Good general use Headphones - gaming, music, movies - $500/ £320 budget

[Moyt]

Originally Posted by sideways

Decisions decisions decisions.

And it's killing me!

Tell you what though the SM3's are a great pair of balanced iem's, best I've had from a short list of earphones I've owned paired with the headstage arrow (till it went missing! ).

A very good balanced headphone set, if for some reason sounds lacking for personal taste in one department (i.e. bass etc.), then that's where the amp will hopefully come into play for some reassurance.

But I hear ya, I guess it's something I'll have to sum up for myself.
It's just horrible reading up on so many good headphones, but not being able to try any of them out, a real good drop kick to the face hah.
I guess within the range I'm looking at, I can't be doing too bad which ever I go for.
Decide, decide, decide!

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Moyt

... It's just horrible reading up on so many good headphones, but not being able to try any of them out ...

See if you can find out about any headphone meets in your area ... I read some old posts from the UK Headphone Society, probably a bunch of headfiers but not a bad sort. Typically at these meets you should be able to test out a variety of great headphones, many more than you can imagine and expect to see all the staples: 650s, 600s, 800s, T1, AH-D2000, Grados , etc. ....

*BTW typically these meets are free or some small donation or beer/booze for after

[Moyt]

Nup doesn't look like anythings going on meeting up wise that's close enough to my ends

But at least I've decided on something, I'll be getting me some hd 650's

Next I need to decide what's best to drive these headphones. Guess I better make another thread for this one in the amps section

[WalkGood]

Congrats, I love mine and don't plan on ever selling them unless I need to put food on the table

[Moyt]

Glad you like yours!

By the way you use any DAC / amps for yours?
I'll be making another thread on this to help me choose.

Thanks everyone for their feedback!

[WalkGood]

The 650s are not as hard to drive as most would have you believe, so any of the better Fiio or ibasso amps should drive them fine. I use mine from my laptop/Pico DAC/WA6 to HD650s. But there's plenty of times I've powered them from one of the two portables amps I own from a DAP but I don't recommend them much because they're expensive (Pico Slim and Pico amp/DAC), of the two Pico's I prefer the origional amp/DAC.

Edit: that said, I've tried the 650s from a lot of sources without an amp and sometimes they sound very good, YMMV.

[Moyt]

Cooooool, okay I'm going to carry on with your quote in the 'other' thread

[Moyt]

Arr back here again
Okay I lost out on some used 650's, I think anything over £200 for a used pair isn't worth the money, I might as well get some new ones with standard Sennheiser 2 year warranty for an extra £50+ more.
Now I'm on the hunt for a new pair I can't play the waiting game for a bargain on this one.
But the 650's are hard to come across at a good price; most likely my crap searching skills to blame.

Okay 2 possible places so far:

1. dv247.com @ £265/$413 free postage

dv247 - don't have the brightest online reviews, along the lines of falsely advertising items being in stock delaying customers up to 8-12 weeks for their items to arrive. So a big 'no' to them.


2. accessoryjack.com @ £258/$400 free postage

Accessoryjack.com - no problem here from online reviews, but my only concern is they are based in Hong Kong, and not sure if they are authorised sellers for Sennheiser products. Anyone have any experiences with them please give me a shout.

Amazon UK sell them for £300/$470 so I that's a definite no.

Any other recommended places to get some 650's from please let me know, thanks again.

[WalkGood]

AFAIK there are dealers in the UK and in the past I've seen some very good deals over there, check with k_j (DevilJIN) in #anythingbutipod IRC and dfkt here or there.

* I live in FL and can't help suggest over there

[Moyt]

Done one last run in looking again. Scan.co.uk is the only reputable site I know of in the UK (other than amazon) that has them in stock.

Asked accessoryjack.com if they are authorised sellers for Sennheiser headphones and they were quick to reply...

Sorry we are not authorized dealer of Sennheiser products, we are only a reseller. But all of our products are genuine and 100% brand new. There are two authenticity sticker on the Sennheiser box to prove. One of them is a laser logo sticker and the other one is a authenticity number sticker that you can check on Sennheiser web site.

They all come with 2 years international warranty that you can bring back to Sennheiser service centers near you.

And now I've noticed they've just dropped their HD 650 prices another notch after enquiring

Don't know what to make of this now. Also where abouts on the Sennhieser website can you check for authenticity with the number provided?
Though I've not heard of fake HD 650's before.

Edit: sorted i've bought ones from scan now. Rather be safe than sorry.

[WalkGood]

AFAIK there are no fake HD650s and I've never seen the authenticity check with the number provided, but I'm sure you could check with tech support via their website, they've responded to questions I've had in the past within 24 hours.

[Moyt]

Ended up buying from scan instead.
Not risking buying from accessoryjack now, even if their stock was %100 genuine Sennheiser would never service for a warranty repair if bought from a reseller. Rather cough up extra.
Pheew least that's one problem sorted, should arrive Friday.... back to dacs & amps

[samchn07]

yes, like head phones in HD qualities to lition musics.........