a headphones recommendation thread

Everything I've read and heard about the Grado SR-60's has been A+ super positive. They'd be the ones I'd buy in that price range.

(probably won't be able to find them easily in stores though)

The Grado's are nice sounding, but the fit is notoriously uncomfortable and they make your ears sore very quickly. Perhaps they've fixed them in recent years, though? The pics on the HeadRoom site look a little different (more padding).

I have a pair of the Beyerdynamic DT 235s. If you're just looking for home-use, I'd recommend them highly because they're super comfortable and sound great. They'd look a little funny for walking down the street though.

I like Sony MDR-EX81 earbuds. They used to go for $70 years ago but I'm on my second pair from Amazon for about $35. Good sound, definitely heavier on bass though so it depends on your tastes. 2/3s of what I listen to now is rap or techno, so I love these, but if you're going for jazz, classical, misc, or everything you might not like these if you're ok with giving up bass for other traits.

The EX-71s are a step below. I haven't heard them but they also supposedly emphasize bass a bit. They're traditionally-designed earbuds of the over-the-ear aspect of the 81s doesn't interest you.

Confirmed the EX-71s are the same thing, only without ear hooks. But Sony's made some newer models since these came out (EX75, EX85, and EX90 are comparable)

Sarge I have a pair of Grado SR-60s to hook up to my stereo for *serious listening time* when I wanna hear all the details on some vinyl-ass record. They're amazing but as is suggested upthread they make the ears kinda sore after like 20 minutes. I'm not sure if it's a fitting issue or if its the frequencies you're hearing or what, but it's definitely a factor.

For most other headphone listening I have a pair of these lil shits I got at Radio Shack for like http://www.amazon.com/Koss-KSC75-Portable-Stereophone-Headphones/dp/B0006B486K/ref=pd_cp_e_2?pf_rd_p=413863501&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00001P505&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1V06P2C5BC80SASAWF2X5 based on a recommendation at Head-Fi. By several orders of magnitude they're the best portable headphones I've ever used.

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-41215-On%252dEar-Headphones/dp/B000HWRBG2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1242001493&sr=8-7

Bose on-ear. Paid like $189--link is cheaper--at Best Buy 2 1/2 years ago. Best I've ever had.

lower-end sennheisers (280, 555) are decent and worlds more comfortable than grados

thanks guys

comfort is a high priority here

Reccommend a pair of headphones for me

i want my own thread

don't take any flack jordan

I've had Grado SR-80s for several years and think they're plenty comfortable. The Sennheisers were less comfy by far; I think it depends a lot on head & ear shape.

im leaning towards the sr60s right now i think

altho i am tempted to buy the sr80s and then make the "s" a "g"

thanks guys

comfort is a high priority here

― triple-hater protection (J0rdan S.), Monday, May 11, 2009 1:34 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark

im leaning towards the sr60s right now i think

― triple-hater protection (J0rdan S.), Monday, May 11, 2009 1:50 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

Thinking your setting yourself up for some hurt here. The main reason the Grados are uncomfortable is that the pads rest flush against the ears, pressing down the whole time, not over the ears like some of the larger Senn's or Denon or Beyerdynamics.

makes sense

update: no longer leaning towards sr60s right now

My Grado SR-80s have been wonderful for years now. They can be a little uncomfortable but usually only when I'm listening to really compressed music too loud.

SR60s give a bright, in your face presentation which is good for rock. I've never found them uncomfortable physically, but the presentation can be a little tiring. Take a look at the Sennheiser PX100, which is more of an all-rounder. Also I've heard good things about the iGrado, but then you'd be wearing something on your head called an iGrado.

I wear SR60s pretty much all day, every day at work and haven't found them to be uncomfortable at all. They're flimsy as hell though, at least mine are - the pads seem to be deteriorating and wearing through, and the bit of plastic that anchors the metal strap into each headphone broke so I have to carefully assemble them to put them on.

They will mail you plastic caps for free, they did for my sr80's last week. Just mail the support email on their webpage. I have had mine for over 5 years, wear them all the time, and the pads are still pretty great.

even tho they're pads they block noise pretty well?

keep us updated good luck jordan s

well they bleed sound like crazy but i don't hear much over them

ok

The pads don't block noise at all - they're not subway headphones. Also keep in mind the SR-60 cord is long and thick and not too bendable.

