[hypermidget101]

Hi there, I'm looking for my first foray into mildly decent headphones. 
 
I'm a student so unfortunately my budget is really limited, and as I've got £40 of gift cards for amazon it'd be helpful if the headphones were available for around that price there.
 
Basically, I really love listening to speakers, I generally prefer it over headphones, however this is obviously something I can't do that often in a student house share... I'm looking for some headphones that can 'replicate' listening to external speakers as much as possible (I know that this is essentially impossible especially in my budget). (Does this mean open-backed cans would be better... I'm not really sure?).
 
I listen to a wide range of music, including The Cure, Madness (quite a lot of 80's 90's music), The Killers, Scouting for Girls, Billy Joel, Bowie, Busted..., etc. as you can tell a weird mix of stuff... 

 
 
ATM, I'm considering the Koss Portapros
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Koss-Porta-On-Ear-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B005I49784/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1385485750&sr=1-2&keywords=portapros
 
These Panasonics

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-Monitor-Over-Ear-Headphones-Smartphone/dp/B004UDTM1Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1385485785&sr=1-2&keywords=panasonic+headphones
 
and I've heard good things about the Monoprice 8323, but not sure on closed vs open backed vs IEM benefits for what I'm looking for...
 
Sorry that went on for a while!
Thanks for your time
Mark 

 

[JK1]

In your price range, the JVC HAS400 is the best headphone. It has great clarity and detail, and feels quite sturdy.
 
As for making headphones sound like speaker listening, you need to enable  crossfeed  on your player. Crossfeed sends some of the opposite channel to each ear with a delay, so that with crossfeed enabled each ear hears both channels like you do when listening with speakers. Not all players have the crossfeed setting, although if you have a player that uses Rockbox, Rockbox provides it.

 

[zamorin]

The Hisound Audio BA100 is reviewed well here and is within that budget plus it has android controls. What kind of sound signature do you like?

 

[hypermidget101]

Thanks for both your replies guys, looking into them, unfortunately you can't get the Hisounds on amazon.co.uk 

.
 
I'm not a bass head, but I do enjoy reasonable bass as long as it's fairly detailed without just booming away for the point of it...
 
Apart from that I'm not entirely sure, up until now I've just been the person who gets some headphones and listens to them without putting much thought into it, maybe something balanced would be a good place to start then?

 

[zamorin]

You can get it here with free(or $5) shipping worldwide:
 
http://www.lendmeurears.com/

 

[billybob_jcv]

Do you have a room to yourself, or are you sharing a room? Open 'phones leak sound - both directions - so that means you will hear the outside noise and they will hear your music.

 

[hypermidget101]

I know, but I have £40 of amazon giftcards, which is the only 'cash' I can really put towards this... unfortunately this limits my options even more. 

 
I have my own room, so leaking sound from an open headphone isn't really an issue, especially compared to just playing from my speakers. Hearing outside sound myself doesn't bother me either way, I'm ok to go either way depending on whichever headphone sounds the best etc. 

 

[p0wah]

That JVC suggestion from JK1 seems like the way to go, £25 on Amazon which leaves you some room for something else.

 

[hypermidget101]

Yeah, they are a really great price...
 
How do they compare with the few in the O.P.? I've heard good things about all of them and now the JVC's, what might be the benefits/advantages of one over the other etc? 

 

[hypermidget101]

Just noticed that the 'Klipsch Image One' headphones are discounted to £50, would they be a better buy as they're highly discounted?

 

[hypermidget101]

Just noticed the 'RHA SA950i's' are at £50 now, and soon to be part of Amazons black friday, any thoughts on those against the rest mentioned here?