Auditioned BestBuy Headphones $60-$300.........wow, is it me? - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dubstep Girl 

might of been the sennheiser hd 449 or 429, i've heard those as best buy and owned the 448 in the past, absolutely terrible, the bass distorts really easily, regardless of amp.

 

the hd 558 (also available at my best buy) are REALLY good though. and their hd 201s aren't bad considering the price

You really have to do the Bass mod on the 400 series.  The drivers have no room to breathe.  I don't know what they were thinking with the design?  The way they have the back of the cans sealed up just makes them average at best.  If you open up one of the holes in the Tape covering the back of the housing the drivers have room to push the air out.

The distortion is completely gone.  Just like a good home speaker, it needs to have a open port to get the air pressure out.  Look at this picture, It's completely closed, But see that black strip of tape? Under that is Three Hole's (2 holes on the 439) Just use a small blade or something and remove the tape off one hole.  The Bass will have DT770 impact without any mud smearing up the mids/treble.  It really is night and day!!  They sound like another set of cans, Just by letting them have some room to breathe:

Need to post actual models instead of just manufacturers. As people already said, even the same manufacturer can make very good headphones and very terrible headphones at the same time.

I've listened to the Senheiser HD4xx series at Best Buy before. Absolutely terrible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magicman74 

You really have to do the Bass mod on the 400 series.  The drivers have no room to breathe.  I don't know what they were thinking with the design?  The way they have the back of the cans sealed up just makes them average at best.  If you open up one of the holes in the Tape covering the back of the housing the drivers have room to push the air out.

The distortion is completely gone.  Just like a good home speaker, it needs to have a open port to get the air pressure out.  Look at this picture, It's completely closed, But see that black strip of tape? Under that is Three Hole's (2 holes on the 439) Just use a small blade or something and remove the tape off one hole.  The Bass will have DT770 impact without any mud smearing up the mids/treble.  It really is night and day!!  They sound like another set of cans, Just by letting them have some room to breathe:

 

aww too late for that. a year after i had bought them and never used them due to the poor sound,  i ended up destroying them for fun, i just ended up stabbing the drivers with a screw driver and throwing the headphones away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dubstep Girl 

 

 

 

aww too late for that. a year after i had bought them and never used them due to the poor sound,  i ended up destroying them for fun, i just ended up stabbing the drivers with a screw driver and throwing the headphones away.

That's one way to get rid of them...HAHAAA!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by oblique63 

All the ones near me do, thankfully.  But yeah the model listing is important here, cause I know at least for my nearest best buy, the only Sennheiser phones I've noticed there are the HD 598 and HD 700, which I would be surprised if anybody found them lacking compared to beats... Also, OP are you referring to the K550 for the AKG? cause that's the only one I remember seeing at all of the BB's around here.

Your local stores seem to be much better stocked than the ones I've seen, too. I don't remember ever seeing anything that nice in a Best Buy, even in other states.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsujigiri 

That would really depend on what models you tested; some brands are only good at certain price points. In general, though, Best Buy is not a good place to test headphones, and I've never seen anything there that interested me.

Im agreeing with this. A Best Buy I went to in Denver had a pair of HD-600s hooked straight into an iPod classic, no amping or anything, and they sounded awful. After I checked them out I went over the entire aisle they had dedicated to Monster/Beats/Soul and they had some Beats Solo HDs, Studios, Exucutive, and Pros all hooked into their own source gear/amp, even though none of them needed it.

Same place also happened to have some HD-800s; hanging on a shelf with only a plastic lock to keep them there. All the Beats that werent preview models were locked in glass cases with security packs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron94 

 

Im agreeing with this. A Best Buy I went to in Denver had a pair of HD-600s hooked straight into an iPod classic, no amping or anything, and they sounded awful. After I checked them out I went over the entire aisle they had dedicated to Monster/Beats/Soul and they had some Beats Solo HDs, Studios, Exucutive, and Pros all hooked into their own source gear/amp, even though none of them needed it.

 

Same place also happened to have some HD-800s; hanging on a shelf with only a plastic lock to keep them there. All the Beats that werent preview models were locked in glass cases with security packs.

Seems like BB gets paid a lot for selling Rapper endorsed headphones. Sad. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by fabio-fi 

 

Seems like BB gets paid a lot for selling Rapper endorsed headphones. Sad. 

