Any Audiophiles In The House?

[Lynskey]

Looking to draw on the collective wisdom of vorb for a purchase. I want to buy a set of headphones just for listening to muzak - ipod, lappy, stereo etc. Pretty keen on a set of on-ear ones, don't want them to be ridiculously large though. I noticed a lot of price/product variation and quickly deduced that I know next to nothing about headphones.

Any recommendations/handy hints?

Chur

[Kyle]

You missed the most important bit. How much money do you want to spend?

Whatever you do make sure you get the cable replaced with monster brand cable and a palladium-gold plug.

[kona.stinky.]

Looking to draw on the collective wisdom of vorb for a purchase. I want to buy a set of headphones just for listening to muzak - ipod, lappy, stereo etc. Pretty keen on a set of on-ear ones, don't want them to be ridiculously large though. I noticed a lot of price/product variation and quickly deduced that I know next to nothing about headphones.

Any recommendations/handy hints?

Chur

Boss for the best, but if you don't have allot of money, sony make some nice noise-reduction headphones,

[wuffy]

Sennheiser are generally the best in my experience. I've got sports ones for Biking that go in and have a hook that goes around the ear. Awesome quality. Cost me 120 bucks in duty free in the UK but they're definitely worth it. You'l want to spend at least 80 for some decent ones. You notice the difference. Also Panasonic make good ones, i've got over-ear noise-canceling ones that are primo. Just don't spent anymore than 180 because there's no point unless you're going noise-canceling.

[BrokenKonaRider]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4277

$US3.55 and free postage

I know you didn't want in-ear, but still, for the price...

[nzmja]

You missed the most important bit. How much money do you want to spend?

Whatever you do make sure you get the cable replaced with monster brand cable and a palladium-gold plug.

Monster cable = scam!

[Lynskey]

I have no problem spending a bit of money for the sake of good listening - I would be happy to drop $80 on a set of headphones if they're noticeably better than say $40 ones but from what I saw the general price brackets went $40 -> $80 -> $130 -> higher - I would be very hesitant to spend more than $100 unless they were amazing. What I guess I was trying to find out was whether there was a big difference between, say a $50 set of TDK ones and some $80 Sennheisers.

Also after general things that are handy to look out for like frequency figures or whatever - if they make a difference. I don't mind about noise cancellation - doesn't seem like a big enough deal to justify the extra $$$ to me.

These looked all good for the price ... http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4c89c08e0 ... View/C0718

[Lynskey]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4277

$US3.55 and free postage

I know you didn't want in-ear, but still, for the price...

Nah i've got plenty of in-ear ones kicking around from ipods/discmans etc - I just don't really like them.

[scatter]

These make me very very happy (without having gone completely nuts with the Visa)

[Purple_Helmet]

Do not buy Bose or Monster anything. Go here for advice instead, if you can be arsed.

[philstar]

if you are listening to MP3's then I would not spend much more than $100, garbage in = garbage out. and I probably would not spend less than $40 if you listen to them allot. I like my skull candy FMJ's good value for money.

I second don't buy Bose, they are a grate example of marketing over product.

[wuffy]

Skull candys, unless you're buying the big DJ 180+ ones, i wouldn't touch them, they've got an awesome guarantee, but they break within a few weeks, maybe a month. I hate them. I've replaced every set i've got and just sold them on.

[Lynskey]

Alright - sounds like it'd be worth shelling out a little but not extravagant amounts. It'll pretty much just be for ipod I guess. Cheers for the input peeps.

I guess I'll go for the Sennheisers then - they seem like decent quality for the price. I guess the decision comes down to this then...

HD 201 - Closed Circumaural stereo headphones or;
HD 202 - Closed Supra-aural headphones but look more set up for portable devices.

http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.filereader?4c8 ... CTG0000139

Any thoughts?

[danose]

I like my skull candy FMJ's good value for money.

I second don't buy Bose, they are a grate example of marketing over product.

I'd say the same about skull candy - a triumph of packaging and marketting over engineering. Plus they publicly announce the world 'I am deaf and stupid'

sennheisers all the way (unless you want to go up into the silly money bracket)

[danose]

HD 201 - Closed Circumaural stereo headphones or;
HD 202 - Closed Supra-aural headphones but look more set up for portable devices.

none of the above - sure they're cheap - but they sound it. When it was time to replace my trully ancient (early 90s) sennheisers I just went down to my local PROPER hifi shop (i.e. not DSE - in my case top hifi here in chch) and listen tested my way up the range 'til I found something I liked. Ended up with hd515s, which whilst not cheap ($120-$160 depending where you buy em) were noticably a step up from the low end ones. I also listened to the models above - but diminishing returns (and age diminished hearing) meant there was little to be gained.

headphones ARE very personally - listen to a pile of different options off the same source (CD - even though you're planning to use them on the ipod it's not really a suitable source for listen testing) and pick which you like best (within your budget)