reviews ..
Audition it once and decide ur choice..

 

[karthick raja]

Also, add Beyerdynamic DT880 if you can stretch budget you can get them thru amazon.
I agree about the M50 soundstage thing, but its definitely fun sounding and enjoyable for someone who is new to headphones. Even I am thinking about upgrading to DT880 from my M50. Please note that the ear can get sweaty even within 30 mins of usage so the comfort factor is definitely a big let down in M50.

 

[turgid]

I am not sure that I agree about ATH-M50's narrow sound-stage. I find them to be quite the contrary, having said that they do need quality source and decent player with proper DAC and output.

As for the OP's question I would advocate the ATH-M50 from personal experience, great headphones for this price. I have heard great things said about the Grados but do not have any experience on them.

Best of luck in the hunt, and do let us know which one you choose and how the experience is. :thumbsup:

either that or you have not actually heard closed headphones that give excellent sound scape ... I find the ATH-M50 narrow in stage and just a fun tuning of a monitor sound. I tried the ATH-M50 thru an Alo RX Mk3B IIRC and an Audinst HUD MX-2. Hope this is good enough of a source/amp :licklips: . They do not scale considerably good like some of the other cans I have now. I tried the Shure SRH-840 which is bigger in stage but rolled off up top and had the Brainwavz HM5 for a small period.
I can only repeat how good of a deal the HM5 is and beats any of the candidates listed above for linearity and spatial qualities.

Regards,
~A

The ATH-M50 is still great VFM

 

[turgid]

Also, add Beyerdynamic DT880 if you can stretch budget you can get them thru amazon.
I agree about the M50 soundstage thing, but its definitely fun sounding and enjoyable for someone who is new to headphones. Even I am thinking about upgrading to DT880 from my M50. Please note that the ear can get sweaty even within 30 mins of usage so the comfort factor is definitely a big let down in M50.

DT-880 is open back and would only be available at twice the budget quoted by the OP. Besides being considerably power hungry and requiring a good source

I own the DT990 Pro myself and the dynamics only come into play from good tube amps or A/V receivers. They are definitely more choosy of source as well.

When i tried them with a Maverick A-100 via MS-II DAC the sibilance was atrocious!

Dear OP,

Please do comment on your use of the headphones. Whether it be home-listening or portability intended.

Cheers
~A

 

[bournurplusher]

try AKG451.what hifi best product of the year.price under 5k

 

[rdevakumar]

I am using ATH-M50 for the last couple of years. It has a 'clean' sound in all range. It doesn't have big bass, but has a good deep bass. The sound level is very good when i used with my Lumia 800 and iPod (initially i though i need a headphone amplifier to get enough sound). It covers the ear well and cuts good level of ambiance noise.

The only drawback i found is, it is not very comfortable for a long listening. I feel bit heavy around the ears.

 

[ezcompany1977]

@Turgid
The headphone is for Home purpose ONLY, for short duration and stationery use.

I'm not a big bass lover. I would be happy if music sounds as it is intended to sound and with details.

By details i mean even little sounds from the backgrounds.( i dont know whether thats the musical definition of "details")

In the music that i listen to regularly in my car audio and my blue tooth speakers i know how they usually sound and where in the song they sound. But i would not know if the sound of a cymball has been reproduced accurately.

Also i can find out that something is different in such sounds although i cannot explain the difference in words in terms of frequencies.

Hope this clarifies.

Thanks in advance

 

[ezcompany1977]

when people say

"the mids are great sounding in these headphones"

i assume that

the sounds whose majority harmonics fall under the mid frequency range ( even though their fundamentals begin in lower ranges) are reproduced accurately ( or close to). The same conceptualization goes for "the highs are lacking" etc...
although i don't know how people find that out by pure listening and not by some scientific tests.

 

[shibashis]

either that or you have not actually heard closed headphones that give excellent sound scape ... I find the ATH-M50 narrow in stage and just a fun tuning of a monitor sound. I tried the ATH-M50 thru an Alo RX Mk3B IIRC and an Audinst HUD MX-2. Hope this is good enough of a source/amp :licklips: . They do not scale considerably good like some of the other cans I have now. I tried the Shure SRH-840 which is bigger in stage but rolled off up top and had the Brainwavz HM5 for a small period.
I can only repeat how good of a deal the HM5 is and beats any of the candidates listed above for linearity and spatial qualities.

Regards,
~A

The ATH-M50 is still great VFM

I stand corrected then.
And I have no qualms in being corrected, my experience is fairly limited I must admit. I find the ATH-M50 to be quite great for the price and so shared my opinion, and now you have poked my hunger to experience better ones!

 

[rsud]

The b&W p3 headphones should be a must consideration when it comes to sound quality for the budget you have.

Grado is very good for sound quality but the headphones are bulky compared to some of the newer offerings.

 

[ezcompany1977]

Many thanks to all.

On the question of availability,

the ATH-m50 is available on all web sites and at different price points.

but the HM-5 is not.

Can someone guide me on how i can make a purchase from chennai?

and also, these sets of cans will work well with which amps? ( depending on the price of HM-5, the budget can vary...)

 

[turgid]

Many thanks to all.

On the question of availability,

the ATH-m50 is available on all web sites and at different price points.

but the HM-5 is not.

Can someone guide me on how i can make a purchase from chennai?

and also, these sets of cans will work well with which amps? ( depending on the price of HM-5, the budget can vary...)

Please tell the intent of your purchase.. is it for home listening ?