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Topic: Need cheap new circumaural headphones (Read 5220 times) previous topic - next topic
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Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Ok, so I finally decided to spend the cash to get semi-decent headphones though I've been using and liking IEMs for so long (I just like the way they work even.)  I love IEMs, but admitedly they can be troublesome to deal with at times and a bit uncomfortable (especially now that I'm using E2Cs which I'm having troubles getting a good seal with -- though ironically, now that I look at the graphs I may be happier now that I'm not since it looks like the bass response may be more than I really want.)  I'm still not exactly rolling in money though, so I got the Grado SR60s and about a month later added the so called "L-Cush" earpads to make them more comfortable and, IMO, better sound and now I'm extremely happy with these.  I liked how I could "modify" them later on rather than spending the extra cost right up front (of course, really I just didn't even think about it as the price tag on the SR80s seemed a bit too much at the time and anything higher even further away.)  $69 up front wasn't too bad of a hit to my wallet (I even got free shipping, so it was just $69.)

There's just one problem.  My house A/C can't keep up with the weather at all so I've been forced to put in a window A/C...  Now I love these Grados, but a huge key to how they manage to get a good sound into such a cheap package is that completely open design.  That means I get to listen to my A/C while I listen to music...  Most of the time it's not too hard to tune out, but every now and then it can be enough to bug me.  Now, bear in mind that I don't need huge amounts of attenuation of outside noise, just more than most open or semi-open sets can provide, so it isn't such a desperate situation that I would feel like IEMs are the only solution (I will not consider active noise cancelling -- I see no valid reason to use it in normal situations like these as even a decent pair of IEMs can stop even the noise of a lawnmower surprisingly well in my experience.)  Also, it would be nice to be able to carry headphones around from time to time without people listening in, lol.  My tastes in music differ enough from those of the people around me that I really don't care to have to explain it (and why should I have to?)  Portability is not a factor though, merely a bonus if it should come to that.  It will be primarily for use at home and I can always use my E2Cs when away from home if need be -- in fact, most of the time I would anyway, I just like the extra comfort and convenience of simply slipping a set of headphones on.

I've been looking around, reading various reviews, and looking at charts to try to get an idea of what to go for.  I'm liking what I see for the Sennheiser HD555s for example (a fairly linear curve without overkill bass response and the highs falling off at what seems like a good rate -- though I must admit I kind of like how my SR60s sound at times for some of my music) but the only problem is that they are apparently an open design (which I wish I had known before digging up all this information about them, lol.  It's VERY hard to tell from the pictures as the grill is so dark as to appear solid.  I guess there is a benefit to the anti-fashion of the Grados, lol.)  Well, just as well really since that price tag is a bit daunting.  It sucks that I'm so limited on funds, but I fear that this is the way it is right now.  So I'm kind of aiming for a similar price range to these Grados.  I don't even have a proper headphone amp, but my main focus is on listening at home anyway.  I find the sound from my speaker system (the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 recommended to me before -- after hearing them I definitely liked them, though they are a bit more powerful than I really need) is pretty clear (plus I don't even get noise until I turn the volume up well beyond levels that would either bust the headphones or my ears or possibly even both if there was anything playing at all) and I'm pretty happy with using that for an amp for now.  It may not add as much definition to weaker bass or that sort of thing though.  I mean to get an amp someday, but that's going to be a while down the road, so for now I have to work with the assumption that I'll be primarily using things like these speakers -- or, in a desperate pinch, a ultra-cheapy $20 "Boostaroo" portable amp -- so it should probably not rely too much on an amp to compensate for anything though at least the speakers and boostaroo will drive a set with a lot of impedence well enough surely.  Well, I realize this puts me in a tough situation since it's very hard to get a good even sound from a closed set at lower price ranges, but if anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful.  Oh, and I saw and kind of considered the Sennheiser HD205s, but I don't like that midrange falloff.  While I'm focusing less on the bass these days and more on the highs and learning to enjoy the music and sound rather than the bass despite this bass-heavy culture, I would rather sacrifice the highs some even if I had to for the mids as that is where some of the most important parts of the music to me are.  Oh, and I'd rather not have to rely on built in equalization if possible.  I don't like what it does to the sound (even as a below audiophile level person I can hear it and don't like it.)

