headphones with detachable cable on a budget?

[StevieE]

Hey all, as you can see this is my first post. I came here looking for some reputable advice on my next purchase (granted, it's not exactly much of an investment with my student budget). Hopefully you guys can direct me towards a good pair of cans for the little money I can throw at them.

My last pair were rp-htx7s, which I believe are fairly respectable for their price range. I broke them in quickly and then broke them altogether by wrestling with the cable too much at the plug, which is why I'm ideally looking for a replacement pair with a detachable cable. Whilst I was going to try and find something in the same price range, I'm happy to spend as much as I would maybe on Grado's SR60i. Before deciding I wanted a pair with a detachable cable, I'd also considered Marshall Majors, but it fell short in most reviews.

So, basically I'm looking for a pair for around about £75 with a detachable cable *or* with a cable you can vouch will last a decent amount of time. Additionally, if you could recommend me an entry-level portable amplifier too that would be swell. As you may have thus figured, the headphones will be predominantly for out-and-about use and travelling. I tend to listen to acoustic/folk-y kinds of things, and occasionally some more rock-y stuff. Hopefully that info is of some use to you and I'm not just drivelling.
 
Many thanks in advance

 

 

[JK1]

Shure makes some headphones with a detachable cord that sell for under $100 in the US. I don't know about UK pricing though. The Shure SR440 for $80 in the US seems like a decent value. Having a replaceable cable on a low priced headphone is only meaningful if the replacement cable is cheap. At least Shure cables are cheap(under $20 in the US). Some brands have replacement cables that are $40 or more. That defeats the purpose of having a replaceable cable on a headphone under $100.
 
 
With decent care, a decent quality headphone without a replaceable cable should last a long time. If you plan to use the headphone while doing extreme sports, that is a different matter.

 

[KimChee]

Akg K240

 

[oceansaber]

I would try the less well-known Kicker HP541's.  I have them, and they fit my budget (around $50 plus shipping), collapsible, 50mm+ speaker drivers, comes with two cable lengths/sizes + 6.3mm adapter.  I'm not much of an audiophile, but I can tell you that the emphasis is on the bass, as Kicker is known for the bass in their car speakers, but that doesn't mean they slack on the highs and the mids.  It's a pair of closed headphones, and the soundstage is VERY small, with the speaker housings quite small for the size of the drivers.
 
You could also try the Sennheiser HD438's, as I have heard good things about them in general for their price and have detachable cables; the only downside to the HD438's is that the design on the outside are HIDEOUS, something pretty much universally agreed on.
 
Good luck!

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

Shure was mentioned and that's pretty much where you can stop the thread.

 

[oceansaber]

Don't really think anyone should limit themselves to one brand.  That's just foolish.

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

 
Quote:

Don't really think anyone should limit themselves to one brand.  That's just foolish.

 
When you're looking for less expensive headphones that sound very good and have a detachable cable? It's like looking for sub-$100 open-backed headphones and not buying Grado.
 
Were we talking non-removable cable I'd expand that to include Ultimate Ears, Sennheiser, possibly Skull Candy and a few others, but that's not what was asked.

 

[oceansaber]

Quote:

 

 
When you're looking for less expensive headphones that sound very good and have a detachable cable? It's like looking for sub-$100 open-backed headphones and not buying Grado.
 
Were we talking non-removable cable I'd expand that to include Ultimate Ears, Sennheiser, possibly Skull Candy and a few others, but that's not what was asked.

 
And I didn't talk about any headphones that I thought "sounded bad", or didn't have a detacheable cable feature either.  Again, providing just one brand to someone doesn't really help the OP...
 
The fact you would recommend Skullcandy at all gives me the shivers.

 

[JK1]

The Koss Tony Bennett Signature headphones is now $90 at J&R. 
http://www.jr.com/koss/pe/KOS_TBSE1/
 
 
Technics RP-DH1200 DJ $126  http://www.amazon.com/Technics-RP-DH-1200-RP-DH1200-Headphones/dp/B0002EXJPM
 
Maudio Q40 $120 http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Studiophile-Closed-back-Dynamic-Headphones/dp/B000XT8JTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1330845325&sr=1-1
 
The Vmoda Crossfade LP  is around $110, however it is very bassy.

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by oceansaber /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
The fact you would recommend Skullcandy at all gives me the shivers.

 
For the most part I'd actually agree with you, but the Aviators are, apparently, quite nice for the price of admission. But beyond that... They're relatively rugged which is about all I can say of them.

 

[oceansaber]

I've actually heard that too, but I don't have $150-200 to drop on experimentally good SKs