Hey guys, I'm in the market for some over-the-ear headphones. Looking for decent balanced sound, nothing extreme. Reading online reviews for the last three hours is doing my head in - all review sites are crap for my purposes, listing high-quality DJ headphones at the top of every "best" list. What I'm after is something that I'll wear around uni and between classes, playing music from my iPhone. At home I have a Sennheiser headset I'm very happy with, but I can't exactly wear it out and about. (On account of it being a headset) The style I'm after is "big". I've had every other kind, so that's what I'm looking for. ((Something along the lines of the iFrogz Mogul, but maybe not necessarily THAT big. I wouldn't mind if it didn't look like crap too. The Moguls I've checked out only because of the style.)) Honestly, I'm sick of review sites so what I'm after here is just a "What do you have/use/love." kind of thread. Obviously styles differ and all, but there have to be some standouts. Price doesn't really matter, but I'm obviously not after $500+ headphones. Thanks for any help guys, and please don't give links to sites that review headphones, I've read them all and they're all useless.
take a look at skullcandy's selection. People say they break easily but with a lifetime warranty you don't have to worry
I've had experience with Skullcandy, wasn't too impressed... The ones they offer in NZ, at least, feel cheap. Thanks for the suggestion though, really appreciate it.
Well, obviously anything by Bose is going to have great sound. But not sure about your price range. The ones that are reasonably priced and have a really cool retro look to them are the Marshall Major Fx Headset. I actually was confused if you were looking for over the ear headset since you have one, or in ear buds. Klipsch is also a fantastic brand (but of course you get what you pay for and that is pricey!)
My favorite headset is relatively inexpensive: Sennheiser PX-100 open-air. They sound pretty great, but the a possible downside is that they are open-air (which is why they sound great), and thus don't block any outside noise, or very, very little of it. Now actually I like that as I don't like the feeling of being sound isolated from the outside world, but that may not be important to you. Also, because they are open air they also let sound OUT, so could annoy officemates and such, especially if you were to play them loud. Still, they sound pretty great and are inexpensive. I think there is a new model that replaced the PX-100. Maybe PX-110? Not sure. Oh, and they aren't "large" so I guess that wouldn't qualify, but I figured I'd toot their horn anyway. LOL.
Bose and Klipsch are both overpriced for the quality. I'd recommend the Sony MDR-XB700's. You can get them for around $70 new off ebay last time i looked. They're big, comfortable, high end by most people's standards and have awesome base. I made the mistake of going for the Sennheiser HD515's when i got my last pair. I kind of regret it because the base just doesn't compete and they were actually $10 more.. but the HD515's are really comfortable so I'm ok with them. Don't buy your headphones from a physical store.. Such a steep price jump.
Thanks for the responses, guys! I've spend half the day today wandering around stores and trying out every headphone that they would let me. I actually found myself quite happy with the Skullcandy Aviators as they were comfortable, look okay and sound quite decent. The problem is, here they cost NZD$350. I can get the brown/gold pair for $250 though. (As a reference, the Beats Solo HD by Dr Dre start at NZD$370) Basically, being in NZ severely cripples what I can buy. I've pretty much narrowed my choices down to the Aviator, or a few House of Marley choices. (Revolution) Heavily leaning towards the Aviators though, they fit around my ears rather than ON them, and have comfy pads. Never got a chance to try out the Revolution though, they didn't have a display pair, but they look like they fit on my ears rather than around. Now that I found out how poor the selection here actually is, I guess the one thing I can ask about is whether the Aviator model has any secret crappiness that I don't know about? All signs point to it being overpriced, but it looks like my best option now. Thoughts?
I use Marley headphones for my out-and-abouts - the sound quality is excellent, the price point was good, and they are made from recycled material.
Skullcandy... Definitely SkullCandy. They are great. I would never purchase a pair of headphones if it wasn't from them. I use Riot in-ears and Hesh over-ears. I would look online and ship. [http://skullcandy.com]
http://www.head-fi.org/ The only website you'll ever need for headphones. And audiophiles would never, ever, ever buy Skullcandy or Beats. But they're in, and I'm sure that if you get in the pricey range, they wouldn't sound terrible. But when you're getting into the Shure or Sennheiser pricepoints, you might as well go for the superior engineering, in my opinion.