"cumlord, i'm discouraged" xp

lol

i sent my portapros back to koss to be mended in february and never received anything back (shoulda sent recorded), so am thinking of upgrading to something kinda bulkier. this all makes me think sr60s are a good idea; portapros are like a training course in accepting headphone discomfort in the name of higher fidelity.

I have ear cartilage that points out some in the middle, The SR60s were very comfortable for my ears because I could angle them against the ear. My newer SR125s are less comfortable because the ear part sticking out goes right into the hard center of the speakers.

try monster beats, if
- your head isnt too big
- you dont mind paying the extra marketing toll for dr.dre

has useful features, like active ambient noise killer, single fold-away earpads
sound is 'ok' too.

lower-end sennheisers (280, 555) are decent and worlds more comfortable than grados

― booth, Monday, 11 May 2009 01:29 (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I've had a pair of Sennheiser HD570's for nearly ten years. They're really comfortable as long as the weather isn't hot, although that's true of all headphones. They've been discontinued. but whatever the currect equivelent is should be around $50-$80.

check out the Audio Technica range

I have panasonic rp-htx7s, which are big old-fashioned over the ear phones (not pads that sit on the ear). They are closed-back, which was essential for me, as I do most of my listening either on public transport or at home with someone else in the room, so I didn't want sound leaking in or out.

However, closed back phones are usually much poorer sound quality at the same price as open ones. I'm not too sure of the overall quality, but because the speaker is actually away from your ear, you don't get the claustrophobic quality that you get with, say PX200s. I like the way they sound anyway - lively.

Plus they look really cool.

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/pa/panasonic-rphtx7.jpg

If you're seriously tempted by the Grado SR60s, I'd strongly recommend considering getting Alessandro MS1s for $20 more - you have to buy them online, sadly, and they're $100 (including P&P to anywhere in the world), but they're made by Grado, are roughly equivalent to the SR125, and tuned with less brightness than any Grado. I find them much more agreeable than the SR60s, which I found quite fatiguing.

Failing that, get a dedicated headphone amp and a pair of AKG K601s; I ADORE these (big buggers top-right).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3225479471_dac5148d5d.jpg

Top-LEFT, duh me.

can anyone briefly explain the difference between the Grado SR60s and SR80s to me?

About $25.

Ba-dum-tsh.

Um, apparently slightly more bass extension, you get different earpads (the donuts rather than the sponges), a little more detail and soundstage, and allegedly a little brighter-sounding, even. If you get chance, listen to both and see which you prefer, I'd suggest.

Thanks. I'm going to the US next week and I was thinking I'd buy some Grados over there. I'm a bit worried by frequent mentions of lack of bass on the Grados and constant reference to them being 'rock' HPs.

There's a characteristic "mid-bass hump" in Grados that gives kick drums a real slam, but there's not masses of extension, no. They definitely favour rock over electronic music in terms of how they deliver; it's a very coloured sound, not an even one. It's absolutely exciting as all fucking hell if you're in the right mood, though.

What would be better headphones for electronic music? I love the Grado slam, as you put it, and I listen to plenty of electronic music, but if I'm missing something then I'd like to hear better.

I've got Sennheiser HD650's which I'm extremely impressed by, but those aren't in the same price range so I'll shut up.

What's your budget? I had some Sennhesier HD595s a few years ago which were better but didn't quite tickle me right, so I upgraded to the AG K601s mentioned above, which suit me for pretty much all music these days. Sennhesier HD555s might be a good try from what I've heard of them.

x-post

StanM, you running them off a headphone amp?

No, should I?

Ok, so the AG K601s would be good for anything, you say. Good. I'm not in the market for them now, and I see that they're pretty pricey, but on the other hand I listen to 6-8 hours a day of music most days on headphones, so it's an expense I could justify as a long-term good.

Almost certainly; they're quite power-hungry and everything I've read about them suggested you'd not be getting anywhere near the best out of them without a dedicated headphone amp. What you running them off? Hi-fi amp socket? Mini-system? iPod?

x-post

6-8 hours a day with headphones definitely justifies forking out a bit of cash, I'd say!

http://www.multitalent-production.com/Bilder/Equipment/akgk240.jpg
AKG 240s - Still love 'em after all these years. Great sound and their self-adjusting design make them very comfortable.
And they're a good value at $85-$120.

xpost: Hi-fi amp socket

if only I had their golden ears

ive never tried headphones above 500 so i cant say one way or another. would like to

