I have a birthday coming up in september, and I need to buy a good set of headphones, for around 100$, any suggestions appreciated. Also, how expensive are a decent/good set of headphones, so i can know how limiting my budget is.

Note: i dont need super great headphones, so if you think that 100 is overkill, tell me

My vote is Sony MDR-7506. It certainly has the best build quality/durability for $100. In fact, the build quality is superior to most headphones, even ones that cost several times this amount. It is a very good monitoring device. Music? Do you like monitoring devices for music?

-Chris

monitoring device? whats that?
I only need them for music
by the way, they will be used with a laptop

Look at Panasonic RP-HJE50, ultra-lightweight in-ear canalphones with acoustic isolation at about $25-30. If you want to spend more, then I can recommend RP-HJE70 canalphones, the difference is that they reproduce lower frequencies and detailed higher frequencies, and they made of aluminium (bought them for $84 in a local Panasonic shop).

Edit. RP-HJE70 comes in a fancy packaging, if that matters .

What do you mean by best

I am extremely happy with my Sennheiser HD-280 Pro cans. Bought them for 100€ a year ago.

For portable usage I can suggest Koss Porta Pro for $30-$40 or any other phones on the same drivers (like KSC75 clips or Sporta Pro or "behind-the-head" KSC55).
They have great sound for their price.

Are the 7506 also called mdr-v6? i read somewhere they were and if i agree. these rock for about $80USD

MDR-V6 is the exact same but without a gold plated plug. Always get them instead of the 7506, gold plating is worthless on anything that you plug and unplug frequently. Personally I'm not a fan of sealed cans, but the half semester I did college radio they had mdr-v6s and I liked them well enough at the time.

---
OP: You say you'll use them with a laptop, do they need to be semi-portable? Tell us more about what you want, how you listen to music, and where you will be using your new headphones. Otherwise you just get a lot of totally different responses like above, all of which may be good but not what you want. There's no such thing as universal "best".

I highly recommend either the Sennheiser PX-100 or the Grado SR-60/SR-80 cans. I have both, and boy, are they great! I prefer the PX-100's for ABXing though.

I would recommend Grados as well.

i would look for same in that price range.

I second the Koss PortaPro recommendation. Not to mention they're portable!

If you want the PortaPro reference sound without getting weird looks from bystanders , try the Sennheiser PX 100. The frequency response is pretty similar, supposedly they sound almost identical. This was measured with an artificial head:

HD280 Pros!

They're my recommendation to anyone. Great sound isolation, and they'll keep you warm in the winter

Wow, thanks for the responses.


I never said best...




Wait, how can a set of headphones be not portable? I will be using the headphones for quiet and noisy listening. Probably with a usb sound card. Speaking of which, what is a good choice for a usb or laptop sound card?

Also, many peoaple are telling me to test it out, where would i find an audio store that would help me with that?

Grado SR60, SR80 or SR125.

I love the detailed and punchy sound of Grados in general. They sound like they are having a good time, and you will too. Big, open, airy sound that delivers a sense of emotion and urgency. Nothing else sounds like a Grado.

Sennheisers are good, but for me they are a bit "polite" sounding and lack immediacy. However, this is very much a matter of taste and you should do your own testing. It is said that Sennheiser lovers don't like Grado and vica versa, and this is somewhat true; they have very different character. I know that I am a Grado kind of guy; when I first tried a set my wallet came out in seconds!

Sony always sounds rather sterile to me, but perhaps some newer models would be convincing.

"Best headphones for around $100"

It's a thing here on HA that the regulars see a lot of topics with "best" in the title... People are always asking about the best codec, sound card, headphones, and they rarely give much context or qualifications that would give "best" a real meaning. At least you have a price point, and now we know something about how you'll use them.

Well, full size cans like the Sennheiser HD555 are not exactly easy to take on the go. They're lightweight and you can fit them into a laptop bag or backback, but they take up a lot of room. (The senn 555s are my personal headphone of choice btw, but they're a bit above $100 and best used when stationary and in quiet surroundings.)

OK, if you are going to listen in noisy environments and want to cut out the background noise, the two best options are sealed headphones or canalphones. Sealed headphones (Sony MDR-V6 or 7506, Sennheiser HD280) cover the ear with a solid plastic & insulated shell, which cuts down on noise. Compare to the more common open headphones, which have a mesh grille or holes of some sort. The downside of sealed cans is that they can get hot and sweaty, and the enclosed drivers means they all have a certain acoustic feel that not everyone likes.

Canalphones are like earplugs with headphones built in. They reduce outside noise even more, but may be uncomfortable until you get used to them. Bad idea to use while walking around anywhere that car or bike traffic could be a problem. They're also pretty expensive, the cheapest start around $100.

I guess i didn't look at the title... anyways, that seems very helpful, but whats how good are the Sennheiser HD555 at noisy environments, and i dont think portability is that much of an issue, its all going to be with a laptop.

Agreed. I have been through several pairs. I pop the drivers out and use the clips from my old KSC-35's.
The lighter fit of the ear clips softens the bass a bit to a more natural level.

