The ultimate headphones.

[palmertech]

I love my headphones, and like to think I am knowledgeable.

However, I am in the market for a new pair for summer. I would read reviews, but a lot are paid reviews, with the remainder being idiots on Amazon who give better ratings to Skullcandy buds than GradoSR60s.

People here are smart, what is a good, at home listening pair that is low impedance enough to be driven by portable audio devices such as an iPod? I do not need active noise canceling, and I am looking to spend under $150 is possible, though I can bump my budget.

Finally, though I will obviously take anything said about them with a grain of salt, does anybody have a nice set of cans they want to sell/trade/donate?

[Triton]

senheisser PX200s are nice. hell even the chinese knockoff ones i bought still sounded damn good

[Metallica Man X]

I've got a pair of Pioneer SE-305 headphones....and those things kick! Of course, they're of late 70's vintage....so that might not be what you're looking for...

[palmertech]

I've got a pair of Pioneer SE-305 headphones....and those things kick! Of course, they're of late 70's vintage....so that might not be what you're looking for...

Using my Koss PortPros a lot, the design has been unchange since not much later than that!

I like my PX100s, too, I am just looking for something bigger, better, and not so small.

[Dark-Aries]

www.head-fi.com


If It typed it wrong just google HEad Fi. There you will find what you are looking for. They even give you types of heaphones for different types of music....

But ya, my first pair of non crappy headphone *before were 3 dollar earbubds) Is a SKullKandy LowRider. And compared to what I used to listen to it's amazing, but not as good as my vid tech teachers Senheisers...Those are just to amazing..but 300 bucks they cost...and I now talk in engrish...great.

[DK]

I use my Grado SR60's all the time with my mp3. They were designed for portable devices, while the 80's were for home listening.

[jjhammerstein]

Are you looking for open or sealed cans?

[XCVG]

I don't use headphones, or earbuds. I have these weird clippy thingies that came with my CD player ($60, ouch- this predates MP3). I'm too cheap to buy good headphones. And the clippies are pretty good.

[jjhammerstein]

I looked around some, it looks like these will give you the biggest bang for your price range. Audio Technicas are awesome.

[palmertech]

Those do look nice!

And yes, I am looking for sealed cans. I usually go with open ones, but I figure I can save a lot of bickering by not disturbing those around me. Not to mention all the "YOUZ GONNA BLOWZ YOUR EARZ OUTZ!" comments when they are able to hear, even at LOW volumes, the full lyrics to the song from across the room. Then I either have to just ignore it, or explain to them how open headphones work.

[Aguiluz]

I use cheap ones I buy from the dollar store. I then plug it into my MP3 player, turn it up to full blast music and put it aside in the cabinet (I do not listen at these unsafe volumes!). After a few hours, when I use it they sound good. Bass, midrange and treble were nice balanced. I think the theory behind these is that when you blast the 'phones for hours, the drivers soften up and become more flexible. Also, my sister gave me her old Barbie MP3 player headphones. They were the best headphones I ever used. The sound was balanced to perfection. I crap you not.


The only thing I hate about cheap 'phones is the connection in the plugs break and makes one driver die.

[jjhammerstein]

I think your opinion is officially void in this thread.

[palmertech]

Hmmm... I was looking at the more "high end" range.

And letting headphones get loosened up a bit before listening is good, but full blast might be a bit much. Not sure of the truth in this, but I have read that you can blow out headphones by blasting them out of the box.

Those audio technicas look nice, been looking at the Grado SR80i set, as well. Open phones, though.

Bose makes some nice ones, but the price/build quality/sound ratio is too far skewed for me to seriously consider them.

Anybody else?

[Aguiluz]

Not sure of the truth in this, but I have read that you can blow out headphones by blasting them out of the box.

"Full blast" is a subjective term. If you have a cheapo MP3 player like I have, it has a lesser chance of blowing the headphones rather than, say, a 100W amplifier.

[jjhammerstein]

I have Sennheiser HD280 Pros, and they kick bass. Actually, they have pretty weak bass, I just wanted to use that pun. I think a headphone amp would do my pair some good. But seriously, if you have $150 to spend, those ATs are probably the way to go. Also, you are supposed to burn in new headphones for about 100 hours for max performance, but not at high volume, you only want it to be a little higher than a normal listening level.