You implied that Skullcandy heaphones sound terrible when they're not expensive. If you do mean that, you are smoking something WAY too powerful. Sennheisers are fine, though.
Been there, saw a lot of comments by people that own expensive headphones, left. All their "recommendations" are for what I would call home headphones. Aka 3m+ cord, etc. While I do value quality, I will settle for less, because I already have high-quality headphones for home use. Anyway, I would love to get something decent from Shure, or ATH, but my problem is they're not there. ...I hate NZ sometimes. Edit: Actually, there might be some hope. I just found a high-end electronics store and they seem to have a pretty big selection of headphones, among other things. Will go check them out, see how it goes. Edit2: AND they seem to be reasonably priced. What the heck is going on!?!!? I swear it's unheard of for NZ.
Or I just know that my IE6's are monumentally better than whatever Skullcandy offers up to that price point and well beyond. You can't tell much difference if you're rocking 128 kbps. But if you get into higher quality ranges (256-320 kbps or even Lossless), Skullcandy doesn't even compare. There's definitely that problem; it can get frustrating to sift through all the information. But it's a pretty comprehensive site, and if you post a little info about what you're looking for, they'll generally help you out. And I'm sorry you can't find Shure headsets in NZ. I dunno how you could help that.
Hmmm... I've been thinking of getting the Grado SR60i. They have it in stock, all reviews point to quality, it doesn't look like crap (though has those antennae-looking things on the ears), is affordable and is actually available in NZ. Hopefully I'll get to test out a model tomorrow.
@captainawesome I think 128 sounds terrible on skullcandy. I always use 256. I use iTunes, so I cant get lossless. If I were to use lossless, I would use Seinheisser. But, @Mr. Starter of this thread, please remember that Youtube rips do not need 300 dollar headphones.
You assume too much. I love my music far too much to ruin it with YouTube rips, I always try to get the best quality I can. Hence why I'm doing research and spending days choosing a model, instead of being happy with my NZD$20 Sennheiser earphones. That said, I know there's no point for me to get $1,000+ headphones, which I also mentioned. ^^
I swear by Sennheisers myself but I can't really comment much on this thread as I always go for in ear types. I do think for the medium kinda prices they can't get really be touched.
I'm pretty sure iTunes has a Lossless option. I can't remember where it is in the preferences; it's somewhere in the ripping options. I'm not at my computer so I can't check. But it's there; I've used it before for some soundtracks. And if you think 256 sounds good on Skullcandy, you really ought to try some higher grade stuff. My mind was blown as soon as I broke into the higher-quality market.
most of my mp3 collection is in 320 - but for home listening I listen to vinyl/CD. I have a Sony USB turntable that I have routed into my Line6 Toneport UX8 and out to my studio monitors and headphones. I had a pair of mid-range skull-candy headphones a couple years ago - they sounded very good through my iPod touch. Unfortunately they broke after about 3 months (left ear went out) and I ended up using iBuds for about 2 years. For my birthday I got a pair of Marley Headphones - and they are awesome. Love the fabric cable and the sound is super clear - and very loud. I usually have the volume set to 3 when I have them on - and if I turn it up to around full I can leave them on my neck and listen to them like a radio without missing a note (even from the bass).
If you haven't made a move yet, Echoseven, then here's a bump for the Sennheiser PX100 that crunc recommended. I think they're rather coloured (my comparison home headphones are HD600) but nonetheless they are instantly likeable and they don't get old. I mean they stay likeable. They are "hands off they're mine" headphones. Like just about all Sennheisers the drivers will outlive everything else. I had a pair for a few years, went through a couple of pads, wore out the headset and eventually passed them along, all glued and taped together. Downside: Although they're very light, the foam is thin and they hurt the ears if you wear them too long. Now I have HD238. They're larger than the PX100 but still smallish and "on ear". They're quite light and well padded - they never hurt my ears. I think they're definitely superior to the PX100 yet not as likeable. I'm happy with them them anyway, but they're not everyone's cup of tea. A friend bought a pair at the same time I did. (He got his new off ebay, for little more than half what I paid. Same as my "properly bought" pair - we checked quite carefully.) He can't be bothered with them.
