[FlexPlexico]

I hope I'm posting in the right place, I've seen that others were asking here about advice in choosing the right headphones.
I was thinking about buying a pair of sennheiser hd 201 headphones, since they're exactly in my price range, and I see they've gotten mostly good reviews.
My current headphones are about 1-2 years old and I bought them with virtually no idea as to what to look for in a pair of headphones.
This is the exact model.
What I dislike about them is the godawful bass (maybe I'd dislike some more things if I had any experience with quality headphones). Whenever a bass-heavy part of a song comes up I can feel them vibrating like mad on my ears and it's really distracting.
Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but recently I seem to have fallen in love with doom metal, particularly Electric Wizard, which is more stoner-doom. Songs like this are very painful to listen to on headphones with such crappy bass.
Also, I only have the integrated sound board that came with my motherboard, but I think it's quite decent (again, no experience whatsoever, I may be dead wrong).
This here is the exact model. As you can see, it's got a Realtek 888 audio codec, if that's in any way relevant.

Now, what should I do? Do I buy the headphones and run them through the Realtek or will I hear little to no difference in sound quality until I also buy a better soundboard?

 

[Zaubertuba]

Doing a Google Search (click on the "search" button and you'll get a drop-down box with a number of search options), I hit on the following thread:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/sen...-hd201-123307/

I started out with the 202's, and liked them pretty well, at least from my Audigy soundcard. Reading some of these threads it sounds like the 201's may even be better, but you should do some searching and read the threads (there's a 201 vs 202 thread as well) to confirm for yourself.

I have a Realtek onboard chip on my MB and was *not* impressed at all when I switched from my much older Audigy card to the onboard audio. Noise floor was actually higher. However, YMMV, since different motherboards will have different implementations of this chip.

Depending on what you're upgrading from, an upgrade in headphones is often the most noticeable, so I'd go ahead and research some cans in your price range and do that first. At that point you may find you *need* to upgrade your sound card....and then the vicious "upgrade-itiss" cycle will begin...

Welcome to Head-fi...and sorry about your wallet!

 

[nullstring]

... what exactly is your budget?
HD201's are only $23 on newegg.

If we're talking in that range.. you are going to want to look into...:
Koss KSC75
Sennheiser PX100
JVC HA-RX700 (Hard to find right now)

There are also some nice Chinese IEM's
Soundmagic PL30's
Kanon MD-52's

At that price.. there is no point to get a new sound card.
If you find you want to go further than the under $50 range, then thats when you're going to want to think about a new DAC. (Digital Audio Converter. This is one of the things your sound card does.)

 

[GearGeek]

just like nullstring mentioned
ksc75 would be a great deal , but if you are looking for a full-size can
rx700 would definitely beat all in the price range , so just pay attention to best buy
and it only cost less than 40usd shipped,

since JVC is still selling them in japan (stable supply ,stable price,there will be a huge price drop and rise if they ever plan stop making them)

hd201's SQ is not that good ,and it hurts to wear them after 1 hour or so if you have a big head like me -_-!

 

[FlexPlexico]

Sorry, guess I should've mentioned that I'm looking for full-size headphones, the kind that envelop your entire ears.
My budget is almost nonexistant, since I recently spent a bunch to upgrade my pc into a midrange gaming rig.

Also, I'm not from the US or the UK, so my options are very limited. Pretty much all of the shops around me only stock up on crap like logitech, genius and the like.

There is however an official importer that probably has the cheapest sennheisers in the country. The 201's are the equivalent of 25$ and shipping is another 7$.

I just wanted to know if there would be a perceivable gain in sound quality if I bought the 201's or if, given my crappy sound board, they would sound more or less exactly like my old ones.

I guess I'll be buying them in a short while. Thank you all for the advice.

 

[nullstring]

Your sound card isn't going to be the limiting factor for the HD201's...

But.. I wouldn't be surprised if the HD201 isn't an upgrade from your current heapdhones. Unless your current ones re really really bad.
I don't think those cheap closed Sennheiser's are wowing anyone.

You should just keep your current headphones... save up some more money until you can get some decent headphones..

Maybe Koss UR40's?
I still think the PX100's should be good for you. You say you have access to Sennheiser

The JVC headphones would be perfect for you if you can find them
HA RX500's, HA RX700's, HA RX900's would all work fine.

 

[Evshrug]

Well...
You would find an improvement (your current headphones look like crap with a vibration gimmic, sorry).
BUT...
if you spent a little time on saving up, you could invest in something that you wouldn't have to replace soon, like you want to replace those canyon headphones. Those Sennheisers may bug you by not being comfortable enough, and you'd be in the same boat you're in now, minus what you paid. $50 headphones from good brands will sound much better, but starting at $70 you might hear music and games in a totally new experience.

Another thing you can do is buy the well regarded, lifetime warranty (see if it works in your country) Koss porta pros. $38 free shipping on Amazon, search your favorite shopping search for the best deal for you. They're good enough to get you through school, and if you ask on the forums here we'll show you how to replace the foam pads with circumaural (fullsize) pads (easy upgrade) that will make them sound even better for $5 or $10 US, when you can afford that.

Plus being a little more patient and choosy will make you more satisfied and "in the know!" (please avoid Bose, Skullcandy)

 

[Evshrug]

One more idea is you could pick up a $10 pair of JVC marshmallows (they go a little in your ear for better bass, while also quieting the noise of the outside world a little) to hold you over until you can afford a full-size can you would actually enjoy.

