High End Headphones

Hey everyone. I am in search of a new pair of headphones. My budget is about $300 +/-$50. They need the be around hear headphones and have to be noise cancelling. I will be listening to mainly music from computer and ipod and watching movies/anime. I was looking at Beats and Sennheiser PXC-350 or something like that but am completely open to others. I listen to pretty much every type of music outside of country haha

 

Try looking at Sennheiser HD 600 or HD 650. They may be a little above your budget, but from the reviews I've read, it seems that they are pretty good.

There you go. Hopefully you can afford them!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106305

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1257853927&sr=8-1

seems like i can. Does it come with a carry case?

 

any other suggestions?

 

Why do you need isolation / cancelling? If you tell us - or more specifically me - where you'll be listening, then I can come up with some recommendations.

 

Sorry to go off in a tangent here but, is there really a difference in audio quality that justifies the price or are these targeted at the enthusiast? How much better would a pair that CZX58 Shadow recommended sound over lets say Logitech's G35?

 

Active noise cancelling ones tend to have poorer audio quality with out going way over your budget. I have some Ultrasone DJ1 Pros's and they semi passive noise cancelling (I use them on planes and long car rides a lot and they are better then Sennheiser HD580's).

It really comes down to if you want passive or active noise cancelling.

 

How about something $200 with a $100 amp? +/- $50, Your iPod might not be able to fully power it.

Over the ear headphones aren't the best noise isolators.

Perhaps something along the lines of Shure SRH840/Sennheiser PXC350 with a decent amp?

 

You don't need an amp with an SRH840 for starters. Low-end amps are a complete waste of time with iPods et al, especially since they don't suffer to anywhere near the same extent they used to with a low-impedance load - you're much better off not buying into the Head-Fi ludicrousness and finding an efficient pair of phones that matches what you need.

But the question for the OP remains - where you will be using it will dictate what is the best choice of the type of phones to go for.

 

Dont buy Sennheiser, they are a shady company. They do not backup any of there products. They provide a 2 year warranty, which you pay for, and it covers absolutely nothing.

I recommend the DT770, they are closed headphones, they are much better than the stupid HD280's I had before.

K-TRON

 

Inside your budget, closed, easily driven check
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro-80 Closed Studio Headphones
Audio-Technica A700
Sennheiser HD-280 Professional Headphones

 

Beyerdynamic DT150 would be a better choice than DT770

 

I doubt it, being more expensive and 250ohm will for him to buy headphone amp.

 

I have a nice set of bose that cancel most of the surrounding noise and have great quality. But to be honest they arent much better then the maxell ones I had before that went for $19 at rite aide.

 

Seconded. Bose has only decent quality audio and are horribly overpriced.

 

HD650's will probably sound the best in your price range, but they wont isolate, and they are hard to drive. I've got some Ultrasone HFI-780's that isolate very nicely and are very easy to drive(only 35 ohms).

 

Ok guess i need to answer a few things haha. I work at school and there is constant music playing that I don't really enjoy and on top of that the yelling that people do to talk across a room is insane. I will use these to pretty much do all my work as well as any other time i want to listen to some music. Oh and I meant i need around the ear not over sorry about the confussion

 

OK, so isolation is pretty key.

Well, it should be realised in that case that most of the high-end closed headphones don't actually offer truly meaningful isolation - it's more for not disturbing others around you. Electronic cancellation works very well for removing droning noises (like airplanes, cars, air-con, etc) but is much less effective against voices.

So if the above is out of the question, you have two options: higher-end studio closed headphones, and in-ear monitors.

The next question is I suppose how dorky you can afford to look. The Shure SRH840 is a good choice in terms of sound for an around-ear closed phone and offers very good isolation, but it will amplify your Napoleon Dynamite factor by about 10,000.

The Sennheiser HD25-1 offers better isolation and hugely less dork factor, but it has slightly lower sound quality and is much less comfortable being an over-ear type. Because it's compact and easily portable however, you might find this a lot more useful than the bulky, around-ear studio phones - and you can also trade off some of the isolation (bringing it down to SRH840 levels) and up the comfort (although not to SRH840 levels) with the optional velour pads.

If that's not an option, I would say just get a pair of in-ear monitors. For $2-300 you can get one that won't sound as good as the SRH840, but pretty decent all the same.

 

Problem with in-ear is that they always fall out =( ears were made weird haha.

In all honesty I think a really good sound quality semi noise cancelling would work cause then i can just turn my volume up

 

DR. DRE headphones son!

/thread

 

lol...




/facepalm

 

You're thinking about ear buds which sit outside your ears. In ear headphones go right into your ear canal. It's like a direct injection of audio goodness right where it belongs.

 

Sure - you can turn it up to hearing-damage-causing levels to overcome the background noise.

You're thinking about earbuds, but in-ear monitors (at least >$100 ones) are designed to go inside the ear, along with an adjustable fit. Only the Sennheiser HD25-1 can go toe to toe with most IEM's in terms of isolation, and no headphone can beat them when you use the better-fitting foam tips.

The advantage of IEM's (and I don't use headphones on the move, unless I need to warm my ears) is that they offer very high levels of isolation allowing you to listen at quieter volumes while still making out the music clearly. Turning up the music to drown out background noise is a main cause of hearing damage with personal stereo listening.

 

so what are some IEM's that I could look at?

 

The Shure SE530 is within your $300 budget.

http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SE530-Sound-Isolating-Earphones/dp/B000O8ENQK

It's what I use as my subway beaters. It's an older IEM in terms of what's on the market, but one of the good ones. It avoids jacking up the high response and thinning the lows to give a false sense of detail, delivers good accuracy and a pretty rounded tone - for an IEM. Great isolation with the foam tips, less but still high levels of isolation with the everyday-use-friendly silicone tips (what I use pretty much exclusively with the SE530 - if I'm in a situation which might need the foam tips, I'll usually have the custom-fit Ultimate Ears UE-11's with me).

