Headphones

[kizza111]

Trying to pick some good headphones to ask for for christmas, i'm thinking a price limit of about £200... Sound quality is the most important thing, but style and comfortability are both very important.

I was looking at beats solo HD's, but I've read some bad reviews about them so if anyone has any input on them, let me know! Any good on-ear headphone ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

[kettleoffish]

brands to avoid - skullcandy, beats by dre, sony, bose

brands to go for - sennheiser, akg, grado, shure.

[thecat06]

I have bose headphones, and I've had them for two years. They are really good for me. Although, since I am in the US, I'm not 100% sure how much that is in US dollars...

But I would second to avoid skullcandy, they always broke withen a few months for me...

[kettleoffish]

Originally Posted by thecat06

I have bose headphones, and I've had them for two years. They are really good for me. Although, since I am in the US, I'm not 100% sure how much that is in US dollars...

But I would second to avoid skullcandy, they always broke withen a few months for me...

there's nothing really wrong with bose equipment - it is really good quality, it's just that they tend to be considerably more expensive than other brands. And £200 is roughly $320.

[djt820]

Originally Posted by kettleoffish

brands to avoid - skullcandy, beats by dre, sony, bose

brands to go for - sennheiser, akg, grado, shure.

Correct except you don't avoid good Sony headphones. Don't diss the great MDR-V6.

[RedState]

I gotta disagree with some of the above comments...I recently got a set of Beats Pro and I think they are the best headphones I have ever had...the sound quality is amazing.

[Lexington]

Depends on what you're going to be using them for - what type of music, what type of environment, what you'll be doing while listening. Different headphones work well in different situations.

Lex

[Chouchou]

Audiotechnica is another brand to consider.

[vyvance]

Sennheiser HD518

[kizza111]

Well they're just for personal use, walking home from school, or for drowning out the noise of other students while i study.

A few favourite artists i would be listening to a lot : Paramore, Linkin Park, Taylor Swift, my chemical romance, and a lot of modern pop stuff as well, like kesha, gaga.

It'd be best if the noise didn't leak too much, i have skullcandy low riders at the moment and I can never listen to them very loud because everyone else can hear it clearly too...

[Alex15]

I loved my in ear beats, but I ran with them in and they broke within 2 months. Definitely not for using while running. BUT I will say I loved the sound they offered as it felt like the music was inside my head rather then being pushed through to my ears if theat makes any sense?

[Lexington]

So is the source mainly an iPod or similar device?

You might benefit from actually getting two sets of headphones. A bud-type for while in transit, and an over-ear type for when you're stationary. Reason being - while certain headphones are better at "keeping the sound in the cup", those tend to be ones that let the least amount of sound IN, which isn't the ideal situation to be in while you're out walking. I can't speak for you, but when I'm out and mobile, I tend to need to get some ambient sound in, so I can hear potential hazards and whatnot. Also, "ideal sound quality" while out and about tends to be less important to me, since I'll be focusing on "where I'm walking" and whatnot, and thus will be paying less attention to the sound quality of the music. That doesn't mean you should just get the cheapest pair, mind you, but a cheaper pair of bud headphones can usually do the trick well. I use a $15-20 pair of Sony earbuds when I'm out walking, and they work really well for me. I can't say as I've checked them against an RIAA curve or anything, but they sound quite good to me - clarity, good bass, all that.

Lex

[kizza111]

Yeah the source will be almost only my iPod, and occasionally my laptop. I do actually have earbuds already, so i'm just looking for the on-ear ones right now. And for me, letting no sound in while walking about sounds just perfect, despite the possible dangers..

[kizza111]

Now looking at the "Bose on ear headphones"
(Bose OE2i audio headphones | Bose)
And they seem to look pretty good, with nothing but good reviews that i could find. Any comments on these particular headphones?

[vyvance]

Bose makes pretty good products but like Apple, you end up paying more for the brand name than the product itself.

Since you will be using them on a ipod, you might also want to consider a portable amp. Ipods and mp3 file formats are not the greatest when it comes to sound quality. Unless all your songs are encoded at a very high bitrate, which is rare, you might want to find a player that supports aac file formats too.

I still recommend Sennheiser for the brand. HD518 or HD448 both have great frequency response for the price, and both are really comfortable.

Sony MDR XB700, KRK Systems KNS 8400, Beyerdynamic DJX-1, and Audio-Technica ATH-850 are all good choices as well for your price range.

Whatever you do end up deciding on, just make sure you check to see if the frequency response of the headphones is compatible with the genre of music you will be listening to.

[kizza111]

For me personally, the HD518 is too big. They're over-ear (if i'm not mistaken) and i would prefer on-ear ones, simply because I think they look better. Sorry for being so pedantic over aesthetics, which i suppose isn't the most important factor in choosing headphones, but I think considering the level of attention these will probably bring me, (people around here seem to think that because i want to have good headphones i must just be getting them for the sole purpose of showing them off...) it would be best for me to get something more likely to blend in a bit with other peoples headphones...

[vyvance]

Hmm. On ear headphones will be harder to find with the noise canceling properties that you want, and you may end up paying a little more. The frequency response isn't as great either, as they tend to drop off around 10k.

Sennheiser HD25-1-II, Grado SR 125i, Audio-Technica ATH-ES55BK, and Phaiton PS 320 may be more to your liking. They are on ear, and the designs are fairly plain. They have pretty good frequency response too.

Hope any of this helps.

[kizza111]

Any views on "SoundMagic P30" ? Seem pretty good, and nicely priced!

And how about beats solo hd's? I think the design looks really good but I don't want to buy headphones just for the looks, so do they actually have good sound quality?

Sorry I keep coming up with new ideas for you guys to comment on, but I know next to nothing about headphones and want to make sure I don't waste money on something pretty that turns out to be awful... So yeah, any help appreciated, thanks!

[adam88]

Originally Posted by RedState

I gotta disagree with some of the above comments...I recently got a set of Beats Pro and I think they are the best headphones I have ever had...the sound quality is amazing.

Issues with anything by Monster (Bose too, as mentioned) is that you pay a huge premium for the brand name. Sure they sounded good (either Monster or Bose are most people's intro to good headphones) but for the price you can get even better sounding cans from the likes of Sennheiser, Grado etc.

Example, my gold Grado SR325i phones (as seen in my avatar pic ) are the best, most musical and most insanely detailed headphones I've ever heard (and I've listened to quite a few), and retail for around the same as the original Beats.

To add to Lex's suggestion of in-ears, give the JVC HA-FX-66 Air Cushions a try. They're cheap and very comfy and sound great for the price, so you can use those on the go and have a nice expensive pair for home listening. For a bit more, the Klipsch Image S4s are probably my "bang for the buck" suggestion, for really good sound while not having to take out a mortgage to afford.

[kettleoffish]

if you're looking at earbuds, make sure and try out Sennheiser CX-300IIs, I'm on my third set now (I'm tough on earbuds) and I'm yet to try a set of earbuds I liked better.