Headphones: is it worth getting an expensive one?

[CrONoS]

Originally posted by nostromo

The first thing I bought with my iPod was a pair of Sennheiser PX 100. They were about 100$ cdn including taxes. I'm satisfied with them, except for two things.

Pretty good headphone


If I was not running short of money, I would buy a pair of PX 100, they are selling them 79$ at circuit city store. At least, my Sennheiser PMX 60 is looking good and the sound is not so bad(versus my Koss UR-29, big and sound doesn't have the power of my PMX-60) The PMX60 sound amazing with rock and metal music; anything with distorted guitar.

[Kassiopeia]

I have an old Pioneer amp left over from my dad and a pair of Sennheiser HD 555s (about $100) plugged into it. It's awesome, I just need a slightly better soundcard, but it's certainly better than a dinky pair of 20 dollar headphones. They're far more comfortable to wear (I use mine 10 hours a day) and the difference in sound quality is incredible. Excellent bang for the buck, but then I do listen to a lot of music and use them all the time.

I also have extremely bad experiences from cheap Logitech headsets. Me and two of my friends each got a pair of them to play Guild Wars together. One pair has been replaced twice (first one gave out within three weeks), one has been replaced once, and when mine gave out I got my Sennheisers and a table microphone.

[Berzerker]

Is there a difference in quality? Yeah, a lot!!!! Since I have my SennHeiser headphones, I can't stand having cheap headphones!

Hehe, Sennheiser HD 590 here. I had the model it replaced and it was a little better soundwise but trouble with shorting or cutting out. That model had the wires enter both earpieces, the HD 590 has 1 wire and the problem hasn't re-appeared. I did have a less expensive set of JVC with sound quality close to Sennheiser.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I have a set of Logitech with a boom mic that are just fine. Didn't break me either.

I have those. They hurt my ears after a while. I have to take them off every so often and rub my ears.

[CrONoS]

Reminder:
I finally bought the Sennheiser PX100 at 69$(CND with a 10$ rebates)!!!!

WoW! For a relatively low-price, you got a really good headphone!

I recommend them highly!!

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


I have those. They hurt my ears after a while. I have to take them off every so often and rub my ears.

That happened to me with these until I figured out how to put them on my head properly ... for whatever reason they fit oddly on my head but I fixed the top thing such that they no longer hurt

To the OP: Look at the sound reproduction capabilities of the headphones, things like range and resistance IIRC. My GF looked into these things heavily a few years back. DEFINITELY get a good pair, though, or you're wasting the money of your iPod or whatnot.

[Datajack Franit]

These look damn good to wear while walking around the city





I recommend avoiding wearing headphones in public places, unless you want to look like a ******

[-Jrabbit]

I've worked in the pro audio industry most of my life, so this is a pretty amusing disucssion. Not to denigrate anyone's opinions here -- all are valid -- but I feel compelled to mention a few things.

First, if you are listening in MP3 format, your music is fairly limited in the amount of fidelity it can achieve -- because MPEG-3 is a "lossy" compression algorithm. If you're saving your files in AIFF or WAV (linear PCM) format, well good for you. You have a shot at hearing actual CD-quality audio. But only if your listening device doesn't suck.

2. If you can't hear the difference, it's not worth the money. A lot depends on how many hours you spend listening in a day. (Exposure time creates hearing health issues.) When shopping for headphones, insist on listening to them. Well, insist on it if you're spending more than $50. Below that, it's all mostly crap anyway.

C. There are significant differences in headphone sound quality, and they kinda-sorta correlate with price. But again, it's a question of personal taste at the end of the day. At the low end, you're paying for Product Styling (form factor and packaging). Again, there are no magically fabulous sounding headphones or earphones below about $50 bucks.

IV. Consider how much music is lost to environmental interference. Dynamic earbuds (like Sony and Apple) provide very little isolation from the outside world, forcing you to turn it up (which has definite long-term hearing health issues). The same is true for "open air" headphones that rest lightly on the ear.

6-ish. You can get decent-not-great isolation with muff-style headphones, but it's unweildy to wear them outside the home.

Seven. The recent trend is toward "isolating earphones" which create a seal in the ear canal (usually with silicone flanges or expanding foam). The main providers are Shure, Etymotic, and Ultimate Ears. You can get full-frequency isolation of -26 dB with a good fit, which actually enables you to hear the source material much more clearly. In fact, you'll hear more music at lower volume -- which means you protect your hearing while enjoying music more.

The downside? Well, there's the "ick" factor of dealing with cerumen (earwax), and some people just don't like to be isolated like that.

Good isolating earphones are comfortable, lightweight, and (per the perceptions listed earlier in this thread), pricey. They start at about $100 and go up to $500 or more. The custom fit ear monitors that rock stars use on stage (made by Sensaphonics, Ultimate Ears, Future Sonics and Westone) go for $600 to $1000. Or more. Admittedly, that's a different world than iPod listening. You probably don't need a custom-built earphone system with integral mics that allow you to include or shut out ambient sound on command (Sensaphonics, $2500). Those are designed for the Steven Tylers of the world to use on stage. But it's all on a continuum.

For those interested in this sort of thing, I recommend a couple websites that are full of information gleaned by insane people who have nothing better to do than get deep, deep into Earphone World. Very opinionated, but reasonably well informed. (Caution: don't post on their boards unless you are ready to submit to being treated as a hopeless noob.) Try:

https://www.headwize.com

https://www.head-fi.org

But I digress. It's late and I tend to ramble a bit when I'm tired. Sorry for the interruption. Carry on.

[Datajack Franit]

These are my home wireless headphones btw- best 50 euros ever spent. I can listen to Rachmaninoff while washing dishes, which is truly a moving experience.

[-Jrabbit]

Don't get me started on wireless.

[Datajack Franit]

If you have better ideas about listening to music while washing dishes, you´re welcome

[-Jrabbit]

Not being critical of your rig, Datajack. Just painfully aware of the technical limitations of the technology. To paraphrase what I said in the earlier post, if you like what you have, it's all good.

[Ãskallin]

Datajack: I have similair one by Sehnheiser... They are magic . You can mow the lawn, do the dishes, take a crap all while listening to some quality music.



Now if they would just come up with a remote to the computer to switch songs. I hate getting crap songs while on the ****house. Takes a lot of joy from the ritual.

[Datajack Franit]

Originally posted by Ãskallin
Datajack: I have similair one by Sehnheiser... They are magic . You can mow the lawn, do the dishes, take a crap all while listening to some quality music.



Now if they would just come up with a remote to the computer to switch songs. I hate getting crap songs while on the ****house. Takes a lot of joy from the ritual.

Indeed! A remote control would make it the best thing ever. There´s actually another little bug, which is that they start making a strong "bzzzzzt"-like sound when music stops playing for more than some seconds, or if the sound is too low, probably for reminding about switching them off and saving batteries length.

[-Jrabbit]

Now if they would just come up with a remote to the computer to switch songs.

That would require a back-channel to communicate with your sound source. Serious technology.