The best headphones for Movies/TV-series?

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by BleaK, May 28, 2018.

  1. BleaK

    BleaK Friend

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    I just wondered what kind of headphones you guys use to watch movies/tv-series.

    My experience is that HD650m is probably in a sweetspot, and HE-1000 got the subbass (and very good with drum-soundtrack) and HD800 is the "hear everything, but do not have fun doing it."

    I would probably put HD650m = HE1000 > HD800

    What headhones do you use for you movies/series?
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2018
  2. BenjaminBore

    BenjaminBore Friend

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    The ideal is an all-rounder, unless it’s just for general TV use in which case something mid focused is fine.

    Putting aside tonality/mods/EQ etc. My previous favourite was the Fostex TH900 which has great stage width and sub bass rumble. I took a detour with the HD800 and it was great for dialogue based scenes and some special effects but utterly unengaging outside of that. I landed on the Utopia which was a compromise between the two. It has plenty of slam but that slam doesn’t extend to the sub-bass, with great resolution and mids, but the soundstage suffers and it’s really closed in sounding.

    I’ve only had them a couple of days, and they’re my first real experience with planars, but the LCD-2 Classic manages to be a better all-rounder than any of those, particularly for this use-case. Though it is fairly soft sounding when directly comparing, it hasn’t stood out during normal use. The soundstage is overall quite large well proportioned and spaced out, movement of sound can be tracked very well, but the key thing is that it does this whilst maintaining great sub-bass and a full and fairly engaging sound. Whereas the dynamics all seem to trade one of these aspects for the other, severely so.

    Based on this I expect a planar that isn’t too soft sounding, maintains this level of slam and image presentation, with better treble performance and some more resolution would be ideal. I need to try an Abyss 1266 Phi one of these days..
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2018
  3. drgumbybrain

    drgumbybrain Science Nut

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    please dont laugh at me, but the best headphone for tv that I used was the Philips Fidelio x2. Plenty of comfort and very easy to drive... I'm thinking that you dont have a dedicated AMP for your tv.... But if you DO have, the game change for the Sennheiser hd800 and Sony Z1r. I have used both and today I use the Sony so I dont bother my wife during study time
     
  4. Marlowe

    Marlowe New

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    I'll probably get pilloried for this, but I use the Sennheiser HD700 for movies/TV because its wide soundstage and more speaker-like presentation (at least compared to most headphones) is quite immersive. I'm retired and wear headphones most of the day for movies/TV, music, or gaming. (And when I read comics on my iPad, I listen to Tidal through an iSine LX with Cipher cable.) Although I live in a small studio apartment, I got tired of moving my main rig between the laptop on my kitchen table and my TV (plus the coaxial input on my Modi Multibit was getting so loose from connecting/disconnecting to the Eitr daily that it often had to be jiggled to get sound). I got a new Modi Multibit for music from my laptop and connected the old one permanently to the TV (optical in from the TV, coaxial in direct from the Blu-ray player) and my old Little Dot Mk III.
     
  5. PeteMullersKeyboard

    PeteMullersKeyboard New

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    I used my HD700s for this quite a bit when I still had them. Agree that they seem to have the "right" presentation for TV/film. Although I certainly have no complaints about my LCD4s now when it comes to this sort of content, they do everything right, including any sounds you get in a TV show.
     
  6. EagleWings

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    - HD650 - Good all-rounder. Great for drama and pretty much all genres involving speech/vocals and also good fit for musicals

    - Aeon Flow Open - Same as HD650, but with better bass for explosions and rumbles

    - EQd HD800 - Great for Action and Adventure movies for their surround-like sound. Once EQd, explosions can be almost visceral like on planars. Also great for gaming, especially FPS, as you can really pin point the direction of your enemies' footsteps. You should try The Conjuring movie on the 800. The scene where the ghost claps right behind her ears, you'd think its right behind you..

    - LCD2C, LCD4 - Great all rounders. But can't beat HD800's for surround sound experience though

    - Sony MDR-Z7 - Decent all-rounder. But boomy in bass and vocals can be slightly veiled when there is a lot of explosion or bass heavy music going on in the background
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2018
  7. Lenroot77

    Lenroot77 Friend

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    The above is all very spot on, at least the same experience I’ve had with everything listed.

    I’ve also enjoyed the he-400S for dialogue/drama heavy features as well.
     
  8. BenjaminBore

    BenjaminBore Friend

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    Indeed the HD800 soundstage and imaging are best in class, in the right scene it is incredibly immersive.

    But I strongly disagree with this statement. To me it sounds like a slice of ham on a loose piece of foil flapping wildly against my ears. Just awful. That’s using both digital PEQ and a Mjolnir 2 to try and get the most out of them, slam and bass-quantity wise.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2018
  9. EagleWings

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    When I listen to music, I add a couple of dBs of low end via PMEQ on my JRMC, and it is hardly visceral. But when I am watching a movie (especially an action/adventure movie), I enable the True-Fi app and I add another 4dB on top of that to get that visceral bass. Just a tiny bit shy of what LCD 2C does in the stock tuning.
     
  10. BenjaminBore

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    EQ will increase quantity, alone. Am I incorrect in equating your useage of visceral with slam or impact? The feeling of weight or pressure to bass sounds.

