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Ideally I'd like mine with neodymium coils hand rolled on the thighs of virgins but that's not a deal breaker.
I bought myself a small DAC (Fiio Q3) a few months back and have been using it with my old Bose QC35 headphones wired in. The wife has stolen those as they drown me out when I'm on conference calls so am looking for I guess what I would call 'budget audiophile headphones'. Something that will sound good with the DAC at probably sub £200 but in particular is over (around?) ear. I'm not a fan of on ear style, I like them to be fully enclosed as they seem far more comfortable.
Any suggestions? Beyerdynamic come up quite a lot in google searching, but I can't tell if they will go around my ears properly (the Bose ones are vaguely ear shaped rather than round).
I’ve got some of these Momentum 3’s
https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-UK/headphones/
Very comfortable, great sound, the only downsides is the noise cancelling isn’t as good on the Mrs’ Apple Pro Max headphones, and there are others with better battery life. But I wore them for 7 or so hours on a transatlantic flight recently and were more than good enough to cancel background flight noise and were still comfy after that amount of time.
How about the Audio Technica M50x? On amazon for £125.
I've got a pair of the older version for when I'm pissing about with the DJ decks or Ableton/Cubase. They don't do noise cancelling and they're not wireless but they sound very, very good.
I’ve got what you’re looking for - Røde NTH-100 headphones. They’re wired, no electronics added, and they sound superb. They’re designed for studio use, by creators doing podcasts, video, etc, and they have some nice touches, like a locking cable that can be swapped between the earpieces, and the headband can be locked in place once you’ve got them adjusted.
They’re an Australian make, their first headphones, they make microphones, mixers and other studio kit as well. I’ve got a couple of Amazon Basics 3.5mm > Lightning adapters, for using with my iPhone, the ‘phones come with a 3 metre cable plus 3.5mm > 1/4” adapter. Retail is £145, but I’ve seen them for around £133. There’s also a 1.3 metre cable available through Amazon, which is what I normally use.
https://www.techradar.com/reviews/rode-nth-100
The Bose 700 are 175 on Bose uk refurbed site, I ve got them and love them, only listen to podcasts so no idea if they are good for calls, but fab noise cancelling on planes and trains.
After 2 years the ear cups need replacing at 25 quid.
Is closed or open back a big deal?
If sound leakage isn't an issue the Grado SR80x's are lovely lovely things, I have the one from a few previous generations and whilst they're not 'bass monsters' the clarity, detail and sound stage are exceptional.
They look odd and leak like a sieve, so I appreciate they're not for everyone but if sheer sound quality is the priority and they're astonishingly good for 130 notes, they wipe the floor with my £300 wireless Sony XM's.
How about the Audio Technica M50x? On amazon for £125.
This 👆
The Bose 700 are 175 on Bose uk refurbed site, I ve got them and love them, only listen to podcasts so no idea if they are good for calls, but fab noise cancelling on planes and trains.
No complaints from my colleagues when I use them on call.
If sound leakage isn’t an issue the Grado SR80x’s are lovely lovely things, I have the one from a few previous generations and whilst they’re not ‘bass monsters’ the clarity, detail and sound stage are exceptional.
Grado have a very shrill tonality and you can't use them if anyone else is in the same room due to being open backed they leak sound, poor build quality and no bass response at all.
If you wish to continue to use your dac then forget about bluetooth/noise cancelling headphones
AKG 371 closed back are pretty much unbeatable at the price of £120 ish, They track the Harmen target very closely and with a name such as Bassmandan I expect they'll be to your liking
Is closed or open back a big deal?
If sound leakage isn’t an issue the Grado SR80x’s are lovely lovely things, I have the one from a few previous generations and whilst they’re not ‘bass monsters’ the clarity, detail and sound stage are exceptional.
They look odd and leak like a sieve, so I appreciate they’re not for everyone but if sheer sound quality is the priority and they’re astonishingly good for 130 notes, they wipe the floor with my £300 wireless Sony XM’s.
I'd concur with this, I'd recommend what I have (60's) but they're open backed on ear headphones so didn't fir your criteria.
The looks and build are a bit marmite too. The band is cheap and nasty, the foam disintegrates after a while (Sennheiser foam fits) but the actual speaker units are top quality. £140 of speaker units and 50p spent on the bits that don't matter so much.
Thanks all. Looking wired only, probably closed back but the wife has my noise cancelling Bose now so open might be ok.. Definitely don't want the Grado though, they get good reviews but are on ear 🙁
Looks like a toss up between the AT M50x or AKG - I like the sound of the Rødes but they aren't reviewed quite so well.
You could do worse than have a watch of this
Then follow it up with this
Beyerdymanics are superb.
I like the DT880's semi open.
Flat response,
770s are closed back, 990s open, all sound great, a bit different.
Tried Grados to scratch a long term itch and ended up sending them back. Wrong balance for me.
They're all open back headphones though, I have the Hifiman Sundaras and the Sennheiser's in above video and couldn't use them if anyone else was in the same room due to the noise leakage. Beyerdymanic 990 pro sound like a bluetooth speaker to others in same room due to a very open backed design to reduce standing waves and need a powerful amp to power them as they are 250ohm, yep....ive had/tried them along with most other beyerdynamics - didn't like them
I'm sure there is at least one or two closed back designs in those vids.
Edit, just the k371's you've mentioned already
Opps ... deleted.
Wrong thread ... the other person is looking for a cheap ones.