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Need headphone recommendations


MichaelShaffer

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You sold your RB-35's? How come? Well at least somebody else is a happy camper.

I have a pair of the Bose Quiet Comfort 2 Noise Cancelling Headphones. They're the best noise cancelling headphones I've ever tried, and music is quite sweet sounding to boot. However, they go for $300, and nowhere online have I found them cheaper. Kinda sucks. Not sure if that's within your budget, but they are very, very good. Coolest thing is when you're not listening to music, you can just wear the headphones without a cord and just switch it on.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-8900_7-5024562.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/Bose_QuietComfort_2/4505-6462_7-21165521.html

I also have a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones (they go for about $100), like Frank Speaker, and they sound excellent as well. However, when I A/B demoed the Sony's and the Bose side by side, the Sony's offered little to noise noise cancellation. Any aforementioned effect was only a result of the padding against my ear. That said however, the Sony's do sound fuller and richer in their musical reproduction. I guess it just comes down to what is more important to you.

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Really depends on how much you want to spend... Here are a couple of links you might want to check out. All three companies make some really nice headphones, going from inexpensive (Grado) to out of this world (Stax)

Etymotic produces the in-ear type "earphones" as they call them. If you're looking to cut down ambient noise, this would be a good choice.

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.asp

Grado makes some very nice stuff, over a wide range of prices. Lots of people swear by them.

http://www.gradolabs.com

If you're willing to spend $1000 or more and want some electrostatic "headphones", check out Stax.

http://www.stax.co.jp/index-E.html

Hope this helps...

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Well, it all depends, like many have said. I was a headphone enthusiast a little while back... I build amplifiers for them.

If you are a rock listener and want a good live, concert-like, rock sound, then check into Grado headphones. Each level gets better, of course... so it just depends on what you want to spend. It being me, though, I wouldn't go with the SR60's. Go at least SR80's. Another alternative would be the Alessandro MS series... they are made by Grado, but "fixed" to suit Mr. Alessandro better (he's a real hi-fi kinda guy). I, personally, am probably going to pick up some of the Allessadro's sometime. Another alternative for a lively sound are the newer Sennheiser HD590's. They are similar to the 580's, 600's, 650's, but are said to have a much more in-your-face sound... kind of like Klipsch.

If you are wanting pure, neutral hi-fi... check into the Sennheiser HD580, 600, 650's. I have a pair of 580s and love them for all around listening to anything. THey don't have as much bass impact as Grado's, but... they are VERY clear. And, the 570's are really only good for classical music and jazz from what everyone I have heard has said. 3.gif

Do note that all of the above are open-aire headphones. So... they will not block any outside noise UNTIL they start playing. 2.gif Then they definitely do... Run them with an amp and they sound great. They sound loud by nature (mine fill a room) but, really, it is only at a normal listening level inside the cans.

Closed headphones are tricky... most don't sound as good. HD280 are about the best... or you might look carefully at some AKG. Have fun... So many choices.

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Grado are nice and like mentioned, they have a wide range of price points. I also like the Beyerdynamic which aren't as popular... but I found they offered rich sound without being fatiguing.

I currently have a pair of closed Beyers... and use them mostly with my PC.

Rob

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I use AKG K270 Studio. But my primary use is for monitoring the recording of live performances where I can't use speakers for monitoring (monitoring verses recreational listening). I guess the best recommendation unkowingly came from my wife at a concert I was recording. I passed the headphones to her for a listen. After a few moments she handed them back and said she couldn't hear anything. I handed them back to her. After she put them back on I turned the volume up and then off. She was flabbergast. She couldn't tell the difference between the live sound and the headphones as she put the phones on and took them off! No exaggerated "audiophile" sound here.

http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-39E4-8371DBE-3919D743-prod3

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--AKGK271STUDIO

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wierd...read

http://headroom.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=3&subTopicID=26&productID=0020120270

is that the same headphone?

