That 100$ question again.. Torn between choices for Headphones.. Please help

[KonfuSed]

Hi All,
Already iAudio and eSanthosh know about this predicament of mine. I'm unable to decide what to do and time is running out. To cut the long story short, one of my friend is in US and he is ready to carry some stuffs for me. So I thought it'll be a good idea to get another Headphone, oh yeah, another one. As of now I'm super happy with my ATH-AD700's but as it happens with an impulsive shopper I'm finding it too difficult to let go off this chance to get a nice headphone(I love head/earphones, more than my speakers I feel). Budget is around 100$, can't stretch much more than that. I was supposed to order them this weekend itself but now my friend's stay is postponed for another week and I've some breathing time.
So initially I was very tempted for the Grado 80i's after reading some rave reviews about them(and also after santhosh's impressions on them). Also I wanted to order them 2 years back when I got the AD700's. But I'm little bit worried about their brightness for some music and a higher treble is something my ears can't stand for long. Heard that they have very good tight bass which will be a plus point. Also I kind of love them for that old world charm.
Next in line is iAudio's option of Senn HD555 as they were available for around 75$ at electronic-expo but now I'm not able to see that deal and it's showing 129.95$. Kind of not selecting them as the price is bit too much at 130$ approx.
Then I was reading about rallynut's impression on the ATH-M50's and then went on read about these cans they seems to be very good cans and people even rating them slightly better than the AD700's. And that too with the added bass response of the M50s I'm really finding it tempting. And they are available for slightly higher than 100$ from some sellers at Amazon (112$). If they are somewhat like AD700 with that missing bass then nothing just beats them at this price point.
Also another outside option is the Beyerdynamic DT440 but I'm not very sure about these cans as I don't have much idea.

So guys, please please help me out of my misery and help me put my funds wisely. I normally listen to almost all kind of music from Rock to Country, filmi to Pop to Ghazals.. Not big fan of heavy metal stuff. Nowadays I listen to more of softer music compared to Rock but again that changes on the mood I guess.
Regards,

 

[madbullram]

I have heard the ATH-50 and was impressed with rock, its was really good. But they didnt really impress me when I was listening to carnatic or tamil songs that much. They def need a good burn-in though. I somehow felt the warmth was missing in classic songs compared to ESW9.

 

[jai1611]

KonfuSed, the M-50's are indeed better cans than the AD-700. They have better detail and bass. However, they do not have the extra warmth and the open soundstage that the AD-700s have. If you are looking for a pair of neutral, closed headphones, the M50 may be a good bet. I am not familiar with the SR80 or the HD555

 

[iaudio]

Konfused, forget the Senn hd555 if you are not getting that deal. From what I understood from your PMs, you want a good headphone with a different flavor, to add to your collection, since you have a chance to grab something from the US, around 100$ or so.
Thats why I thought you could give orthos a try, yes you will be looking for a used one, but if thats ok, you will get an entirely different flavor.

 

[rallynut]

the m50's are no doubt great cans.for their price,they punch well above their weight for sure.but adding to what jai and mbr mentioned,they are the closed type,do sub bass and detail really well,very neutral,very monitor like sound.even if the mids are touted as recessed,i havent found them to be so with my nuforce udac.i think its a mutually synergistic combination there.

if ur looking for flavour,orthos are a good bet(lovely mids/balance),the tech for their time,etc.newer headphones...the grados.what about the allesandro ms1??

another thought,..it is an IEM,but why not an extra few bucks and..the Radius DDM???there's flavour for u hyeah:.cheers

 

[anm]

why are you troubling your friend for a $100 hp, which would be only partial improvement over your current one
Either use ebay US/ head-fi etc to get a great deal on very good used ortho (in case you find one pass on to me) or buy a significant upgrade that you dream of See if your friend can break it up in installments, or maybe pay via an emi credit card.

You may also think of getting a good headphone amp.

