Headphones

[coldmeat]

I'm thinking of buying a pair of headphones. I don't like using the apple ones that came with my iPod. I also have a roommate that has a bedroom right beside mine. He goes to bed around 12 every night and apparently needs complete silence to sleep. He's even got a pair of earplugs. He keeps coming into my room to ask me to turn games or tv down.

I don't really want to spend any more than $100 (is that too low?), and I've got a few questions I'd like to ask before I buy.

1) What set should I buy? I hear Sennheiser is good, and see that on Amazon they have the hd555 listed at $98.99. I don't know much about headphones, so I haven't done much shopping past that.

2) How much sound do open headphones leak? Similar to earbuds or more?

3) I live in Canada, and Amazon only ships certain items to Canada. Apparently the will ship headphones, but how much do you expect this to cost me? I'm sure the prices at Amazon will be much cheaper than anywhere in Canada.

4) I don't really know if I can tell the difference between good sound and great sound. But I know I can tell the difference between bad and good. Might I be better off going with something cheaper and saving some money?

 

[Baked]

1) HD555 are open type headphones, you want closed type headphones if you don't wanna disturbed the peace.
2) Depends on the type you buy. Open type leaks a lot, meaning you can hear noise around you and people around you can hear your headphone. Closed type is the opposite.
3) Why don't you put the stuff in the amazon cart and do a mock checkout to find out?
4) If you want cheap and quiet, just get a pair of sennheiser HD202 for $25 bucks. It's a closed type headphone with 32 ohm, so pretty much any device can drive it easily.

 

[darkswordsman17]

1.) Well, I think you're going to be wanting closed. Might see if anyone would be willing to part with their DT770s from the Amazon deal a short while back. I think there's a JVC model that is pretty popular over on Head-Fi right now, although I don't know much about it (people are referring to it as an Audio-Technica ATH-A900 for cheap, which would be a very good thing).
2.) They leak quite a bit, probably enough that its going to bother your roommate. If the earbuds are positioned decently and aren't cranked well beyond where they should be, then yeah, open headphones leak a lot more than that.
3.) Sorry, I don't have a clue. You might try NCIX and doesn't Newegg ship to Canada now? Also might check on Head-Fi and see anyone in Canada is selling anything worthwhile.
4.) Yes and no. The solid low end stuff would be what I'd recommend for you, mainly because a lot of the "mid-fi" (price wise) tend to need a good system to bring out their quality, so that'd be considerable extra cost. Don't feel bad that you didn't go for HD650s, and just see how you like what you end up choosing. If its your first quality headphone (or quality audio equipment in general) there's a good chance you'll like it as long as you go with something that gets a consensus thumbs up on Head-Fi

Found someone selling what would be a great combo for you: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/...900-cmoy-combo-383043/

Those are the JVC I was talking about, and also a CMoy (cheap but solid amp). I know the guy is reputable, not sure if he'd ship to Canada or not though (and it might not last long).

Ah, whaddya know, a little further down the page: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/...dphones-canada-382057/

 

[coldmeat]

Ok I didn't realize open headphones leaked that much. It does sound like I would be better off with closed ones.

Maybe I will buy from that guy on head-fi

 

[coldmeat]

Anything I should know about those JVC before I PM him? I'm reading through the forums and they seem to be getting good reviews by the members.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
Anything I should know about those JVC before I PM him? I'm reading through the forums and they seem to be getting good reviews by the members.

Unfortunately I don't have any personal experience. Also, Head-Fi does suffer from flavor of the month fairly often, but generally even if something is a bit overrated its still worth buying.

You might see if the user Skylab ever reviewed his. I know he bought a pair and was waiting for them to burn in before giving his verdict. He's tried a lot of headphones and generally does solid reviews.

