Topic: Headphones

[Greta]

I have the same question as the original poster, but need to know what I can get for $50 or under.

I had earbuds that came with my old I-River (worlds better than what came with my iPod!) but they recently broke, the right one kind of fell apart, so it doesn't get much sound from it. I really don't have any money to spend, but certainly $50 is about the max I could justify!

Was thinking of some sort of cheap Sennheiser buds or in-ear, but there are a lot of different models.

[Gurn Blanston]

I have the same question as the original poster, but need to know what I can get for $50 or under.

I had earbuds that came with my old I-River (worlds better than what came with my iPod!) but they recently broke, the right one kind of fell apart, so it doesn't get much sound from it. I really don't have any money to spend, but certainly $50 is about the max I could justify!

Was thinking of some sort of cheap Sennheiser buds or in-ear, but there are a lot of different models.

Not sure why you are committed to the idea of something that goes IN your ear. Maybe it's just me, but I find the whole concept intolerable, even if the sound is great.

I got these Sennheiser PX200 closed ear folding earphones for my Sansa, and they work excellently. In addition, I can fold them up to about the size of a fat pair of sunglasses, and then the whole kit, phones, player, charger and USB cable fit into one of those tiny camera cases neat as can be.

As to the cord problem that someone mentioned above, I solved it by having a friend, who is very competent in such things, cut the cord to just an inch or so longer than the lanyard for the player and solder on a gold stereo plug from Radio Shack. No excess cord now, and the whole thing is super for sound, comfort and portability.







----------------
Listening to:
L'Arte del Arco / Guglielmo - Tartini D 113 Concerto in a for Violin 3rd mvmt

[M forever]

I would just forget all the cheap headphone and earphone crap, get decent headphones and use these when possible, when not, then enjoy the silence. That upgrades the actual listening experience. I don't think one has to have a constant sound sauce doodling and blaring around oneself or in one's ears. I forgot my Sennheiser HD580 and TotalBitHead USB preamplifier in the hotel a few days ago (a total value of ca. $400, pretty idiotic of me) but fortunately, they were found and sent to me but they won't be here before Mon/Tue. I panicked a little - the whole weekend without music? -, unearthed my ages old and slightly damaged Sennheiser HD530, grabbed a headphone amp from my company's inventory, hooked everything up - shit, bad hum and no ground lift switch and I didn't want to start poking around in the amp (as it was loaned from my company), so I ran back, grabbed a stereo isolation transformer, just tried to hook that up - great, I had grabbed the wrong adapter cables  . So, do I go back to the warehouse and get the right adapters, do I slash the cables, go down to the car, get my soldering kit and redo the cables? My girlfriend says no, you stay here and forget about the headphones for a while we will just mix some drinks and sit in silence on the porch. That sounds good. Like I said, sometimes it's nice not to have music blaring at you constantly. BTW, I rarely ever listen to music in the car either.

[Joe_Campbell]

Sounds to me like you may have gone pretty far to have to music blarring constantly. Luckily, someone intervened.

[M forever]

Not constantly, I never do that (I also don't listen to music when I type in nonsense here, for instance). But I had wanted to listen to some stuff that I had laid aside to be listened to, some new stuff I got, some music I pulled out of storage because it was discussed here, etc. But it looks like that will have to wait for a few days.

[Joe_Campbell]

Yea I know what you mean about waiting to play music. I tried bringing my iPod into a manufacturing plant to listen to some music of mine while on the job. Funny thing is, I have to wear earplugs at all times, and that really ruins the highs. Plus the old computer speaker weren't too hot. I guess sometimes it's better to be patient and wait for the optimal, distraction-free listening environment.

[M forever]

We have music playing at work all th time because, well, we are a professional projection and sound company, so we have speakers, processing racks, all sorts of equipment everywhere, constantly being built up, checked, aligned, tested, and we usually put all new systems completely together in the shop and run them for a week before they go out in the field. So there is always music playing in the background, but that's OK, they usually put on fairly nice music and if I don't want it, I can simply shut my office door (unless I am working on the shop floor myself). But then if my door is closed, my colleagues can't spontaneously drop in to shoot the shit, so then I would actually have to work to pass the time...so I leave the door open 

[Joe_Campbell]

Sounds like a rough life...

