I'm looking for a good, cheap closed set of headphones for my wife. She doesn't want a large pair of phones and it must be closed. This obviously eliminates a lot of the standard choices for under $75, but I'm determined to find something. I can get a new Sony v6 pair for $75, but have also found this pair of koss r-10 headphones for $30. The specs look similar enough to the s/portapro that I'm curious if maybe these things actually sound nice. Or, if anybody can find a cheap new/used/refurbed set of sony v6s or denon 750/950 cans, please let me know! Also, I'd appreciate any opinions on the Sennheiser HD25SP.

One more thing to mention - she's going to be listening to cds and mp3s out of her computer a lot, so these must be easy to drive.

Thanks!

My advice would be to forget the 10s and go with the UR-20s or 30s. The 20s ($25) and 30s ($30) are almost the same headphone, but the 30s fold up for travel. They both allegedly sound much better than the 10s.

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Hello? No large phones! The UR-20/30s are frickin huge!

However on sound quality, if the r-10s really do sound much worse than the 20/30s, I'd stay away from them. From my experience, the UR-30s are good if you like brain-shaking volume, but if you're looking for accuracy I'd look elsewhere. Why doesn't Koss make closed phones with the Porta drivers?

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Well, there's the rub Closed but not large? The V6 are the smallest "closed" phones I've seen, but they aren't fully supraaural (and they're still pretty big ).

The UR 30s look big since they are truly "closed," but they do fold up (I'm not sure if the "doesn't want a large pair" applies to storing or wearing?).

You're right that the 20s/30s aren't the most accurate phones ever, but they're easily the best closed phone until you get to the V6s. (HeadRoom feels that the 20s sound a bit more clear than the 30s, but they don't fold up.)

http://www.headphone.com/ProductsHea...s/KossUR30.asp
http://www.headphone.com/ProductsHea...s/KossUR20.asp

Yeah, I know closed but small is hard to come by. Her brother has a pair of v6s, so I'll have her take a look at those, but ideally I could get her something along the lines of the Sennheiser HD25. It's just that they're so expensive, and I've heard that the HD25SPs have questionable sound quality (and even those are a little above our budget for these phones). So the Koss r-10s aren't really an option then? Hmph. That's disappointing. Oh well.

You could also try a Beyer DT-231. They are lighter and smaller than the Sony V6. They have a smooth laid back sound.

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That's right; all of the closed small-sized supraural headphones in your price range have bad sound, too much bass, crappy bass, breakable plastic, and cost way more than they're worth. (In other words, that crappy bass will completely overwhelm the mids and highs.) And BTW, the Beyer DT231 also costs more than you want to spend - almost as much as the Senn HD25SP.