    The HD800 being open-back, with a large internal cup volume, little to no damping materials, and a dynamic driver with a hole in the middle will only ever muster a mouse-fart level of slam, 100db of bass boost won’t change that. It’s also pretty one-note.

    Don’t get me wrong, not saying you do not or should not like what you like.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2018
  11. EagleWings

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    By visceral, I was referring to palpable/tactile perception of sub-bass (20-60Hz) and lower-bass (60-100hz). HD800 hardly does that in the stock form or with subtle EQ. True-Fi + 4dB of bass boost gets you there (provided you are driving it with a proper source).

    About the lack of bass slam on the 800, despite the physics and acoustics reasoning you mentioned, you may want to try the HD800 on ZDT Jr's High Z port, with the GE tubes. You just might change your mind. Not on the same level as planars, but close. There are other tube amps with High Z setting/port which I've read can do the same.
     
  12. EagleWings

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    Btw, if you have a 800 on you, you could actually try out the True-Fi app. They offer a 15 day trial period. You can see my setting in the screenshot. With this setting, try this particular scene from the movie, the Pacific Rim. It's the scene, where the Becket brothers are getting inside the Gipsy Danger.

    Pacific Rim.jpg
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2018
  13. BenjaminBore

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    Wasn’t a fan of Sonarworks’ HD800 preset. I’ve yet to hear a pure tube amp, it’s my biggest blind spot at this point. I’ve experimented with the Hi Z hp outs on a few integrated two channel amplifiers. They do add some warmth and bass, and add just a little thickness. Which I understand is due to the impedance increase of the HD800 around the mid-bass area interacting with the output z of the amp. But it had little to no benefit to slam and it introduced other issues. If I recall correctly I found it too smooth, less clear, and vocals seemed a bit withdrawn.

    I’m trusting my ears first, the acoustical theory is just a laymen’s deduction of the cause. We’ll have to agree to disagree, or maybe I’ll have a surprise one day if I get to try it out of a proper tube amp.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2018
  14. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    If you are on a low budget, the Koss PortaPro is good enough. No EQ necessary unless you want more midrange.

    I really like my Brainwavz HM5 nowadays for anime and films. This headphone really exceeds its price tag for me. It sounds good with almost everything except proper Classical music (sound stage).
     
  15. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    I'll throw two other recommendations in the mix besides the obvious choice or planars like LCD 2C.

    Campfire Audio Cascade. Movies are a perfect showcase for this headphone as it emphasizes bass just like a boosted sub which is great for movies yet still has excellent speech intelligibility. I don't know of many headphones that can pull this off.
    The other benefits are better immersion being a closed headphone, excellent build quality and durability so you don't have to worry about damaging the headphones laying down on a pillow, plus they are on ear so would be more comfortable in this example.

    ZMF Auteur. Probably has the best bass of any dynamic headphone that is still open back. Very linear, great slam, although Utopia is still top dog here. Sound stage is much more open and wider than Utopia which adds to the immersion factor.
    Eikon pads are a good alternative if you want an even warmer sound with a touch more bass.
     
  16. Jerry

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    TH900 - Bar none best movie/gaming can for me. Very clean sound, good soundstage size, and first-class bass. But what's amazing is pinpoint imaging accuracy. I tested this with virtual surround.

    HD800 - Even though soundstage is large, I always thought HD800 imaging is too diffused. Once EQ-ed, bass can be very good. but still slightly behind TH900 and LCD-2C.

    HD650 - Mid-bass is fun. Good imaging, but smallish soundstage size.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2018
  17. Mr.Pizza

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    I was wondering the same thing.
    I´ve got the Shures 215, 535 and the Hifiman 400i.

    Lately I use them for movies but I´m afraid, Shure 215 is what I recommend for everybody.
    • 215 -> the cheapest, good voices and good bass.
    • 535 -> the comfiest for 2 hours, great voices but expensive and not good bass for movies.
    • 400i -> maybe less comfy than iems, best voices in talks, good bass but not to smooth. Also the stage is maybe small. With poor quality audios, 215 is much better.

    Maybe some like the Shure 215 but in open headphones with a medium stage, a smooth bass and also with upfront voices is a good choice.
    Could you please recommend any open headphone?
     
  18. LSW

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    HD800 out of the stuff in my collection. Especially on older 90's TV series, etc. Something about the timbre and soundstage just sound very natural with dialogue heavy TV, it's not the best for special effects stuff but the most important thing on most TV series is dialogue I think. If a major character's voice sounds wrong it annoys me badly.

    As soon as I think "imma try this HD800 with some music again" I remember why I have a bunch of other headphones besides the face tweeter though.
     
  19. Warrior

    Warrior RIP 2021

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    Haven't used many headphones for TV, but loved my TH900. Very enjoyable. I've used many iems too, and enjoyed all of them. One thing I did use to improve the experience was use my Sound blaster E5 amp/dac. I used their surround sound settings, and definitely enjoyed the experience. Been a while since I've used it, but I did hook it to the TV the other night, and plan on using it again in near future. Will report back. Looking forward to TV with my EE Legend X’s.
     
  20. Warrior

    Warrior RIP 2021

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    Did get a listen to them while watching TV. Unfortunately, it was while watching the ID channel... Lol. The voices sounded great though. Tonight, definitely will watch some movies.
     

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