If thinks come together with my career, I'll be working as an engineer for a major piano manufacturer. Still have a couple of years of school left though...

[Greta]

Yeah, I really don't use them that much...just for situations when really needed, so don't need to spend very much. When I want to really listen to something, I prefer not to use headphones as I don't enjoy having something on my head.  So it really doesn't matter what I get much, as long as it's not total crap.

[Bunny]

Yeah, I really don't use them that much...just for situations when really needed, so don't need to spend very much. When I want to really listen to something, I prefer not to use headphones as I don't enjoy having something on my head.  So it really doesn't matter what I get much, as long as it's not total crap.

Sennheiser makes pretty decent ones, and iems as well -- much better than the white doo-dads that come with the ipod.  They should fit into your budget.



You should give the people at Headroom a call.  Strangely their web address is www. headphones.com; not headroom.com which is something completely different.  If you telephone their 800 number you will get a salesman who will be helpful and friendly.

[Henk]

I think about getting these headphones:


Has inline volume control. It looks nice also and it's cheap. Has someone experience with these headphones and/or recommend another pair of headphones instead?

Henk

[drogulus]

If you are still interested in IEMs (in ear monitors), Ultimate Ears, Westone and Shure make excellent dual armature and triple armature models that you can upgrade to.  Costco carries Ultimate Ears at a very good price, too (they have the superfi on line).  Otherwise, most discount audio stores carry Shure and Ultimate Ears.  Westone is also good, but they are pricey and you can only buy them from Westone.com.  They are similar to Shures, but a bit warmer.

If the regular latex or silicon tips are irritating your ears, try out the foamy tips which conform to the ear and are extremely comfortable.  When I use the foam tips with my Shures I don't even know they are in my ears.  Also, the cords should come out of the phones pointing upwards so that they can wrap behind the ears.  When the cords are wrapped behind the ears it cuts most of the conduction noise and the cords cannot rub against the face.  Etymotics are also good, but they don't wrap around the ear (unless the 4p has changed?).  I found them to be the least comfortable fit.

     Bunny, I'm afraid of these in-ear 'phones, because they might be uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I should give them a try, and your post is reassuring on the comfort score. Could you recommend something in the ~$100 range?

[Mark]

I think about getting these headphones:


Has inline volume control. It looks nice also and it's cheap. Has someone experience with these headphones and/or recommend another pair of headphones instead?

Henk

To be honest, Henk, these suck. A friend has a pair which, when I was once working in an office with him and needed to block out surrounding noise in order to work, I borrowed for an hour. Truly awful! You'd be better off thinking the music than using these.

Much better, though still inexpensive, are these:



Obviously, neither can match my AKG 501's, but hey ...

[Henk]

The Sennheiser has closed phones. I prefer open ones. I did some further research and this one looks nice too, I read some good customer reviews.


It's a bit more expensive but still less expensive then many Sennheisers and the sound quality may be just as good or even better.
I just ordered it.

[drogulus]

   
     I wonder how good these are? Headroom gives them 4 bars out of 5, which is very good, and the price is nice. Does anyone know about these?

     HD 205     Under $50.00

     

[Mark]

   
     I wonder how good these are? Headroom gives them 4 bars out of 5, which is very good, and the price is nice. Does anyone know about these?

     HD 205     Under $50.00

    

They're okay in terms of sound for the price, but a tad uncomfortable for big-headed folks like me.

[Don]

The Sennheiser has closed phones. I prefer open ones.

My Sennheiser headphones are open; I didn't know that any of their models are closed.

[Mark]

My Sennheiser headphones are open; I didn't know that any of their models are closed.

Yes, a fair number of them are, though not their high-end stuff, IIRC.

[karlhenning]

Blatantly OT . . . Mark, YHM 

[Don]

Yes, a fair number of them are, though not their high-end stuff, IIRC.

Are you sure?  The most expensive Sennheiser headphones I know are their HD 650's, and they're open.