Yeah, they are awesome! They are very good for gaming, and they have a large soundstage (or so I've read) so pinpointing things is much easier.

As far as an amp goes, it definetly helps, alot, especially in the bass department. I can drive them out of my crappy Audiovox PCDP just fine though, and get more volume than I could ever need, without an amp. Go figure?

Back when I had a CMOY mint amp, it powered them fine, but either something was wrong with the amp and it was clipping, or it couldn't power the beyers properly. When it worked, it did work like a champ though. I had an OPA2312 op amp, and 2 470uF 10VDC caps, on a single 9V.

The Marantz is wonderful though. The response is flat, so the sound you'll get from this amp is really dependent on the phones. I would say that a good amp will definetly improve these cans with good, clean, tight, bass, and lots of it.


BTW, I'd love to take the HD580s off your hands, but I don't have any money, or anything to trade, so I really can't afford anything right now, much less food! lol (Thank god for ramen noodles).

amen to ramen

Delta - I will email the pics to you one by one...stupid hotmail and yahoo

Hmmm...ramen and pocky...the entire food pyramid according to anime fans.

For portable use, grab the Grado's. They're easy to throw into a notebook case and go mobile. You'll be happy with them. BTW-- the look isn't retro, it's just the way they've looked for many years now. They've had a good design and not needed to change it just for fashion's sake.

So now we are labeling the 570's bad, eh? Everyone who has listened to mine loved them for the price range. Sure, if I wanted to spend $400 on headphones, the 570's would be off my list, but then so would the SR-60's. I wouldn't call the 570's bright. They are very detailed, however, so maybe your hearing timbre that you're not used to with lesser equipment. My target is true to source playback, so unless the source had really booming bass, I don't want to hear really booming bass. The 570's were designed with symphony music in mind,if I recall correctly. I listen to classical, blues, jazz, rock, bluegrass, and progressive house. They seem to handle all the above more than adequately, and I've been told I have a pretty good ear.

Also, remember, by far the weakest link in your pc audio experience is the PC, so don't sweat the minutiae on the headphones too much.

gs, SoundCity, JandR, and B&H are all local stores (to me) that I can drive to should I want to return something.

Oh in which case that should be very convinient Delta....

I need your help on something with J&R - I will email you about the problem...with the pics...sometime this evening...lessee if you can help me out

I love the HD580s very nice headphones, tried some SR-60s but sometimes the sound seems really "bright" for my tastes and tires my ears out after a couple hours. Both are pretty comfortable but I think the senns have an upperhand in the comfort area, feels like i got some pillows attached to me ears =].

I would really love to try out the Sennheiser Orpheus headphone/amp combo. My friend got to try em out and he said they just blew his mind. The sound reproduction is just perfect. But at around 13,000 USD for em they are well out of my price range =[

The Orpheus just brought a smile to my face...

Its a SERIOUSLY awesome set of cans...just not sure if they are worth the $13000 or whatever price tag -just like the R-10 and Stax Omegas are perhaps not worth the $3000.00 and $1500.00 price tags...

Maybe the Orpheus are worth $1000.00 but even thats pushing it.

The problem is - a $1000 headphone doesnt necessarily sound 10 times better than a $100.00 headphone

Hell no, they don't!! just like $10,000 speakers don't sound 10x as good a $1,000 speakers;-) It's called the law of dminishing returns. The high end stuff is just that, made to be the best it possibly can be, for CNO buyers. So you still want to be an audiophile, eh??;-)

hey gs, what are the best headphones for $50

for $50.00 hmmmm...

Lemme see....Sennheiser HD 212 Pro is a FUN phone if you like Bass and if you plan to use it exclusively for games and mp3's - its not a "audiophile" quality headphone because the sound is too coloured HEAVY on the bass. It is fairly comfortable too.

But honestly - the $20.00 headphone from SONY (MDR-V150 I think) which you will find in WALMART and TARGET (its a black colored phone with swivelling and folding cups) - will serve you very well and IMO offers better sound quality than the HD-212 PRO (which offers better - VASTLY BETTER - Bass but needs to be broken in for at least 20 hours before it starts sounding good).

Other phones which are *near* your budget are the Senn HD-497 and the Grado SR-60.

Knowing you gr8 - I think you will like the Grado SR-60 - it is totally "novel" in the sense that its not something you see on a daily basis on people's heads

If you can push the $$$ envelope another $10 - $15 to get a good lifetime investment in quality sound - DO IT and order a Grado SR-60 (I prefer this one over the Senn HD-497 which is just not quite as good in the sound department).

I think I have you even more confused than before so to sum up :-

$20.00 - Sony MDR-V150 (all round tonal quality better than both senns but reaches performance envelope faster - jars at those pumpin volumes )
$40.00 - Senn HD-212 PRO (Basshead)
$55.00 - Senn HD-497 (decent) or SONY MDR-V300 (also very nice phones)

$65.00 - Grado SR-60 (pick of the lot and once you touch $50.00 it makes more sense to push a lil more and get the best - a phone that honestly challenges some VERY expensive phones for sound...)

I can hook you up with a nice used Senn HD-497 for $30.00

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=60896

You need feedback to be able to buy there...I could help you out with this one if you want.

Look at the other For Sale deals at www.headfi.com - you can find some pretty good stuff...

True but your also getting a execellent vaccume tube amp for that price, still true i dont know if i would ever spend that much on headphones. Maybe if i was a billionare and a wiped my ass with 1000 dollar bills, then maybe i *might* just buy one or two of those.... or maybe i might just buy an enzo... ahhhh dreaming of things i can afford is so fun and yet so depressing at the same time

gs, were you going to ask me something? Haven't received your email yet.

Man...stupid MEMS assignment kept me busy yesterday...that and my "new" Alienware girlfriend

Will email you today with the pics...some more eye candy to sway you over to the grado side