[pwalsh]

I'm used to speakers - but my new living situation requires me to finally invest in a decent set of over the ear headphones for music. Mostly rock with some jazz mixed in. My priorities are sound quality, with a preference for neutral, for the $ and I do not mind if they leak some sound, nor do I need isolation. Ideally I'd also like to be able to power them off my phone in a pinch. 

This all lead me towards the Samson SR850's (around 50$). I was about to pull the trigger when I saw the firesales happening on the California Silverado (now around 32$). They are everything I don't value... money into build quality over sound, born of a marketing gimmick and focused on a certain kind of "sound" rather than being as neutral as possible. 

But they also started off as $225 headphones- and the reviews say they sound alright, but not great for that price point. Part of me wonders if, even subtracting $100 for the metal parts I don't value the pure sound quality of getting into that arena is worth the sacrifice in other areas. 

Any thoughts?

 

[KG Jag]

The Silverado is neutral-ish and an excellent buy at $32, even if they no longer include the leather case. They don't need an amp.
 
Haven't heard the Samson.

 

[pwalsh]

Interesting. Thanks for taking the time to comment. 
 
I've gotten the sense from some reviews that the Silverado's were pretty far from neutral, but because they are marketed as style headphones most of the reviews have focused on their metal construction and "California" sound which hasn't helped much. 

I get the sense the Samson has a large soundstage and is fairly neutral, but is fighting above it's weight, while the Silverado is imperfect, not really many audiophiles cup of tea, but so cheap it's a hard comparison. 

 

[KG Jag]

"Audiophile" and this price range don't go very well together.
 
In a bigger picture the Silverado is a mid-centric can.  Think along the lines of the also affordable Koss Pro DJ100.  However in the context of this price range it is quite neutral and balanced.
 
Moving from $32 to $50 can be seen as "just" $18, but it can also be seen as 56+% jump in price.
 
In general the Chinese "clone" brands of Superlux and Samson are viewed as producing good values for the price.

 

[pwalsh]

Good points all around. Thanks for helping with my decision paralysis. 

I know I'm not looking at audiophile quality here - but I do trust audiophile reviews. I trust my florist to care more about flowers than I do, and the people I look to for headphones to know more about sound than me. So many of the reviews of the Silverado do NOT focus on the sound much at all is what I should have said. 

I'm still struggling about how to weigh how much I value the better soundstage of the Samson vs the overall better quality build of the Silverado, but I have more to think on now. Thanks! 

 

 

[20fenix08]

I hope that you decided on the Samson SR850. I've owned the SR 850 for over 3 years and use on a regular basis. The 850 is my go-to traveling cans. The Samson is tougher than it looks. I own the California Laredo. Sound quality and soundstage of the SR850 far surpasses the Laredo. All the California Headphones products have cord issues with shorts, breaks, and microphonics being common. Good luck with your purchase but for $50 you will be hard pressed to find a better build and sound quality headphone than the Samson SR850.