Any ideas of a decent -- or at least less indecent -- cheapy closed headphone set say maybe around the $50-$80 range?  Do I need to just go back to IEMs anyway?  My biggest problem atm is that, though I mostly like the way my E2Cs sound, they are massively uncomfortable -- more so than probably 99% of the IEMs out there since my ears clearly don't suit the model they had in mind (lol, I find that apparently my left canal is smaller than my right one even...)  The main problem is that even more comfortable IEMs lack that extra punch you get from headphones and plus my ears are determined to consider them to be an intrusion (well, about half a year ago a spider crawled into one of my ears -- one that I never found but which was in an area that may well have housed a brown recluse or two, and this happened at just the sort of time they like best, so it scared me more than a bit since such a bite would probably utterly destroy my hearing -- and I've been a little uncomfortable since then, but I normally have no troubles with IEMs -- that doesn't mean my ears agree with the rest of me though...)

EDIT:  Guess I need to ask in a headphone forum I take it?  I just didn't feel like creating a new account and everything just to ask the one question.  I'll give this one a little while though if no one minds.
  

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #1 –
I can't give you any specific recommendations... 

The SR60s have a very good reputation, I don't think you'll find anything as-good in the same price range.  And, you'd probably have to pay much more to find equally-good sounding closed-back headphones.     

I think it's harder to make a pair of good-sounding closed headphones than it is to make a pair of good-sounding open-air headphones... 

So, I'm pretty sure you'll have to sacrafice some sound quality in order to get some isolation.  The only thing I can suggest is that you go to the store and listen to some headphones.  Hopefully, you can find something acceptable in your price range.

I have a pair of (sealed) Sennheiser HD280s  (~$100 USD).  They are not 'bad" sounding, and they also have a good reputation for sealed headphones in their price range.  But they don't sound as good as my Grados (SR225), or as good as my "antique" Koss open-air headphones (Koss HV1).    With the Sennheisers, I think I'm hearing "closed-headphone resonance"... or something...  I can't say exactly what's "wrong" with them... They sound pretty good... But to me, they just don't sound as "natural" as my open-air headphones.  And, I'll bet my Sennheisers don't sound as good as your SR60's either!  (But, I've never listened to SR60s.)

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #2 –
Yeah, I realize I'm probably going to end up sacrificing some quality.  The best I can do is try to minimize that loss.  I may be able even to manage just a smidge more if I find something that's significantly better but not TOO much more expensive.  As for the store, there are a couple of problems with that.  For one, I kind of live in the middle of nowhere, so the nearby places mostly just have things like those ripoff $120+ Bose headsets and some active noise cancelling sets (well, ironically they might be good for this environment since the A/C is, well, mostly regular and low sounding though it does kind of do some random things from time to time, but I'd rather IEMs to active noise cancelling any day nonetheless.)  I don't really think there are any decent places nearby sadly.  Even if I can find one though, I may as well do my research first.  I find that their prices tend to be so different from online prices typically that I won't really be able to tell what I'm looking at if I don't come in already knowing what to look for (at least with most electronics, but I've seen this some in audio equipment as well.)

It would be nice if I could actually listen to the HD280s I suppose though.  So far in my researching that's the best I've come up with.  I just don't know that I want quite that response curve it has in particular.  Actually, this may sound a bit weird, but I kind of like what these SR60s do to the bass.  It's hard to explain, but it's almost like you can hear the instrument or whatever a little more clearly due to a higher focus on the higher range of the bass frequencies and lower focus on the lower range.  (Or maybe it's just my imagination that it seems that way, but all that matters is what my ears think, lol.  Well, bear in mind that I'm still coming from relatively cheap equipment and you could sort of say my ears are still mostly untrained.  I still like the way my SR60s sound at the bass better than my E2Cs when I manage to get a good enough seal on them for the bass to be as it should though.  Ironically it's probably the bass that will be strongest on nearly any closed set I get in this range though.)

