looking for closed, over the ear headphones comparable to koss ksc75

I have a pair of koss ksc75 and they are awesome. love them. Except...hurts ears after a bit due to the clips and the noise cancellation is nonexistent due to being open headphones.

was thinking of buying a pair of closed over the ear headphones. but I'm no audiophile by any means, so I'd like recommendation for the "best" pair for around $40. i'll be using them mainly for videogames and listening to music on my lappy.

In particular, I'm looking for headphones that provide some ability to block out ambient noise, comfortable and able to be worn for extended periods (~3hrs), and good sound quality in general for gaming/music listening uses.

so far, i've run across the JVC HA-S700, JVC HA-RX700, sennheiser hd201 and hd202. I'm also interested in audio-technica ATH-M3X, but havent been able to find reliable review. ATH-M30 also looks good.

So, any alternate suggestions or standout headphones in my lineup? THanks in advance

 

Actually closed and isolating, $40 - no, you won't find another in the sonic class of the wide-open KSC35's.

Around $60 - $80, yes. Prepared to increase your budget?

 

in that case, which is the best in terms of comfort and noise isolation of te four that I have?

and idk if this was typo, but I have the KSC75's, and u were talking about the ksc35's?

 

I don't think the KSC35's are easily found anymore unless you're willing to pay a slight premium for them from sellers on eBay or elsewhere.

I own the KSC75's as well (one of THE best audio purchases I've ever made hands down). I can't believe the sound that comes from these sub-$20 clips! Like you, the clip arms were really uncomfortable for me. You can certainly bend them into a better fit (don't worry, the arms are mega-strong and can manage some moderate bending with no problems). I didn't personally find that to be acceptable enough, so like a lot of others at the head-fi.org forums I modded them by removing the clips (they pop off easily) and popping them onto a Parts Express "mini headphone" headpiece. Now they fit like a dream and sound just as good.

If you're also willing, I recommend giving the Koss PortaPros a try. They look totally retro, and the look is love or hate. However, they're similar to the KSC75's but have a deeper bass and slightly recessed mids. I think they're both worth owning depending on what you're listening to.

If you have a Best Buy near you, also try out their recent exclusive Koss UR55's. I have a huge head, so these don't really cover my ears completely, but they have a nice rich sound and are comfy, too.

I'd love to recommend other actual headphones to you, but I'm almost exclusively an IEM (in ear monitor - not earbuds) person since I am more on the go. Check out the head-fi.org forum or the anythingbutipod.com headphones forum for some suggestions. I think the ABI forums are a bit less "audiophile" in nature than the HF forums, so start there

Good luck! Nice to see another Koss fan

 

The PortaPros sound great, but they leak sound in and out like crazy.
I haven't listened to my KSC75s in while, but IIRC KSC75 has a bit brighter sound <s>and you might find the PortaPros sound muffled comparitively</s>.

+1

I'm looking for another pair of IEMs as well.

I went from the KSC-75 to the PortaPros for the comfort. After that, I went to IEMs for isolation. Got the RE0 (super ultra max extended treble FTW), but I found that the RE0 has pretty much zero bass, so then I got the Fischer Eterna which has a better balance, but it still doesn't quite have the squealing highs that I used to enjoy.

 

Sorry, that was a typo. Unfortunately I can't really give you worthwhile feedback - of those, I've only had the HD201 for any serious period of time and while the product engineering in terms of moulding / assembly optimised for cost is absolutely phenomenal, I couldn't find anything else good to say about it, except that you get what you pay for. As for isolation in some respects the isolation is below phones like the PX200.

Looking around the M30 priceband might yield better results.

 

all right, thx for the suggestions, i'll head on over to those forums