All the ones in Colorado that Ive been to, including the one in Denver that I mentioned, make their employees wear Beats as if they were part of the uniform. Its not only the guys in the sound department either those in the computer and video game departments have to wear them as well. 

I plan to apply to the Best Buy closest to me after I graduate, hopefully I will be able to stop some people from buying Beats and instead get some Senns or Ultimate Ears.

the HD418,419,428,429,438,439,448,449 (that series) sounds like what happens when a company makes too many compromises to a product (cost and closed back)
at least the HD201 and HD202 has a really good cost advantage, steering away critics. (though their HD205 is godawful, and so is the HD215)

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich 


Biggest things that come to mind:

- You're bass oriented (and I'm really not trying to badger you on this, but when you mention "decent car systems" and your complaints are primarily related to how little bass various cans have, that's what I'm hearing).
- You're probably comparing open and closed headphones.
- BB is a noisy environment, and a bad place to demo anything with poor isolation (IME the Bose QC15 are the best sounding thing they sell IN-STORE, but the ESW9A are the best headphone they actually sell; why do the QC15 edge them in store? Because they have ~30 dB of isolation and you can actually hear everything they're putting out).

None of these are "bad" things - just things to consider. Something like the Sennheiser HD 558 (which BB sells through Magnolia) will sound like garbage in any high noise environment, and it's not surprising that something like the Beats Pro will be "better" if you're comparing them in-store. Most of the rapper cans aren't fantastic, and they're massively overpriced, but depending on which one you've grabbed - they aren't bad. Some of them are allowed to drift in price (the 50 Cent ones are an example), and end up at a relatively fair price (afaik those are going for around $90 right now (list is $300 or something hilarious like that), which is pretty reasonable for what they are); other's do not (like the Beats) and are a terrible value as a result.

As far as the "all big box stores are evil, they all rig demos, etc" - nothing I've ever witnessed in a Best Buy (over many years), but I keep hearing about it. Apparently there are some pretty evil and twisted locations out there though...
I have no idea how old you are, but I'm sure there's got to be something more meaningful and productive you could do with your life...

-i dont think hes bass oriented considering he placed beats and ludacris near the bottom....

-based on what he said he compared, i don't believe there are any open headphones on that list. 

-if they're all closed, best buy noise shouldn't be a problem, it hasn't been for me....

also, my Best Buy has HD 558s as well and i've demoed them several times, and they didn't sound bad at all. I was actually very impressed by them and feel they where a really good value and better than some of the other models Magnolia sells at BB. Tbh, they where probably the best that i've heard. (even better than the 300 dollar audio technicas they had there as well, and maybe better than the K550 as well, of course this is merely preference and the headphone setup they have there isn't the best, nor is the song choices).

and that last comment there was just really rude. totally unnecessary....

Quote:

I have no idea how old you are, but I'm sure there's got to be something more meaningful and productive you could do with your life...

Im only 18 right now, but by the time summer ends I will be 19 and graduated. Of course there is something better I could do, but I need a summer job as I am planning to move out of my parents house. Since coming to these forums mid november Ive learned quite a bit about the audio world. And in the smallish town I live in there are really only 2 places that I could put that, as well as my knowledge of computers to good use, those 2 places being Best Buy and Radioshack. I will be applying for both of those stores this summer, but I am hoping I get a job at Best Buy because of the way they split their employees into departments and I feel I could do very well in the audio department. I feel it is promising to aspire for right now because I probably have a better chance of getting hired because of what I have picked up here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich 


This is massively OT, but:

That makes complete sense, and I think everyone should spend some time in a customer service oriented job (you may or may not hate it; but you'll have the experience to say that). What I was more getting at, is that I've seen a few people want to go off on "Crusade" to "Save people from [whatever]" over the years, and they usually end up pretty stressed out and burned out after a short time (which is never fun). And this isn't just with selling audio gear, it's more broad. Not trying to preach, and I'll get off the soapbox. I can certainly understand smallish town too.

Its not that I want to go on a "crusade" to save people from bad gear, its that I am very interested in the audiophile world and around where I live BB and RS are the best places to work where I can be involved in sound. That and I will need a job to pay rent, might as well find one that I might enjoy doing, versus bagging groceries in wal-mart.