Headphones/Speakers for goa/psytrance

[Penzoline]

Since I've been lately looking at a new pair of headphones, I am wondering what do you people use to listen to your beloved goa and psytrance(ok ok, ambient/downtempo too). Speakers, Headphones, Sources. Also I think this could be a nice thread for suggestions for people who are wondering what to get. It's so easy to google "headphones for-mostothergenres" but here is where the search hits a wall. It's either electronic overall or the more known sub-genres, but hardly ever for the music the psynews people listen to. There really aren't that many even electronic enthused audiophiles who's opinions would be gold worthy. I think we could have a thread dedicated to just that.

 

Though I don't know how extensive are the common pienewser experiences on good audio quality equipment, can't hurt to have one of these though. And don't be ashamed of cheap ones, I think we've all been there, honestly. And if you feel like upgrading, you're free to ask and hopefully someone can answer, or if not, you can always check out tons and tons of reviews on head-fi. Like I did.

 

 

 

For main usage, I bought Koss Pro4AAT headphones almost 2 years ago for a nice ~60e price and I thought they were pretty good, but as they indeed were so cheap and do lack in many regards(I always have quite a bit of EQ tweaking on, it just sounds completely flat without any. But when I have the EQ they sound actually very nice for psytrance, but that's about it, not much else sounds that good. They do need an amp to drive properly and very bulky/weighty so I wouldn't suggest them, honestly. I believe there are much better phones for the same prices.), I'm now upgrading to Ultrasone HFI-580's 140e-200e with a 200e budget. These headphones actually have quite a bit of "great for electronic" comments, with special mentions to the impact of the bass and good trebles(For me nice coloring > neutral, precise sound), but I will post my impressions when I get them and burn them a while.

Edit: I actually decided to go for the tad cheaper HFI-580 over the 780. 50€ is a lot of difference for the quite small sound differences.

 

My speakers are.. small, for a reason though. there is not much wall separating me and my neighbors and I'm not one of those who wishes to really disturb anyone. Creative Gigaworks T20 S.II., I researched quite a bit and I think they sound fantastic for such small and compact 2.0 speakers. Also just plain good size, I got like 20cm room left on my desktop after I put these there. Would recommend if you are looking for something more compact with great quality and a nice price. Works well for any music really, imo. 60e-100e.

 

Source PC, Asus Xonar Essence ST soundcard. ~180e, pretty expensive but the best in the biz, for headphones at least. Though I don't think it's going to be enough for like 600ohm headphones.

 

For outside portable use, it's the definitive Koss Portapros. ~20e Can't really go wrong with them imo, except if you reeaaally don't like to disturb others in which case you need to lower the volume quite a bit, or you are just too much of an audiophile that you need bigger and better, but otherwise they're just so mobile, cheap and have good sound quality. I used to use the Koss Earplugs but I don't really enjoy having stuff in my ears anymore. Works just well for pietrance and all other music.

 

 

 

Go on, share yours.

[Imba]

Man i dont have mixer or any hardware for pro production. From moment i start making music i have A4 Tech AH-980 and making it with mouse and keyboard.

Thats a gaming headphones and good to me (specialy for CStrike ). As soon as they die i will buy new but last 5 years are really good if you can believe that they were 9 euro before 5 years

 

So you see, most melodies in Space Elves or Imba tracks are made on this. Dont have good speakers, must use this phones

 

 

My soundcard is integrated and i need new urgent! Someone want give me as donation to poor artists?

[PRS]

they are good, but i'm not quite satisfied. ~600E

 

also not that great a sound really, but they are robust, so good for DJ purposes. ~140E

 

for mp3 purposes, these are really good! small, but huge sound, great detail. (and noise canceling) ~140E

[mars]

Cambridge Azur 540A amplifier (excellent, 300€) + Jamo loudspeakers (300€ too). I've had them for 9 years. A friend of mine has the same aplifier and Triangle louspeakers, and they're better, but mine are already very good.

 

AKG K240 MKII headphones, just perfect (150€).

 

Philips SHE 9700 earplugs, really good (50€?).

[JISNEGRO]

Recently I was given a pair of Infinity Primus 360

 

 

 

I love the bass sound and these speakers does not dissapoint me. The sound is really good, specially when listening to ambient music.

