Looking for a headphone one step over HD201

Hi all

A neighbor wants to give a new pair of headphones to his son as a xmas present, and he have asked me for advice.

His son likes my HD201 a lot, but being a present he wants to spend a bit more on the phones than the rough 20 euros of the HD201, and buy a better pair of cans.

Given that the son likes the HD201 and that the father is willing to spend a bit more, which is the next "natural" step? Which Sennheiser model can I recommend, a bit more expensive than HD201 (but hopefully better sounding)? Maybe is it better to go for another brand instead?

The only restriction is that it has to be circumaural, otherwise I would recommend the PX-100 or PortaPro, but with circums I'm somewhat lost...

The budget I don't have clear: higher than 20 euros, probably not much more than 40-50...

Tough question, right? Thanks in advance

Thanks everyone

Looks like if my neigh' sticks to Senns, he can buy the HD205, HD215, HD515 and maybe HD555 if he can stretch the budget a bit.

On the other hand, although I referred to Sennheiser, that's because the boy liked my HD201's, so *maybe* he likes Sennheiser sound signature. BUT as "priest" suggested, probably the boy is going to listen to boom-boom-boom music, so any bassy headphone will sound, to his ears, better than Sennheiser.

In fact, the story is as follows: he had some Skullcandy model, bought one year ago or so, probably last xmas but I'm not sure. The phones were not specially ugly but sounded like crap (I had the "fortune" of listening to them), they were more a fashion accessory than real headphones. You can tell about their quality if some simple HD201 sounded like heaven to the boy! When I gave the 201's for him to listen, his word were "wow". Exactly that. Probably because the HD201, not being top of the notch, were much more detailed, open and with cleaner basses than the crap he was using.

The Skullcandies have broken, and now he is using only the earbuds that came with his mobile phone. No doubt that HD201 will be a BIG step up.

I didn't ask about the sources he is going to use, but probably his iPod (he abhors the iPod earbuds, good for him!), his stereo in his room and maybe his computer. All of them can drive models like HD201 without amping, so probably he is NOT interested in models that need an amp.

Summing up: Senns HD201 (just in case), HD205, HD215, HD515 and HD555.

Any other brand I can recommend? My neighbor is going to buy them in some shop in Madrid, so probably the only brands will be Sennheiser, AKG, probably Denon and some JVC models, that's all. Anyway, if we finally decide on a model that has to be bought online, I can do it for him. He is a good neighbor

I'll check the prices, skidu, thanks

Hi priest

I talked to my neighbor and no, he doesn't want to go above 70$ (well 50€). Probably he will go up to 100$ (70€) if I insist long enough, but I don't think it makes sense. His son is not exactly and audiophile and a pair of 50$ cans would be a huge improvement for him.

I still have to evaluate prices and shops for him, so I still don't know which model he will buy.

Thanks a lot for your suggestion of AH-D1001 and HD448. I'll keep those in mind just in case I find them for less than 80$, because in that case I will insist long enough specially for the D1001.

Hi Deep Funk

I'm not a Creative fan, so I didn't consider the Aurvana Live. I'll include them in the list of possible targets, depending on the price.

Thanks!

Hi all

After five days without knowing anything about my neighbor, this morning he told me he finally went to the shop I recommended (he didn't want to buy online, finally) with the idea of buying the HD205, as the other models looked expensive to him. Being cheap but still a step over HD201 I thought they were a good buy anyway.

BUT, the thing is that he asked for the price of all the models you recommended (i gave him an average price for each model, but he asked in the shop just in case) and the clerk offered him a pair of HD215 for 50€, 5€ less than the "official" price in the shop, because the box has a bit of damage. Since I had given 50-60 euros as the usual price in physical shops in Madrid for the HD215, and since he thought the look of the cans did fit his son likings, he finally bought them.

So, it was HD215 after all, and his son is extremely happy with them (he received them today even though they are a xmas present because he is going traveling for a week with some friends). He is going to enjoy them a lot, he likes the sound out of the box much more than my HD201, so it has been a success!

Thanks a lot for your advice in my name and in behalf of my neighbor and his son. You've given great advice )