Headphone recommendations from a few

[BrownRevolution]

Ive been looking at a few headphones and have cut down to a few that interest me. I'm looking for headphones primarily for watching movies and the occasional gaming.

I've been looking at the Grado SR325i , Sennheiser PXC-450 , and lastly the
Pioneer SE-DIR2000C . The Pioneer is not available here, only from the US and also it is a wireless set. I've not had any experience with wireless cans, but from what I understand you *generally* get better quality sound from a wired set.

Also in terms of the Sennheiser 450, I understand that it it may be difficult to drive them without a headphone amp. At this stage I won't be getting that.

In terms of general sound quality for my purposes has anyone got any experience with these 3 and advice on what would be a suitable purchase ( I'll try to audtion them if possible).
Thanks

[Arcam_boy]

if your price range is stretching to the grado 325i's then I assume you could afford the sennheiser 600's. I've just had a demo of each set of headphones just through a standard cd player and the HD600 sounded slightly better and £50 cheaper than the HD650

[StevieDvd]

The Senn PXC450 are noise cancelling and should be OK without an amp as the targetted use is for commuters on planes etc with modest sources.

It's the Senn HD600 & HD650 which have the reputation for needing an amp, but in truth they do do better with one but it's not absolutely essential - just recommended to get the best from them if your gear is up to it.

Grado are great for rock & pop but can be uncomfortable for waering for extended periods.

If the usage is as you state then the recommendations I'd give would be for something like the Senn HD595. I'm sure other recommendations will pop up for other makes too.

Get the HD600 or HD650 if you are planning to listen to you hi-fi a lot more.

Steve

[NicolasB]

Originally Posted by Arcam_boy

the HD600 sounded slightly better and £50 cheaper than the HD650

Personally I found the HD650 to be a surprisingly large step up in quality from the HD600, but maybe that's just me.

[torr1x]

Originally Posted by BrownRevolution

Ive been looking at a few headphones and have cut down to a few that interest me. I'm looking for headphones primarily for watching movies and the occasional gaming.

I've been looking at the Grado SR325i , Sennheiser PXC-450 , and lastly the
Pioneer SE-DIR2000C . The Pioneer is not available here, only from the US and also it is a wireless set. I've not had any experience with wireless cans, but from what I understand you *generally* get better quality sound from a wired set.

Also in terms of the Sennheiser 450, I understand that it it may be difficult to drive them without a headphone amp. At this stage I won't be getting that.

In terms of general sound quality for my purposes has anyone got any experience with these 3 and advice on what would be a suitable purchase ( I'll try to audtion them if possible).
Thanks

I would choose the Pioneers out of those three you mention, primarily for the Dolby Headphone decoder, which suits movies and games brilliantly. Then if you really must have wired headphones go and buy some and plug them in to the pioneer decoder, and enjoy virtual surround through them as well. Will obviously cost more for the priviledge though.

Thats assuming you have optical out of course.

[chrisgeary]

The PXC450s do just fine without a headphone amp.