If you need headphones and only have $14...these JVC's will probably blow you away like I was.

The HA-RX700 and HA-RX900 are rather popular here, but I haven't heard at all about the HA-RX300 here before.

I wonder how they'll favor by comparison.

hmm those look pretty good :) will put on my plausible recommendation list for budget strapped friends

Spent half an hour listening to these just now, got them at an airport a couple of years ago. From my VDAC- WA6 they sound muddy with boomy bass, but it seems to depend on the song. Some songs sound really good considering they cost about £10. I'm more impressed with them from my home setup than I was with my walkman (my WA6 is at 11 o'clock powering these). They may benefit from more use, but right now I don't see them as giant killers.

You know, i went through a whole low end buying phase (just to see what was out there. I bought 20-25 or so pair of 10-25$ headphones) and the HARX300 and the JVC flats were the only real disappointments for me. Maybe I just dont like the JVC signature... who knows. I HATED the flats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eclein 

Way back when I joined Head-fi one of the first posts I read was a guy who said "buying headphones is like buying a color of paint you like", "some will hate it and some will like it"....that is so true....I'm in that buy cheap ones phase to see whats out there....$14 shouldn't even sound close to these, they sound like a bit more coin than 14 thats kinda what I was goin for.......I have a buddy who lives under headphones and just got a pair because he was broke with the holidays and his normal cans bit the dust... he was shocked also....They are not a Giant killer by any stretch but the cash outlay is so low and the sound is so much better.........I love hearing other opinions....which cheap Sennheisers should I try??????

 Thanks

Totally agree. I think I just dont like the JVC sound signature for some reason. The flats in particular were highly praised on Jokers shootout and those were my least fav of all my cheap buys.

The only cheaper senn's I like are at the 50 buck level. The px1000 the 448's and 202 are both great choices IMO.

EDIT: On my daily look at techbargains, the 202's are having a deal today. http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/279935 Pick em up!!

Among ultra low budget, you can also try the CV-185 which is at $9 at Amazon and gets some good comments in Joker's portable shootout thread. I have them and they do take a bit of eq-ing to get them where I like them but were really not bad for under $10. Unfortunately, the plug on mine snapped off after only a month or two. One of these days, I'll try to put on a new plug. 

If you are looking for A-Ts for under $50, take a look at the ATH-M30s:

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATHM30-ATH-M30-Professional-Headphones/dp/B00007E7C8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=ACM9G2YKY0FOM&s=generic&qid=1324389970&sr=1-1

I should have my ATH-T400 here in the next couple of days to try out. I got them for $40, but normally they run about $55-70. It's like an ATH-A700 without the wings. Not clear how the sound will stack up as no ones tried them yet, though it still does use a 53mm driver which is a rarity at that price level.

The only audio-technica's i own are the m50's. I've never tried their cheaper offerings, but I have heard good things. 

btw, I LOVED by JBL-4312A's. They were my first monitors. Loved those things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eclein 

 Hey I found a credit card with $22 available and grabbed the Senns, Thanks!!!!!If they sound crappy its your fault!!!!!  LOL...hahahaha Have a great Holiday folks

haha! you will like them... great little cans and thats an awesome price.

I just bought these and modded them. Out of the box these have a pretty ridiculous amount of bass and muddled upper low end. Think 500hz low shelf 15db boost and you get the picture.

To dampen the low end I added padding to the back of the ear cup with non-slip drawer liner like in this thread.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/435809/jvc-ha-rx700-mods

I did not add padding to the "baffle" but instead added four "dots" of plumbers putty to control resonance.

I added a ring of self stick closed cell foam (around 3/16h x 1/4w) around the outer edge of the baffle to push the pads out and make more room for my big old ears.

The driver has four holes on the back of the magnet for venting. I liked the sound best with 1 and 1/2 hole exposed. The bass level drops and is more controlled as the holes are covered. I put cloth tape over the magnet to cover the holes.

The baffle has five or six "port holes" in it. I liked the sound with only two exposed. Seems to affect upper bass and lower mids.

I am listening to Joe's Garage right now and it sounds great. Definitely on the bassy warm side but way better than it should. A sine wave sweep reveals very little in the way of peaks and valleys. Lows down to 30 and decent top. They sound really good at lower volumes not so much cranked up because the top end gets grainy.

With the exception of pumped up bass ( which I like ) these actually have a much smother frequency response than my hd595's with very few peaks and valleys. There is obviously no comparison to the senn in distortion, power handling, or upper octave extension and grain. My ears and the hd595 just do not get along very well with a huge dip around 4k another around 7400  a peak at 3k plus a lack of bass.