Help Please! Brothers 18th Birthday

[Divad1]

As the title says its my brothers 18th birthday in just over a week and I would like to buy him some headphones so he can plug into his computer for listening to mainly movies and some music at mp3 128. Mainly they need to be really comfy, pretty nice looking and £40-70 in the UK. They dont need to blow you away with sound quality as he probably wouldnt notice with mp3 128 anyway. I was thinking along the lines of sennheiser HD515 and possibly 555 at a stretch. Do you think that these would be a good choice and are there any other suggestions you can add please. I dont really have the time to import them from different countries so availible in the UK please. Oh yer as a birthday pressie they must be brand new so please dont suggest buying some second hand from the forum or ebay. All comments will be much appreciated, thanks in advance.


David

 

[sgrossklass]

555 sounds good, as a cheaper alternative you may want to consider the HD485 which seems to be better sounding than the 515 overall (though its soundstage isn't all too gigantic).

 

[Murdoch]

The hd555 will reveal the imperfections of mp3 128. I'd say go for the hd485 instead, though I haven't heard it personally,

 

[Divad1]

Thanks for your quick responces.

 

[Cerebral_Mamba]

HD497 is the best sounding can of the HD4## series from Sennheiser. If your brother havn't heard any other cans over $100 or the Grados, he would LOVE the HD497. Its only drawback is a little less Base, but for DVDs, it really shines, especially when you enable the Dolby Headphone in PowerDVD/WinDVD etc.

 

[RedLeader]

497, agreed. Although I love the 555 sound, 128s would make me cry with them.

 

[sgrossklass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerebral_Mamba HD497 is the best sounding can of the HD4## series from Sennheiser.

Apparently that's no longer true since the HD485 came out.

 

[Divad1]

so the 497 or the 485, I think 497 is cheaper but that doesnt really matter, he hasnt heard headphones over $100 or even the grado only my B&O A8 which arent really audiophile so dont really count.

 

[sgrossklass]

I voted for HD485, according to what I read on it vs. the 497 - more comfy, actually has a soundstage, dry mids not noted. The only potential drawback is that they're fairly bass heavy.

 

[Sinbios]

HD201? XD