[xieman]

As I was looking for a supra-aural design headphone that is portable and has some good bass, these were suggested to me by a friend.
 
Are these worth the $169 USD price tag or is my money better spent on something else? My budget is around $180 USD
 
I listen to most genre's of music, but nothing near heavy metal (Enter Sandman at the most).

 

[2rooi123]

welcome to head-fi
had a listen last week
in my opinion they are not worth the $169 retail
id pay no more than $50 for sound quality
i can however recommend the phiaton ms400
you can find them for about $180
or $199 on ebay
has strong clean bass
buttery forward mids
smooths highs (though they lack that grado-ish sparkle)
most importantly portable/great design/comfy
hope this helps

 

[xieman]

Thanks for the welcome!
 
I was looking for on ear headphones, I didn't know if I made that clear or not, sorry!
 
How are Grado's?

 

[2rooi123]

i only tried sr60i
they sounded ok for the price

 

[captian73]

For some reason, these AKG's in the U.S. are .... they compare to the retail price in Europe, but who wants to pay the retail price. Are they worth $169? Er, no! not against the likes of Alessandro MS-1 for sub $100 and the Grado SR60 at sub $80. 
 
Much as I like the k450's for comfort and instant..... likability the Sennheiser HD238's are a better choice. some AKG's take a bit of getting used to. people often spent two minutes with them and then come on here and moan about them. few instantly fall in love with them!
 
if you've got $169 to spend, look at the HD25-1's. But for the price the Alessandro's are hard to beat, the Grado's are also very good. 

 

[sebhuber]

You cannot compare apple and oranges. The k450 is a closed on-ear heaphone, with some decent SQ. Its very upfront and in your face, but in a different way than the grado sound (or to some extent the ms1s).
Now if you want portable, sturdy, non-source dependent and good sounding headphones, get the k450.
If you want a more refined sound with less portability, get the ms1.
Otherwise if your into rock music, try the sr80.
I am not saying that they are worth the price here in the US, but I bet you can find the k450 cheaper.

 

[xieman]

Thanks for all the replies!
 
I managed to find some K450's for around $80, I;m still contemplating on whether to buy them as of today.
 
Does anyone know how the bass sounds on them?

 

[sebhuber]

What music do you listen to?

 

[xieman]

Mostly everything, though I must say I listen to quite bit of classical, pop and older songs (Billy Joel anyone?)

 

[sebhuber]

Do you need any isolation, if not, I'd recommend the MS-1 for this music. The reason for this is that the sound is more airy due to the open design.

 

[Seasonyy]

The K450 isolation is not so strong as I predicted when in the noisy bus.

 

[Mustvid]

Isolation is really good in an office environment. I use mine all day and I can hear people talking if they are close which I need but I don't hear anything else really. Of course it could be that I concentrating on what I'm doing and listening to the music.