Philips SHP9500S headphones - $49.00 from Newegg's eBay store

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Newegg's eBay store is selling the Philips SHP9500S over-ear headphones for $49 shipped. That's a 70% discount off the list price and at least $20 cheaper than what most reviewers have said is a good price. They're an open-back design, which means a wider sound stage, but there will be noise leakage, so fair warning to those of you with roommates and significant others. General consensus says these are good all-around headphones for music and gaming, kind of a poor-man's version of Philips' well-respected Fidelio X2.

 

These aren't a poor man's version of the Fidelio X2, more like a an extremely broke man's Sennheiser HD 600. Fidelio X2 is V-shaped, great bass for an open back and sparkly treble, nice and wide soundstage. These have narrow soundstage for an open back, next to no bass and a huge dip in the upper mids that muffles vocals and accentuates the undetailed and grainy treble. Fidelio X2 are party cans, these are bland and sterile, even boring, sounding in comparison.

Build quality is pretty meh on the SHP9500 as well, the earpads are non-removable, thinly cushioned textured cloth of the Logitech gaming headset variety that induces sweat, and unless you have a huge head they'll have a tendency to slip off due to the loose fit. Meanwhile the Fidelios have great build, heavier but more padded and comfy overall by a margin.

That being said, for this price they're a respectable buy, just be wary of people overhyping against cans costing several times their price because they're really not all that.

 

Its worth noting that the S variant is reported to have cut some corners, like no adapter plug and some people didnt like the included cable. However the overall headphones themselves seem to be the same as its predecessor.

tl;dr nothing that cant be fixed or remedied later anyways.

Just got my pair of SHP9500's wonderful cans.