[kitkat12012]

I'm thinking about buying my wife a set of high quality cans (and amps or other accessories if needed) for the holidays and I'm planning on spending about $200-$250 (or less would be better)
 
I have no experience with high quality headphones, and neither does my wife, so I'm guessing a nicely balanced crisp sounding set might work well.
 
It'll be used mostly for music and genres includes stuff my wife likes like rock, alternative, r&b, and pop
 
Source would be her 2nd gen ipod touch.
 
 
 
The one she's looking at right now is the SkullCandy SK Pros.  She said she likes how it looks, although I've been reading some reviews on it and haven't really found a review good enough to sell me this item.
 
One other product that she said she was interested in was the Dre Beats one, but I read from forums that I could get better quality Sennheisers or something for the same price as the Dres.
 
With my initial research, I'm thinking about getting her a Sennheiser hd555 (around $100) or hd595 (around $150) with an FiiO E5 portable amp (around $25)
 
But I'm not very familiar with headphones so I'm guessing you guys might have some much better suggestions.
 
 
 
Basically I'm looking for a full-size headphones (and portable amp if needed) for around $200 which will be used for music from an ipod touch.  And it also has to be stylish too, something that a girl in her mid 20s would like, maybe something that can be seen in a hip-hop music video or something or maybe something a DJ would wear in a club
 
 
thanks

 

[1Time]

There's no way to predict a woman's sense of style, but she'll probably be better off with closed portable headphones. 

 

[kitkat12012]

Quote:

There's no way to predict a woman's sense of style, but she'll probably be better off with closed portable headphones. 

 
cool, thanks for the suggestion

 
suggestions for any particular brands/models I could look at maybe?
 
 
 
 
as for the topic, I'm adding ATH-M50 to the list of cans I'm looking at.  I think she would love something that looks like that (style, form, build, etc..)  and I also read from other reviews that they also give some nice SQ
 
 
any other suggestions maybe?
 
thanks
 
 
 
 
edit:  I'm also adding ultrasone pro dj1 to the list of cans i'm looking at, but only for it's style/design.  I haven't read up on its SQ yet, but a style/desighn that looks like this is exactly what I'm looking for

 

 

[kitkat12012]

any thoughts on the four I listed?
 
hd555, hd595, ath-m50, ultrasone dj1?
 
any of them fit the genres I listed very well?
 
 
or perhaps you guys have other suggestions?
 
thanks

 

[Elanzer]

For portable use you can't really go wrong with the ATH-M50s for the price (you can get them for around $100 USD on ebay), they are very easy to drive so you don't need an amp. Durable as all hell, they look awesome, and they fold up nicely to toss in a bag. Good isolation, good comfort, good sound.
 
HD 555 are good for the price as well, but aren't really great for portable use since they are open headphones (they will let lots of sound in, and also out so it may annoy people around you),. HD 595 are a waste of money because the HD 555 and HD 595 are the exact same headphone, except the HD 555 has a piece of foam in place that increases bass response and dims the overall clarity of the headphone, essentially you can simply remove this foam piece and turn your HD 555 into a HD 595 for half the price.

 

[WalkmanMan]

Sony MDR-PQ1
 

 

[kitkat12012]

 
Quote:

For portable use you can't really go wrong with the ATH-M50s for the price (you can get them for around $100 USD on ebay), they are very easy to drive so you don't need an amp. Durable as all hell, they look awesome, and they fold up nicely to toss in a bag. Good isolation, good comfort, good sound.
 
HD 555 are good for the price as well, but aren't really great for portable use since they are open headphones (they will let lots of sound in, and also out so it may annoy people around you),. HD 595 are a waste of money because the HD 555 and HD 595 are the exact same headphone, except the HD 555 has a piece of foam in place that increases bass response and dims the overall clarity of the headphone, essentially you can simply remove this foam piece and turn your HD 555 into a HD 595 for half the price.

 
nice.  thanks.  before comming to this forums i was actually leaning a lot towards the hd555 because, ignorant me, sennheiser was the only good headphone brand I know

seeing that ath-m50 gets a lot of love around here, and SQ descriptions sounds like what i'm looking for, I'm definitely leaning towards them now.  thanks


 
Quote:

Sony MDR-PQ1
 

these?
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-PIIQ-Premium-Headphones-MDR-PQ1/dp/B003MG07KW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287496649&sr=8-1
 
 
that is so sweet

 
my wife would definitely love those, goes perfectly well with her pink ipod case to replace her pink gummy earphones
 
the only problem is, since I don't have a pair of cans of my own, I don't think I'd wanna be seen in a pair of pink cans when I borrow hers

)
 
any reviews for the mdr-pq1?  anyone knows how this compares with the ath-m50 maybe?
 
 
if it actually performs really well, i might grab these and maybe buy the ath-m50 for myself

 
 
 
thanks for the suggestion guys, really helps a lot

 

[kitkat12012]

I did some research on mdr-pq1 and its been getting some bad reviews so I guess I'll be skipping this one.
 
 
so my top choices right now are the ath-m50 and the ultrasone dj1.  any one know of a good comparison review between them? 
 
or do you guys have some other suggestions?
 
 
basically I'm looking for a set of closed headphones for my wife.  budget is around $200.  source is an ipod touch and genres include rock, alternative, r&b, and pop
 
 
 
thanks again

 
 
 

 

[1Time]

FWIR, I suspect she'd prefer the M50 with those genres - a more balanced presentation than the DJ1 / HFI580. Google M50 DJ1 or M50 HFI580.
 
Quote:

so my top choices right now are the ath-m50 and the ultrasone dj1.  any one know of a good comparison review between them? 
 
basically I'm looking for a set of closed headphones for my wife.  budget is around $200.  source is an ipod touch and genres include rock, alternative, r&b, and pop