Recommend a pair of headphones for me

Thanks for the advice, dyao. This happened before to them last year and I just sent it back for repair free of charge.

I'd recommend calling Grado's customer service. They repaired the left channel on my SR-60s for $15 (including shipping) even though the SR-60s had been out of warranty for years.

In fact, I've found Grado's customer service to be some of the most accommodating I've ever dealt with. It seems like they take pride in their product.

http://gilmore2.chem.northwestern.edu/projects/showfile.php?file=grado_prj.htm

advice for how to open up the cups

if the break is in the wire itself however it may be more complicated.

are grados still made in the US?

I was looking for good cheapo headphones and I found a link to Avlex HD668B Enhanced Bass Headphones (the write up is here) and for $40 you get semi-open phones with pretty great sound quality and a range from 10 to 30,000 Hz.

What's the best set of canalphones I can pick up for around/under $30 that can withstand a beating? These Sennheiser CX300's didn't even last a year (though I stored them wrapped around my Zune in my bag...)

@docfunk: Oh, good. My Dr. Dre headphones are malfunctioning. That was my worst buy of 2009 even before this. #TheySuckEvenWhenTheyWork

are grados still made in the US?

pretty sure they're still made in Brooklyn

@Stevie D: Here's some good cheap canalphones - Creative Creative Labs EP 630 (site recommended + good reviews on amazon + under $30)

I got the HD668Bs in the mail and they're doing me good.. the sound is excellent

just broke my 3rd pair of sony md-180's. done with them. and then i tried out my high-school age sister's JBL "Roxy" headphones (in neon green and pink) and was blown the fuck away. Bass is a little much but I couldn't believe that impulsive tweens all over the nation weren't even realizing the level of quality sound they were getting to listen to tay swift with.

Anyone ever send back portapros for warranty repair? original packaging,no receipt,never registered.

Yeah, I've done it two or three times, it's never been a problem. They send them back within like 2 weeks.

yeah. they're THE BEST, they will reinstill your faith in corporations. a couple of times they sent me a new pair. i am okay with this as my enthusiasm has probably made a bunch of other people buy some = good business model

Anyone tried those extremely cool looking TMA-1 hp's by AIAIAI?

http://www.itechnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Aiaiai-TMA-1-Headphones.jpg

those are cool looking

portapros are like $30 on amazon right now vs $200 for tma-1s. hard to beat that.

those tma-1s are waaaaaay too expensive. $100 sounds about right, form factor excepted.

I got the impression they're gunning for the Sennheiser HD-25 market.

I think they sell for 200? The TMAs actually look way better in the, err, flesh - that matte black finish is quite something. I fear tho that sound quality was an afterthought

I've just dropped 90 quid on a pair of Gradio SR80s - awesome, just awesome.

i agree, but i got my sennheisers for $120 and i think they're better than the tma-1s.

$200 seems awfully steep, cool looking or no.

personally think design-wise aiaiai did a better job w/ these

http://www.turntablelab.com/images/content/1/0/100735.jpg

mh otm, if you're thinking about the tma-1's why not just go w/ the original

http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/product_images/altimage/06%2007%202006sennheiser_hd-25.jpg

Pulled out my cheap-o Skullcandys on the train this morning and they were done for, so I had to swing by Walgreens to buy a cheap pair for the day. God these JVC Gummys are awful, no low end and they fit in the ear in a way that lets every sound in the world in around them.

so. for wearing about the place, usually wandering around, seems like it's between koss portapros or sennheiser HD202s? if I am concerned abt noise leaks bothering others it seems like the 202s are more the way to go...?

i have only used earbuds up until now, this is a new and magical world.

Depends what kind of "noise leaks" you mean. When it comes to "leaks", Portapros aren't anything extreme (compared to the super-open Grados, say). Just regular headphone-ness.

i love my portapros and use them in public often, and noise leak irritations are something i'm probably excessively concerned about. so unless you enjoy blasting your eardrums out they should be okay on that front. that said, i had a go on a friend's expensive sennheisers today and felt a little pathetic returning to the portapros after that sumptuous experience.

yeah you'd have to play music at a 'really not good for your ears' level for portapros leak to be a problem

anyone got anything good/bad to say about the klipsch s4s?

i got some sennheiser CX200s (£20) about a year back, and i've noticed a lot more definition in the music i listen to, more than any other pair of headphones, they give very true playback aside a gentle cut in the mids. they look smart as well. for this pair being the starters in the range too, i'm pretty impressed. i play them with my ipod and i find them just about good enough to mix my recordings on, too.

i got some sennheiser CX200s (£20) about a year back, and i've noticed a lot more definition in the music i listen to, more than any other pair of headphones, they give very true playback aside a gentle cut in the mids. they look smart as well. for this pair being the starters in the range too, i'm pretty impressed. i play them with my ipod and i find them just about good enough to mix my recordings on, too.

sorry, fucking internet.

they also block out external noise so well that i nearly crashed my pushbike the other day, too

anyone got anything good/bad to say about the klipsch s4s?