BTW, it turns out that if I plug my headphones into the headphone jack on my soundcard it actually drives them much like an amp would so I get that extra punch.  I always wondered in the past why it did so badly on headphones for a headphone jack but, lol, that's probably because I was using cheap really low impedence equipment...  Well, I'll admit I'm using an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum, so it's a bit lacking in many ways, but it looks like this is one of the things it does right.  Well, it manages to get just enough right that I still haven't gotten around to buying a new card yet (of course, it helps that I've found a nice filter for Foobar2000 that compensates for its DSP.)  Not as good as a real amp I'm sure, but it will do in the meantime (hopefully that meantime won't be TOO long.)

EDIT:  BTW, =135&graphID[]=147&graphID[]=213&graphID[]=483]this graph[/quote] might give you some vague idea how the different sets compare in sound.  Well, obviously you can only judge so much from that, but maybe it tells you a little since you were saying you haven't tried the SR60s.  From what I can tell, the 225s do similar things, but are smoother about it with less of a sudden peak in the highs.  I think overall they are intended to have somewhat similar properties, just generally be better as they go up.  (Of course, I could be way off base.  I haven't heard the high end just as you haven't heard the low.)  Also, it's abundantly clear that the HD280 isn't going to work well without at least a somewhat basic amp.  Even I don't want the bass to fall off that much (and don't most closed sets offer pretty decent bass at the expense of highs?)  Maybe the soundcard is enough?
  

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #3 –
The Sony MDR-7506 is a much better headphone than the HD-280 and SR-60, if you want accurate monitor like playback quality. It is also built vastly better, even more so than most headphones that cost 6x as much.

It's not perfect. It has a narrow dip around 205Hz(measured) and a some minor treble resonance in the 9-13khz range(measured). But it is the best live tracking/monitor headphone I know of for live recording purposes.

Is it ideal for music? For the price range, I have not found anything equal to it, including the Grado units. But I like accurate/clean response as opposed to the more 'colorful' presentation of the other units mentioned. Some people prefer the midbass hyped presentation of the HD-280, but the 280 also have a very annoying(to me) resonance in the midbass that I can not stand.

The Sony MDR-V6(Not the MDR-V600) is the same headphone marketed to the consumer market instead of professional market. As such, you can get it for $20-$30 cheaper, but it also comes with a much weaker warranty, and people have complained online that if you send it back to Sony, they may send back the MDR-V600 instead of a new MDR-V6. The MDR-V600 is a different, and completely inferior headphone in every way. The MDR-7506 is fully supported by the professional division, however.

The Sony MDR-7506 has one weak point: the ear pads need to be replaced every 2-3 years, as they start to flake apart. There is a popular velour/velvet pad from the Beyer DT-250 model headphone that is used on the MDR-7506 to increase comfort and pad life. However, it must be noted that this ear pad is considerably deeper than the stock pad, thus causing a significant frequency response deviation.

-Chris

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #4 –
Hmm.  Have any reviews on those.  They are at a good price range I see.  I guess sometimes SONY does things right and from what I hear in music stuff they usually skimp less than in most of their other fields.

Quote from: WmAx on
The Sony MDR-7506 has one weak point: the ear pads need to be replaced every 2-3 years, as they start to flake apart.

I read about that with the pads I got for my Grados.  A lot of people say that the thing to do with this sort of issue is to take them off and shampoo them from time to time (yes, they said shampoo, lol.)  I'm planning to do this with my Grado pads whenever they start to feel like they are drying out before they become flaky.


Anyway, I've been digging around still more.  It seems a lot of people are recommending Denon AH-D1001K for this sort of range of headphones.  This is a little more than what I was thinking about price-wise, but I looked at a frequency graph and some reviews and it seems they have a pretty good sound to them.  From looking at the frequency graph, it seems they are surprisingly close to even for a set at such a pricerange but their biggest deviance from a normal curve has a hint of the same sort of shape the Grados show, just not nearly as extreme.  Right now from what I'm seeing I'm leaning pretty heavily this way as these sound like I would enjoy them from what I've seen so far.  Also, I hear that they are pretty comfortable as well.  I'll give up some comfort for sound quality, but I'm certainly not going to complain if I don't have to give up much...  Oh, and it looks like they have a pretty decent impedence and I may be able to run them unamped pretty ok.  EDIT:  Turns out the silver is even cheaper.  I think I really like what I'm hearing about these.  I may need to look into return policies so I can try them out, lol.