[Drosophila]

Old but good Rotel RA-820BX4 amplifier, a Onkyo DX-7333 CD-player (very good value for money CD-player), Tannoy Fusion 1 speakers (good and cheap bookshelf speakers)... had this set-up for years and no complains

Good for both "ambient" and psy-trance, very clear sound for all the details, and responsive in the mid-tones but bass is not heavy-duty... and when played very loud base will muddle... but never happens when I play

 

When I get a place where I can play loud, I might want to get me some new equipment

 

I have (need to fix the wire though, quite thin) AKG K518DJ headphones and was very surprised with the sound (with a price-tag of only 50E) and ability to keep out noise (or music when mixing), not bad at all. I also have Shure SE210 ear-plugs, really good sound, but has a bug with breaking wire isolation, had 3 new pairs before my warranty finished, now I use isolation tape

[LuisBSF]

I use my studio gear for music listening at home, as they're obviously the best listening kit I own. Sennheiser HD-600, best headphones I've ever used. Detailed, not harsh at all, extremely comfortable. They might be too precise however, and won't make you any friends as they're open back. KRK RP8 G2 as speakers; not the best monitors ever but certainly not too grubby either; chunky and detailed. Both driven through a Cakewalk UA-25EX which I find to be an excellent audio interface.

 

I used to own a pair of Tannoy golds driven through a Cambridge A1 amp, excellent combination you should be able to pick up cheap these days.

[Aspartic]

My Sennheisers HD-25 do the job just fine. Lots of bass! That's the main point. And they shield the environment sounds completely.

Just a bit uncomfortable with my new (thicker) glasses. Gotta buy new glasses.

 

[PlutoDelic]

 

unbeatable, i have them sine 2002 and never ever broke up, from what i have tried so far, nothing reaches the balance of ISOLATION and QUALITY like technics

 

@PRS, KRK is indeed shit, i here people saying Adam's are really good and if i am not wrong they are on the same price level as KRK/YAMAHA and the rest of the whack stuff.

 

sorry for off topic but i gotta let this out of my chest, just recently i payed a visit at SAE, and a Mackie set blew me away, making music with an active subwoofer changes everything, i have never felt BASS so real before.

 

ps, i forgot to add something, i notice loads of people invest on a home theater sound system (5.1, 7.1) which is absolutely perfect for watching a movie on it, but i never understood people listening Stereo music on such crap devices, there is so much gap between low's and middle's and the power between the frequencies is so shit due to automatic normalization built in, how can you people listen music on that crap and back it up? hoooow?

[LuisBSF]

i here people saying Adam's are really good and if i am not wrong they are on the same price level as KRK/YAMAHA and the rest of the whack stuff.

No, not really; I've been looking recently at a pair of A7Xs for about £700 (~€850), the equivalent in price on KRKs are the VXT8s which are indeed excellent and on a different level than the monitors portrayed earlier, including mine. I don't know how they compare to each other though.

[Overture8]

I like a balance between all the frequency spectrum (no bias towards bass, mid-range or high end):- Sennheiser PX 100.

[qa2pir]

Someone should invent headphones with integrated dual comb filtering and LFO.

[MAM015]

oh my GOOOOD

These are allllll prety top-notch stuff

I use a audiophony Dj - 930, but only for Goa-kick based uptempo tracks, never Ambient (except for Asura's track wich sound really bad on speakers)

[LuisBSF]

Something cheap and surprisingly detailed:

 

http://www.dv247.com/headphones/sennheiser-hd-201-headphones--29841

 

You can do a lot worse than that. I've owned a pair for a couple of years now and it's what I use to listen to stuff when I'm on the go. Bass is not overpowering but clear and tight, midrange comes through nicely, tops are not abrasive. The ambience isolation is also superb, I can listen to music on the train perfectly fine.

[RTP]

AKG K-518 LE

 

 

In some reviews, people say their sound is too much focused on bass.

I, however, love them. They needed a bit of playtime to get really good sound, at the beginning I got almost headaches, but after two weeks, that's completely gone.

 

Now nothing beats listening to progressive on them. Bass output on some (Panzar Produktionz ) stuff is downright massive! I had Sony MDR-V150 before (still use them) ... they feel like a bee humming compared to a jet engine that the AKG are.

 

Plus AKG is an austrian company

 

Only the cabe is a bit too short, unfortunately. That's when you take the LE. Go for the regular model to have longer cable, but no fancy colors...

