[drtturnip]

I suspect most all manufacturers sort drivers by performance. The upper end cans probably get a matched set ( tubes anyone? ) of drivers that meet a certain criteria.

 

[drtturnip]

Never mind. Eating, watching basketball, bad post

 

[He11fire217]

I WAS doing this for a while. As a matter of fact, I've managed to keep it under $120 for a pair until this week. Most/all of the ones that I've paid for I ended up liking because I research so extensively before I buy anything.

As far as terrible sounding headphones, I've had a lot over the years, even before I would've cared enough to remember names and model numbers. Now I work in the retail side of electronics and my company sells mostly crappy, consumer oriented 'phones. Some of the ones I have are brands like Brand X (a shall-not-be-named house brand; decent bang for your buck in a lot of cases but some are just terrible), a couple of Skullcandys (one set is 50/50s I think, if anyone cares), and at least 1 pair of Philips-O'Neal branded earbuds with the tough, braided wire. I use those for sleeping because the cable is so durable, but their sound is brutal.

I don't know if this is fair, though, because I have access to A LOT of terrible headphones at work. We are also, however, known for selling or creating some real bang for your buck champs, too, so it ain't all bad.

 

[ssrock64]

EDIT: Fail post.

 

[Nightowl217]

Quote:

JVC ha-rx300 - purchase price $14 -  Modded like crazy to make them sound like 20 dollar headphones instead of 14. Yuk

I like the RX300's... alot... T_T modded to be fully open, changed out the cable, cut the grille off the driver... etc etc etc. Under 50, my favorite. xP

 

[ProjectDenz]

I bought 8 pairs of UE200s in bulk for like $40 for the lot a few months ago. Came with heaps of tips and cases. Couldn't be happier with their sound at their price point. I take these when I go out and about (and don't want to take my more expensive stuff out) and also when I go out for a night of drinking. 
 

 

[Astrozombie]

lol, at Lowe's of all places i saw some RCA IEMs for $7........even Duracell has headphones for 10 bucks at Kmart, Maxell came out with "ultrathins" i guess to go up against the Flats? But i just ordered some $50 speakers from Monoprice so no way! Somebody take my credit card away from me!! Let's not even get into budget speakers.....

 

[ssrock64]

I have a pair of completely generic cheapo computer speakers that sound out-of-this world. For certain genres and for close-range listening, I prefer them sometimes to my Mission 770s!

 

[He11fire217]

Have you ever opened them up to see if the drivers are marked in any way?

 

[ssrock64]

No, I have not. Perhaps I shall when I return from a trip to New York that I'm on.

 

[drtturnip]

Quote:

I like the RX300's... alot... T_T modded to be fully open, changed out the cable, cut the grille off the driver... etc etc etc. Under 50, my favorite. xP

Well maybe I just didn't go far enough but the drivers on mine are so uneven between the two I lost interest and moved on to the next project which was the Panasonic htf600. They were much better from the get go but then again cost twice as much.  Glad you like them though.

 

[tdockweiler]

most sub-par headphones I have in my collection...
 
Sony MDR-NC40 (overpaid for these and they cancel noise. Very, very muffled sound)
Sextett LP - bass heavy and extremely muffled version. Must be EP, but it's not. Don't know why this sounds so bad. It's in pieces.
It'll go into the dumpster someday.
 
One other headphone I had for 4 years is the HD-497. Severely bloated bass. The driver is almost identical to the one in the AKG K44, but that's only $30 (also has bloated bass).
 
 

 

[drtturnip]

Quote:

Qne other headphone I had for 4 years is the HD-497. Severely bloated bass. The driver is almost identical to the one in the AKG K44, but that's only $30 (also has bloated bass).
 
 

I  bet Senn and Akg used outsourced ha-rx300 drivers! Ha hiddy ha ha.
 

 

[ssrock64]

I recently bought a very bottom-of-the-bag base-model Samson on a trip to New York. They were on-ear, insanely hard to drive for their tiny size, and they sounded pretty bad for what I paid. Avoid.

 

[boltactionHOBO7]

Quote:

Referring to the Koss buds mentioned earlier, I had some awhile back and didn't find them pleasureable at all. Koss's low-end stuff is really hit-and-miss. I also owned the MEElectronics M9 for a bit, but I didn't list them because they were already and established budget contender by then. I also had the Sony ZX100, which was absolute crap. I had a $20 Target gift card, and that's what I got with it.

I have a pair of the ZX-1000 and if you preform some surgery on them they actually sound a lot better.