Headphone Recomendations Under $150 & A Question (1 Viewer)

[Nick G]

My upstaires neighbor got justifiably mad at me last night for playing moderately loud music late at night, so I am in the market for a resonably good set of headphones. If possible I would like to keep it under $150. The music will be mostly light rock stuff (Billy Joel, James Taylor, The Eagles etc) and perhaps some movie watching. A related question: what happens to bass management and DTS/DD5.1 when I plug in the phones? Do I need to set my reciever (Onkyo 595) to two channel listening before using the headphones? One more thing, do wireless headphones work well? They would be a superb solution. Thanks.
Regards, Nick
[Edited last by Nick G on October 30, 2001 at 02:48 PM]

 

[EricHM]

Check out:
http://www.gradolabs.com http://www.sennheiser.com http://www.etymotic.com http://www.beyerdynamic.com http://www.akg.com
Personally, I use a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-250 80 ohm headphones. They are excellent IMO, and I picked them up for $175 or so at http://www.headphone.com. The good things about them are the situation of the cord, the excellent bass response (critical for hometheater or rock music) and good isolation (meaning people around you can't hear the music and you can't hear things going on around you).
Other modles to check out are the Grado 125's, 225's (especially), 325's, or RS series; Sennheiser, HD 250II's, 580's or 600's; Beyerdynamic DT-831; AKG acoustics 501.
The etymotic's have been dubbed by many the ultimate headphone. They are actually earplugs with really small but incredibly accurate speakers in them. You might want to look into them; almost all headphone nuts have at least tried them and 99% rave about te ER4P and ER4S to no end.
If you're really serious, consider picking up a good headphone amp from creek or headroom at http://www.headphone.com

 

[EricHM]

PS: about I would assume you should put your reciever in stereo mode, but i'm not sure since I currently have a headphone only/music only setup right now.
Grado is actually coming out with a new product called a "cinema headphone".

Two headphone products debuted at T.H.E. Show this year: Grado Cinema headphones and Wheatfield Audio's USB DAC amplifier. The Grado Cinema headphones are meant to complement the anticipated flood of new DVD players with built-in headphone virtualizers such as Dolby Headphone. The new earpads and transducers are designed to image optimally with these sound technologies. Grado has made no official announcement of this product line yet.

Concerning the wireless headphones, I would not reccomend them. For the same amount of money you could get a traditional headphone which sound A LOT better and with most good headphones cords aren't a big problem (you can also get extension cords if you want).
Please be sure and check out the headphone forums at:
Link Removed http://www.head-fi.com

 

[Ken Seeber]

In your price range, you really can't go wrong with AKG. They're extremely comfortable and the sound quality is terrific. There's a reason these are the standard headphones in virtually every recording studio in the world.
I think the model number you'd be looking for is the 240. Check www.headphone.com .

 

[jeff lam]

I scored the Senn. HD-580's on ebay for $150 Brand New. I'm sure you can find them as well. Everyone around here will agree that you can't do better than the 580's at this price or even a higher price at that.
As for your receiver, I don't know much about Onkyo, but I always listen to my music in 2-ch mode.

 

[KevinQ]

You can usually use the speaker A/B selector on your receiver to choose headphone. Then you receiver should automatically downmix DD or DTS to stereo for you.
If you go with a high impendence headphone such as HD580, you may need a headphone amp to get the most of it. The headphone output jack of your receiver are usually not very good. I would recommend SONY MDR-V6 (not V600) for sub $150 headphones.
Check out forums Link Removed http://www.head-fi.org/forums/
Just my 0.02.
[Edited last by KevinQ on November 01, 2001 at 08:44 PM]
[Edited last by KevinQ on November 01, 2001 at 08:47 PM]

 

[Mike Sheahan]

I really dig my Sennheiser HD-500's, and I think you can get them now at J&R for $69.
If you want to step up a bit the 570's can be had for $99 at buy.com and pricescan says J&R has the 580's for $169, but over at J&R's site they list for $199.
I'd bet if you don't mind a little haggling, you could get them for the pricescan price.

 

[jeff lam]

I have no problems at all running my 300 ohm senn 580's off my Yamaha receiver, I am even satisfied with the way they play on my sony portable discman(though not as much as the receiver). You will have no problems, trust me.