[JLCain]

The title pretty much says it all. I need a relatively cheap pair of headphones that sound great on my sucky mp3 player and computer without needing amplification.
 
I listen to a very wide variety of music (e.g., funk, disco, dub, jazz, instrumental hip-hop, and various electronic genres). As you can tell, having good bass is a necessary condition for the headphones. However, having good bass is far from sufficient for me. The 'phones also need to have good (maybe even better) highs and mids. It seems that I need a very neutral pair.
 
Above all else, I think that I want the headphones to have a good sound stage and great detail. Imagery is very important to me.
 
Visual appears does not matter.
 
They must be comfortable.
 
I've found one candidate--the AKG K240 Studio for $64. The problem with these is that I've heard they need amping to really sound good. Is this true?
 
Do you guys have any other suggests?
 
 
Cheers!

 

[warrenpchi]

Hi JLCain,
 
Welcome to Head-Fi! 

  Sorry about your wallet. 

 
The AKG K240 was one of my first non-consumer headphones.  And while there will always be a special place in my heart for it, I would not recommend it for you.  It's bass response is just not fast or punchy enough for what you listen to... and yes, it tends to sound best when amped.
 
That said, $75 is a pretty tough budget to meet.  Is there any chance you'd be able to push the budget beyond that?
 
-Warren
 
P.S. - I'm pretty sure you meant circumaural. 

 

[money4me247]

I don't think it's possible to find something under $70 for open, comfortable with great sound stage & detail.
 
hell, I couldn't even if a great comfortable closed pair of headphones w/ solid sound quality until I hit the $200 mark. The akg q701 meets your requirements at $220. At $70, you'll definitely be sacrificing something... most likely sound quality.
 
edit: I just saw this: http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Lightweight-Over-Ear-Binaural-Headphones/dp/B0007XJSQC
closed, comfortable, full-sized over ears at $25. maybe that would work for you, but I don't know anything about it.

 

[JLCain]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I purchased a pair of Superlux HD-681 EVOs for $37. They're not everything I wanted, but they're still very good for the price (I think).
 
(And I did indeed mean circumaural, not circumnatural. How embarrassing.

)

 

[warrenpchi]

  (And I did indeed mean circumaural, not circumnatural. How embarrassing.

)

 
LOL, it happens.  I once read a post where someone said he could hear the crashing of symbols clearly with his headphones. 

  Just blame it on autocorrect.