Audio-Technica - ATH-R30x

The next best thing is their next model the fiio ft1. It is 160$ though. If you can wait and save up I do think it's worth it. The other save up option is a the meze 99 neo which is very bassy and would fit your needs well. I wouldn't trust linsoul currently in my opinion. They make some of the best earbuds on the market but they are still figuring out headphones. In a couple years I suspect they will be an excellent purchase. The ath headphones are very safe and fine. I have had a couple pairs over the years and they have been ok if a little boring. I do love the look of them with 3rd party ear pads and tend to wear them out. The 100$ budget has been a difficult price point in the community for a long time. If you want headphones now, I would get the fiio jt1. Otherwise I would save a little more. I wouldn't hesitate pulling the trigger if you want one now though

I like the ATH-R30x as a budget gaming option. Their brightness is great for competitive shooting. Very comfortable too.

I recently made a previous post on this sub regarding reccomendations on some open-backs since ive been very curious about them for a while and have only ever tried closed backs. For all the suggestions, (which alot of them ended up being way over the budget, unfortunately) I ended up going through a couple of headphones to try, namely the ATH-R30X and the Philips SHP9500 Both solid options and are relatively agreed upon to be great for their price point, the Philips especially i've seen MANY praise them, saying that they're the best budget headphones, how comfortable they are, and.. i didnt like them. To me they were.. muffled sounding, even. I could definitely tell they were pretty wide but honestly? I could barely tell where anything was, it was like i was in a cloud of mist, with noises being far away yet i couldnt ever tell where they were coming from. They felt airy and loose? Almost. And suprisingly they were bassy to me, despite everyone mentioning their lack of bass, i genuinely thought they were pretty booming. A big characteristic i felt was just how seperared the bass was from the rest of the track, not exactly a bad thing on its own but to me it felt like the bass was the only clear thing i could really hear. The mids felt.. foggy, somehow, muffled. And honestly despite them being described as bright i thought the treble was just fine. Not standout in any way, they were just.. Meh. I wouldve wanted more. The ATH-R30X was much of a bettter experience. The pads were so soft, it was genuinely my first time ever having pads like them. Ive had velour pads before, but it didnt felt as soft as the R30s. Though i will say they are *Small*, even for someone like me who is on the smaller side, i could still feel just how small they were. My ears felt like they didnt fit, the pads were so shallow. Though the build quality was great the headphones themselves felt worse than my M40Xs. As for the sound? Their soundstage is great! I could definitely tell it was pretty wide, and the imaging is very noticably clearer than the phillips. To use the same analogy, the fog was definitely still there, but it was alot clearer on the R30Xs. Other than that, they sounded alot more similar to my M40s which was nice, they werent as muffled compared to the Philips (Though i did still feel like they were a tiny bit muffled). Definitely on the warmer side, some of those lower frequencies were wonderful on the R30s. (Ice Cage by PROJECT ACES has an especially nice rumbly kick(?) drum(?) thing and it sounded great on the R30s, those lower frequencies were definitely caught) But i was definitely still missing the treble. After comparing to my m40s, i really did notice that i simply just preferred how my m40s sounded like. Yes the R30s were wider but now i truly understand that wider, doesnt always mean they sound better. And yknow what? After all that i finally admitted to myself that maybe, i would like the Grados. I always seemed to want more treble, and i liked brighter headphones but i was genuinely scared to at first. The community seemed so *split* against them. What if i didnt like them? What if i didnt like how they fit? What if they just sounded awful? ..And yet all of this happened to the Philips SHP9500 which almost everyone ive heard agreed it was fantastic. So i bit the bullet, i got the grados. Honestly? A part of me always wanted them, but i never caved because i was so worried since everyone seemed so mixed on them. And yknow what? I absolutely ENJOY them. They're absolutely fantastic for me and what i listen to. The upper frequency detail was amazing and i heavily enjoyed it. That was always something i wanted more of, yet i never actually did realize it. The bass was tight, but not overbearing. I honestly dislike alot of bass, they make me feel overwhelmed and especially if they're boomy i just cant handle them. The bass on the grados felt refined to me. And the mids? My god were they clear. Hearing instruments from it felt so detailed. Strings, Piano, Guitar, they were wonderful. Vocals too. And with its frequency response, percussion just sounded so juicy to me. They were great. All of this just made me realize even more that, yeah, everyone's hearing is different. Something a majority of people agree is good, might not be for me. When i heard grados described they always sounded great to me. I wanted the sparkly sound signature. Yet hearing all the mixed reviews about them always put me off. I thought "Ill just get a more widely agreed upon pair" and moved on. Now after finally having them, i can say for certain that to me and my ears. Grados are awesome.

I use open back audiotechnica studios and a desk mic couldn’t be happier… i prefer the open sound stage. You really only need a dac if the impedance of the headphones is higher than what the motherboard/software can drive which i believe you should be fine with those.