As someone who has spent >$500 on a headphone and listened to headphones >$2k, it's a combination of sound quality, comfort and sound signature. >$1000 you're looking at extremely diminishing returns if not lateral changes in style and tone and there's a ton of products with very poor price performance ratios (MDR-Z1R, HD800S, LCD4, LCDX, Ether C Flow, etc). Clarity and detail is quite variable in headphones above $1k in my trials, and it's more about sound signature preferences, comfort, etc. An HD600 is like 90-95% of what you need for clarity, an HD800 will give you all of it for less than a grand. An LCD2 (which can be found new for $700) is to many a comparable if not better performer than the LCD3 (which is twice the price). Craziness. That said, there's some remarkable sounding gear out there above $500 and if you can't afford a good speaker setup or play music in your house loud, it's a worthy investment if music is more important to you than say television or movies.

The best way to find out is to actually trial some really nice cans. Bring your own and compare. For years I just used a DT-770 until I tried a bunch out in Japan while I was traveling and had a holy shit moment.

If you have a set budget it's perfectly acceptable to believe what you've got is as good as it gets!

For years I used the DT770 Pro and Denon AH-D2000 (which I still use at work) and they are great. It's not like there are crucial bits of range missing. Getting more into the hobby is definitely about gear geekery and appreciating the subtle differences in sound signatures, just like some get into wines or scotches, or musicians who collect different guitars. Not everyone is going to be able to tell the differences or care.

Super budget deal of the moment, the AKG K220 which lists for $160 will be as low as $50 on this Massdrop - https://www.massdrop.com/buy/akg-m220-semi-open-studio-headphones.

Any way to drive the HFM HE400 straight from an iPhone? Or is that missing the point?

The Massdrop HE-4XX is efficient and can be used on an iPhone. You can compare the sensitivity stats of the other versions.

I was searching around because I managed to grab my own rare pokemon of headphones a few years back but only have the short cable for them and having the long one would be nice.

My hopes of people forgetting about them and the price dropping down has again been foiled by an article in 2016
https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/27/11312378/sony-eggo-headphones-mdr-d33

damn it people, stop writing about eggos!

I'd never tried active noise-canceling headphones until recently, and the ones I picked up had terrible sound for a bunch of money, so I sent them back. If you're into good sounding headphones is active noise-cancellation a bad thing? does it end up distorting the sound? because that's how these ones went (they were bluetooth too so maybe that's part of the crappiness?)

I feel like studio cans that have really good sound isolation are just as good noise wise and sound so much better...

i haven't heard high end noise canceling ones by sony or bose though

i have a pair for the bus and they pretty much suck but were cheap (cowin) and i don't care if they get wrecked

active noise cancelling headphones do change the sound yeah. i own some nicer audio techinica ones but dont really care for them for music listening. great for movies on an airplane tho

yeah, different tools for different purposes

if all you care about is sound quality, you will get a lot more bang for your buck by skipping active noise cancellation

for work environments (incl conference/video calls) and travel, to me ANC is worth the price. I’ve field-tested the current Bose, Beats and Sony offerings. All are good, tho I was shocked to find I actually prefer the Beats.

Bose is the strongest noise cancellation, which some equate with best. For me it was almost obtrusive as white noise and a noticeable feeling of pressure. Great for air travel but otherwise a little much.

Sony is probably the overall winner for sound quality/comfort/noise cancellation. Touch controls felt a little fussy and I’m not the kind to open an app to fine tune my experience for every track.

Beats... sounds good, ANC is gentle but works well, W1 pairs brilliantly if you’re already inside the Apple garden, and are most comfortable for my ears/head.

Still figuring out which of the three sounds best on the other side of a call...

as bad luck would have it, i broke my only pair of headphones (Shure SRH440)last night. i superglued it back together, but i can tell the days are numbered...which i guess means i'm in the market for a budget-nice pair of headphones, in the $100-$200 range.

i guess i may be going back to the good ol' Sennheiser HD280PRO, which i enjoyed for years before breaking a few years ago.

Sony is probably the overall winner for sound quality/comfort/noise cancellation. Touch controls felt a little fussy and I’m not the kind to open an app to fine tune my experience for every track.

This is my experience with the MDR1000X. I like be them, perfect for an open plan hot desk environment. I’ve then although the headband has cracked after a year and it’s 200 bucks to fix.

