FiveStar said:
Alrighty folks, (and by folks, I'm REALLY lookin hard at N FF here), I'm a semi-audiophile who enjoys vintage stereo equipment on a very amature basis. I've got a really nice Technics direct drive turntable that was my Dad's, and an old receiver that is only 16 watts, but is in the HiFi style with woodgrain and lots of brushed stainless. Can't remember the brand so forgive me. (Mom threw out Dad's old Pioneer unit because it had a bad RCA jack. I've seen the same model refurbished for $300. I could have killed her.)
Anyways, Looking for a decent pair of cans on a budget here. Don't really know much about audio equipment other than what I grew up on and like the sound of. That's why I've stuck to vintage equipment up until now.
Did a quick google, and found these...
http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^fs^PRO4AAT
Has Koss ever made anything that wasn't sold at K-Mart?
and these...
http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr60.htm
Which I've heard are great.
Both were recommended on one site at less than 100 bucks
I'd really be more interested in any vintage models to keep my eye out for that might be had at a decent price. Anyone got any suggestions? I listen to a bit of everything. OLD country, blues, rock, reggae, hip-hop, and a tiny bit of metal.
Don't need world beaters here, just something solid that will squeeze as much sound out of each dollar as possible.
Thanks!
ok the grado's are great i own a pair they do have their faults (lack of soundstage and comfort) but if your not afraid of doing some mods they can be upgraded to sound much better. frist grado mod. put a pair of Sennheiser 414 pads on them then do the quarter mod to them. which increases the highs and brings out the bass since it brings the driver closer. further mods that can be done but are a little more intrusive is a recable which you could use a hlpc copper whire and turn the sr60's into sr80s and if you used a even higher grade cable you might even get them up to 125's but thats doubtfull. you can put wodden cups on the grado's for a more retro look and improves on the anti resonace.
the koss are just plain retro cool lookin. i have had no experence with them. but aparently they are liked. but koss dose make quite good products for people on the budget. the koss ksc75's are the king of the budget audio world. for $13 they deliver sound on par with some $50 cans. then the porta-pro's look like torture devices but sond quite good for the money also.
ok now for some alternitives to the grado and koss.
as THP has found those dt770's are at quite a good price. they might be slightly hard to drive but your little amp should be able to power them decently. ok sound sig for the 770's is BASS! and lots of it. very good movie cans since explosions will implode your head when driven properly. decent detail but the bass seems to wash out the mids a bit.
there is also the curent phones that arent "vintage" but sound quite good. their is the
sennheiser 555's can be had for around 100 classic senn presentation a little soft on the bass but its not bad. they have a decent soundstage and are comfy detail is quite good also.
audio technica. AD700's (open) can be gotten for a little over 100 they are nearly the same as the 555's but have a wider soundstage and even quiter bass than the 555's its there its just not loud. one of the comfyest headphone designs ever made.
audio technica A700 (closed) i own a pair of these. they are a little over budget 117 ish but they have the most bass out of the two audio technicas and the senns. they are closed so the phones isolate a bit. but they dont quite sound as natural as the open cans since the "airy-ness' that open brings isent there but the bass is back and goes fairly low. detail is good. but the FQ response has some dips and humps becasuse of them being closed. also very comfy though pads could be a little thicker so i did the phat pad mod and just stuffed some strips of kitchen spounge under the pad. which kept my ears from touching the grill and also increased soundstage a bit also. soundstage is about 3/4 of the ad700's so it is still rather large.
akg k81's a dj style headphone but quite good. cant realy say much bout them since i dont know much about them but one of my friends has them and likes them a lot. (he went on a audio pilgramige for a year and at the end ened up with another pair)
ok now for some stuff that out of yoru budget. yay!
ok what i am going to sugest is a good idea if you dont mind buying used products. sign up for the site "www.head-fi.org" and search the for sale threads for something thats in yoru oprice range and interests you. lots of stuff in there but if you manage to have the extra cash and find something called
Sennheiser HD580's BUY THEM NAO! these phones usualy go for somewhere around 150 and compared to curently made modles are worth around $300 they are a extremely good bang for buck phone when bought for around 150 they have one of the classic SEN sound sig but the bass is tight quick mids are sweet and musical highs shine and sparkle. and they scale realy well with better amping and cables. there are some mods that can be done to them also like swaping the grillse for hd600'd grills and the cable for the hd650 cable (cable is awsome because it uses a plug instead of hard wireing) that and their comfy too.
ok now for another hitch in this little happy band wagon. Amping!
koss 4aa's might need an amp ???? (duno much about them)
grado's dont need an amp untill like rs2's
dt770 need an amp
senn 555's dont need an amp
AT AD700 dont need an amp
AT A700 dont need an amp
senn 580's NEED an amp
for those that need amping you might be able to get away with it if your reciver/amp has a decent headphone out. but it would be incourageed that you buy a headphone amp later on. (on average you will be spending about $200 on a decent amp)
hope that cleared some things up.
oh ps here are some great budget phones
jvc harx 700 almost as good as the audio technicas.
http://www.buy.com/prod/jvc-ha-rx70...stereo-over-the-head/q/loc/111/206897541.html
jvc harx 900 a more natural sound because of being semi open.
http://www.buy.com/prod/jvc-ha-rx90...stereo-over-the-head/q/loc/101/206897542.html
