[Eagle_Driver]

You may have seen recommendations for the Koss UR-20 and UR-30 headphones, as typified by my full review of the UR-30's on Epinions:

Koss UR-30

Before I listened to the UR-30, I used to own a pair of Sony MDR-CD160's (I posted a full review of them under the MDR-CD180 heading on Epinions - the CD180 has the very SAME design and drivers as those old CD160's):

Sony MDR-CD180

I didn't bother to mention my other sub-$50 closed full-size headphones that I either own or had owned, because they were all discontinued and no longer available.

Yesterday, after my work shift, I stopped by the Sam Ash store and listened to two closed sub-$50 headphones. (I had my Sony D-EJ721 PCDP and my Sennheiser MX-500 earbuds with me at the time.) They were the AKG K55 and the Sony MDR-7502. Here are my impressions from my brief listen to those two headphones:

Sony MDR-7502: ($49.99) I listened to those headphones first, expecting a pile of crap from them. Hey, where's the bass? And where are those highs? At least the 7502's have mids - but those mids dominate the sound from the 7502's! The frequency response is claimed to be 60-16k, which may have been the contributing factor to the lifeless sound. Overall, I wouldn't use the MDR-7502's for music listening; they're better suited for monitoring vocals and radio talk shows.

AKG K55: ($29.99 sale price, list price $51.50) I then saw the demo K55's next to an electronic keyboard - and I was actually quite pleasantly surprised with them. The upper mids are recessed, like most closed headphones - but at least I could hear low bass and some highs. They're a bit bright, for closed headphones, and they aren't quite as durable as their higher-priced brandmates - they feel a bit light and flimsy. Overall, probably not worth their list price, but very decent for their sale price.

Any agreements or disagreements? Feel free to reply to this thread. Also, the accompanying poll will ask which full-size closed headphone is the better choice for $30 (assuming most of the cheap full-size closed headphones are crap).

 

[Xander]

The only decent $30 Headphones I heard, were my friends Sony MDR-CD380's. And I can't even find them anywhere, unless online, where theyre like $45-60.

The UR30s sound like poop. Dunno about those other ones, but I can pretty much guess they suck, too.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Xander, the Sony MDR-CD380 doesn't count in this survey - that model is open-backed (and thus the CD380 really is an open-air headphone, despite Sony's "closed" specification). Did you really mean the CD380, or was it really the CD360?

 

[Odeen]

Why not the greatest $50 phones in the world, IMHO, the Denon AH-D210's?

They're supra-aural, but closed. And I noticed that they provided more noise isolation than the circumaural Sony MDR-CD570 I replaced them with after the plug broke.

-Alex

 

[kerykeion]

Well I bought the Koss UR-20 a while back thinking that they would be good, musical headphones for all-around usage..

..boy, was I wrong. They were good for "newer" pop, certain rock, and computer gaming... and that was about it. Definately not for classical, jazz, aucoustic, voice, choral, and anything with a midrange...

The design wasn't too bad.. I felt that they were durable, but a bit hard to adjust (this depends on your headsize). The earpads were barely circumaural for my ears. And the pleather made my ears sweat after a couple hours.

One other notable gripe is the fact that they lack in the mid/upper mid range. And it seems that Headrooms FR graph depicts what I mean very well.

FR graph

There is one closed headphone that may sound half-decent or better than the ones mentioned.. that is the Aiwa HP-X222. I have seen them, but never used them.

 

[Xander]

It was the MDR-CD380. I wasnt really trying to enter it into the servey, since it seems to cost more then $30. And it IS open, which probably attributes to most of the decent sound quality.

I've heard a lot of $30 headphones, including those UR30s, blech.

I say we up it to the best $50 headphones like Odeen suggested. Then we'll be able to go somewhere with this.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Well, the Denon's fail to meet two of my basic personal criteria - they are supraural (I can't wear anything that squeezes my ears), and they have a Y-cord attached to both earpieces (I always have had trouble with the Y-cord twisting way out of shape, and can't be straightened out or untwisted at all - the cord will re-twist right back up). I wanted them not to touch any part of my ears, and wanted a single-sided cord.

That said, I agree with most of the opinions that most (if not all) inexpensive headphones (open or closed) are crappy. Either I will have to spend hundreds of dollars just on one pair of headphones (and risk having them stolen during a commute to work), OR listen to the really crappy headphones that come bundled with portable stereos, OR listen to absolutely nothing at all - while commuting to work. Which of those three is the best choice?

 

[coolvij]

Eagle_Driver: OR get some Sony EX70s.....

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by coolvij Eagle_Driver: OR get some Sony EX70s.....

Heheheh....... I own a pair of those - and I often had trouble getting a good seal from them, even with the largest "plugs" on the three-tipped version. And even if I can get some kind of seal, the EX70's often slipped out of position when I moved my head even slightly. No wonder Headroom actually tried them out - and weren't impressed with them. According to Headroom's analogy, Koss The Plug is "horrid", Sony EX70, "mediocre", and Etymotics, "REALLY GREAT!" - with absolutely nothing at all between "REALLY GREAT!" and "mediocre" as far as canalphones go.

 

[coolvij]

lol!

Well, I guess fit does make a HUGE difference......tho perhaps one could replace the plugs on the EX70s with REAL (Flents Quiet Please!) ear plugs.

That's it! I'm gonna try and do that...!

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Most of you are right - I should have called the headphones referred to in the first post of this thread "crappophones" or "cruddyphones"!

Heh... Today, due to the crappy weather, I rode the bus home from work listening to nothing at all (other than the ambient noises) - and I almost went past my destination! I had been falling asleep on that bus, and I tried to keep myself awake, barely waking up before I arrived at my destination.

 

[blastoff]

as an owner of the denon 210's i would have to agree they are one of the best buys under 50 dollars. However, i think that the denon 350's are very similar in sound but have larger earpieces and ARE closed. any comments . . . . .

 

[artmusic247]

Well, what do you expect for $30?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

artmusic247,

Read my post six posts up from your latest post in this thread - and then reply. Given the relatively high theft rate, I may end up refusing to wear headphones that cost more than $30 on the bus to work - and I need a lot of isolation.

That said, there aren't any very good choices that meet both of my criteria.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I think I'm gonna puke at the sight of those cheap crappy headphones...