Budget (under $30) headphone shootout!

I have lost count of the number of times a newbie here on Head-Fi has made a post asking our advice on a cheap/good pair of headphones. Perhaps some day we will be able to refer them to this post for some good advice and suggestions.

EDIT: Doesn't matter what type of headphone it is (closed, open, IEM, buds) as long as it is less than $30 USD, and has very good SQ (for the price).

Ok so on to the poll : so which set of budget cans is the undisputed champion of them all? Pick your favorite. Keep in mind I am looking only for the cheapies here (under $30 USD). Bonus points if you tell us the reasons why you like the headphone you select in the poll, along with the type of music you listen to most often.

I will get the ball rolling:

My vote is for KOSS KSC-75. The price versus performance for these bad boys is absolutely unbeatable. For $13 (or less) the sound quality of these phones approach that found in headphone models 8 times the price. Since they are so cheap, first time do-it-yourselfers can attempt a mod or recable and not be out a ton of scratch in the event they screw up. They are very compact which makes them ideal for portable use. They are comfortable enough for me to use them upwards of 4 hours or more and not even realize they are on my ears (very lightweight and 'airy' feeling). They are also a great (affordable) gift to give to a loved one who is using those stock God-forsaken iPOD earbuds!

They do justice to the types of music I prefer (metal, alternative, rock, punk, blues).

Pound-for-pound it is hard to beat what the KSC-75 offers in such a small package at such an affordable price. As for the icing on the cake: KOSS offers a no-questions-asked lifetime repair/replacement policy on these bad boys. So there is no fear in making these babies your 'beater' phones. Go on and abuse em' if you want. If they break you send them back to KOSS along with a check for $6. KOSS will repair them, or replace them with a comparable model. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other headphone manufacturer that offers a warranty quite like that!

Pic:


Your turn.

P.S. If you pick 'Other', please specify which budget headphones you prefer.

Ya' know I do agree with your sentiment that graphs aren't everything. But as I have recently learned: once you know the type of sound you prefer in a headphone, the graphs can be a useful tool in determining what other headphones you might enjoy. As such, you make a very interesting point with making a graph comparison of the RS-1s and the KSC-75s. I will be the first to admit I am a huge fan of the Grado sound. Very interesting indeed...

Same here, I have only actually heard 1/4 of the phones in the list. My goal was to see if there are any other opinions for cheap-o headphones other than the models that are most often suggested here at Head-Fi. Although I had a feeling that KOSS would be the winner in the sub $30 category, I don't like to assume anything.

As for the guy who suggested comparing them to phones in a higher price category: although I firmly believe that the KSC-75s sound as good as some phones costing upwards of $100, I just don't see how it can be a fair comparison. Not to mention I am looking for a champion of very low-end cheapie headphones, so I limited the choices to sub $30.

One might expect that considering the fact that the KSC-75s are $12 and the K81s are ~$69. Perhaps a new POLL for the king of the $31 to $99 price range headphone is in order.

Having said that, I would like to try the K81s one of these days, there seems to be a good buzz going on in favor of them...