headphones (1 Viewer)

I'm looking for a decent pair of headphones under $100 for my HT b/c sometimes I watch movies late at night. Can anybody give me some recomendations? So far the main company i'm looking at is schensier (i have no idea how to spell there name )

Grado SR80's are in your price line. Hands down, best value for the money.

Agreed, I love my Grado sr80's.

Another vote for SR-80s. Only thing I'd worry about is that they are open. So if you don't want any sound escaping they might not be the best.

Another vote for them as I use them in my family room when my kids practice...ocassionally if its real loud I'll break out the Bose II's for noise cancelling but rarely. The bose dont come close to compairing for sound but they do a great job on the noise cancelling.

Another vote for the Grados. IMO, nothing from Sennheiser this side of the 595s can hold a candle to them.

I just got some Kinyo 5.1 surround headphones. It takes a little while to get used to them, but they really work. It's not as obvious as a real surround system, but it works. They were only 49 dollars.

If you want wireless (2.4Ghz) as well and can pass through the digital signal via coax or optical get Amphony headphones. They don't mention it but I swear they have built in noise cancelling.

As a owner of Grado SR 125s (approx. $200.00 Cdn) and Sennheiser HD 590's (approx. $300.00 Cdn) I have to say I like the Senns much better. I know they are more money (these 2 particular models) but apart from the sound I find the Senns better for these reasons:

1: Detachable cord. A great feature. Unlike the Grads they don't twist up on itself which can be very annoying.

2: The Grads crapped out on me after 2 years. I know of others that this has happened to as well, in even a shorter amount of time.

3: Comfort. The Grads were the most uncomftorable thing I have ever put on my head. Seriously, after a couple of hours it was like my ears were numb. Perhaps others won't have this problem but man they were brutal. The Senns I wear for 12+ hours and they feel like silk boxers. Their beauty.

4: Sound. Grads are more of a rock'n'roll headphone, makes guitars and the like really stand out. Not the most detail but if you prefer this style of music then they are a good match. They also achieve higher volume levels on portable units, unlike the Senns that are "quieter". Although in this regard I prefered the Grads I think the more subtle, better detailed Senns are a better sounding headphone.

I guess it depends how and what your going to use the headphones for, but overall the Senns IMO just can't be beat.

Yeah, if you go with the Grado's make sure you get the extra pair of padded earpads, they make a big difference as far as comfort goes. Some dealers will throw them in for free, Grado sells them for 10 bucks last I checked.

Len Cheong... RE: the Amphony's the wireless thing has always interested me as I am sometimes up in the middle of the night and dont want to wake the family. I currenty have a good set of wired phones but stringing then putting back the phones are a hassle when your tired. Can you comment on how good they work and how good they sound and also where one might get a pair... Thanks. I also wonder since they are close in frequency with my wireless network if that would screw things up.

Grados (yes its GRADO not GRATO) are a more forward can with a signature up front sound. Known as excellent rock headphones. They are usually known as having not the greatest soundstage... they also are not known as being very comfortable. I wouldnt reccomend those.

There are however many cans made jsut for movies. With internal dolby headphone processing. I would go to headfi and do a search for them. Many are giving the newer models much praise.

As far as using a regular phone. Sennheiser hd580s or hd600s or hd650s are the way to go.. biggest soundstage under $500.

The headphones are going to be mainly used for just watching movies. Comfort is pretty important b/c i'll probably be wearing them for hours at a time. Out of the two though i'm starting to lean towards the Sennheiser hd600s

If you are focused on just using the headphones for movies. I would look at one of the dolby headphone units. Dolby headphone is a seperate format (such as DTS or dolby 5.1 is) which is designed specificly to be played in 2 channel headphones. Sometimes when listening to DTS or dolby 5.1 it can sound a little off, especially when outdoors (it sounds like your in a hall). Dolby headphone fixes that. There is a dvd that has a dolby headphone track for people to test (pearl harbor). The dolby headphone units decode dolby 5.1 into dolby headphone... So you can enjoy all your movies in dolby headphone... although it would be nice if they just put the dolby headphone track on all dvd's, but theres just not a market for it.

If you dont want to get a dolby unit, go with the sennheisers. hd580's if you want to save money. The 580's/600's/650's all use the same drivers, its just tweaked better as you go up the line.

Hey Ryan... I have not checked over at the other place forever as I am pretty set up for phones for both home and flying. You mentioned dolby... Have you heard of anything that might be dolby, wireless and does a decent job at movies only.... not music. Also who are some of the manufacturers of the dolby ones that I can look up that would not be the wireless ones just plain wired. The wireless scares me but it would be handy for in the middle of the night viewing of a movie... Thanks
Mike

John.....I believe the Sen 600s are a great choice and the majority here will concur, but you asked for recommendations in the $100 range.
Please be sure to let us all know where you found 600s for around 100 bucks, OK?

ETys are great. Easily competes with the best headphones out there.

Go to www.head-fi.com for research.

Mike: Sony makes a few different models which has internal dolby headphone processing. They all are made specificly for movies. They are all wireless. The reviews have been very good... I plan to purchase a nice set of them once I get my speakers done.

At ecost they have the following models:

MDR-DS5000 - $249.99 (currently unavailable)

MDR-DS5100 - $319.99 (in stock)

MDR-DS8000 - $544.99 (in stock)

Holy cow they are expensive.. and you hated it that I spent so much on the bose for just flying... ah yet something else for the upgraditis list. Thanks for the info I will be looking into them. I had pretty much heard that wireless phones were junk yet but maybe times have changed. Once you find a set or in my case two or three thay you really like for different things you kind of get out of the looking loop which I have been.

I did some looking at that high end DS8000.. It looks good but I can't find any reviews. I'll keep lookin.

Yeah they are expensive. Its not cheap to get dolby headphone right now. The cheapest receiver that has dolby headphone processing built in is a $3000 Denon! This pisses off a lot of headphone nuts, let me tell ya. Wireless headphones are generally shunned upon, but its a little different with watching movies. There is a place to plug nicer headphones into the sony unit, and users have reported that the wireless headphones sound better than their very high end headphones (sennheiser hd650's, Grado rs-1's, Even the $3000 sony r-10's). Simply because the sony wireless headphones that come with the system are voiced specificly for playing movies. These sony units are pretty much the ultimate way to watch movies with headphones at this point in time.