My colleague has these and is raving about them. I might want these at some point. They came out of a startup accelerator I mentor at.

https://au.nuraphone.com/?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2F

my pioneer hdj-500s crapped out so i bought some phonon smb-02s

they get in tomorrow afternoon ... will report back soon

this is useful! I had bought the noise cancelling cans for my daughter, for whom the quality was still an update on her apple earbuds but to me not worth the 100+ €. we want the noise cancellation for her because our house can be noisy, so not for air travel. but then I was wondering if I'd like a pair like that. currently I'm happy with my sennheiser cx 3 earbuds (30 €) for on the run listening (at home I'm still in love with my grado sr-80s.

The Bose ones recently had a firmware update that lets you set the level of ANC. This is good for windy environments or for when you don't want to be so isolated.

thanks for that tip! still have bose and beats here duking it out...

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones

I use the Bose Quietcomforts for listening on the road and have become addicted to them - yes, the sound is distorted, but the noise-cancellation makes all the difference when you're listening in the metro, on a busy street, etc. Feel like it's a good way of protecting my ears too, since I don't need to crank it. Never going back to non-noise-cancellation hps.

I also have a few pairs of those chi-fi KZ-ATE in-ears, use them when I want something lighter. They're unmatched at the price.

Recently got a pair of Sony MDR-7605 for production use. They're crystal clear, quite comfortable, cable is practical, but they're unrealistically light in the sound - impossible to use them for EQing. A friend of mine recommended the Marshalls for this purpose, apparently they're realistically bassy/muffled.

those nuraphones look p interesting!

Dunno about the Nura - either that or a complete scam

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/02/21/17-year-old-girl-electrocuted-as-her-headphones-melted-in-her-ears.html

My question is, were they Bose or Beats?

the nuraphones look interesting but yeah that has my snakeoil radar going off

I've had these for a bit now...and I haven't ever had the nicer 600 series Sennheisers, so I'm not gonna parrot the "Sennheiser killer" thing you see some places...but. For open headphones that cost $50 these are ASTONISHING...I do think they are the Grado killers (SR60/80), I think the soundstage is better and the sound is less harsh and they are far more comfortable and well built (the comfort and build quality is really extraordinary at this price)

so if you are saving up for some more expensive cans, and want some opens for home use (these are super open would terrible in office environment btw), I've found these to be great, and I would expect match or outperform stuff that's 2X-3X the cost

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826138190&cm_re=Philips_SHP9500S-_-26-138-190-_-Product

Those look like they might be an updated version of a pair I have:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O2Y2MZG/

I mostly use them at home when I'm reading in bed because the open back is a bit much for the office, and they're a little on the large side for walking around too much. Really nice sound, though.

inova™

nura’s patented in & over architecture

Gettit?

xpost - yeah i bet they both say 50mm neodynium drivers the same way

I think philips tried breaking into the more expensive headphones market and didn't quite do it and they're using the same components in less expensive ones now? I'm sure some headphones nerds have dissected them all and are posting about it somewhere.

im wanting to buy those SHPs just to compare to the Senn 6XX i got

Audio Advisor has the HiFiMAN 400i for $219.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMHE400I

If like me, you go through sets of earbuds quickly, check these out, they really are the best I've ever had, not even just for the money.

I especially like that they have a nice way of rendering those awkward mid frequencies that affect my aging ears.

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/review-kz-ate-hi-fi-earphones/

If like me, you go through sets of earbuds quickly, check these out, they really are the best I've ever had, not even just for the money.

I especially like that they have a nice way of rendering those awkward mid frequencies that affect my aging ears.

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/review-kz-ate-hi-fi-earphones🕸/

do they not have standard tips that you can buy some comply brand ones for?

XP - Oh god yes, they drive me nuts, it's the rubberised quality to the leads and the L-shaped construction, if they had linguine shaped cable they'd be miles better, never had a problem with the fitting.

But you know, £10, can't argue.

absolutely not. tho i’ve literally lost an earbud in transition between flights at dubai f’ing airport and by god i’m ready to do murder.

I live and die for open headphones so noise cancelling headphones are a definite no from me.

Thinking of getting Bluetooth HPs or IEMs for watching TV (and not disturbing the family). Tips welcome

i’m now officially trying to collect Sony eggo headphones from the 90s, very open to buying any, even broken pairs, if anyone has any hoarded

speaking of cheap china earplugs : as mentioned on ILE, a friend got me these open headphones for my birthday.
i have no idea how they match up with name brands, but for me they sound bloody brilliant.

http://www.bestearphones.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/500x500/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/8/6/8663941FPNWofpsL.jpg

those look great