Headphone Recommendations

[WaTaGuMp]

Has anyone bothered to ask if the OP is buyinga headphone amp also or if he has one already?

Most of the recomendations here are crap if these are being driven by an iPod. iPods can't drive better headphones that are not intended for casual use. Unless you have a custom built PC with a good sound card (not just some soundblaster), you are also wasting your money.

No headphone amp? Just get Grado SR-60s or Senn HD280s.

Hate to be a jerk though. BUt no oneelse asked this either. Do you want in ear, open air or closed cans?

Can't beleice how irresponsible p[eople are with other peoples money.

EDIT: Oh, the guy above me. Everyone else here officially knows nothing about headphones.

Pretty much why I didn't answer. Way too many factors involved without knowing what is going to drive them, preferred sound signature etc etc. I have custom IEM's driven with a Cowon J3, it rocks.

 

[soulcougher73]

I got this Creative Aurvana Live headphones and love them. Damn only $60 now. Was $95 when i bought them at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-EF006...lab+headphones

 

[gevorg]

You cannot choose good headphones just by reading their specs and ratings. When buying decent headphones, make sure to audition. Any recommendation is just a starting point for headphones to checkout. Also, be careful on audiophile forums like Head-Fi.org, they're full of snakeoil and shills.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

You cannot choose good headphones just by reading their specs and ratings. When buying decent headphones, make sure to audition. Any recommendation is just a starting point for headphones to checkout. Also, be careful on audiophile forums like Head-Fi.org, they're full of snakeoil and shills.

I bought my Triplefi 10's from someone on Head-Fi. Those are what I had made into customs. There is a lot of good info there, but I do agree you need to listen to headphones to find what you like. In the end, Head-Fi is like any other place, its just peoples opinions.

 

[bononos]

Has anyone bothered to ask if the OP is buyinga headphone amp also or if he has one already?

Most of the recomendations here are crap if these are being driven by an iPod. iPods can't drive better headphones that are not intended for casual use. Unless you have a custom built PC with a good sound card (not just some soundblaster), you are also wasting your money.
......

So integrated realtek audio on motherboards can't drive those headphones as well or do they perform better than mp3 players at least?

 

[tcG]

There's no actual power from onboard audio, it's just a passive jack, so that would be just as bad as an MP3 player.

You CAN get VERY good audio from a computer. It involves a USB soundcard and FLAC files.

 

[darkswordsman17]

OP, what is your use/needs for this? That can matter quite a bit.

I would consider the ATH-M50 or the HD558 at that price range. Both have neutral-ish sound signatures and will work well out of most devices. The ATH-M50 is a closed headphone with a slight emphasis on the bass and treble. The HD558 is open-backed and has a lighter, airier sound in comparison.

If you don't mind going the DIY route and are willing to invest a bit of money in a DAC/amp (even some sound cards do the trick), I would get the Fostex T50RP and spend about $50 in mods on it. I promise you that you will find it very difficult to find better sound for less than $300. PM me if interested.

The Sennheiser HD429 isn't bad...someone mentioned the HD439 above. The treble and upper mids are a bit subdued, but they're really quite nice to listen to and a great deal at around $50-75. Unfortunately, they feel quite fragile, especially the cable.

The Monoprice 8323 is a great deal at $30. Bass-heavy signature, but still a great budget can. I think they respond very well to mods. I go as far as swapping out the pads , but that's an extra $20 or so, and many people like them stock.

I'm not sure how much the V-Moda M-80 is, but it's not bad if you don't mind bass-heavy cans.

Ultrasone headphones measure like crap in general. I think there is maybe one or two that have mostly decent characteristics. Grados are like sticking nails in your ears (huge emphasis on upper mids and treble...very annoying). Older Beyerdynamic headphones aren't bad, but there are better options IMO. The DT880 isn't bad, but is slightly metallic sounding from what I've heard. The DT770 has a weird emphasis in the lower bass but might not be terrible. The DT990 had a weird bass/low-mid hump and treble spike. Bleh. Their newer offerings with the Tesla drivers seem to have quality control issues and are generally just not very good. Generally stay away from Monster, Beats, Bose...stuff like that.

Some good advice there.

Nobody has mentioned how you are going to power these headphones, which is surprising considering most headphones in your price range will sound like different headphones (read: 10x better) with proper power.

They will not. They might improve if your amp doesn't have issues (and frankly a lot of headphone amps do have issues, a major one being output impedance/impedance mismatch with many headphones). Especially with a lot of newer headphones that are aimed at such sources and have low impedances, raising the chance of impedance problems.

Will they improve with a competent amp? Absolutely. Is it a necessity and make it sound 10x better? No it won't. There might be a few exceptions to this, but they're gonna be stuff like Orthos that you're not likely to find in this range. The only ones I can think of would be the Fostex orthos Hans mentioned and I doubt even they would sound 10x better/worse amped (although modded well and with a good setup they can sound really good).

Has anyone bothered to ask if the OP is buyinga headphone amp also or if he has one already?

Most of the recomendations here are crap if these are being driven by an iPod. iPods can't drive better headphones that are not intended for casual use. Unless you have a custom built PC with a good sound card (not just some soundblaster), you are also wasting your money.

No headphone amp? Just get Grado SR-60s or Senn HD280s.

Hate to be a jerk though. BUt no oneelse asked this either. Do you want in ear, open air or closed cans?

Can't beleice how irresponsible p[eople are with other peoples money.

EDIT: Oh, the guy above me. Everyone else here officially knows nothing about headphones.

