For $200, what headphone would you buy?

[yellow15]

I'm thinking of buying a new headphone soon. want some suggestions from you guys

if you got $200 to buy a headphone what would you buy? Consider the facts that:
1. you have no headphone amp (but may get one in 6 or 9 months time)
2. It does not have to be portable
3. 95% for listening music CDs but ocassional movies/games.

so
which open cans would you choose?
and which close cans would you choose?

and how's the best $200 open cans compare to best $200 close cans?
overall sound quality? clarity? bass?

 

[chrisfromalbany]

So what is it that is driving the headphones? Don't you know if you wanted a sealed or open headphone. Depends on if there is going to be alot of background noise or not. If there isn't I wouldn't think you would want to go with one.

 

[dj_mocok]

For 200 dollars, i would buy 100 pairs of cheap earbuds to last me a lifetime.

 

[enzoferrari650]

er4's ........ or if you want one thats not portable a900's.... and if u eventually do get an amp....... hd-580 or hd-600

 

[chrisfromalbany]

I would get a pair of Sennheiser HD 600. The impedence is 300. So amp of some sort would be good.

The price on ebay is 220 and 240 with shipping..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...714869059&rd=1

 

[breez]

You could tell about your music tastes so people can make better recommendations.

 

[GanChan]

My solution to this set of requirements was the A900. Since then my upgradeitis symptoms seem to have disappeared, so it looks like I'll be happy with these for a long time....

I use them with a Toshiba SD3950 DVD/CD player and a Yamaha receiver. No amp. Works great. 50% music (usually classical), 50% movies.

 

[Jahn]

From what I've heard, I'll second the ATH-A900 for closed. And for open, I suggest the Grado SR225 at that price point.

 

[VanTheMan]

Sennheiser HD595s all the time, simply wonderful headphone

 

[BigD]

Since you mentioned that these are your only phones, I would suggest fun cans that will bring some excitement to your music.
Open=grado sr225
Closed=sennheiser hd25-1
Enjoying music will get you more hooked.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellow15 I'm thinking of buying a new headphone soon. want some suggestions from you guys if you got $200 to buy a headphone what would you buy? Consider the facts that: 1. you have no headphone amp (but may get one in 6 or 9 months time) 2. It does not have to be portable 3. 95% for listening music CDs but ocassional movies/games. so which open cans would you choose? and which close cans would you choose? and how's the best $200 open cans compare to best $200 close cans? overall sound quality? clarity? bass?

Possibly the Sony MDR-CD2000.

 

[lindrone]

Audio Technica A900... pretty much all that needs to be said.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

SR-225 is an awesome pair of headphones and can easily be driven from a headphone jack. They are especially good if you like your music forward sounding like rock and in a lot of cases electronica. I also agree the Audio Technica 900 would be a good choice if you need a closed phone.

 

[Imyourzero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by highflyin9 SR-225 is an awesome pair of headphones and can easily be driven from a headphone jack.

Yes...however, I've done literally dozens of searches of past threads in the last few days, and there are enough people who don't like the SR-225 (or heavily prefer another set of similarly or even lower priced headphones) to make me wary about buying a set.

It seems that people either really like the SR-225 or really don't care for it. I suppose the people that don't care for it also don't care for the Grado sound, so they are probably Sennheiser owners.

The only thing I'm saying is that SR-225's seem to be a far bigger gamble than something else like the A900 where it seems 90-95% of the comments are positive. The A900 seems to have a much higher percentage of happy users. I simply think that the A900 or HD595 would be a safer bet in this case due to the huge amount of praise and the small amount of criticism they receive. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the SR-225's at all because I haven't had an opportunity to listen to them yet...and personally, I'd probably love them because I've been very happy with my SR-80's but I feel I'd like to move up. The SR-225 is a definite step up from the SR-80 if you like the Grado sound, but as I said there are a few people who seem to put the SR-225 near the bottom of their list of what a good headphone sounds like.

 

[Davnport]

Because you have no amp, and because you mentioned games I assume you are using a computer as your source, I feel that the senn HD600s over the 580s would be overkill. The hd580s are great sounding, very comfortable and much more affordable. In that same range would be the AKG K501s which are also supposed to be awesome.

For listening to music I prefer open cans over closed. Sounds more natural to me. So I suggest the above two cans for your budget. I would take that extra money saved and add to it over the next month or so to get something like a pimeta. Then you will have a pretty nice budget setup that will give excellent sound. The senn HD595 would be a very nice solution if you can find them. The hd555s are supposed to be good to. See if you can make it to a local audio store and test some their gear.

If you are in a situation where you require closed cans or if you just want them, then the A900 will not disappoint.

Good luck! (oh and definitely search this forum for info on the above mentioned headphones... that will help some!)