Best headphones under $100?

[hudamanium]

Long time reader, but this is my first time posting.
 
I'm looking for headphones sub $100.
Open or closed should not make too much of a difference, but I am still a little hazy on what the differences are (besides the obvious physical differences).
 
My sources are computer/laptop and my zune HD. No amp.
 
I listen to all kinda of music except hiphop/rap and country. I do listen to pop but not the regular contemporary pop (kesha, lady gaga, etc). I listen to most genres of music, but mainly classical, instrumental , alternative, occasionally pop and electro/electronica, ambient, and rock/softrock. Some bands: Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Coldplay, Muse, Hush  Sound, Jimmy Eat World, etc. Classical music i generally focus on violin and cello for instruments; and I focus on the Baroque period.

 

[Mr Joboto]

Audio Technica AD700

 

[Mochan]

AD700 for something big and comfy with nice soundstage, mids and high focus and clear, airy presentation.
 
MS1 for something with more power and drive.
 
M50 for something dark and bassy
 
K518/K81 for something very portable and bassy
 
Taking into consideration your musical tastes I think the AD700 would be the best choice.

 

[hudamanium]

Thanks for the replies. Looked around at the AD700 and it seems to get all around positive reviews. My only question is that are they really as big as people say they are? I'm considering a set that I can take around in a backpack or something. Also, I've heard mixed reviews about the construction. How is the build quality?

 

[Mr Joboto]

Yeah, they're huge. You probably wouldn't want to toss them around too much though. 

 

[greenrenewables]

Couldn't have said it better

Since you have no amp and its straight from a DAP, M50 might be attractive
 
Quote:

AD700 for something big and comfy with nice soundstage, mids and high focus and clear, airy presentation.
 
MS1 for something with more power and drive.
 
M50 for something dark and bassy
 
K518/K81 for something very portable and bassy
 
Taking into consideration your musical tastes I think the AD700 would be the best choice.

 

[desktophifi]

Quote:

Thanks for the replies. Looked around at the AD700 and it seems to get all around positive reviews. My only question is that are they really as big as people say they are? I'm considering a set that I can take around in a backpack or something. Also, I've heard mixed reviews about the construction. How is the build quality?

In sound quality they are great cans. Maybe you need a pair of portable cans instead? 

 

[hudamanium]

What about the M50s? They run for around 100 on ebay. Supposed to give a little more bass, less soundstage, more detail, and its more portable. Supposed to be a less comfortable too though.

 

[hanson72]

There is a seller of M50s on ebay that lets you make an offer on them, I did this too see if i could get them under $100 and it worked. But I ended up getting the Shure SRH750s for a little bit more. Did some research and were similar to the M50s but superior on lows, I own them and the soundstage is actually pretty close to the AD700s, which I also own. I got the 750s for around $135 on amazon. But if you want to stay under $100 then it sounds like your best bet would either be the AD700s if you want open phones with nice soundstage and overall well produced sound, the M50s which I hear really good things about for cheap closed cans, or maybe check into the Denon D1001s because they are comparable to the M50s and some prefer them for how comfortable they are. Plus the Denons can be recabled to sound way better, others also put rinolining in the pads to make them sound better.
Or if you want cheap earbuds look into the Denon C700, I have them and I was content with them for 3 years until the plug shorted. But that was easy to repair.

 

[hudamanium]

Could you go into a little more detail on the Shure SRH750 and Denon D1001?
 
I'm doing some reading and it seems like I'm caught between the AD700s (for the soundstage) and the m50s (for the portability and bass). In terms of bass I don't actually like too much "thumping" but i do want the bass to be there.
 
I'm most likely not going to mess with or mod the headphones i buy. I'm inexperienced so I don't want to screw anything up, so whatever i buy is going to stay that way.
 
I do have a pair of decent earphones. I grabbed a phillips SHE9850 for 30 dollars a couple months back. I'm looking to spend a a little more money on full-sized headphones because of their comfort and sound quality.
 

 

[hanson72]

I did a little impression here: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/492484/need-recommendations-for-a-closed-pair-of-headphones-somewhere-around-100/15#post_6650674
The guy was looking for headphones around $100 just like you. If you want portability and bass then 750s should definitely still be a candidate. The bass out of the box on the 750s was better than the burnt in bass on the AD700s. The AD700s are definitely not portable phones especially because of their feather light fitting system. They are extremely comfortable but big and loose fitting. The 750s have a detacable small coiled cable and a carrying bag and they also fold up somewhat small; they were pretty easy to fit in my backpack and bring to a buddies.
After searching these forums pretty extensively I read that the bass in the 750s was better than the M50s. FWIR the m50s have a powerful bass that can be unclear at times. I love the 750s so far and the bass keeps getting better and better. I just got them yesterday morning.

 

[hudamanium]

Do you know how the SRE750s sound with classical/instrumental music? My music tastes are often to smoother songs/styles. I'm reading about this set and I'm liking them more and more. If these suit me then I'm willing to break my original 100 budget. (sadly but these forums really can dig into my wallet )
 
Also as I hate to say it, i do have a decent sized head. Its definitely not too big and i never had trouble from pain or too much pressure from headphones I've tried (like the HD555s). But its still something I would want to make sure would work for me.

 

[hanson72]

Im into softer music too, nothing too heavy and hardcore of rock. I dont listen to classical much but I did try it with these headphones, because I like to see how all my headphones handle things. Classical music actually sounds really good in these, it is easy to distinguish each instrument and its relative position to another one. The separation is better than I thought it was going to be. The low deep notes of the bigger string instruments have a nice clean bass to them when they strike hard. When I feel the outside of the headphones I can feel the slight vibration of the bass.
I have a pretty big head too and I have been working in the headband to get it to bend a little bit more and it has been working. I have been burning in the headphones and I have them clamped to the box they came in and i have pill bottle on its side pushing up on the middle of the top band of the headphones so it stays in a bent position. I also have been holding the headphones in a bent position for 30 secs to get it more curve and it has worked really well so far and I dont even have to where the bands on the max either. I did have them close to max before though.

 

[hudamanium]

I have seen various people talking about fit, but it seems like they all work out in the end (after a little manipulation). And wow these headphones sound really balanced then. What about amping? I'm reading http://themacfeed.com/2010/02/review-shure-srh750dj/ and they say they need to turn their ipods up all the way and that it loses a lot of sound quality without an amp. Your review on the other thread said you ran them off your ipod. What are your opinions on that?

 

[hanson72]

Coming out of my iPhone I did have to turn the volume up to about 70%, but I like listening to them loud. All the way is a bit too loud for me though, the highs get to my ears at really loud volumes. I also have been hooking them up to my USB Sound Card and running them through that, I am able to get louder volumes if I want but I dont like it extremely loud. I also have been listening to FLAC music files and they sound amazing even with the EQ and everything flat. I played around with the EQ in WinAmp to see how much bass I could get out of them, and these definitely have some crazy potential. I am still burning them in and hopefully will have my amp and LOD cable to test them out on. I also got these because of my new amp that I ordered before my headphones, but I got the headphones before the amp.. I wanted something that would benefit from amping and apparently these ones do. The overall balance of these really amazes me and I definitely see why they are a DJ/Monitoring headphones, they have a fun sound to them. Closed cans are starting to become my favorite now!