a headphones recommendation thread

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