My HD598s just kicked the bucket, what should replace them?

[DwarfAdigginAhole]

So my HD598's right ear cup just died a few moments ago. Checked to make sure it was not the jack cable and it was not. So I find myself in the market for new headphones of similar quality. Im a big fan of trance, dubstep, hard rock/metal and some pop. As well I am an avid Day Z and Arma gamer so directional audio quality needs to be up there. I have been recommended, so far, the M50xs or just another pair of HD598s...what do you guys suggest?

I've been looking into the Massdrop X Sennheiser HD 6XX, anyone know if there is anything more recent of a release?

 

[AlienALX]

How much do you have to spend? Aren't yours in warranty? I usually avoid Massdrop because they make it sound amazing etc but rarely is there any actual value on there. The only decent value I ever saw was the Fostex for £500 or so instead of about a grand. The rest? meh, mostly the same as what you can get already.

 

[DwarfAdigginAhole]

How much do you have to spend? Aren't yours in warranty? I usually avoid Massdrop because they make it sound amazing etc but rarely is there any actual value on there. The only decent value I ever saw was the Fostex for £500 or so instead of about a grand. The rest? meh, mostly the same as what you can get already.

250 USD...ish. As for the Massdrops from what I have read they are literally 100$ cheaper HD650s and are just cheaper because they use matte materials for the cans instead of metal like the regular HD650s. So that is a pretty decent sounding value to me.

 

[AlienALX]

They will still be making the same amount of profit out of it. What I mean is Massdrop make it sound like you are getting an awesome deal but rarely are you.. I also didn't realise you were in the USA, so you won't be subject to all of the duties and taxes we are here in the UK..

I guess if you were happy with the sound signature and don't want to try something new then yeah, sticking to what you know may be the best idea. The problem is that to improve on $250 headphones you need to buy $500 headphones, and to improve on $500 headphones you need to buy $1000 headphones. I got to the $500 mark and called uncle.

I love my Grados, but at $250 you won't get a high end pair. And they are uncomfortable without a pad swap and so on. I can rule out Hifiman at that level of price though. Very clumpy and American sounding. Great for driving hard with massive amounts of bass, but need a lot of power (pre+power) and don't sound overly great otherwise. B&O also do some decent stuff, but they are closed back (very punchy though which is nice) but if you are used to the open sound stage it will actually drive you nuts.

 

[tannji]

LOL, never heard of "American sounding". I suppose "Bias" in an audio topic is somewhat par for the course.

 

[AlienALX]

LOL, never heard of "American sounding". I suppose "Bias" in an audio topic is somewhat par for the course.

haha it wasn't until around the turn of the millennium that America became anything you could consider to be audiophile. Until then it was all big is best and so on. Which of course was great for big (I used to own a couple of CV Stroker 18s) but subtlety was not really their forte. So everything was big, heavy and bass heavy.

Allison was good though. Nowhere near as good as anything the UK or Japan was doing, but about as close to audiophile as you could get.

These days though they are learning. Thank god, because I think if one more American told me that Boston Acoustics was audiophile I think I would collapse

 

[looz]

M50x is a definite step down from HD598s.

I'd look for HD598s, AKG K702s or Beyerdynamic DT-990s. They're all open headphones with (according to my knowledge, look up reviews yourself to be sure ) comparable quality. If I remember correctly, beyers have stronger lows, which could work wonders with your music taste. Also, especially in the case of the AKGs you will probably want an amp to drive them. Otherwise the bass can be anemic, though some motherboards can drive them well.

HD 6XX should be better than any of the headphones I listed.

 

[tannji]

I "hear" ya. I had several Brits ask me if I needed a passport when back home in New Mexico, and when I lived there, had many people mistake my British-born GF for American, and me for British.
As for Audiophile, there has always been equipment and aficionados in the US, just not mainstream, or affordable. Manufacturing has been driven out of our country since the 60's, so what is manufactured here is stratospheric in price and availability, and everything else is made elsewhere, so can't really accurately be referred to as "American". Prior to the advent of the transistor, we had a thriving Hi-Fi industry. Miniaturized electronics killed that, as they were cheaper, and never going to be mass-produced in the US. Even so, the Hi-Fi community lived on, it was just driven "underground", so to speak. America has been the primary mass market in the world for many decades, and the consequences are mostly negative.

