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What's the best headphone for under $150 USD for my needs?

post #1 of 11
12/20/11 at 9:10pm
Thread Starter 

I am looking to buy cans for $150 or less that I will be using on my PC only for watching movies, music, and games. In order most important first Games, Music, Movies.
I have a Xonar DG sound card that has a decent headphone amp, I like it. I had Sennheiser 428's that I sat on and cracked them. I bought a cheap $20 pair of Sony MDR-XD100's to hold me over and they don't sound terrible suprisingly, with a 70 impedance using the amp. On my iPhone they sound like utter ****.

I would prefer closed cans, or cans that can provide a good amount of bass, more than the 428's could, but still have the same clarity and crispness.
I would prefer something with 50-60+ impedance and can hit those lower bass notes. I don't know I'm rambling now, I'm just out of my league and don't know much about headphones and which are best.

For the last month I have been google searching and fiddling with my soundcard/headphones to get the best sound it is my new obsession and everytime I search I end up at this website, so I figured the users here are knowledgable to trust with guiding my purchase.. What do you suggest?


Edited by apk878 - 12/20/11 at 9:12pm
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post #2 of 11
12/20/11 at 9:17pm

The ATH-M50 sounds like a perfect fit, off-hand. They have a good amount of bass and should fit every requirement but your impedance requirement. I wish you had a different sound card, because there is an impedance mismatch going on with this.

 

The Brainwavz HM5 is another idea, which might fit the output impedance of your sound card, but it has less bass quantity. It should be tighter, though.

 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by apk878 View Post

I am looking to buy cans for $150 or less that I will be using on my PC only for watching movies, music, and games. In order most important first Games, Music, Movies.
I have a Xonar DG sound card that has a decent headphone amp, I like it. I had Sennheiser 428's that I sat on and cracked them. I bought a cheap $20 pair of Sony MDR-XD100's to hold me over and they don't sound terrible suprisingly, with a 70 impedance using the amp. On my iPhone they sound like utter ****.

I would prefer closed cans, or cans that can provide a good amount of bass, more than the 428's could, but still have the same clarity and crispness.
I would prefer something with 50-60+ impedance and can hit those lower bass notes. I don't know I'm rambling now, I'm just out of my league and don't know much about headphones and which are best.

For the last month I have been google searching and fiddling with my soundcard/headphones to get the best sound it is my new obsession and everytime I search I end up at this website, so I figured the users here are knowledgable to trust with guiding my purchase.. What do you suggest?



 

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post #3 of 11
12/20/11 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 

The ATH-M50's look really nice, I could turn the amp down to accomodate the impedance on those cans but I'm afraid they might not be loud enough? The 428's didn't get loud but they had a great sound quality. Are the difference between the M50's and the 428's huge?

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post #4 of 11
12/20/11 at 9:29pm

It's more of a problem of the output impedance, not really the voltage output. In all honesty, though, it probably won't make too much of a difference, so don't put too much thought into it.

 

The HD428s are a headphone I've listened to for literally two songs, but I do think the M50 will be a pretty sizable step up. I don't remember being particularly impressed by the HD428, but, like I said, EXTREMELY limited listening experience with them. 
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by apk878 View Post

The ATH-M50's look really nice, I could turn the amp down to accomodate the impedance on those cans but I'm afraid they might not be loud enough? The 428's didn't get loud but they had a great sound quality. Are the difference between the M50's and the 428's huge?



 

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post #5 of 11
12/20/11 at 9:35pm

m50 or SRH840

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post #6 of 11
12/20/11 at 11:55pm
Thread Starter 

It seems the M50's were once a $100 headphone, now they are $150+, on amazon they were 159.99 where I would order since I have Amazon Prime, is it worth the extra $50?

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post #7 of 11
12/20/11 at 11:58pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by apk878 View Post

It seems the M50's were once a $100 headphone, now they are $150+, on amazon they were 159.99 where I would order since I have Amazon Prime, is it worth the extra $50?



To be honest, it is barely worth it at current prices, so to Head-fi standards, no.

 

Oh and if you're using the headphones for gaming as top priority, closed headphones are not recommended.

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post #8 of 11
12/21/11 at 12:17am

At $150-160? The M50 is a pretty poor buy with many other very good headphones now open.

At $120, like from the Sound Professionals? They're pretty solid, competing against headphones like the KRK KNS 8400. 
 

Do not buy them beyond that price. If the Sound Professionals ever raised their price, I'd suggest against them. 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by apk878 View Post

It seems the M50's were once a $100 headphone, now they are $150+, on amazon they were 159.99 where I would order since I have Amazon Prime, is it worth the extra $50?


 

 

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post #9 of 11
12/22/11 at 10:46pm
Thread Starter 

Welp, I ended up finding new M50's on craigslist for $130. They sound spectacular.. more than I was expecting. My only complaint is they squeeze the **** out of my head and are comfortable, yet uncomfortable after about 10 minutes. Hopefully the band will get looser over time because it actually is starting to hurt after 3 hours.

When I took them off after a long session, it was a relieve, they are making my neck and right under my ears hurt they are SO tight on my head(my heads big but not monsterous). At least they create a good seal. Quite sweaty and hot too. Good for cold weather.


Edited by apk878 - 12/22/11 at 10:48pm
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post #10 of 11
12/23/11 at 12:08am

I think there are a few topics on here about reducing the M50's clamping force. 
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by apk878 View Post

Welp, I ended up finding new M50's on craigslist for $130. They sound spectacular.. more than I was expecting. My only complaint is they squeeze the **** out of my head and are comfortable, yet uncomfortable after about 10 minutes. Hopefully the band will get looser over time because it actually is starting to hurt after 3 hours.

When I took them off after a long session, it was a relieve, they are making my neck and right under my ears hurt they are SO tight on my head(my heads big but not monsterous). At least they create a good seal. Quite sweaty and hot too. Good for cold weather.



 

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post #11 of 11
12/23/11 at 12:44pm

The Sennheiser HD380 pro is now $145 on Amazon. That looks like a great deal. It was at $200 for so long. The HD380 pro is a great improvement over the HD280 pro. I was surprised to see the HD280 pro at $75. That is now even less than the cost of the Sony V6. It is funny how the V6 suddenly surged from $65 to $80-85, while the HD280 pro continued to creap lower in price.

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