Bullshit. If the OP had a budget of $1500 then yeah your little spiel would make more sense, but there are a lot of headphones in this range that will do just fine out of portable players. Yes they'll sound better with an improved source and amp, but by no means is having a $500+ DAC and amp mandatory or not having one a waste of money.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I got this Creative Aurvana Live headphones and love them. Damn only $60 now. Was $95 when i bought them at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-EF006...lab+headphones

They're solid. They do go on sale fairly often and are really nice for that price.

 

[coldmeat]

I bought the M50s myself on a $99 sale a year ago. Highly recommend.

They were on sale about a week ago for that price, but I missed out. They're still $120 and I'm thinking of ordering, but I'll probably procrastinate and miss that deal too.

 

[ponyo]

I got this Creative Aurvana Live headphones and love them. Damn only $60 now. Was $95 when i bought them at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-EF006...lab+headphones

Which is better and more comfortable to wear? Creative or Sony MDR-V6?

 

[Sephire]

There, you see it, what I did there?

Damn, I need to get my eyes checked

 

[bononos]

There's no actual power from onboard audio, it's just a passive jack, so that would be just as bad as an MP3 player.

You CAN get VERY good audio from a computer. It involves a USB soundcard and FLAC files.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=173
What about the part that says:
"Port-A/B/C/D/E/F built in headphone amplifier"
"All analog I/O are input and output capable, and headphone amplifiers are also integrated at six analog output ports (port-A to port-F). All analog I/Os can be re-tasked according to user’s definitions."

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

So integrated realtek audio on motherboards can't drive those headphones as well or do they perform better than mp3 players at least?

Depends on each specific model. A good way to drive good headphones from a PC is to get a good external DAC that connects to your computer via USB and then amping off of that.

there are better headphone amps for PCs but anything built into a motherboard is going to probably be the worse solution possible.

Maybe this would be nice.

If someone really wants to get good headphones, a good DAC and good amp, go to the forums ar head-fi.org and start reading.

Here's a link to the computer forum over there:
http://www.head-fi.org/f/46/computer-audio
You can navigate to other subforums from that link.

I have been considering something like this this for a while:
http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/headroom-desktop-amp--dac.php

Too much money though.

When talking headphones over $100, you really need to start looking into better DACs and amplification. The ting is, the headphones start to look cheap when you enter this realm of audio quality.

FWIW: You can get really good cans for under $100. It's hard to find headphones for over that price that can be driven by an amp in a PC or smart phone.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If spending $150 on cans, you might want to consider this for $120 more:
http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/headroom-total-bithead.php

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Bullshit. If the OP had a budget of $1500 then yeah your little spiel would make more sense, but there are a lot of headphones in this range that will do just fine out of portable players. Yes they'll sound better with an improved source and amp, but by no means is having a $500+ DAC and amp mandatory or not having one a waste of money.

You don't know what you are talking about. I've seen too many headphones recommended in this very thread (easily over half of them) that are good but without proper amplification are pointless buying.

I have Audio Technicas that I spent $150 on to replace my HD280s. I've regretted it ever since. They don't sound as good. PERIOD. With proper amplification I know the Audio Technicas would sound better than the HD280s.

BTW: See my link in my previous post. That is a $120 amp that would make headphones needing proper amplification sound way better. Stop pretending that $500 amps are needed.

 

[coldmeat]

If spending $150 on cans, you might want to consider this for $120 more:
http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/headroom-total-bithead.php

lol "If your budget is $150, you might want to spend double and get this too"

 

[Brainonska511]

I've had Sennheiser HD555s for the last 2 years. No problems wearing them with glasses or for long periods of time. Sound pretty damn good too.

 

[fustercluck]

Those Senn HD 558s look really damn comfy, especially compared to what I'm using now (cheap $15 phones...AKG K44s, really pretty sweet for the price).

The sucky thing is there is not really a place to try out headphones that has much of any variety. Then there's a million different headphone amps out there too, which make things even more complicated. My favorite phones were the Denon D2000s, they eventually broke though. The headband kinda sucks but they sound amazing.

Head-fi is where you want to go

 

[Brigandier]

What headphones around $100 would you recommend for plug and play?

 

[mnewsham]

What headphones around $100 would you recommend for plug and play?

these headphones and then I would also add on a small headphone amp (~$20) and a line out cable if you are using an iphone/itouch($10). If you want the full $100 on headphones sans amp I would recommend these they go from 80-100 dollars.

 

[yhelothar]

You can't really get a good answer without specifying your preference.

You would think that in the world of audiophilia, there is some golden standard of sound, a reference point if you will, but there isn't. You can pick up ten different high end headphones, and they'll all sound vastly different.

Personally, I've had the Etymotic ER4P and the Shure SE530 that costs twice as much. I ended up selling the shures and staying with the etymotic. The etymotics give you this illusion that you're there. If there were ever any surround sound 3D headphones, it's the Etymotics.

Most headphones don't need an amp, and most likely at a $150 budget, you won't benefit from one. Your headphones has to be about 80ohms are higher to benefit from one, and even then, there are many players out there that are decently amped.

 

[videogames101]

Just go to head-fi, everything you'll hear here is recycled from there.

Personally, I'm very happy with my senn HD598s

 

[bradley]

Personally, I love my Sennheiser HD580's paired with the O2+ODAC combo. Purely open transparent bliss on a fairly tiny budget.

 

[Scotteq]

I was a Senn fann for a while

I'm a Grado fan now. The SR125's are exactly at your price point:
http://www.amazon.com/Grado-Prestige...5576629&sr=1-7



Also - If you're getting serious about headphones then I recommend you use a dedicated headphone amplifier.

 

[yhelothar]

There's nothing de facto about a headphone amplifier for improving audio quality. The Grado SR-125i runs on 32Ohms, nothing like the 300Ohm heavyweights that generally require an amp. 32Ohms can be driven by just about any portable player and won't yield any improvements with an amp.