[Drosophila]

@RTP - have the same, I was also really impressed with the sound, and for less than 50E but be aware that the cord is rather thin and breaks easily (mine did)...

 

I am thinking of getting a pair of Senn HD-25's I have seen there is a few different models, and namely the "regular" models HD-25 II HD-25-1 II (both 70ohm) and I have no idea what the difference is and then the HD-25-13 II (600Ohm), do any of you guys have any experience or idea if the 600ohm version need a headphone-amp to work (sound good)?

[RTP]

@RTP - have the same, I was also really impressed with the sound, and for less than 50E but be aware that the cord is rather thin and breaks easily (mine did)...

 

thanks for the warning, man

Yeah, the cord is actually ridiculous. More fit of inears than real headphones...

I will take care.

People worried about the cord should get the standard edition in black, you trade fancy colors against a better cord. But since I found a cheap store where the LE were almost the same price as the regular, I decided for the fancy color...

[Sideffect...]

I have been using 'Bose' headphones over 6 months and more then satisfied

 

Bose link

 

 

Google link

[travbrad1001]

 

Had these forever, I'm sure everyone knows them.

 

 

 

Just got these M-AUDIO BX5a's a few months ago, and am loving them. They are my first monitors of any kind, but I think they sound better than my headphones (which already sounded great). I thought they might not have enough bass with only 5", but the bass is actually really good with some slight EQ (and it's sooo much more accurate than my old speakers).

[draeke]

Some pretty cool reviews and nice photos of headphones, now, i want to ask everyone, what do you suggest for DJ use?

I've seen some pretty nice headphones online but i don't have a chance to try before i buy so i will ask if someone has heard or has these that are the ones that i am choosing to buy now (new year comes and maybe a few DJ sets coming so i need to have new gear, mine are now almost completely broken (Sennheiser HD 280 Silver).

 

So I was wondering between these which one's the best:

 

AKG K 181 DJ (~140 Eur)

 

 

TECHNICS RP DJ 1210 (~150 Eur)

 

 

Sennheiser HD 25-1 II (~200 Eur)

 

 

Pioneer HDJ-2000 (~240 Eur)

 

 

 

 

Pioneer, beside being very expensive, seems to be very robust while i fear Sennheiser may broke down as the 2 previous pair of sennheiser i had had defects and mostly broke somehow in the plastic parts above, around the "speakers" and in the parts holding them together. Technics are discontinued so if they break somehow, there is no replacement. I am very tempted at the end by either pioneer or akg that so far don't show any visible defect

 

 

 

Opinions?

[trancedigital]

Right now using these:

 

Sony MDR-V6 Headphones

 

 

Polk T90E Floor Speakers

 

 

Harman Kardon AVR-247 Receiver

 

[Drosophila]

Pioneer, beside being very expensive, seems to be very robust while i fear Sennheiser may broke down as the 2 previous pair of sennheiser i had had defects and mostly broke somehow in the plastic parts above, around the "speakers" and in the parts holding them together. Technics are discontinued so if they break somehow, there is no replacement. I am very tempted at the end by either pioneer or akg that so far don't show any visible defect

 

 

 

Opinions?

 

I am on the verge of buying new dj-head phones myself, I have landed on the HD 25's, and regarding the build I have heard that they are very tough and durable and individual parts (if broken) can be bought to fix, furthermore sound insulation should very good (which I find rather important ).

[Djuna]

furthermore sound insulation should very good (which I find rather important ).

 

Not that much - they are half open, which means they rest on your ears instead of covering them fully. Good sound quality though, I tried them. But I'll stick to my audio-technics.

[draeke]

Thanks for the hint drosophila, i have also read very good about the AKG on some forums around, so maybe i'll check them out since i want to save some cash : ).

I think you are making a nice choise and read so well of the HD 25-1 II. Be sure to check its the newest model that improved a lot of issues that the previous had!

 

Regarding the topic i now have:

 

Amplifier (Sansui AU 919)

 

Speakers (Indiana Line Arbour 5.40 <- must change them!)

 

Headphones (Sennheiser HD 280 Silver <- not for long!)

 

my amplifier is absolutely the best thing and the rest has to go.. but audio components are so expensive...

 

my other setup @ parents is a little better in terms of speakers, i have sol old tannoy but still nothing top notch, i guess i should buy less records and invest in audio setup sooner or later

[Ormion]

Headphones