 

[esanthosh]

If you don't mind taking a chance, you can even look at this : http://www.hifivision.com/portable-audio-players-accessories/12829-hd681-cans-deliver-rs1600.html

MS1 is available with world-wide free shipping @ $110 from Alessandro web site. But, ask yourself - can you survive the angry rock vocalist yelling at you all the time?

 

[KonfuSed]

Thanks for putting your time and thoughts and I'll definitely love to hear more.
@mb, not into carnatic music and if it sounds good for Rock then that's really great.
@jai, thanks and if it's even a slight upgrade with that missing bass of the AD700 then it's a great news.
@iaudio, you are absolutely right and I'm looking for something good and possibly different flavour. But I'm somehow not very comfortable of going for a used headphone. How much the new ones cost or there is no worthy new Ortho headphones?
@rallynut, I read your thread and thanks for the impressions on the MD50s. About IEM's, I've already placed the order for the Brainwavz M2. So not another one for next few months.

@anm, no problem with troubling my friend, he won't mind. As I said, I won't be able to spend more as of now and I'm almost on the limit as had to buy some other stuff for my other hobby. May be later if I feel I'll go for the best I can buy but somehow I don't feel that for the double or triple amount that I'll be paying for those headphones will be give me the same double or triple amount of improvement. Improvement will be there but only by a fraction. Hope I'm not wrong saying that.

@esanthosh, now that's(Alessandro WW shipping) something I didn't know and that kind of changes the whole equation. I can now go for a different headphone instead of the Grado and get the Alessandro MS1 later sometime as a direct shipping. Are these (MS1) modified 60i or 80i's?
About the Superlux's, not very interested in the imitation HP's as of now

 

[esanthosh]

^ Alessandros are said to be modified SR80s. When researching a long time back, I vaguely remember a few mentioning that they sound more like 125s. When I was ordering, the site only used to take Credit cards and would be blocked by firefox (don't exactly remember why, but there were a few posts about it in Head-fi). They took their own sweet time to reply to my queries. So, ordered from Jaben and ended up paying higher cost + customs in the end

They now accept payment via Paypal. So, should not be an issue.

On Superlux, I am actually thinking about HD668B (Review here: Superlux HD 668B: A Giant Killer? | Headfonia). But then, I am crazy and always looking for something "cheap and good"

 

[KonfuSed]

Actually on 2nd thought, for 30$ that seems to be a good deal. Hmmm let's see now. I'm so Konfused

Hey, Alessandro showing two MS1's in their site,
Music Series One w/mini original - $99.00
Music Series One w/mini 2009 version - $109.99
What's the difference? Is the original means it was a modifired SR80 and the 2009 version means modified SR80i??? Aah, never mind, found it being mentioned in some other sites. They are indeed the same "i" or "improved" versions.

 

[anm]

Hi Konfused, I am not sure about how much gain in quality would be there and whether it can be quantified. A small gain in clarity may be a lot of worth at times.

We all (almost all) on this forum are tied by the common quest of finding value for money, and hidden gems, if not giant killers. So maybe I will also buy the 1600 rs headphone for experimentation, keeping my expectations very low.

 

[KonfuSed]

You are right anm, even I look for the same but as always somehow feel apprehensive if they look like imitations (I had bad experience with Chinese imitations). But nowadays it seems that Chinese products are actually getting better day by day. Even I would love to experiment with a 30$ headphone sometime for sure. Actually already placed order for another 30$ headphone which is quite known here already as Koss PortaPro.

 

[marsilians]

You are right anm, even I look for the same but as always somehow feel apprehensive if they look like imitations (I had bad experience with Chinese imitations). But nowadays it seems that Chinese products are actually getting better day by day. Even I would love to experiment with a 30$ headphone sometime for sure. Actually already placed order for another 30$ headphone which is quite known here already as Koss PortaPro.

There is still a difference between a Chinese brand which is made in China vs. a N American or EU brand that has manufacturing facilities in China. With that said, for your music tastes, there is no one-model-fits-all! The closest I woudl suggest is Grado 80i. Other brands to consider are Audio Technica which you have spoken about and Beyerdynamic 235, Note that the Grado will sound much better with an external amp esp. a tube one.