 

[LS21]

just ordered 100$ pair of audio technica es7

they look pretty too

 

[krotchy]

The HD-555's sound really good, and there is no way in heck your roommate will hear music in the next room coming from open headphones unless you are attempting to go deaf, I think they might be interpreting "roommate" as being in the same room with you, in which case he could hear what you hear with open headphones. I got a pair of 555s and they are exactly what I needed. I built a CMOY to go with them and they really do give a lot of clarity for the price.

 

[pontifex]

I have the HD555s and they are nice!

 

[coldmeat]

Now that I think about it, I think I would prefer a set of closed headphones. I'd like to be able to use them in the school library, or on the bus (greyhound).

Besides the JVC, what would you guys recommend?

 

[Tiamat]

The HD555 is a great can for the price. My room mate bought a pair and they are pretty good. Laid back highs, warm mids, classic sennheiser sound.

 

[Funyuns101]

The Sennheiser HD-280 are right around $80-100 and closed-type... I like them~

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: LS21
just ordered 100$ pair of audio technica es7

they look pretty too

Lots of fake ES7's floating around, so make sure to double check them when they arrive. (I'll see if i can find the head-fi thread regarding the fakes)

 

[coldmeat]

Ok well I was a few hours too late apparently for the JVCs. So now I'm still looking.

 

[thomsbrain]

If you have your door closed, there is no way your roommate will hear open headphones. I have Sennheiser HD-580's, and they could potentially annoy someone in the same room as you, but not in another room. 99% of what leaks out is high-frequency stuff that is more effectively blocked by walls and doors.

 

[nsafreak]

I'm going to disagree with Baker on some of his points:

1) Some folks prefer the sound of open circumaural headphones such as the Sennheiser HD555s that you're looking at, those are some nice headphones. You might also want to consider the Audiotechnica ATH-AD700 headphones which are also a very nice open circumaural headphones. You do not have to get closed headphones just to keep from disturbing the peace.

2) That depends on how much you have the volume turned up. In order for somebody to hear your headphones in another room you'd have to have them turned up to ear damaging levels.

3) No idea, best to put it in the card and find out

4) Its something worth considering. You might want to see if there's a B&M store that will let you demo the headphones that you're looking at or if there's a local headfi meetup in your area.

5) If your roommate can hear your headphones from another room with earplugs in then he has superhuman hearing or he's a douche & is faking it.

 

[coldmeat]

I know that open headphones can give better sound, but I'd also like to be able to use these in places where there are other people, and where people want silence.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
I know that open headphones can give better sound, but I'd also like to be able to use these in places where there are other people, and where people want silence.

The open versus closed as far as sound quality is pure BS. Plenty of the top headphones are closed, and there's certainly a good amount of lower models that are closed that sound good as well. Its not that one is better than the other, its more of a preference of sound, but that varies between any models of headphone.

I'm very much aware of how open say the HD555s are (I owned a pair myself), and if the roommate was complaining before, I think he would be still. If anything, probably even worse, as it'll sound like a buzzing noise, which would be even more annoying. I just think it'd be better for the OP to play it safe than sorry and go closed.

Seems like Canada kinda gets screwed when it comes to headphones (less variety, less companies selling to them, and generally higher prices). Maybe keep hunting on Head-Fi and see if you can find something worth going for. Maybe put a WTB thread up.

Also, unfortunately, I think it was someone on Anandtech that bought that pair out from under you after you posted the link.

 

[coldmeat]

I can't post in FS/FT. Not enough posts.

 

[Koharski]

I've tried a LOT of the headphones in this thread but my favourite as far as portable use so far has got the be the AKG K81 headphones. (or K518, same exact headphone but in black)

nice and sealed, light, good sound and they keep your ears warm in the winter

 

[moonboy403]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
I can't post in FS/FT. Not enough posts.

you can just message the person directly by clicking on the seller's user name and choose private message.

Btw, welcome to head-fi! I'm sure this is be the first of many headphone purchase for ya. Most, if not all, people who goes on head-fi end up in that path. :evil: