Looking for a decent pair of over ear headphones or IEMs for $300 or less.

[Vishera]

Okay, so picking headphones for me is kind of tricky, because I do a little bit of everything.

I listen to podcasts, watch YouTube, watch movies, listen to music (rock, metal, rap, hip hop, and techno/trance/dubstep, whatever you wanna call it), and play games. I'm sure there are some crossovers in what features would make a good pair of cans for some of those things, but music is the one where I'm really scratching my head. Obviously, those genres all have very different sound styles. Well, rock and metal are different from the rest, at least. So I'm not really sure what to look at in terms of a decent pair. I will also need a DAC/amp combo unit, as I want to use whatever I buy with my ****ty $80 smartphone...that didn't go so well with my AKG K240 Studio pair, with no amp.

So, do you guys have any suggestions? Leaning more towards IEMs here, because I'm out and about a lot, and it'd be nice to not have to keep using my ****ty Bluetooth buds. I'm not completely opposed to the idea of getting a good, but less expensive, pair of IEMs for everything besides music, and getting two different pairs for music, depending on what I'm listening to. But that'd get pricey, and this is only my second venture into "enthusiast" audio gear, so I would rather reserve that for down the line.

 

[Blaylock]

I have an incredably difficult time finding a set of cans that do not make my head/ears sweat. I bought this set for my son who is a console gamer (nobody's perfect) and I absolutely love this pair. I'm sure the similar models would be just as comfortable.

 

[don256us]

You could be very happy with the Sony WH-1000XM3 Bluetooth over the ear cans. Known for great sound and the best noise canceling available today. They are or were just on sale for $300. The app on your phone allows for some customizing. The Bose model that compete with the Sony are/were also on sale at the same price. Reportatly Bose have better sound but not as good at noise canceling. Bose has a new set reportedly coming out that will be better than the Sony but the expected price will be $700 to what I read.

I like the Sony due to the 20 - 30 hour run time with Active Noise Canceling (ANC), great sound quality, app customization, etc.

As a gmmic that I like, while wearing the Sony headset, if you cup the right ear piece, it reduces sound and turns on the mic so that you can hear the outside world around you without taking the headset off.

At $300, they'd better be better than "decent". Both the Sony and Bose rate very well and even tops in many reviews. Of course you can buy better but at over $1k.... forget about it.

 

[Zerileous]

I have these: https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones

They sound great. Unlike other similar Sennheiser headphones (6XX etc) they have a lower impedance and theoretically will function without a discrete headphone amp. It all depends on your primary source, and I wouldn't choose them for a primarily un-amped source. However at this price you could easily fit a heaphone amp in your budget as well. On my Rotel A12 they sound amazing, they sound really good with my motherboard's built in headphone amp as well (I know, sacrilege, I assumed on-board audio was crap until I heard it), from my phone they play and don't sound bad, but they definitely sound bland.

Downside is they're not very portable. I don't know much about IEMs, but I'd be interested to see recommendations. I have some Jaybird X3? headphones that are okay for working out, but not the greatest audio quality unless you like a heavy bass and muddy everything else.

I also have a FiiO BTR3 and they do a decent job of powering the x58's. Sounds better than my headphone jack for sure. I need to try it with some lower impedance phones, and ideally find some IEMs to pair well with it.

 

[PicodeGallo]

Massdrop also has/usually has the Senn HD650 reproduction for about $250 iirc. These cans are amazing for games. I have the HD700 as well, and for most games, the 650's are just more enjoyable. I also have an Antlion mic attached to them and it works great! When I only want to listen to music, I just detach the mic (magnetic attachment) and nothing is in the way.

As for music, at the $250 price point, they will be extremely hard to beat, and will likely be better than anything else you'll find even for $150 more. They sound fantastic with everything you listed, especially rock, EDM, and anything bass heavy, as they handle bass very well while maintaining crystal clear, wide-open vocals.

There are many choices for DAC/Amp combos, but you might try looking at Emotiva. I have a small 'receiver' (they won't call it that) to power some bookshelf speakers and my headphones. I was pretty impressed by the quality of the headphone output. It also has all of the connections you need. You can get it with or without the amplifier at a reasonable price.
https://emotiva.com/collections/pre-amps/products/ta-100

 

[Robert17]

AudioTechnica MX55.