Headphones advice needed

[Chibakka]

Hello, i'm considering buying some x-fi card and a nice pair of headphones in the near future. Now i am wondering what would be the best possible bang for the buck and what the best possible sound quality could be. I've personally heard the Sennheiser HD 650 is a really kick ass headphones thingy. but it's a tad expensive . So any advice here? :?:

 

[Ankira]

It's worth considering whether you are looking for some for gaming or for music.

I use some Sennheiser PC 160 (Sennheiser.com) for gaming, and find them excellent.

I use these with an X-fi Gaming card.

They are very clear when talking during games, and hearing effects in the games, but I'm not so sure about how they'd compare when listening to music.

 

[halcyon]

The HD650 are a good headphone, but they require a headphone amp and would probably not sound too satisfying straight out of an X-Fi.

Depending on your budget consider the Senn HD595's or Grado SR325i's. ...nice sounding headphones that sounds nice driven by ipods and soundcards. The Grado SR325i is truly great sounding if you love tight, accurate, touch-me bass, but not as comfortable as the Sennheisers. The Grado's are a great headphone for less than 3-hours of listening...they become noticably uncomfortable beyond that. The Senn HD595's are just a great all-around headphones...jack-of-all-trades.

Want to know more? http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/

 

[nicolasb]

The HD650 are a good headphone, but they require a headphone amp and would probably not sound too satisfying straight out of an X-Fi.

I'd have to agree with that. Driven properly the HD650 sounds absolutely stunning, but it really does need a dedicated headphone amplifier to get the best out of it. Plugged directly into a sound card it will probably sound muddy.

(I use HD650 'phones myself. My headphone amp is a Graham Slee Projects "Solo". If you were in Europe, especially the UK, I'd recommend it heartily, but the Solo is British-made and the strength of the pound against the dollar at the moment would make it a questionable purchase in the US.)

Beyerdynamic DT-880 and AKG K701 are also very fine 'phones, but (again) you'll need an amp to get the best out of them.

Grado RS1 or (if you can't afford them) RS2 would possiblybe a good bet - they're pricey but they aren't so amp-dependent.

If you are considering buying a headphone amp as well then there's one other option you should consider, which is an electrostatic system from Stax. These look very expensive at first glance, because you have to buy a dedicated driver unit, but the price of 'phones plus driver actually compares quite well with high-end dynamic 'phones plus an amp.

 

[Chibakka]

The 650 looks really good, but i might not be able to afford it if i have to get an amp as well. I really have no idea how this works... you just plug the amp into your sound card and then the headphones in the amp or something?
And what would be a decent quality/price amp be and how much does it cost..... it sucks to be ignorant on things

Might get the hd595 if the hd650 goes over budget, looks like a nice pair of headphones. And also, i already have the pc 160 for gaming (currently on my ac'97 rofl), i'm looking for a quality music listening headphone thing