Even after you got the full-sized cans, the JVCs would still get use when you're on the go, exercising, or when you want music without risking damage to your full-size cans!

 

[Evshrug]

Hey 50 posts! YAY

 

[FlexPlexico]

I had a feeling that my current headphones are actually crap with a vibration gimmick. It's nice to see someone confirm it.

I'm not looking for portability. I don't take my music with me when I'm "on the go or exercising". 100% of the time will be spent listening through them right here in front of the pc. I'm speaking from ignorance here, but are the px100's with their open-ness really better for this usage pattern than the hd201's ?

I've bought maybe 3-4 different crappy headphones in the last 5 years, but comfort was never an issue. I'm fairly confident I can wear just about any model for an extended period of time.

And I don't know if I want a life-changing experience. A friend of mine recently bought a pair of 100$ sennheiser in-ear headphones for his mp3 player and I had the honor of trying them on a bit. I may be somewhat dumb, but I swear I didn't hear enough of a difference between those and the stock ones to justify the cost. I want the best performance per dollar ratio, if possible.

Now about your suggestions...
Koss.. nothing in the online stores, save for a few people that bought them abroad and are auctioning them at inflated prices.
JVC.. there are a few models, but HA RX500's, HA RX700's and HA RX900's are nowhere to be found. Also how would the 10$ marshmallows cope with heavy bass?
For that matter, how would the hd 201's cope with heavy bass?

 

[GeckoSlayer]

If you're really into heavy bass, the HD202/HD212 are very bass heavy. The HD201s are still bassy, but to get the same effect as the HD202/HD212, you'll need to mess with EQ settings.

For all around performance, I'd say HD201, but you say you like bass so I'll leave that bit up to you.

Also, I've found with the HD201/HD202 is that they're pretty damn uncomfortable unless you have small ears. My big ears have the cups resting on them and it is painful to listen to for more than an hour.

 

[Evshrug]

I'm glad I helped a bit.

My cousin once asked me for a pair of headphones with "The strongest Bass. I really don't care about anything else, I just want to feel the boom!"
I didn't know what to say, but maybe he should have just worn a subwoofer or something. Now, though, those canyon headphones sound perfect for him!

The point is find something to suit your tastes. You'd probably enjoy tight, deep, strong bass, so ask for that, search the forums for bass-head phones. I don't know if they offer anything in your range, but FWIR Beyerdynamic has those attributes in their house sound. I think you'd LOVE the HA-RX700 or HP-RX700 (as they are sometimes called), you just have to wait for availability and check stores & ebay regularly. One guy got them for $33 shipped!

I've never used an HD 201. Nor an Sennheiser in-ear. I bought my dad a pair of Senn earbuds that cost plenty, but sounded no better than iPod stock buds. I think your main dislike of the headphones you have was the vibrate "feature." So these may do it for you. But I hear Cheap, Closed Can, I think "Bad, honking bass that mushes together." I hear Cheap, I think "little detail or texture. Lots of compromises to reach cost." Uncomfortable = I won't look forward to using them, and will only use them if I have to. And reviews say the best "feature" is that they cost as much as a CD. I still think you could do better, but your usage may vary from my opinion, and best of luck. Please keep in mind that my music keeps me sane while working on computers for eight hours a day, five days in a row, and I listen in my freetime to unwind. So I really don't want something I'll only half-enjoy - I'm picky! Your usage may vary.

P.S. I've had the headphones/IEMs in my sig for 3 or 4 years, and they still serve me very well.
P.P.S. found ANOTHER review on the HD201s... actually sounds pretty favorable.

 

[Evshrug]

Your music sample hurts my soul, but I guess that's the point... and in a twisted way I can see the appeal, lol. Why do I have to listen to it all the way through!?!

 

[FlexPlexico]

I may be contradicting myself here.. but I don't actually love the bass in and of itself. At least, not in the form that I've heard it up until now. I like slow, heavily distorted metal music, and heavy bass just comes along with it. I can turn off the bass entirely on my canyons but then the song loses a great deal of power. On the other hand, when it's turned on, bass-intensive parts turn to garbage.
So, I don't want headphones that thump me in the head with bass, I just want to make sure the songs are rendered accurately, the way the artist intended them to be heard.

Funny about your soul hurting, I never thought about it that way. I just like what I hear, the instrumental is just awesome. One of the slowest and heaviest styles I've heard. The satanic references are barely noticeable

This one here is 100% instrumental.

Guess I'll just buy the 201s seeing how it's my first venture into the world of quality sound. Now, you and everyone else here might say they're cheap but, in my area, most people would agree that spending more than 10$ on headphones is overkill. Maybe somewhere down the line when I'll have money to burn and finer hearing I'll invest in something more worthwhile.

 

[Evshrug]

LOL, I wanted to be long gone from my laptop by now, but...
I didn't even listen to the lyrics! It was just so amazingly heavy!
Most people over HERE in my geography never spend past $10 on headphones either!
Headphones with a flat frequency response are usually good indications of sounding like the artist intended... but then, many musicians mix their music BASED on what they sound like on what most people listen to them on (aka cheap earbuds).

Hopefully the 201s sound more like live music to you. I really gotta go but it's been fun.