Help for future college student

[jrb46]

I am headed off to college this fall. I need help with headphones. I need something that will last for 4 to six years. I think I need around the ear, for quiteness, as I will be using them in a dorm while others sleep.
I am a music major. I listen to all kinds of music except for Heavy Medal. I will be recording lectures from class also they will be used with a Mac Book and iPod.
My budget is $150.00 us.
Anybody have any ideas. OH,btw I JUST got accepted to Harvard TODAY

 

[limin]

congrats! hopefully your tuition costs more than your hobby, thought i don't have many ideas for the $150 range right now, I'd suggest you wait until the new shure headphones are realeased, they look very promising

 

[jrb46]

Limin
NO tuition, I got a full ride for four years except for housing. I am on Cloud 9.
Last Saturday I took the three top honors in my senior music class and received a $10,000 scholarship for college expencives

 

[aristos_achaion]

Congrats! You've got quite a ride ahead of you...I'm coming up on my last exam week, graduating from Amherst on the 24th.

My advice: hold off on big purchases like that till you get there, especially with the roommate thing. If your roommate is up late like you, a little sound leakage might not matter as much. If your roommate invites hordes of drunken friends over every night, expensive electronics might not be a good thing to leave around & you might look at a portable setup. If you've got a quiet roommate that's never there, you might get more bang for your buck with a desktop-ish setup.

You just heard from Harvard today? Get in off the waitlist, or is Harvard just cruel enough to make you wait?

 

[Scott_Tarlow]

Offtopic: I guess there are a lot of college students in the boston/ mass area on Head-Fi.

 

[jrb46]

My mother made me apply to 8 schools I got accepted at all but Harvard put me on the wait list. I did send my deposit to NYU last month just in case. I have a real close friend in the New School in NY. The first if May is when Harvard started on the wait list.
Up until this last month I didn't believe I was going to college at all. On my last birthday I came out to my family. I am gay. Every one accepted it except for my mother. She has cut off all funds for my education because I am going to the east coast near my partner. Last week she told me I was dead to her.
Thank God for my Uncle/cousin. He got to work and came up with the full scholarship and he got together with my high school and put the squeeze on some benefactors, a $1000 scholarship grew to $10,000 in a week. You have no idea how much I love that guy. Next to my father he is the best.

 

[jrb46]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott_Tarlow /img/forum/go_quote.gif Offtopic: I guess there are a lot of college students in the boston/ mass area on Head-Fi.

I would sure like to hear from them if possible especially ones from Harvard I have a LOT of QUESTIONS

 

[jrb46]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aristos_achaion /img/forum/go_quote.gif Congrats! You've got quite a ride ahead of you...I'm coming up on my last exam week, graduating from Amherst on the 24th. My advice: hold off on big purchases like that till you get there, especially with the roommate thing. If your roommate is up late like you, a little sound leakage might not matter as much. If your roommate invites hordes of drunken friends over every night, expensive electronics might not be a good thing to leave around & you might look at a portable setup. If you've got a quiet roommate that's never there, you might get more bang for your buck with a desktop-ish setup. You just heard from Harvard today? Get in off the waitlist, or is Harvard just cruel enough to make you wait?

Congratulation on graduating on the 24th That is my senior prom I graduate on June 4. I can't even vision me graduating from college right now. But I guess every high school student feels that way.
As for roommates I hope I get the quite type. I am not the rowdy type but I am use to going 20 hours a day I have done that for the last 3 years.

 

[aristos_achaion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrb46 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Congratulation on graduating on the 24th That is my senior prom I graduate on June 4. I can't even vision me graduating from college right now. But I guess every high school student feels that way. As for roommates I hope I get the quite type. I am not the rowdy type but I am use to going 20 hours a day I have done that for the last 3 years.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I quite believe I'm graduating yet. Though it's high time for a change.

