Headphones

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Slidetechnik

Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
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Well, I need some headphones and don't know my foot from my head when it comes to them. That said, I'm looking for recommendations and I figure there is probably a large group of audiophiles here. Criteria as follows, any advice welcome:

1) Budget is $50, could stretch to $75 or even further if it was going to make a big difference
2) Mostly used for music, specifically jazz, blues, and bluegrass
3) Used in close proximity(10ft) to my coworkers, so it can't leak too much sound
4) Not a big fan of ear buds
5) Preferably won't damage my already terrible hearing

Thanks in advance.
 
Do you want in ear or big tuna cans that go over the ear?
I'd say that $100 would be a minimum expense for something descent. Then again, what's your source? CD's and LP's might warrant nicer headphones. MP3's and most computers don't sound that great anyway, so get anything you want.
Look at Musician's Friend, online store they will have the best prices for better quality music gear. Maybe some in ear monitors are what you need, to keep the sound inside, and not outside your head. Look at the cheaper ones from M-Audio or Bose.
 
Just find a comfortable $30-50 pair of Sonys or whatever from Best Buy. If your hearing is "terrible" you won't be able to tell the difference between a $30 Sony and a $300 pair of studio headphones with some rapper's name on them. Especially if it's mp3s or the radio you're listening to. I doubt most people can tell the difference anyway, and I'd bet that most that think they can are just fooling themselves. I have very discerning ears, and I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference (not $300 worth of difference, anyway). If you travel a lot, it might be worth it to get a nicer pair with noise reduction. Otherwise, an on-the-ear or over-the-ear set should drown out ambient noise well enough to isolate yourself if that's what you're going for.
 
Planterz ordinarily I would agree with you to save the cash and not worry about a rappers name on the headphones. But I own a pair of Beats by Dre, the sport ones with the ear hooks, and they absolutely blow away any other headphones I've ever heard. I've owned or used Shure, Bose, and a couple other mid-high end pairs, and the BBD are far superior. I will say that in just about a year of regular use the left speaker no longer works due to the wire getting pinched. Yes this happens with just about all headphones I've owned, but I would expect a bit more durability for the price. So the question is if they're worth the additional $100 or so over just a "good" pair of headphones. Honestly after my experience with them I would still say yes. The whole claim of "hearing music like never before" is true, at least in my experience.

To the OP, I'd go with a nice pair of SkullCandy or Sony headphones like Planterz recommended from Best Buy. Something like that should meet your needs and not drain your wallet.
 
I'm a big fan of my Bheringer DJ head phones. The only problem is you have to go from a 1/4th inch to 1/8th inch adapter and if that gets knocked around in a PC you can rip up the audio jack pretty easily.

I don't know if they are even made anymore they have lasted about 7 years and took a lot of abuse and still runs well.
 
I like my Sennheiser HD 428s for a closed headphone in that price range. (They’re around $55 at the cheapest online places.) The sound is pretty good. They’re lightweight and really comfortable. The 428's design suits me better than the 202 style.

If you’re just getting in to higher quality headphones, you might want to try the Grado SR 60 at around $80. The sound quality is awesome. They’re open headphones though and leak a lot of noise, so they might not be suitable around coworkers.

www.head-fi.org has several different forums to check out if you haven't already been by there. I’m not that into audiophile stuff, but it’s fun to read about and there’s a lot of good info there.
 
comfort plays as much a key as sound quality. if they hurt your ears/head who cares how they sound...
 
Give the skullcandy ink'd earbuds a try. I know you said that you're not a fan of earbuds, and I wasn't until I tried these. They are incredibly comfy, have great sound, leak almost nothing, and are around $10 off amazon, your choice of colors. If you end up not liking them, you're only out $10.
 
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The Koss Porta Pro gets great reviews and come in just below $50 - they aren't fancy or pretty to look at though.
 
thatotherguy said:
Give the skullcandy ink'd earbuds a try. I know you said that you're not a fan of earbuds, and I wasn't until I tried these. They are incredibly comfy, have great sound, leak almost nothing, and are around $10 off amazon, your choice of colors. If you end up not liking them, you're only out $10.
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If you go for skullcandys, get the titanium ones! They're about $42 at bestbuy. Best in ear bud I've ever owned under $100!
 
AKG K81 DJ

http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,1021,pid,1021,nodeid,2,_language,EN

image1122894102_k81dj42ee0116217d5.JPG


You can buy these online for just under $50. AKG is an Austrian headphone/microphone maker owned by Harman International. An online store named after a tropical river calls these "HARMAN K81DJ Akg." They are the same headphones.

They don't leak much sound, but there is a trade-off: they clamp your head pretty hard. If you don't like jamming IEMs into your ears, this is your best alternative. Sonically they are a small but noticable step up from Koss Portapro and Sennheiser PX100, which leak sound like crazy. Impedance 32Ω and they work fine with a cheap iPod.

Check here for reviews of portable headphones

http://www.head-fi.org/t/433318/shootout-94-portable-headphones-reviewed-audio-technica-ath-es10-added-10-8-11

and IEMs

http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/multi-iem-review-199-iems-compared-fischer-audio-tandem-hisoundaudio-crystal-added-10-05-11

"Burning in" helps most headphones, some more than others. Plug them into a radio, tune to a 24-hour music station, and give them 100 hours at your normal listening volume. As I remember, it helped these headphones a lot.
 
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There you go. Sennheisers are consistently better than the competition at all price points.
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Definitely. The 280 HD pros are sorta the gold standard of ~$80 "DJ style" headphones, at least with the people I hang out with. No rappers or DJs, just audiophiles. Only problems with 'em are things inherent to gigantic $80 over-ear noise-blocking headphones that are designed to have extremely high noise blocking, and an ultra-flat response. Midrange earcup resonance, and the bass response is very flat compared to more bass-heavy stuff that I'm used to. For jazz and blues, though, they should be great.

They block just about everything, though. They're rated at 28 decibals of attenuation, I think, which some people have said sounds excessive, but compared against some shooting muffs I have, seems like they're at least 25-26. You might need to get some semaphore flags for other people to use.
 
I have a pair of Audio Technica M50. The sound is really good for the $$. They are a little out of your price range also a bit large if that might be a concern. Around $ 50 bucks the Koss Porta pros. Both can be seen @ www.amazon.com
 
Thanks for the info guys. I've been browsing around at Head Fi. Great forum. A lot of guys over there are mentioning the Panasonic HTF600 and the Samson SR850. The Panasonic gets such rave reviews for the 30 bucks that I almost might pull the trigger and get a pair just to see how they do. For 30 bucks, I won't have to worry about banging them up at work.

Anyone used either of these?
 
Slidetechnik said:
5) Preferably won't damage my already terrible hearing
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Change what you're listening to so you won't turn the volume too high. Descending order of payback:

  1. Get headphones that isolate you from ambient noise. IEMs excell at this, but some headphones are useable — typically closed headphones that clamp your head pretty hard. The portable shoutout at head-fi.org is good for identifying strong isolators.
  3. Get the best audio equipment you can afford.
  5. Listen to good quality stereo recordings. For jazz, blues and bluegrass, that usually means recordings made after 1959. We tend to listen to monaural recordings at highter volume.
  7. If you are listening to compressed digital audio, upgrade the format. Switch from MP3 to AAC and increase the bit rate to 320 kbit/s. Re-ripping your music collection is a pain in the ass but worth it if you have time.
 
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