It may be worth looking at this current thread, which gives a few people experience experiences:
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/headphones-how-many-here-mainly-use-headphones/42699
Meanwhile, what is the purpose of the apostrophe in your thread heading?
When you buy headphones, you mostly get what you paid for. €1500-2000 will get you near as is worthwhile to the best. Around and after the €500 mark gets you a very good set of headphones, but usually a little less detail in the sound. Cheaper cans are OK for casual use, and may not please a person used to good audio.
If you cannot get to try out headphones, read as many reviews and Forum posts as you can on Head Fi, to form a consensus ( I have had good results this way. Just ignore What HiFi reviews). Google Crinicle to get an idea of the sound using his measurements, and how they deviate from the Harman curve.
Something like the Beyerdynamic T5 or Shure 1540 is a good place to start looking. Closed cans are far more difficult to get right, and from reviews, even some expensive closed headphones can be left in the shop.
The Beyerdynamic T1 Ver2 is a semi closed headphone that I can use and not disturb those around me. (the V3 is a dog best avoided) You can pick them up on Ebay second hand for around €500, and then order a replacement head band and pads from Beyer €150. You will have a fantastic set of headphones.
Hi all
First thanks for all your comments / suggestions and it appears that buying a set of headphones (no apostrophe !!) might be as difficult as buying a new set of speakers but having done a bit of additional research based on suggestions I think I might have made a decision.
The winner is
The Beyerdynamic T5 Gen3
Obviously this depends on an initial demo for fit and overall sound quality which I can get at my local Richer Sounds and at £679 they are well within budget and by all accounts they should not have any trouble being driven by my SN3’s headphone output.
Potential purchase will not be until the New Year now so Happy Christmas everyone and thanks again for all the advice.
BeyerDynamic is a solid choice.
I think you have made a good choice. Beyer make very “listenable headphones”, that do not fatigue you with exaggerated treble.
They are pretty good if you need new ear pads or other spare parts. I “restored” a tatty Fleabay bargain with spares.
The T1 ver 2 is one of my favourites.
The T5 Gen 3 is a very good choice, they sound very good with a Supernait 3, you should be impressed.
Sound quality wise they give my Focal Stellia’s I use in my main system a close comparison after extensive back to back demo’s before I bought the Stellia’s, the T5 Gen 3’s are that good.
I agree with others, the T5 Gen3 is a very good headphone. One thing to keep in mind though is that straight out of the box, they do sound very “tinny”. Like most headphones they absolutely benefit from being run in for a good 24 hours. A cd on repeat will do the job. If doing a demo in a shop make shure the shop has run them in, you don’t want to demo a brand new pair.
My headphones have always sounded Ok straight out of the box.
The “sounding tinny” is something a person feels when they move from cheap (or populist) bass heavy cans to more audiophile headphones. The better treble is something to get used to, but ultimately becomes a more rewarding listen. It is all about psychoacoustics.
A recent thread her illustrates this perfectly, where the owner of a bass heavy set of headphones, bought a SH pair of Focal cans, and believed them to be faulty. After a dealer convinced him that his headphones were perfect, he is now getting used to a more realistic or rather audiophile listening experience.
This link pretty much explains the “burning in myth”
It is actually the ear pads that need wearing in if anything.
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