over-ear headphones

[GavinVoy 10+ year member]

looking at getting a good pair of over-ear headphones. not really sure where to look. any brands i should look at? my budget is around $200. Looking for accuracy, comfort, and price.

i have a pair of monster turbine in-ear, they are nice, love the bass response, but i want something more comfortable. a friend of mine told me to look into grado, but he told me that just because they were $1700. but i found a good looking pair the SR225 (http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr225.htm) but im not sure what to look for. ive been looking online, it seems best buy has a good selection, they have a Dr. Dre edition headphones by monster, that had good reviews, but said they have audio leakage. Maybe tomorrow ill head out to BB and the local grado dealer and see whats up.

is there anything in particular i should be looking for?

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[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

I don't know of any place that lets you test them so its hard to say..

 

[schackel 10+ year member]

i have nixon headphones for sale for 80 bux if your interested they get loud and sound better

 

[GavinVoy 10+ year member]

which one?

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Grado is good, Sennheiser is good, Sony MDR-V6 or MDR-7506 is good.

Beyerdynamics also makes some pretty decent cans.

Remember quality matches what you are willing to pay.

 

[Shugarra 10+ year member]

I worked for HeadRoom for a year a couple years back. I don't know much about anything that has come out since then but back in 2007 they had basically all of the headphones they sell out on a board for testing. I used all of them at various times while working. Everything from the $15 cheapos to the multi-thousand dollar electro-statics. I bought the AKG-701s. I don't know if you can get them for ~$200 now but they really are fantastic for the money. Sennheisers (except for their new HD800s) are veiled and kind of felt lifeless. Grados are fantastic if you like the high end. The SR225s are a good choice if you won't have extended listening sessions. I got a headache after a couple hours of listening to the Grados. Also, the SR225 build quality really isn't much different than their lower end SR60s. If you step up to the SR325 you get the metal driver backing. I was never much of a fan of the Beyer Dynamics, even their high end DT880s didn't do much for me. Not terrible, just not on the same level as AKG, Grado or Sennheiser. Sony's were terrible. Maybe I just got a bad set or two but I remember them standing out as being rotten headphones.

My suggestion: AKG-701 or AKG-601 for well balanced sound. Grados if you mostly listen to rock or music without much bass (it gets a little better as you go up the model lines). You could probably get away with one of the lower end models (SR60 or SR125) if you didn't want to spend all of the money for the 325s.

 

[GavinVoy 10+ year member]

i tried the grado 125's. i thought the were really cheap, not in price but in quality. they were all plastic, they had no weight. we had it on a HT reciever and it was all the way up(-60 to 18), but i still wanted some more, and there was a definate lack of bass. also they are an open design. i had a friend come along i could heard it 30 feet away, they are like mini speakers mounted on the outside of the headphones. also, dont know if its all of them, but i had a HT jack, and i need a 3.5mm jack. i think an adaptor would make it too big for mobile uses.

thats why i need closed cans.

same thing for the senn's audiophile line, they are open air = not what im looking for.

ill probably go with the monsters, as ive exhausted my resources.

 

[GavinVoy 10+ year member]

checking out HeadRoom now, some good info there.

 

[GavinVoy 10+ year member]

just bought the AKG 271 MK II ($200), Guitar Center price matched it, in case i dont love 'em, i can return them. should be here in a few days.

looking into a headphone amp atm, the cMoy's, couple on ebay, look pretty neat.

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

What are you going to use to power them? Headphone amp or what?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I really want a pair of the high-end Senn open-backs...

 

[blabo219 10+ year member]

I have a pair of Bose over ear and WOW the sound quality is amazing on them, also cancels out almost all noise (even when mowing the lawn and what not)

They are around 150-180

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

I really want a pair of the high-end Senn open-backs...

I've always wanted some Stax electrostatics.

Oh well, too much for me.

 

[z0n3d0u7 10+ year member]

I love my Senheiser 280HD's to death. Beat the pants off of my Bose. @ $80, definantly a steal.

I too need a headphone amp tho. Used to have a link to a cool "How to: build a peperment case headphone amp.", But have been banned from said website so can no longer access it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I love my Senheiser 280HD's to death. Beat the pants off of my Bose. @ $80, definantly a steal.
I too need a headphone amp tho. Used to have a link to a cool "How to: build a peperment case headphone amp.", But have been banned from said website so can no longer access it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Do you mean the cMoy design?

http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/