If you're used to going 20 hours a day, you might try to find a place on campus to study / be away from the dorm (maybe library or music library...I can only imagine Harvard must have a nice music library, and if they're anything like Amherst, the library's open late and has floors no one ever visits). Studying in dorms is distracting, anyway, especially if someone's trying to sleep in the same room, and staying on good terms with the roommate is nice.

Colleges try to match you with similar roommates, but it doesn't always work...I'd say hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Check out the Head-fi Facebook group...you can probably find other head-fi'ers in the area there.

 

[jrb46]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aristos_achaion /img/forum/go_quote.gif To be honest, I'm not sure if I quite believe I'm graduating yet. Though it's high time for a change. If you're used to going 20 hours a day, you might try to find a place on campus to study / be away from the dorm (maybe library or music library...I can only imagine Harvard must have a nice music library, and if they're anything like Amherst, the library's open late and has floors no one ever visits). Studying in dorms is distracting, anyway, especially if someone's trying to sleep in the same room, and staying on good terms with the roommate is nice. Colleges try to match you with similar roommates, but it doesn't always work...I'd say hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Check out the Head-fi Facebook group...you can probably find other head-fi'ers in the area there.

Thanks so much for your help you have been so nice to me. THANKS AGAIN

 

[MaloS]

Your budget is fairly ****ty for someone going to Harvard with full ride in music ^_^

If you want to stick to it - then wait for Shure headies to be released. Closed headphones under $150 are currently pretty crappy.

If I were you, I'd get an IEM - it will help protect your hearing. Also good one will be able to really separate all the different parts in music, making transcribing much easier.

 

[jrb46]

Yes, it may be a full ride but everything except the education is coming out of my pocket.
I have an Uncle paying for what I want but his pocket aren't bottomless. I have to think of him also.
My mother pulled out her financing of me so most of what I get will come from him.
I don't want to seen stupid but what is an IEM I am really not up to all the terms.

 

[Scott_Tarlow]

In Ear Monitor, meaning you stick them in your ear, they aren't as bad as you think. I am listening to my Shure 210's as we speak.

 

[episiarch]

Congrats on Harvard. It's an exciting place, and clearly you can handle the work, but do be prepared for an atmosphere of continual social one-upmanship. (So, hey, it's just like high school

)

I would suggest you split your budget and get a pair of highly isolating IEMs, plus a pair of "beater" headphones that you can pull on when you don't feel like using IEMs and that you won't feel like you have to watch every second.

School can be a loud, rowdy place, and high-isolation IEMs will feel like your 'secret weapon' on those nights when you don't feel like going out and hunting (sometimes at length) for a quiet spot in the library. In fact they're your secret weapon when you're in the classroom waiting for a test to start and want to spend those last minutes cramming instead of being distracted by everybody around you. Or when your roommate has brought home a date and you kinda need to not hear for a while. And all kinds of other situations that happen in school. Seriously, get some IEMs.

For the IEMs I have in mind something like the Etymotic ER-6i, Jays D-Jays or S-Jays, or Shure SE110. You can read up on all of these and make a best guess about which one will best suit you (the Shures may be the most durable of these, and that's a factor not to overlook).

For the beater headphone I have in mind something like the Sennheiser HD201 or Panasonic RP-HTX7: inexpensive, closed so they won't bother people nearby, and not really theft targets. The HD201 is cheaper, the HTX7 a little easier to drive and has a shorter cable that's more convenient in some situations.

On your budget you won't get both a superb IEM and a superb headphone. But even budget IEMs are remarkably good these days, so I don't think you'll be suffering either.

 

[jrb46]

I have about 4 pairs of those all really good ones. I really don't like that type. I have a pair of around the ear, I really like, but they are on their last legs. My Uncle and I have been online reading the pros and cons of different over the ear and on the ear. There are about 5 out there, I really like and are rated tops by the people who use them and people that test them
I am here to get different opinions especially for the 5 I have targeted.
You have to remember these will not be used in the studio just in my room for school work and pleasure.