I would suggest the KSC 75's for the same reason but only if the drivers are actually the same.

is there a quality/price difference between a portable and non portable pair of phones, since portability isn't much of an issue for me...
Also, are canalphones the best option if it will always be through a laptop?

Great question.

Generally, attainable quality skyrockets if you move past portable phones, IMHO. You can also do unimaginably badly with a non-portable phone, though.

As others have said, I'd suggest the Sony V6/7506 or the Grado SR60s. Great phones for the money. Massive bargains. True hi-fi, IMHO. All-time classics.

The Senn HD555s could be excellent if you can snag them for $100. They're open like the SR60s, with less treble than the SR60s and V6/7506.

You can get Beyer pads to make the Sony V6/7506 much more comfortable, though the comfort is decent to start with.

Higher in the Grado line does not get you better sound, IMHO. Check out the Grado frequency response curves at headphone.com. SR60s in some ways measure the best of the Grados.

The Senn HD280s sound wonderful and well-balanced to my ears but the comfort is not all that good for me. They're a tight fit. Isolation with the closed HD280s is superb, much better than even the V6/7506.

Compared to the above, the PX100s, portapros, and KSC-35s are a BIG step down in fidelity, IMHO. For objective corroboration, look at the frequency response curves at headphone.com.

Here is their very headphone frequency response comparator tool:

http://www.headphone.com/technical/product.../build-a-graph/

Be wary about buying buying their expensive amps and cables, though. They do push some snake-oil.

The senn 555s are terrible in noisy environments. They pretty much let all the noise in. Those giant grills aren't for looks, they let air and sound right through. Some open headphones (like grado) aren't quite so defenseless, but they all have the problem in some way. If you're about to move in to a dorm or apartment with a noisy roommate, sealed cans could be the way to go.


Anything sold as "portable" is going to be cheaper, by simple economics. They are never the best sound, but something like the porta pro or px100 is a good value for the money. But if you don't need them small you can get better sound with full size headphones. Also, many people find phones that go around your ear (aka circumaural) more comfortable than ones with pads that press on the ear itself.

Only just thought of this.... But how expensive will it be to use them with a laptop (im liknig the senn 280s)? will i need an amp? how much do i need to spend on one if i do? And what sound card would i need/want

I've owned the SR60 for years and only just bought a pair of the SR80's, you can't go wrong with theses. A couple of my work mates bought the SR80s with ony one listen. One of them was even considering the Bose more expensive models. Give them a tryy before making a decision.

NH

You shouldn't need an amp; the HD280s _will_ be driven better with an amp (clearer highs, less hiss, better bass), but they'll sound great with the internal sound card amplifier anyways.

Just make sure you burn them in (play them at slightly louder than listenable volume, on a real sound system) for maybe 15 hours before listening critically : the moving of the drivers will make the materials more flexible and will give them factory specs.

Any sound card should be fine.

Wait, if the senn 280s dont need an amp, does the grado sr 60/80 need one?

and by any sound card, do you mean anything, including integrated?

Ok, now that the grado SR80 and the Senn 280 look good, it seems to be a matter of preference...

Alsoi, cannalphones' getting used to time.... is that just when you start to wear them, or every time you put them on/in? Also, whats a good suggestion for a cannalphone

You'll need to get accustomed to them only once, at the beginning . Panasonic RP-HJE70 are very good canalphones, but I'm not certain if they're the best option for their price.

I would recommend taking a look at headphonereviews.org. It's a good resource and also has a "headphone wizard" feature.

the wizard doesn't adress my situation-- high quality audio from a laptop

Also, would i want digital, or analog out in a sound card?

Do you have proof an amp will improve the sound of an HD280? Do you have proof for headphone burn-in? I know your intentions are good and generally you are giving helpful advice, but I think both are questionable propositions, without proof, and I like to see a little higher standards at hydrogen. Headphones are a big part of my audio hobby so it means a lot to me. I come here for the real deal and I'd like other people to get the real deal when they come here too. For proof, some sort of reference to objective measurements or blind testing would be suitable. See T.O.S. 8.

I do : I own a pair, and tried two builds of amps (which I made myself). You obviously can't blind-test burn-in (because you'd need many pairs, and even then they can be significantly different depending on the make date), but manufacturer's recommendations and "just in case" speaks for much more than cynicism.
As for amplifiers improving the frequency response, it's been proven multiple times, and RMAA measurings show that soundcards may not have sufficient power to drive any headphone. On top of this, an external, clean current source will be better than the antenna that is a computer with PCI bus sharing (think amplifier loopback hum, but worse)

Also note, I didn't mention "sound better" but mentionned "better driven" i.e. more current output -- this is generally true, as amplifiers will have anywhere from 20 to 80 mA ( from what I've seen ), and integrated soundcard amps (In old generation soundcards) can go as low as 8 mA, from what I recall seeing.

An analog out would be best if you want to plug headphones on it. Otherwise, you need an external DAC (argueable purpose).