As for the unwashed masses doing things like considering BA reference quality, I ran into that in Britain just as much as I have anywhere else in the world. It's human nature to have easy biases and assumptions, nationality or geo-eccentricity is just the flavor on top.
As an example, I think many Brits are understandably proud of the Automotive history in Britain. Having owned and worked on a fair number of British cars, I could easily classify the entire lot as rubbish, based on my experiences with gear boxes and anything having to do with electronics or wiring! However, in spite of all that I still dearly love the Spitfire, several MG's, and the Mini I owned, as well as the Sierra RS Cosworth I lusted after but never acquired. Conversely, I could have judged the RS Cosworth by the anemic XR4ti we had available in the States... which was a flaming pile.

 

[tannji]

Sorry for the thread de-rail.... If I were more of a music lover, I am partial to Beyerdynamic. Best headphone I have ever experienced, though that isn't saying as much as you might think, just a good value at that price-point.

 

[NeverBackDown]

250 USD...ish. As for the Massdrops from what I have read they are literally 100$ cheaper HD650s and are just cheaper because they use matte materials for the cans instead of metal like the regular HD650s. So that is a pretty decent sounding value to me.

The problem is that it can take 6 months to receive them. So it's not worth it.

For bass and open headphones it's hard to beat the DT990.

As for directional audio you need a gaming soundcard or gaming headset. Otherwise you won't get the simulated 360 audio.

 

[looz]

The surround depends on the game, though. Dolby Atmos can be implemented by the game, and there are others as well like HRTF in CS:GO and headphone mode in others. You can also buy Dolby Atmos from W10 store, though I haven't tried how well that works.

I'm not much of a fan of gaming headsets or sound cards/amplifiers with "7.1" simulation. All implementations I've tried have been inferior in sound quality when compared to plain stereo, and the latter can deliver good positional audio as well.

 

[AlienALX]

the anemic XR4ti we had available in the States... which was a flaming pile.

Mercur? weird car that was. Had a very strange 3 speed automatic.

 

[NeverBackDown]

I used to say that stereo does it as well as surround for gaming.

Long story short. It doesn't. There is a difference

 

[AlienALX]

I'm not much of a fan of gaming headsets or sound cards/amplifiers with "7.1" simulation. All implementations I've tried have been inferior in sound quality when compared to plain stereo, and the latter can deliver good positional audio as well.

Yeah the 7.1 headset I just bought is barely any better than my Grados for positional sound tbh. The sound stage the Grados have is actually freaky. Even in music it's like you can hear how far away each instrument is.

That is why for music I prefer open back. I have never heard a set of closed back that offer the same sound stage. However, having a mic on board is very handy and closed backs are better for me when gaming because it blocks out all background noise/can't hear the phone etc haha. It saves me being disturbed when I am in session.

 

[scubasteve]

around that price range i got me some v moda m100 , honestly i cant complain they are excellent for both music and gaming.
check them out if you want lots of reviews everywhere on them, and they got a untold top picks by a lot of trusted reviews

heres a quick vid if you wana check it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR8WNZ50Kk8

might not be to your taste but i enjoy mine a lot - bonus can customize them to what ever you want as well

 

[scubasteve]

Yeah the 7.1 headset I just bought is barely any better than my Grados for positional sound tbh. The sound stage the Grados have is actually freaky. Even in music it's like you can hear how far away each instrument is.

That is why for music I prefer open back. I have never heard a set of closed back that offer the same sound stage. However, having a mic on board is very handy and closed backs are better for me when gaming because it blocks out all background noise/can't hear the phone etc haha. It saves me being disturbed when I am in session.

try any of these with your headphones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytAOmbnLpg

heres a creepy one but they got some other ones that are good as well, with my headphones its like i am there in the room
just search for holophonic sound 3D on youtube there's loads