I’m looking for something I can use at work in the 100-150 price range. Since they are for office use they can’t be open backed.
Recommendations? I’ll probably be running a Schiit stack.
AKG K371 maybe …
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It’s a long story, explaining the ISK MDH9000 clones: suffice to say this modest Chinese closed back design has been licensed at least 5 times that I know of. I’ve owned 3 of the clones: 2 of the Marantz MPH-2 linked below, and 1 of the LyxPro HAS-30.
They sound exactly the same, and look identical, beyond very minor color/branding differences.
The sound is bassy, somewhat warm, non-fatiguing mids & treble. The soundstage is way better than you would ever expect. Overall, it’s a very pleasing, musical sound from an inexpensive headphone.
Comfort is above average–pads are soft. If you have a large head, you’ll want to stretch out the headband–I did so by spreading the headphone out over the case of large desktop computer or side of a couch.
These are very easy to drive well–low impedance and relatively high efficiency. I never tried a DAP or phone, but pretty much any headphone amp will do the trick. I travel with these and use the very modest FiiO e10K for DAC/power–the sound is excellent…I don’t miss my home system while away.
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K371. Was my daily too back when commuting to offices were still a thing, before I got Mobius which isn’t so cheap
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I finally went out and got my self a K371, just to hear it honestly, and it’s quite nice