EDIT2:  I think I'm going to go ahead and try the Denons.  Most of the reviews I'm reading describe them as being actually more or less exactly what I'm looking for, plus I found them surprisingly cheap on Amazon for some reason.  From looking over the seller's return policy and ratings I think it should be safe to take the risk probably.  By all reports it looks like the only thing I could end up not liking about them is the isolation isn't a lot, but then I think I don't need much to get the worst of the A/C.  Actually, it seems like it may have surprisingly good sound for a lower priced closed headset...
  

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #5 –
From what I've read, Amazon has been offering the Denon AH-D1001K for $80-$90 consistently since at least September. Hope you found a good deal. Would be good to hear feedback, as I'm planning on getting them.

I have Sennheiser PXC-250 for noise cancellation, mainly for the train. I intend to use the Denon with an iBasso D10 Cobra in the bedroom when my wife falls asleep before me (which is often), and for vacations. I assume it leaks sound way less than my open AKG K701.

For $80+shipping, I can't imagine a better deal for other sealed headphones. The closest I see are Sennheiser HD280 Pro for the same price, Sony MDR-7506 ($96), Audio-Technica ATH-M50 ($120) and AKG K 271 Mk II ($154). Did I miss any?

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #6 –

I got a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50 (straight cord) from an ebay seller (legit shop, checked out with the Better Business Bureau) for ~$100 with free shipping, and it looks like this is still valid.  The initial fit is a bit tight, but it gets better over time.  The sound is amazing, and it's not shy on the bass.  Having a 6 year old and 2 year old, I can verify that outside noise is NOT a problem.  Arnold Krueger recommended these on another post and I can't thank him enough for the suggestion.

The original post is almost a year old and I'm sure the OP has a pair of 'phones by now, but I highly recommend these to anyone.  The only drawback is if you use these with an iPod, you'll need an op-amp to really drive these.  It's well worth the money though.

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #7 –
One could check the headphone.com site, as they have small review or sales speach about the headphones on their site. Remember, the prices are little high there. One could also ask the head-fi.org forums, but they can give really mixed impressions about the headphones. Take it with some salt will you

EDIT: Sorry, this is for everyone reading this
Hevay is The Way!

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #8 –
my senn 280 hd pro's have been going strong every (work) day for ~5 years.

I love them.

Need cheap new circumaural headphones

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Fastnbulbous on
From what I've read, Amazon has been offering the Denon AH-D1001K for $80-$90 consistently since at least September. Hope you found a good deal. Would be good to hear feedback, as I'm planning on getting them.


ROFL!  You're WAY behind, but in the funniest possible way...  I got EXACTLY what you're suggesting last year, loved them, then eventually talked myself into upgrading.  I now have MarkL-modded D2000s bought from Lawton Audio for an excellent price.  I've also since then recabled them with the Mogami quad cable (I forget its number just off the top of my head -- it's the larger dual mono/stereo microphone cable) which I find helps a lot with the bass and the harshness of the highs.  I've paired it with the iBasso D3 for an amp and was using it as a DAC as well, until I just discovered that a $40 Playstation SCPH-1001 can sound just simply amazing and now use that for music (I guess I like that AKM non-oversampling DAC a lot better than the Wolfson in my iBasso D3 as well as the Wolfson in my DAP, but that's not to say that both Wolfsons don't still sound pretty good, just not as good as the AKM with these headphones.  IMO they just don't need any oversampling with their excellent sound response curve and sound best without that.)  One of the reasons I originally went with the Denons was comments like his claim that they sound amazingly natural and personally, I'm inclined to agree with this.  The 1001s aren't as good as the 2000s, but you can definitely get some amazing quality out of them for their price (even at their MSRP really.)  BTW, the 1001/1000s also benefit from a somewhat cut down version of the same basic mod that Mark Lawton came up with for the D2000/5000.  They, of course, don't use the same sized cups and such so it's definitely not the same mod, but it's the same basis.

The 1001s are now my mother's new toy and she loves them as much as I did I think.  One cool thing about the Denons is that they need a lot less by way of amping and the 1001s can run off of most MP3 players/iPods without an external amp even, so she's extremely happy with them since she doesn't really want to deal with such things.  My D2000s can actually run off of my Cowon D2 DAP even without needing an amp really (though of course it does still help a lot.)