Looking For Good Headphones

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2007-06-26 05:14pm

At my office I use my headphones daily, for hours on end. Recently they got caught in the car door and the ear piece for the left side got ripped off. So now I'm in the market for a quality pair of headphones, I just don't know what brands are any good. My last pair were Skullcandy ear plug-type things, and they worked well enough, but were slightly uncomfortable.

Anyone have any brand suggestions I should take a look at?

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2007-06-26 05:40pm

Assuming isolation is of no concern, the Grado SR60 is always a good bet. I bought my pair from TTVJ.com for $58 (there's a $10 coupon for first time buyers). The problem I see is that, you may wear them for "hours on end" so they might get uncomfortable after awhile and might be when you first start using them. Another is that given it's not a closed type headphone, music will leak out of it. So unless your office is bustling I'd probably get a closed pair of headphones.

I'll let aerius chime in with that.

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2007-06-26 06:23pm

Yeah I'm definately looking for something that can block out the outside world. I've got a corner spot, but still, one of the joys of working in a cube farm is the drone of other people, and I'm sick of it haha.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2007-06-26 07:09pm

This is of course an extremely subjective choice, and ultimately you'll have to listen for yourself, but I think I can give you a decent look, having only a few months ago completed a revamp of my audio gear which included a thorough listening to headphones. Bear in mind, I'm only an amateur audiophile, compared to the likes of aerius.

First off, I personally hate Bose. I find them too bassy, and I don't like what they do to the sound. The Triport and similar models are also rather uncomfortable, for me. I find Sony a bit... tinny, as well, except for their very high-end stuff. Also, I'm not recommending anything hyper-expensive, like the $800 Grado RS-1's, AKG 701, and such. That's just too much (for now. Don't worry, audiophilia slowly takes over all logic

) Also a disclaimer: other than the 701, I know nothing of AKG headphones, so you'll find them missing here.

If you can have open cans in the office (which will leak sound, how much depending on the particular headphone), one of my first recommendations are the Sennheiser HD555's, with lovely velvet pads. I own these myself, and though they're not the very best, they're only mid-range in price, and sound difference between them and the top of the line isn't huge.

What is the top of the line? In this company, the Sennheiser HD600 is, but you need some power to drive them, and they're costly. Just below that are the HD590's, which have a nice detachable cord, which can be a real lifesaver. Either way, I find all Senns comfortable over time.

They don't even begin to approach the comfort of the Sony MDR-F1 though, those are just wankery. But they leak a ton of sound, being totally open, and I'm fully willing to bet it's too much for an office. So we come to Grado, as Soontir suggested. These have clarity like you'd expect from studio monitors, just without the dryness. The SR60's are nice, but I'd go up to the SR225's, which cost about twice that, but are just brilliant.

The difference between the SR225 and the SR325 (top of the line) is that the 325's have more presence because of that aluminium canister on the sides, but the price is so much higher, that I personally can't justify it. You also have the SR80, which I find too bassy, and the SR125, which is annoyingly EXACTLY in the middle of the SR60 and SR225 in terms of detail. I always found with it that I was being nagged on about how I could have better, if I spent a little more...

Anyways, you may have to get closed cans for your office. Now, here we come back to Senns. The PX200's are nice and folding, and feel sort of like old Koss 'phones, but they sound bad in comparison to the open PX100's, so I never took to them. The HD212 Pro and HD280's are much nicer, and the latter were actually my first choice for a purchase, before I found the open HD555's.

Sony: MDR 7506 are good, as is, surprisingly the MDR-85 - for the price. I prefer the Senns, though. Not much to say about these, unfortunately, I didn't wear them for more than a quick listen...

Now, comfort... closed cans are generally a bit squishier on your ears, but the most comfortable I've ever worn were the Koss UR20's. Folding, closed, and they cost something like $30. They sound surprisingly good for that, and are free of cord microphonics. If you want something good for little money, they're an okay choice. I'd even recommend them if you want to throw your headphones in a bag and carry them back and forth all day, as if you break these, it doesn't really matter. But let's face it: they're not great.

I'll end on the Beyerdynamic DT 880's, the second most-comfortable closed cans I've ever worn. Are they closed, though? I don't know, apparently. But if you look at them and listen to them, they're open. It's sort of like they went halfway, and the result is pretty nice. They also have the lovely velvet pads, like my HD555's, but mostly, the sound is very clear, and comfort is amazing. More pricey, and they might leak too much, though. So that's my rough guide. I probably missed quite a few things along the way.

Phew, I didn't realize I wrote as much as I did.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2007-06-27 12:12pm

IIRC, one would need an amp for the DT880.

I wouldn't go as cheap as the UR-20 especially if he wants quality sound and construction. I sure don't like the sound anymore *listening with his Grado

*.

I don't know where you are but if you have an airport with a Brookestone or Airport Wireless or just an Apple store nearby, they should have a demo station for Shure in-ear monitors (something like your Skullcandy) in which you can try out the different sleeve sizes to see which fits in your ear. I own the old Shure E4g model and it isolates and sounds fantastically (do not bother with the E2/3 models) although I believe the SE series have replaced the old line now. There are other IEMs such as Ultimate Ears and Etymotic but they don't seem to have demo dealers and given you found Skullcandy uncomfortable, I wouldn't want you to buy blindly.

On another note, although this would rightly be placed here in music, I would've put this in G&C, where aerius and phogn were to more likely see this.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-06-27 01:48pm

The advice given so far is pretty good, though - but the DT880s are probably a poor choice for an office since they do leak sound.

If NeoGoomba likes bass, there's the mighty DT770 ... but that might have too much bass for some people (I have a pair of 80 ohm ones).

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2007-06-27 02:03pm

My experience with closed headphones (ones that don't leak out a ton of sound) is rather limited, and most of it is at the higher end of the price range. The Senn 201 is at the low end as far as price goes but it's surprisingly good, I liked it more than any Sony headphone I've ever heard. Go up in price a bit and there's the AKG 240S, the bass gets a bit too boomy for my tastes and the treble isn't as crisp as I'd like, but overall it's smooth pleasing sound. Move up to the $200 mark and you get the AKG 271S, which is a fair bit more refined, but to me it doesn't have enough bass. It's more of a studio monitor sound, detailed & refined but kinda lacking in dynamics & energy, not quite as much fun to listen to. To be honest I'm not all that happy with the sound of any of these, they all do things which bug the hell out of me, but then again I'm rather picky.

Personal choice for me would be the Shure E4C, I can't find anything to bitch about unless I really want to nitpick them. They sound great, and more importantly, they're fun to listen to.

Or if you have some patience and a wad of cash lying around, you can wait for a pair of AKG K340 headphones to pop up on ebay, then build an entire system around the damn things. To me they're the best closed headphones ever made.

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2007-06-27 05:20pm

Thanks for the suggestions guys, its a slow night so I'll definately be reading up on everything you all mentioned.

Saurencaerthai · Post by **Saurencaerthai** » 2007-06-27 05:42pm

I've had nothing but good luck with the Sennheiser HD280's. They're plenty durable, comfortable to wear, and sound great, not to mention reduce noise from the outside. The Beyerdynamic 811's also sound great and feel good to wear, to boot. When one client was listening to a playback on them, she described it as feeling like "the kashmir sweater of headphones."

Of course, I have to echo everyone in saying "stay the hell away from bose." Shoddy materials+sub-par sound+ridiculous price=no win.