For cheaper and equally good option I would give serious though to Koss Porta Pro (original or 25th edition) are fine.

Finally if you decide on Grado and time becomes a constraint then you can look into Allessandro which is the same as Grado and they offer free shipping worldwide.

 

[icclearlee]

While I'm no audiophile and haven't listened to other 'phones, I went and bought Denon AHD1001K while I was in the US last year after reading a lot of reviews and I really liked the SQ. I listen to mostly English pop-rock and old Hindi songs. While it retails for about $150, you should be able to buy a pair for ~$80 online.

 

[esanthosh]

You are right anm, even I look for the same but as always somehow feel apprehensive if they look like imitations (I had bad experience with Chinese imitations). But nowadays it seems that Chinese products are actually getting better day by day...

... especially in the IEM arena. There used to be a time when you needed to pay $400 for a good IEM and $150 even to get a decent quality. Now, you get it around $50. Since most IEM housings come from the same factory, many IEMs look alike, but sound entirely different.

Chinese products typically give more VFM, but you have to be ultra-careful in choosing the right brand since there are literally hundreds of factories that churn out these things. While they have good SQ at an affordable price, they come up short in other factors i.e., quality of cable used, life of drivers - factors reviewers typically can't figure out in a review of few days / weeks.

 

[doors666]

hd555 for 90$

Sennheiser HD555 Circumaural Dynamic Stereo Headphones Retail at ZipZoomfly

 

[KonfuSed]

I guess I'll think till tomorrow and order the headphone. Most probably I'll order the ATH-M50 as of now and would probably get the Alessandro MS1 later if they can/will ship to India. If not I'll find some other way to get them here. But actually I'ld love to listen to them before I get them. Hope I'll have some chance to visit esanthosh someday to try them out ;-) Hope he won't mind.
Also, another small query, seen a good deal for the RE2 for 29$ at Amazon. How about these earphones considering the low price? I'm getting the Brainwavz M2 anyway from Lynx though but that might still take time it seems. But for 30$ I'm ready to experiment. So would these make any sense with the M2's?
And talking about 30$ question, ordered a Koss PortaPro already. Yeah, I'm going in overdrive to get some head/earphones ;-);-) Hope this will stop soon or I'll be broke.

 

[esanthosh]

I guess I'll think till tomorrow and order the headphone. Most probably I'll order the ATH-M50 as of now and would probably get the Alessandro MS1 later if they can/will ship to India. If not I'll find some other way to get them here. But actually I'ld love to listen to them before I get them. Hope I'll have some chance to visit esanthosh someday to try them out ;-) Hope he won't mind.
Also, another small query, seen a good deal for the RE2 for 29$ at Amazon. How about these earphones considering the low price? I'm getting the Brainwavz M2 anyway from Lynx though but that might still take time it seems. But for 30$ I'm ready to experiment. So would these make any sense with the M2's?
And talking about 30$ question, ordered a Koss PortaPro already. Yeah, I'm going in overdrive to get some head/earphones ;-);-) Hope this will stop soon or I'll be broke.

You are always welcome to try the MS1.

I've not read that much about RE2. But, I'd suppose M2 will be better than RE2 at least in terms of build quality. And I suspect SQ wise too, M2 will be much better. Going by ljokerl's review on head-fi, I'd say M2 is more value for money. So, get it first, try it and then if you still want something different around $30 for experimenting, we are all waiting to burn a bigger hole in your pocket

There's nothing called an "overdrive" - just lack of enough money to buy everything that interests us

 

[iaudio]

There is a Radius Atomic Bass available for around 30$ on amazon. How is it?

 

[esanthosh]

^ Don't know. The only place (so far) I've seen it mentioned is dfkt's comparison chart: Comparison of 46 IEMs (Spreadsheet) - Headphones - abi>>forums