Out of Pod Experience

I can already point out 1 flaw with the Sony headphones. Where the headband meets the plastic just above the ear pieces(where the adjusters are) on both sides is a structure weak point. They will break after about a year or so. Usually just outside of the warranty range. I've had a pair of skullcandys and Sonys with the same style of band and both of them break in the same places. They may have better stats on paper if they can only stay together and not fall apart.

I've noticed a lot of people have been suggesting Sennheiser so I might just get a decent pair of those.

Works for me

I think

Hell stuff around my ears
Kinda a mic
Toilet nearby - over there somewhere

Clarity

I'm gonna jump on the Sennheiser bandwagon with the PC-350

I've had mine for 2-3 years, they still sound great, with a pretty long cord.

Hell, not even just for gaming, Sennheisers pretty much always will be some of the best sounding headphones you can buy. Don't buy any crap by TurtleBeach/Razr/ other big name gaming company. There, you pay for the name. and gaming advertisements. With Sennheisers, you pay for the Sennheiser name. Which is quite worth it.

I picked up a set of the sennheiser HD 280's, and they're hooked into my amp next to the sony mdr-v6's. I've gone through my playlist of favorite songs, switching between the headphones at technical beats and significant bass...

the HD 280's distort both the highs and lows, and exaggerate bass (bass bass bass all the time. why?). it sounds like I have water stuck in my ears... they're muddy, and the bass is numbing. I thought maybe it's because they have too much air space--the cups are larger than the mdr-v6--so i pressed them closer to my head, but that only isolated the "droning" quality of the drivers.

mdr-v6's place you "closer" to the sound, are more accurate, and still vibrate your ears when the bass is meant to. I'm doing other things while the songs play, and when I check which headphones I have on, it's mdr-v6's. I have the HD 280's on for the three or four seconds to discover 'yep that song sucks too.' then I go back to the mdr-v6's and they stay on.

the mdr-v6's make the HD 280's sound -really- bad. on paper, the comparison is unfair because of the specs... but they're the same price.

i found headphones that have similar specs as the sony mdr-v6, and it is the Shure SRH940 professional reference headphones for $280-$300ish.

same max input power of 1 Watt,
40mm drivers,
frequency range 5 Hz - 30 kHz,
closed circumaural.

what strikes me is the difference in specs. lower impedence than the mdr-v6's (42 ohms vs the mdr-v6's 63 ohms) but LESS sensitivity (100 dB vs the mdr-v6's 106 dB ... sennheiser HD280 is 102 dB) meaning the Shure is somehow less efficient than the mdr-V6... bigger diameter wire in the coils but too many turns or something. and they're still $300

Sony created something amazing with the mdr-v6 in 1985, and there's a reason they're still sold 27, 28 years later.

I hate that I care so much sometimes, but I spend 12 or more hours a day with my headphones on, so this is kind of important to me. I should get a PCIe extender ribbon so I can put my sound card back in. part of me wants to send you my extra set of mdr-v6's and this HD280 that I'm going to return, just so you... know... what I'm talking about, but I don't care -that- much.

I'm headed out to return the sennheiser HD280, but I'm going to stop at Sam Ash first, to try out the SHURE SRH940 on my amp and iphone. I recommend this EQ app (i've tried them all).

//STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING. I just got back from Sam Ash and ended up trying Pioneer HDJ-1500 ... alt Pioneer link

...they're everything good about the Sony mdr-v6, but with three times the power. zero distortion even when you turn it up to 11, but I can only handle 75% volume. like... oh. my. god. becky.

range 5 Hz to 30 kHz <--same as mdr-v6
impedence 32 ohm <--HALF the mdr-v6
max power 3,500 mW <--THREE and a HALF times more than the mdr-v6
sensitivity 108 dB <---higher than mdr-v6, with half the impedence... means a LOUD driver

gets better sensitivity per Watt than the mdr-v6, with a bigger 50mm driver

my ear drums are still paralyzed from making -extra- sure these were the best choice. they sound better than the $350 Pioneer HDJ-2000. the HDJ-1500's compared to the HDJ-2000's were similar in clarity and muddiness when I compared the mdr-v6's to the sennheiser 280's

the only thing I would like in these pioneer HDJ-1500's is contact against the sides of my head (instead of pressing on my ears). maybe there's a mod pad I can get for them. the cord could also be -slightly- longer, or have more play in the coil of it.

I wasn't looking for new headphones, OP, but I bought the Pioneer HDJ-1500, along with a 3-year in-store replacement warranty. you can find them for $150 on amazon, but it's my local music store and they're always willing to open boxes and let me try stuff.. so i paid their retail (it's also where I purchased my G-Trak condenser mic).

it does everything better. amazing. and it comes with a huge, supple pleather bag.

thanks, OP. these are the headphones I didn't know I wanted. i don't know how they retail for $179.

//i'm going back to try the Sennheiser HD 25-1 II tomorrow. I can't remember if it's one of the four or five $200-$400 headphones I tried today (the ones in the locked glass display behind the counter). I just don't remember. if they're better than the Pioneer HDJ-1500's i'll get the senns instead. i'm a bit skeptical about the .2 Watt rating and how the 70 ohm impedence and 16 Hz - 22000 Hz frequency response is supposed to retail for $250. the 5oz weight (w/o cable, compared to the 10oz of the Pioneers w/o cable) kinda rules out the possibility of a monster driver hidden in a featherweight frame.

but screw my pride, and my opinion, and this long post; i'll get what sounds better.

I use these

One of the few good things about destroying my hearing with loud music when i was younger is all headphones are pretty much the same to me.

I was curious, so I decided to check what headphones Tiesto is caught wearing during his sets. simple $90 headphones. Stanton DJ Pro 2000... he seems to use them consistently.

he teamed up with Harman and AKG to make his own headphone line... which were released September of 2012. the most expensive model the AKG K267 retails for $349

identical numbers as the Pioneer HDJ-1500 except

another

+7 dB

on top of what the pioneers can do. I really want to hear them.

//apparently, the AKG 550's murder too. +5 dB over Tiesto's K267.
so i guess if you're looking to break $300 and just -have- to spend money... AKG

sennheiser is too mainstream, anyway

Nah, Beats, Skullcandy and Monster are too mainstream.


I'll use almost anything else but those brands and "gaming headsets".

UI sounds are amazing with bass

not just the fighting ones, but the clicky in-station ones too