Oh yeah, if you get an IEM, or jaysus's sakes swap out the foam tips on a regular basis, and wash the silicone tips once in a while. I have seen some utterly disgusting things from people who I consider otherwise clean and of reasonable level of intelligence.

 

So I got to try a pair of these from a friend who advised i should get them but again they fell right out =( even with the smallest tip. I think ill just stick with around ear headphones no matter the size. Just going to go for some really good quality sound with a little bit of noise cancelling

 

If you're wearing them right, they should not fall out. A lot of people are scared of putting these in the ear to the levels they should be, and as a result they complain about sound, fit, etc. Which one did you try?

 

I can recommend the Autio-technica ATH-M50s, they are awesome!

I know they are below your budget, but they are low impedance at only 38 ohms. Low impedance means they are easily driven by ipods and laptops without the need to amp them. I haven't had any problems with volume with these and my zune player.

I am college student, and noise blocking was important to me when buying headphones. The M50s do a nice job reducing the noise around me, and once I have my music turned up I don't even noticed the others around me. These are not active noise cancelling, just passive noise blocking. Also being a college kid I spend more time than I would like in the library, I usually end up wearing these for 3-4 hours at a time and they are completely comfortable! Also they do not look as dorky as a lot of the other headphones out there, personally I really like the look of these.

They sound amazing, the first time I listened to these headphones I couldn't believe all the new sounds I was hearing! What used to be just noise with my old cheap koss cans is now a distinct sound and it really changes the music experience.

I suggest some reading of reviews!
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-Studio-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B000P62ND6
http://www.headphone.com/headphones/audio-technica-ath-m50s-straight-cable.php

I got mine on ebay for $85 brand new with free shipping, and I couldn't be happier. Good luck!

 

you could try the esw9a
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technic...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258063922&sr=1-1

 

Wow those Audio Tech wood ones are cool. Are they Around ear or on ear? Also how good is Audio Tech in terms of quality?

 

They're on-ear, and don't isolate to any significant degree. Sound quality of the ESW9 is about the $150 closed phone level, but with a much stronger bass than most studio phones. Very well made, but IMO not worth it to a level far greater than more often attacked brands like Bose. One for the Head-Fi 'anything with wood = fantastic' crowd.

 

i just like looking at these headphones because theyre wood and look fancy.
i don't really know about the headphones in terms of sound quality, but i suspect them to be pretty good. read up some reviews on head-fi.org

 

ican advise you stay away from the beats by dr dre. i auditioned them at the weekend and they sounded terrible. HUGE amount of overpowering subwoofer bass, and the rest of the frequency range was mediocre at best.
i own ultrasone 780's which sound very good, but they are not the most portable of things. big, bulky, heavy. not bag friendly, though they are built like tanks.

avoid grado, since they are totally open and provide no isolation at all. avoid sennheiser HD600/650 for the same reason. audio technica ESW9/10 do not isolate very well.

have a look at ultrasones range. also look at audio techinca M50. i cant think of any other good closed headphones right now.

 

www.head-fi.org

But be prepared to lose your wallet upon entering, lol.

Seriously though, head-fi audio is an expensive hobby. I had to get out of it because it was costing more than my PC addiction, which is just sad.

In your price range as others have said: Beyerdynamics DT770/80ohm, Sennheiser HD650, if you don't care about openess I could suggest the AKG K701's or the Denon AHD2000's or even the Grado SR225i or SR325is.

All good choices, but most are going to require a good amp to really fully experience them. The Beyer DT770/80's are probably the only ones out of that list that will be ok without (but still benefit with).

 

You should get the AKG 701/702 I currently own both and they are simply amazing for movies and music.

You will need an amp and DAC (optional) to power these headphones. I'd highly suggest getting the DAC first then an amp but DAC isn't required.

I'd say with any audiophile headphone an amp is a must.

 

This is just like Head-Fi - have this weird sense of deja vu.

Guy asks for a pair of high-end closed / non-leaking headphones. Everyone piles in to recommend the open phones of their choice

 

Open headphones usually sound better. That and everyone's too busy listening to their open headphones on Head-Fi while posting that they aren't paying attention .

My recommendation: Sennheiser HD25. They're sealed and block a decent amount of noise, are extremely durable, and if you somehow manage to break them (having them run over or something) you can purchase replacement parts for just about every aspect of the phone. They generally sound great (though they are SLIGHTLY more bass heavy than some of the highest end headphones). Plus they're pretty efficient, and you get most of their full potential out of an ordinary laptop/DAP.

I would recommend you buy the HD25s a new cable though. The one it comes with is stock steel, and even if you don't really believe in recabling things purchasing a standard cable used for the HD580/600 will remove the microphonics (rustling sound you get when you touch a cable) as well as sound better. Only problem with the upgrade is the fact that the oxygen-free copper cable is much more fragile than the steel cable, and may break after 3-4 years if you frequently use them as a portable headphone. You can also replace the pads with velour ones for additional comfort at the expense of less isolation.

Generally you don't really need active noise cancellation (electronic) over passive (HD25, DT770, A700) if you want sound isolation. Only real situations I think that active noise cancellation over passive is really useful are those with constant, unending noise (planes, construction workers outside your house, the first few months of a neighbor/friend/relative practicing a new instrument). Though I'd probably look into in-ear headphones for maximum sound blockage for those types of situations.