I have always liked the AKG phones I have auditioned but was taken aback by that review! I guess it goes to show how subjective all this really is. i.e. the grado sound versus the senn sound ya'know...

warm regards, tony

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stay away from sony, i had pretty much gone through thier line up, 1 at a time, i had every model from the 199 dollar models to the 29 dollar models and they were all too colored, they either added too much of that good old sony sound, or they just had terrible drivers, even the so called studios standards, and dj models, finally i went to headroom .com and there they preach the bible of headphones(cans) they review most decent headphones (funny how sont barely rates attention) plus they have an 800 # to speak with actual headphone geeks, its a really great site, plus there are links to headfi, it is a similar bb to this 1 except that it is exclusivly for headphones, plus headroom has great deals, recently i wanted to get back into cans myself, and no-one had the sennheiser hd 650's, aparently there was a fire at thier plant and production was a little behind, headroom found some for me, and they also got them to me 100 dollars cheaper than anywhere else on the internet, try em, you'll like em12.gif

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Hey Mike-

I had been shopping for headphones for awhile. Everything costs way too much for the way they sound! My wife was shopping for crap, and I got dragged along with her. I found a BOSE store, I hate BOSE!!! But they do make a great set of headphones!!! You can get the Noise cancelling for around $300, or you can get the Non-NC for around $130. I went with the later, and I am very happy!! I listen to my music so loud that they are nise cancelling anyway! Great bass, very, very clear! Outrageous for PS2 games also, didn't know that there were German soldiers hidding behing a wall, but I could here them whispering! Blew me away, actually I blew them away, but go check them out. Very affordable, I give them 2 thumbs up when it comes to price vs. sound!

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Michael-

There are lots of different brands of headphones, and each has their strong point, jsut like speakers. As with speakers, your ears will decide what sounds the best. You can spend as little as $20 or as much as $1000 for "just" a pair of headphones, so state your price range....

I just purchased my first real pair of headphones about two weeks ago, Sennheiser 580. One of the main reason I purchased this headphone, is that I wanted something VERY comfortable and reasonably priced to use at work and to use at home when I get home from work too late to listen to music in the apartment..... The 580s were about $150, while the newer 595s were atleast $200 - $250, a premium I was not willing to pay. Some observations I can make thus far. First, they are very comfortable, but DO NOT block any external sounds out as they are open headphones. This really isn't a big deal to me, I have nearly complete sound control at home for critical listening and I when I'm at the office I can hear the phone and people coming into my office and despite the whine of a 10,000 rpm turbopump and a vacuum pump, the music is still enjoyable from my PC output. From what I had read on forums, alot of users were saying that one CAN NOT run the Sennheisers directly from the PC without an amp, so I was very conserned about this prior to buying. I don't think my ears are hyper sensitive, but, they do just fine and I don't turn up the volume to high to be very happy. When at home, the headphone output from a Sony XA900ES player is also very loud, and I rarely ever turn the knob past 4 or 5 (on a 10 point scale). They do have a nice smooth sound, something that balances out the Klipsch speakers and I'm very pleased with that.... Finally, I really don't find them lacking base....I have no idea what people are expecting as base output...18 inch speaker base or what....but they are just fine and don't exagerate the base.

-Dave

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well i have never had those sony,s on my ears, but have had a large variety of them in house, fortunalty i was able to get my money back, i used to have a pair of sennheiser i think they were mx5's? ear buds, and they just sounded better than everything sony had under 200, whereas grado, senn, and a few others mentioned above sound very good for the money, as far as reviews? bose does pretty well in that department as well12.gif

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  • 1 month later...

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On 9/13/2004 2:28:17 PM MichaelShaffer wrote:

Can anybody recommend some good headphones. I'd like them to also block the noise from my computers/dehumidifier, etc. I sold my Klipsch RB-35s so I want something of good quality but I don't have a lot to spend.

Thanks

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i own a set of technic rp-dj1200 headphones $189.00cdn and they have great sound and block out noise very well and just as important unless you listen to them at non recommended volumes others around you won't hear what you are listening to

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