[Katun]

I'm surprised at all these mentionings of creaking sounds. I couldn't get a single noise out of mine.
 
Maybe I just got lucky. I thought they were built rather well.

 

[roguegeek]

I'm surprised at all these mentionings of creaking sounds. I couldn't get a single noise out of mine.

Maybe I just got lucky. I thought they were built rather well.

Maybe it's a regional thing?

 

[Leonarfd]

I did have the rattle at start, but after a week or two with usage it was gone.

 

[acti0n]

Having to return the Momentum due to discomfort caused by the small cups, and now the MDR-1R due to all the creaks and rattles surfacing, I'm beginning to think there is no headphone I will be satisfied with.
 
All I want is good sound quality, comfort, and nothing actively annoying me (such as creaks and other defects) for $300. 

 

[kskwerl]

Having to return the Momentum due to discomfort caused by the small cups, and now the MDR-1R due to all the creaks and rattles surfacing, I'm beginning to think there is no headphone I will be satisfied with.

All I want is good sound quality, comfort, and nothing actively annoying me (such as creaks and other defects) for $300. 

Welcome to the club lol

 

[Dyaems]

Quote:

Having to return the Momentum due to discomfort caused by the small cups, and now the MDR-1R due to all the creaks and rattles surfacing, I'm beginning to think there is no headphone I will be satisfied with.
 
All I want is good sound quality, comfort, and nothing actively annoying me (such as creaks and other defects) for $300. 

used z1000

 

[money4me247]

Quote:

Having to return the Momentum due to discomfort caused by the small cups, and now the MDR-1R due to all the creaks and rattles surfacing, I'm beginning to think there is no headphone I will be satisfied with.
 
All I want is good sound quality, comfort, and nothing actively annoying me (such as creaks and other defects) for $300. 

I am assuming you also want closed, portable, over-ear.
 
Try V-Moda M100, AKG K550, or Ultrasone Pro 900 all at $300. UE6000 is at $200. Beyer DT770 under $200.
 
The M100 has really amazing build quality & a really nice 60 day return policy from V-Moda. No creaking for sure. Comfort is very individual though so you need to try them yourself to know if they fit comfortably. 
 

 

[JimBob1971]

Just picked up a sealed pair of these for £82 on EBay. Couldn't resist at that price. This site should be banned, frankly. 

 Thank goodness I didn't pick them up for £150ish at HMV.

 

[acti0n]

Quote:

I am assuming you also want closed, portable, over-ear.
 
Try V-Moda M100, AKG K550, or Ultrasone Pro 900 all at $300. UE6000 is at $200. Beyer DT770 under $200.
 
The M100 has really amazing build quality & a really nice 60 day return policy from V-Moda. No creaking for sure. Comfort is very individual though so you need to try them yourself to know if they fit comfortably. 
 

From what I've read of the M100 and most Ultrasones, I think I'll have comfort issues with them. I may wait for the M100 XL pads to get released, but V-Moda has been saying they're "almost ready" for what seems like months now. 
 
I haven't tried the UE6000 yet, but a couple things bother me:
- for some reason, the cord comes out of the right cup
- extra weight due to active NC
- gaudy, beats-like appearance
 
I'll have to demo these next time I'm at Best Buy.
 
The DT770 requires an amp and even by itself isn't very portable. I've also read complaints of excessive clamping force. I'll try to demo these at Guitar Center just to be sure.
 
I've demoed the K550s before, and my initial reaction wasn't good. They were comfortable, but I found them to be extremely lacking in bass. I'll give them another listen next time I'm at Best Buy.

 

[KElyas]

Quote:

Just picked up a sealed pair of these for £82 on EBay. Couldn't resist at that price. This site should be banned, frankly. 

 Thank goodness I didn't pick them up for £150ish at HMV.

I don't get why the sellers don't wait a few weeks or so untill the supply falls so that they can get a decent price for their headphones. But frankly I'm not complaining. They even have to pay 10% of the final value as a fee to ebay so some people are getting like nothing for them. I'm glad I waited too and didn't pick them up for £179.99 from Amazon. Now they'e over £200 on there

 

[Habu]

Definitely good time to buy these. Too bad its UK only though.

 

[acti0n]

A few more specifics on the creaking/jack rattle:
 
- When turning my head to the left or right, either ear cup will creak
- Moving my jaw will trigger creaks in the ear cups
- Up and down movement will trigger the jack rattle
- The plug doesn't spin in the jack, it just clicks up and down
- The above creaks and rattles don't occur 100% of the time, but still quite often... like 70%.
 
I've considered exchanging these, but the issue seems common enough that it probably won't make a difference.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

A few more specifics on the creaking/jack rattle:
 
- When turning my head to the left or right, either ear cup will creak
- Moving my jaw will trigger creaks in the ear cups
- Up and down movement will trigger the jack rattle
- The plug doesn't spin in the jack, it just clicks up and down
- The above creaks and rattles don't occur 100% of the time, but still quite often... like 70%.
 
I've considered exchanging these, but the issue seems common enough that it probably won't make a difference.

Nor sure if this is that common, could be wrong but on my pair only creaks when I chew something but this is expected. I don't use them much as portables though, more like office cans.

 

[d marc0]

Nor sure if this is that common, could be wrong but on my pair only creaks when I chew something but this is expected. I don't use them much as portables though, more like office cans.

Same experience here but it only occurs when I chew vigorously. Otherwise it doesnt creak at all. Well, maybe if I headbang to a metal tune.

 

[money4me247]

Quote:

From what I've read of the M100 and most Ultrasones, I think I'll have comfort issues with them. I may wait for the M100 XL pads to get released, but V-Moda has been saying they're "almost ready" for what seems like months now. 
 
I haven't tried the UE6000 yet, but a couple things bother me:
- for some reason, the cord comes out of the right cup
- extra weight due to active NC
- gaudy, beats-like appearance
 
I'll have to demo these next time I'm at Best Buy.
 
The DT770 requires an amp and even by itself isn't very portable. I've also read complaints of excessive clamping force. I'll try to demo these at Guitar Center just to be sure.
 
I've demoed the K550s before, and my initial reaction wasn't good. They were comfortable, but I found them to be extremely lacking in bass. I'll give them another listen next time I'm at Best Buy.

Compared to most other $300 consumer headphones, the K550 are definitely less bassy, but I think it if you can get use to em, you may find you really like it. My friend who owns them says it took him about 2 weeks to really start to enjoy the sound (& now he says all bass-heavy headphones sound muddy to him lol). Andhe's totally a treble-head now. You should also add try to demo the Sennheiser Momentums when you're at Best Buy!
 
There's also the Yamaha Pro 400/500, but I wouldn't personally recommend them. Since they basically ripped off the Beats design, if you thought the UE6000 looked gaudy/beats-like, there's probably no way you'll like those.
 
Less portable but how about the Mad Dogs at $300? I personally can't think of any other competitors to the MDR-1R at the $300 range, but if someone else can, I would love to hear about other opinions! Or maybe you should try getting a different pair of MDR-1R as it sounds like not everyone experiences the build quality issue that you had, so maybe it was just a bad batch?