[Emon]

A note about Plantronics. Plantronics makes great communications headsets. Their headsets may be decent for gaming, but not the great sound quality of the companies mentioned here.

Bathroom Monkey: Yes, sound is subjective, but I know cetoole and I know he's done a lot of research in his headphone searches. Although it's opinion, the overwhemling majority will tell you that, for example, Bose sucks. Their design, engineering, quality of the entire headphones - right down to the dynamic transducer coils, is rubbish. Unless you're a totally biased Bose-freak-in-denial, you will easily be able to tell that even a cheap pair of Sennheisers or Grados are FAR superior.

Edit: Oh, I'll say something about Beyerdynamics. I haven't heard them yet, but everything I've read on Head-Fi from people who own Beyers and Senns say that they're similar to the Senns, but more neutral, less dark and laid back sounding. Grado headphones, for example, have a signature sound which makes them not so good for some types of music (but INCREDIBLE for rock). Senns sound great for everything, but still have a dark signature sound. Beyerdynamics are supposed to be more "reference" sounding, more neutral, less or no coloration, no special sound signature. At least that's what I've heard about the DT 880 and other high end Beyers. Oh, and when I talk about signature sound, I'm not talking about say, the DT 770's massive bass. Colorized sound generally changes sound overall, not just adds more bass.

[SNieX]

STICKY lol

[Cyrix_2k]

Originally Posted by Bleed

if your not a basshead, then you'll love the A900's. got a pair myself and im loving every minute of it .

yea! I have a job now so hopefully I can FINALLY afford these 'phones and the components I need to build my dynalo

Two more 'phones to list....

Audio-Technica ATH-M2X:
I can't remember how they sounded stock, but I don't think it was terribly bad for $20. However, they really came to life once I removed the driver "grills" and were further helped by drilling a hole in the sound chamber which effectively makes them open 'phones. Now I think they sound GREAT for $20. They have a very limited sound stage, so imaging sucks, but they work fine for rock/metal. Just be warned, the cable will probably need to be replaced. (It sounds better recabled anyway).

Philips SBC HP-820:
These have an ultra wide sound stage and the highs sounded harsh out of the box. However, after listening to them for a while, the harshness has disapeared and they sound pretty decent now. They are very detailed throughout their frequency range and the bass response is fairly decent as well. These run around $50 and I think I would buy them for that much. (I only paid $16 though )

oh yeah... both 'phones benefited from being amped. The M2X's bass sounded MUCH better with the amp, and the HP-820 really needs it due to it's lower sensitivity.

[Bleed]

I finally replaced my Sony EX71's, they took a crap on me this week. the wires were deteriorating. I got me an AKG K26P, pretty good for rock. the vocals are very upfront compared to my HD201 which is laid back. One thing I dont like though, is that when its paired with my PA2V2 amp, the sound is muffled, too much bass. without an amp, sounds fine. guess this means I dont have to bring my amp everytime I go out.

[mcoleg]

no one's talking about wireless headphones
would be interesting to hear what ppl have to say...

[cetoole]

Originally Posted by mcoleg

no one's talking about wireless headphones
would be interesting to hear what ppl have to say...

Wireless headphones dont sound very good at all, you can do better with the sub-$20 headphones listed here.

[mcoleg]

cant walk around with wires attached :P

[drunkn.bear]

Are in-ear phones really worth the money? They are really expensive and you can't hear anything going on around you

[cetoole]

Originally Posted by drunkn.bear

Are in-ear phones really worth the money? They are really expensive and you can't hear anything going on around you

That is why people get in ear headphones, because you cant here anything with them on. Imagine that you are on an airplane, bus, or something similar, and there is a bunch of babies screaming and people talking, which would you rather hear, the music, or the babies? In ear headphones allow you to have a (nearly) private listening session while in public, and for that purpose, yes, they are definitly worth it.

[autolex84]

sennheiser all the way!! lol I love my senns

[Sancho]

I have a few phones that I use with my cmoy

BeyerDynamic DT 990 Pro 600ohm -One of the best headphones I have had the pleasure of using, so good I decided to buy a pair They are really comfortable, can be driven quite well off of the amp. Reproduce better than some of the more expensive senn's I've used etc.

Senheiser HD265 Linear - Very comparable to the Beyer's. These definently clamp to your head more, very tight seal and excellent bass response due to the closed design. These are very active, hard to fall asleep with these on.

Phillips HP170 - My first pair of decent cheap headphones, however, in retrospect they lack extension and have pitiful bass response when compared to the two above

I list only those as I have had the oppurtunity to use those for more than a few days at a time and make subjective comparrisons based on those.

[steel102]

Originally Posted by mcoleg

no one's talking about wireless headphones
would be interesting to hear what ppl have to say...

yeah from what i've read, most of them get poor reception for a start, and the sound quality is not that great anyways. maybe the only reason to get a wireless phone is for TV watching.

[mcoleg]

Originally Posted by steel102

from what i've read

common chaps, i need facts, not hearsay :P

happy new years, btw

[steel102]

well this is the best i can do..

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=134167

[Cyrix_2k]

Originally Posted by mcoleg

no one's talking about wireless headphones
would be interesting to hear what ppl have to say...

I have a pair of $50 (on clearance for $20) radioshack wireless IR 'phones. Cetoole's right; sub-$20 headphones sound much better. However, for TV watching at night, they work great.

[AshlarZiven]

How would you guys rank the really cheap Kinyo KY100 "5.1" headphones? I bought some for about 30$ from newegg about a year ago. I was pretty impressed with quality : price ratio...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...73540?n=172282

[johan851]

Thanks a lot for this sticky. After reading it over Christmas break and doing a lot of research on Head-Fi, I picked up a pair of HD201's. As far as inexpensive headphones go they sound pretty good. Not good enough, of course, so I placed an order a couple of weeks ago for a pair of HD595's. I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival.

[Mito]

ok...........

quickie...


what the heck is an amplifier for a headphone????????
never heard of this before.

thx

[johan851]

A lot of high end headphones have a lot of impedance (I've seen as high as 600ohms) that most normal headphones don't have. A device like an iPod or a soundcard can't provide the voltage/amperage that these headphones need to be driven properly, and an amp amplifies the signal to the headphone so that it gets the power requirement it needs. Usually makes it sound a lot better, less distorted, fuller, etc.

[mcoleg]

Originally Posted by johan851

Thanks a lot for this sticky. After reading it over Christmas break and doing a lot of research on Head-Fi, I picked up a pair of HD201's. As far as inexpensive headphones go they sound pretty good. Not good enough, of course, so I placed an order a couple of weeks ago for a pair of HD595's. I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival.

it's addictive, isn't it?