― cherry blossom, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 5:37 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

I had the s4i (iphone version), this is the earbud IEM you're talking about yeah?

good sound, a little neutral but shoddily constructed, mine broke after a few months and I'm outside the country so can't take advantage of their 2 year warranty just yet

I picked up some denon IEMs, ah-c560r iirc, which are at the same price point and I like them a lot better. (I already have denon big headphones, so maybe I just like the house Denon sound). great bass but mids and highs are present. and the construction is much better - thicker wire, and the plug is right angle so it won't give out (where my S4is failed iirc).

seems like they make a mid-level version too called the c-260r, dunno how that is.

hallo, a friend is looking for some closed-back headphones - enough to block out the noisy subway but also not leak in quieter situations - for around £40. she can't do the in-ear thing, which appears to be a bit of an inconvenience given her specifications. any suggestions?

sennheiser hd-280

lol

(don't get those, actually)

Still rocking the Denon AH-D1001s that I picked up about 14 months ago. They should be even cheaper now that a slightly beefier D1100 model is replacing them. Highly recommended.

My Shure earplugs have crapped out on me for the second time, and are at the moment in transit back to the repair center... again. That's where a two-year warranty comes in handy, but it's still a serious pain. The trouble seems to be not the earplugs themselves, but the cord, which isn't designed for every-single-day, shove-em-in-your-pocket wear. Eventually you start to get crackle in one or both ears, and finally failure.

I needed a replacement in the meantime, though, since I spend a good deal of my time in transit or at work listening to music and podcasts. The great thing about the Shures is that they're not just sound isolating (as the terminology goes), they're basically earplugs, blocking out so much external noise that someone could be screaming at the top of their voice at you while you're listening to something at a normal comfortable volume, and you couldn't hear a word of it. Since much if not most of my listening time is spent on very very loud trains or walking down cavernous city streets, and since I have a touchy case of tinnitus, it's extremely important to me to not have to listen to loud things. Not ever, if at all possible.

So I've been through three pair of earphones in four days. The first ones I tried were some Sony noise canceling things, and I returned them the next day. These are complete bullshit. You need a battery to get any sound out of them that's not like a tin can, and even then, it ain't too great. And as for canceling noise, well. That's just a straight-up lie. No other way to put it. They don't cancel noise when they have a fully charged battery and are turned on (yes, you have to turn them on and off, which is ridiculous already), that merely makes them work. Pieces. Of. Shit.

The next try was the Bose IE2 earphones, which I have to admit have better than decent sound. Pretty excellent sound, maybe, if you're in a soundproof room. But wearing them while even walking outside in a suburban neighborhood with a barking dog would mean you'd miss half the music. The noise isolating effect of them is zero. Bose does not claim otherwise, but I did see a large ad for them on the train this morning, and wearing them on a train would be ridiculous, unless you want to run them at maximum volume at all times and go deaf before you're 40. I almost feel like it's irresponsible to market them to people who ride the train every day. They do sound great, though. In bed, with a ski mask on and two foam pillows wrapped around either ear.

So the compromise is a big ol' pair of cans, completely over the ears, with puffy foam rims. You know, the Old Fashioned. I went with the Sennheiser HD428 S, which sound good enough, though by no means great. What's important, though, is that they do a fair job of sealing off your ears from the outside world. Not as good as the Shures, but maybe about 70% of that. Of course optimally they would sound rich and natural even as a subway train roars by at full speed inside a tunnel, and you wouldn't even have to turn up the volume one notch. For less than $100, that's way too much to hope for. So mid-level sound it is, in exchange for not going deaf.

That post was kinda long, huh? Sorry about that. But THIS IS IMPORTANT, PPL!

Has anyone tried out the Beats ("by Dr. Dre") brand irl? They sound pretty freakin' fantastic in the store, but they also run in the $250-$350 range. I ain't forgot about you, Dre, I just have other expenses.

Honestly, you oughta spend more time learning about 'phones on Rock Grotto & Head-Fi forums then deliberating about store 'phones

Will check out. Thank you sincerely. I'd rather buy online and get good shit, but googling things like this is a messy business.

I love my Grado SR80s with all my heart and soul. I rue the fact that I didn't buy them years ago and saved all this messing around with headphones that weren't these ones.

Does Grado make cans that don't annoy people who are next to you on the train?

Honestly, you oughta spend more time learning about 'phones on Rock Grotto & Head-Fi forums then deliberating about store 'phones

Nothing personal or anything, but I take back my very special thanks for the recommendation. No one on any of these boards has anything to say that's more useful that what I said. It's trial and error, as always, and I have tried and I have errored, and while I have never tried a pair of Grado headphones, I gather from these boards that they're just about in line with any other brand. If you want to spend about $100 on headphones, I'm not wrong about a single thing I said. If you want to spend what I would consider to be a lot of money on headphones... well, I'm not there yet. Most people aren't.

I love my Grado SR80s with all my heart and soul.

misread this

My iPod earphones are completely shitting out.

You r wearing them wrong.