Probably Steve999 had this discussion in mind: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=46620
Ofcourse, the results Pio2001 posted there only apply to one set of headphones and soundcard.


That's a theoretical argument... I think "will" needs to be replaced by "should"


Didn't you say "clearer highs, less hiss, better bass"?

Patsoe : Point made.

An amplifier should, nevertheless, allow you to attain higher volume levels at stable current output as opposed to soundcards which are generally made to drive amplified sources (i.e. RadioShack pc speakers)

Just to clarify: I'm not saying it's not true what you were saying... the sound card output is not typically designed to put out serious current, so expecting it to behave badly when driving a low-impedance device is very reasonable. It's just that nobody has provided conclusive measurements for this I think (especially with low-impedance phones and high playback levels), so we can't consider it a fact.

I still tend to believe that performance will be better with an amplifier.

The point with the noise inside pc's: internal soundcards achieving something like 100dB SNR sort of proof that that's not necessarily a problem.

PS: how the *** do I get your name quoted properly???
edit: ok, that seems to work - aaargh but it needs to be redone every edit - thanks for picking an easy name

The code is ] and [ which you need to replace the brackets in my name by. 91 : [ 93 : ]

For kicks, self-non-existent quote



Should work... (displays as :
(change colons in name with semicolons)
Should work...

Wait, if the soundcard affects what headphones can be bought, then what soundcard would i need if i was buying the senn 280s?

Also, if my total budget is 200--- for possible sound card, possible amp, and headphones, then what do i need

For 200 bucks, I would get 280s (110 $ shipping included), and an amplifier with the balance. Building your own amp will give you a huge ego, or you can always find small amps on ebay.

using what soundcard? integrated?

On a laptop? Sure. On a desktop, I'd be more retissent, but you can find an AV-710 for cheap.

is laptop integrated better, or are there fewer options (a usb sound card perhaps?) I think that the alienware has a pci slot, so is that a possibility?

Actually, I'm not sure what the story with laptops is. I simply have the impression that the integrated cards on laptops are better, but I'm probably wrong. Other users would know better.

Laptop soundcards are no better or worse than any other integrated component.

I'm going to reiterate a general audio principle; your sound quality is only as good as your weakest component. If you are on a budget, use your integrated sound card... it will sound fine. High-end soundcards for laptops are generally either to provide surround sound or focused on recording. Anything that is appreciably better than your integrated sound is going to be outside your budget.

It is also important to know to what you are listening; if you are listening to lossy compressed music files (AAC, MP3, Ogg, etc.) you aren't going to get any benefit from high end audio gear... all that will do is make the "flaws" in lossy music more apparent.

Okay... after all that... my reccomendation for excellent budget headphones is the Sennheiser PX-100. They cost about $50 USD, are light, comfortable, relatively durable, fold to be compact and come with a carrying case (all useful things for use with a laptop).

well, if its going to be high quality mp3/ogg or flac, then would a sound card become the weakest component?

In a more time critical note-- should i buy right now the senn 280s for 80 dollars? (newegg sale ends today)

BTW, many people find that Grados work very well without an additional amp - they are 32 ohms and quite high sensitivity. The SR60s work very well with iPods without any help - ditto for the Sennheiser PX-100s. Bear in mind that many of the larger Sennheisers (280, 650, etc.) are not easily driven by the low voltage outputs of portable devices and thus require an amp.

Of course, if you really want an amp you can go down that road; several are available that include a USB chipset in order to bypass the internal soundcard of your computer (sometimes a good idea as the analog outputs are not terrific).

Take a look at the Total Bithead from Headroom as an excellent example.

While it is generally true that audio is "only as good as the weakest link", this statement doesn't say what link is being taxed. A weak (e.g. low current, poorly coupled) power amplifier may in fact sound fine when driving an appropriate load but suffer when that load changes.

For the record, I drive my Grado SR60s directly from the headphone jack of this Dell Inspiron 8600 with pretty good results, though not quite as nice as the iPod or home gear.

I would buy them at 80$, if I were you. Hell, I like 'em so much, I'd consider getting a second pair just for home! They're such a good buy for the price, IMO.

ok

well, the senn 280 has been purchased, so, its not a matter of sound card to go with it... or rather what approx 120$ of equipment i can use to make it better

Hey Ruikou,

Just on a side note- one problem I've had with my laptop has been that since laptops get very hot (in this case, with AC adaptor main power, not just battery), I'm pretty sure some damage has been done to my 'onboard' integrated sound, even though it wasn't terrible onboard sound (although, I consider it terrible compared to my Santa Cruz or M-Audio devices).

So, be careful with that. You should probably get an external sound card. If you're listening to Mp3 files, just get whatever is cheapest, probably the Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA card. I run a FireWire Audiophile (USB version too, FYI), and it's incredible.

Regards,
- Spike

The Thinkpad (T-Series) Onboard cards seem to be quite good. To me after a tiny listening test, there were no obvious (except for the higher noise level) sound differences between the onboard and a sb audigy 2 zs notebook. This is all tiny differences. Stereo audio is on a high level nowadays. Much more important is the speakers.