[touser]

Hello all, i just bought a pair of Aiwa HP-AK100's today for $50 from fry's electronics. I was just curious if anyone knew if these are any good, or if there are better headphones out there for $50 or less? Personally i like the larger headphones, but if there are some out there that are significantly better for the same price, i would switch to them in a heartbeat. I was also looking at the Sony MDR-V300's that are also $50. Would these have better sound quality then the Aiwa HP-AK100's? Thanks in advance!

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Well, for $50 retail, neither the Aiwas nor the Sonys sound particularly good. They sound just as mediocre (or wretched, if you prefer to call it) as almost everything else in the $50-and-under price range. As a matter of fact, Aiwa (as a product line) has never been renowned for its headphones. Neither has Sony, except for its MDR-V6 (not V600), MDR-7506 and some of its astronomically expensive models.

 

[LTUCCI1924]

HI: There are two great cans for under 50.00. They are the koss-35 and the koss portapros

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Those are quite fine 'phones for the price, LTUCCI1924, but they just don't meet touser's preferences. They are small mini-sized 'phones that just happen to sound like many of the big full-sized 'phones. touser prefers physically big, full-sized cans to begin with.

 

[touser]

Thank you for all the reply's everyone! Well it seems that the general acknowledgment is that $50 and under phones sound like crap. I was wondering, how much more would i have to spend to get a decent pair of phones, and which ones would that be? Thanks again!

*edit*
I have been looking around the board, and some people speak highly of the Sennheiser HD 497's, i found them at buy.com for only $60, would those be a worthy upgrade to my existing aiwa HP-AK100's as i can take them back to the store, and purchase the Sennheiser HD 497's for only $10 more!?

 

[Steve999]

I have the Sennheiser HD 497s. The sound is wonderful, as far as being pleasing to the ear, I think they are my favorite headphones. The bass goes deep and with some PUNCH, the highs are silky smooth, and vocal details sound very nice (I understand lyrics more quickly than with other headphones with them on for some reason).

To me. they WERE uncomfortable out of the box. After you're satisfied with them, be prepared to STRETCH AND STRETCH AND STRETCH them. I keep mine on a basketball most of the time! The death grip on my head is lessening SLOWLY over time... now they are quite comfortable.

 

[touser]

Thank you for the reply Steve999,
one question however, are the Sennheiser HD 497's a big headphone? My aiwa's are very big and completely cover up my ears (i have big ears btw) and thats the way i like them if i am going to be wearing them for a few hours at a time. Or are they smaller like say the Sony MDR-V300's because i cannot tell by any of the pictures online? Thanks in advance!

 

[Eagle_Driver]

touser, the Sennheiser HD497's are a little bigger than the Sony MDR-V300's, but not big enough to completely enclose your ears within their pads. But all of the huge cheap headphones are horrible in sound - as you increase the size of the earcups, there's a very good chance of unnatural and unwanted resonances screwing up the sound. And really big closed headphones (as a group) suffer the worst from this problem.

 

[touser]

Alright, thank you everyone for the replies. I ordered the Sennheiser HD497's off of buy.com and will give them a try, if they hurt my ears they are going right back where they came from though hehe. If not, i just got a decent pair of headphones for only $10 more then i was planning to spend. Thanks again everyone for the help.