more Headphone advice

[PaulWarning]

my much loved Audio Technica ATH WS1100 headphones have bitten the dust, and are no longer available, I've tried Audio Technica's ATH M-50X's but they haven't got the pronounced bass or depth of the WS1100's.

I'm not interested in monitoring with them just listening and practicing through them and I like emphasised bass, any suggestions what to try next?

[itu]

A shop full of headphones. 

 

Start from the most expensive. When you hear a difference in sound, take one step back. There you go. 

 

But hey, an emphasized bass? Maybe you should start from the cheapest, and when you don't hear that exaggerated bass, take one step back? 

[PaulWarning]

After a bit of research the Audio Technical ATH-A550z's seem to fit the bill, I'll have to find out if anybody stocks them, and for cheap and nasty the Kos UR20's both bass heavy and big earpads for my big ears 

[Dan Dare]

Good old Beyer DT770s (or 990s for more money) do fat bass very well. Closed back cans will tend to give fuller bass, whereas open backs are more airy.

[Hellzero]

8 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Good old Beyer DT770s (or 990s for more money) do fat bass very well. Closed back cans will tend to give fuller bass, whereas open backs are more airy.

The Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X is way better than the two you mentioned (I own one and tested the other two before choosing it).

 

I also own an excellent Meze Audio 99 Classics Walnut/Gold (my favourite headphones) and an AKG K702 (excellent for mastering, but a tad aggressive for simply listening to music).

[Dan Dare]

22 hours ago, Hellzero said:

The Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X is way better than the two you mentioned.

 

Very much a subjective opinion. 700 and 770 use the same drivers. I prefer (and own) the 770, especially if you want fuller bass, but that's just my choice. YMMV.

[PaulWarning]

the Beyer's do get mentioned a lot, but the blurb also says they are suitable for mixing and mastering, which perversely puts my off, my old AT ATH WS110 wouldn't be very good for mixing, you'd probably finish up with not enough bass with normal listening, but I will see if I can try them out somewhere.

I have managed to bodge up my broken headband, not sure how long they will last but it has given me a bit of time

[Hellzero]

Try the Meze Audio if you can @PaulWarning.

 

And you can also consider at some point this tool : IK Multimedia Arc On Ear, which is a device correcting the response curve of a good list of headphones so they sound really flat, but keep their sound signature.

 

Quite an amazing tool, which is also a rechargeable DAC and headphones preamp as well.

 

16 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Very much a subjective opinion. 700 and 770 use the same drivers. I prefer (and own) the 770, especially if you want fuller bass, but that's just my choice. YMMV.

That's why I preferred the 700 Pro X over the 770 or 990 that sound too coloured (and heavy) in the bass region, more mids scooped and less neutral, so inducing more ear fatigue and less versatile, but if you like that type of sound, than I fully understand and indeed your mileage may vary.

[dave_bass5]

17 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

the Beyer's do get mentioned a lot, but the blurb also says they are suitable for mixing and mastering, which perversely puts my off, my old AT ATH WS110 wouldn't be very good for mixing, you'd probably finish up with not enough bass with normal listening, but I will see if I can try them out somewhere.

I have managed to bodge up my broken headband, not sure how long they will last but it has given me a bit of time

Ive got the Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X  and Audio Technica's ATH M-50X, the AT's have a lot more low end and much more suitable le for making music sound good. The 700X is quiet enimic tuning compared to those IME. Each has its good points. I do tend to use the 700 Pro X a lot more for practicing at home as I can increase the low end without it blooming too much. 

Edited January 9 by dave_bass5

[PaulWarning]

9 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ive got the Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X  and Audio Technica's ATH M-50X, the AT's have a lot more low end and much more suitable le for making music sound good. The 700X is quiet enimic tuning compared to those IME. Each has its good points. I do tend to use the 700 Pro X a lot more for practicing at home as I can increase the low end without it blooming too much. 

that's interesting because I sent the M-50X's back because they didn't have a the pronounced bass of the WS1100's, which from my perspective are far and away the best headphones I've ever used, shame they've stopped making them

[dave_bass5]

37 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

that's interesting because I sent the M-50X's back because they didn't have a the pronounced bass of the WS1100's, which from my perspective are far and away the best headphones I've ever used, shame they've stopped making them

Well to be fair I’m only comparing the two in my post. I’ve never used the WS1100’s. 

i went through quite a few headphones when we went in to lockdown and settled on the AT’s (twice), but then the 700 pro x came out. I had also tried the 770’s but found them too warm and my ears would sweat too much. I do prefer the sound of the AT’s but find the 700’s easier to EQ. 
I think our ears get used to whatever we use quite quickly. 

One plus for me is the AT’s sound very similar to my IEM’s,  so i tend to have a familiar sound at gigs. 

Edited January 9 by dave_bass5

[Bolo]

You could look at the Sennheiser hd 25. They're on-ear and sound quite warm in the low end

[ped]

Headphones are a guilty pleasure of mine. I use beyer dt770 for playing precisely because they don’t bloat the bass end so there’s a lot of ‘space’ for playing along with music. I find cans which are designed for pleasurable listening sound too crowded for bass monitoring. 
 

For music I have a set of Yamaha YHL700A which are not well known but absolutely fantastic. I can’t say enough about them - I rarely use the cinema modes but the soundstage and weight of the bass is perfectly judged especially using the listening care setting which reduces perceived low end loss at low volume. With ambient noise setting on, it’s like having some lovely speakers in the room. 
 

Yamaha have recently released a slightly paired down version, the yhl500a which I think have the same audio but benefit from multipoint Bluetooth. They don’t have ANC and don’t fold etc so they are designed more for listening at home. They’re only £150ish. 
 

Most reviews of the 700s are less than perfect due to the lack of convenience like no multipoint Bluetooth and weak ANC but all I care about is the audio quality, and they excel against anything else I have tried. I bought loads of top rated headphones from Amazon and returned them all - Dyson, Focal, etc. They either didn’t sound as rich or were way too tight. Some had amazing ANC (Dyson) but it depends what you want. It seems as though most manufacturers cater towards people who want touch controls or for their headphones to pause when they take them off, stuff which imo is pointless if it’s at the cost of better sound.  

[ghostwheel]

On 08/01/2026 at 17:43, Dan Dare said:

 

Very much a subjective opinion. 700 and 770 use the same drivers. I prefer (and own) the 770, especially if you want fuller bass, but that's just my choice. YMMV.

Just my tuppence.

The X series features STELLAR.45 driver, which isn't the same the good old DT xx0 Pro ones you mentioned before utilise.

This STELLAR.45 sounds and feels different to old ones, as well as is only available with impedance of 48Ω. Some people like this, the others don't.

Having tried both 700 Pro X and 770 Pro X, I clearly prefer good old DT 770 Pro 250Ω. 

[PaulWarning]

I dismissed any Bluetooth headphones because of the latency problems when using them for practice, I've managed to repair my old Audio Technica ATH  WS-1100's, so far the glue is holding