[apstoltz]

Hi guys, been a big 2 channel audio guy for years and recently have been looking into headphones. Wow, did not know how many options and brands there where. I prefer a pretty flat neutral speaker in 2 channel as I have Salk and ascend speakers. Given my sound preference, I plan on using the headphones on my phone and computer and for right now do not plan on powering them with a separate amp so need something efficient. I am looking in the $200 range. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciative.

[FullRangeMan]

In this price range for new HPs you are limited to dinamic models only, I prefer planars w/great eufonic timbre to stay in the oldfashined land of tubes.

[apstoltz]

The thinksound and Phillips look interesting. Really digging the wood on the thinksound.

[drphoto]

I've been pleased with my Shure SRH 840's for $200. I got them primarily for use when doing live FoH sound mixing. They were famous FoH live sound engineer Dave Ratt's recommendation for most accurate under $500. I've used them just to listen to music and like just fine. Don't use much these days as I'm pretty much out of the music production biz.

I've not listened to any really expensive cans, but I'd take these over anything near the price.

[dB Cooper]

Innerfidelity dot com and this site are good resources for more headphone info. Extensive reviews and test data on Innerfi.

Don't overlook used if you are trying to keep the budget reasonable; you can take advantage of somebody else's 'upgraditis' and save quite a bit. Just make sure you have a return privilege, especially if the source doesn't have a seller rating mechanism.

If neutral voicing is a priority, you could do a lot worse (especially at a ~$200 price point) than the AKG K7xx on Massdrop for $199. Great comfort and a rep for first class detail (I've heard the very similar 701's and the 712's the 7xx's are based on.) You have to create an account to access the site and purchase.

[Saturn94]

If you can stretch your budget to $250, the NAD HP50 is a great headphone.  It sounds great with my iPad and iPhone, so no additional amp needed to get great sound.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_745VSOH50B/NAD-VISO-HP50-Black.html?tp=60835

Here's a review on Innerfidelity.com

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/i-love-these-headphonesthe-nad-viso-hp50

Btw, having owned Salk speakers, I'm familiar with their sound.

[dB Cooper]

Innerfi's reviews are quite trustworthy, and Tyll offers useful descriptions of the sound.

It's a shame headroom is gone, because they explained basic concepts very well for newcomers. One of the first decisions to make (assuming we are talking about full size 'phones) is, open or closed? Closed isolate the listener from the room somewhat (and vice versa); open produce a better 'soundstage' in some peoples's opinion and can be more comfortable due to having at least a degree of air circulation. The leather or 'pleather' pads can feel clammy after awhile, especially on closed phones, at least to me (I prefer the velour-like material used by Sennheiser, AKG and Beyer) but of course YMMV.

[apstoltz]

I will have to read up on the nad's.

[dB Cooper]

Unrelated: Which Salks do you have and are you using the Ascends as surrounds?

[FullRangeMan]

Unfortunately velour pads atract dust, needing cleaning.

[apstoltz]

Unrelated: Which Salks do you have and are you using the Ascends as surrounds?

Songtowers in 2 channel setup.

The ascends are part of a 3.1 setup with rsl as center channel.

[FireGuy]

i started my headphone journey with the Sennheiser HD 555 maybe 6 years ago.  I use this can every week on my portable devices.  If I were to upgrade from those it would be the HD 598 (open back).  They add a touch more refinement and air than the 555's to my ears.  I've heard Senn's lower, middle and upper class models... never disliked the sound, build quality and presentation.  So the HD 598 is my recommendation.

[dB Cooper]

Unfortunately velour pads atract dust, needing cleaning.

Never had any trouble keeping mine clean.

[Delta77]

I'm in the same boat..Looking for a nice set of (first) HP's that I won't feel any need to upgrade ..
Looking at Hifiman 560 ,    Or.   ZMF , not sure of model yet..

I don't hear much about ZMF , does anyone have familiarity with ZMF..

[2gumby2]

I have the ZMF V2 headphones and they are some of the best headphones I have ever heard. I also have the Beyerdynamic T51p and consider them to be up there with the ZMF. I would recommend an amplifier with the ZMFs though.

[dB Cooper]

Two people here mentioned the AKG K7xx and Shure SRH-840, both good headphones and both fairly close to the classic 'neutral' signature.  But the HP-50 as far as I know has the "relaxed" treble that's sometimes known as the "room feel" sound.  Just so the OP knows that headphones with a relaxed treble (AQ NightHawk, Sennheiser Momentum, Focal Elear, Sonus Faber Pryma, others....) are very popular now, but are a different kind of signature from the classic neutral types.

If by "relaxed" you mean 'gently rolled off', I actually prefer that, especially with 'hot' digitally-mastered material (not all digital is done this way). I was just making a suggestion based on the OP's stated preferences. I actually still have my oft-maligned HD650s because I like their 'relaxed' treble, although I also like my 'flatter' Etymotic and Shure IEMs.

[steve in jersey]

He,he,he....... I always get a bit of a chuckle when anyone talks about "gently rolled off treble" from headphones !

The truth of the matter (as far as what you're hearing) has more to do with how the different music genres you'll be listening to are generally "sound engineered" to sound. (& it's a bit of a 'stretch' to call a lot of recorded music "Engineered")

[apstoltz]

i started my headphone journey with the Sennheiser HD 555 maybe 6 years ago.  I use this can every week on my portable devices.  If I were to upgrade from those it would be the HD 598 (open back).  They add a touch more refinement and air than the 555's to my ears.  I've heard Senn's lower, middle and upper class models... never disliked the sound, build quality and presentation.  So the HD 598 is my recommendation.

I listened to the 555's today and liked what I heard. Aesthetics are important to me as well. Out of the suggestions I am considering the 555's, nad hp50 and the thinksound.

[who?me?]

All good recs above,
but most efficient use of time will come from research on "Head-Fi" .com.
It is probably the most useful and most used HP website in the US:

They have specific pages that recommend HPs and other products e.g, "best headphones under $200",
"best digital player amp under $500", etc
it is not overly corporate, and it is very "grassroots", in that members are able to give their own personal reviews
on the equipment, not just from corporate reviewers.

Start there, otherwise: the AKxx7's are almost always on MassDrop (crowd-supported reduced cost items) for $200.
easy to drive, but a little bright on the top end WHEN USED WITH iPhones, computers. ATH are easy to drive.

So HeadFi and Massdrop and you should be golden.

[steve in jersey]

Two people here mentioned the AKG K7xx and Shure SRH-840, both good headphones and both fairly close to the classic 'neutral' signature.  But the HP-50 as far as I know has the "relaxed" treble that's sometimes known as the "room feel" sound.  Just so the OP knows that headphones with a relaxed treble (AQ NightHawk, Sennheiser Momentum, Focal Elear, Sonus Faber Pryma, others....) are very popular now, but are a different kind of signature from the classic neutral types.

I can't imagine why (if you're listening to non-studio recorded music; or "Live listening perspective" music as opposed to minimally room dimensional influenced sound) I'd even be interested in listening to recorded music that didn't remind me in some capacity of live music be played in "a room" .

I moved beyond finding disembodied musical notes, arriving at my ears, usually anything more than another meaningless distraction for quite a few years now. I'm not so sure "neutrality"has much to do with headphone design in terms of "how relaxed" things might sound.