[Claritas]

  JVC HA-S680, around $80, eBay
Or the cheaper JVC HA-S500

 
Note that HA-S500 is on ear, not over. It has a V-shaped sound with quite decent bass. Super easy to drive.

 

[alexv131994]

Does the HA-680 have a removable cord?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Does the HA-680 have a removable cord?

nope.

 

[alexv131994]

So I've been doing a TON of research, and I think my final list are the
 
NXV XPT100
UE6000
JVC HA-S680
Takstar Pro 80
Takstar HD6000
 
These are in no particular order, but I'm really favoring the top three since I can't find enough info comparing the bottom two to the others.
 
I don't have an amp, but EVENTUALLY I'll purchase the Fiio E6. All of these are around $80 or less... which is the best? Unless you guys have another pair of headphones I don't know about.... Thanks!
 
Edit:  I realize that the NVX aren't really "portable", but I've decided to buy a good, cheap IEM (like Xiaomi Pistons) and use those on the go and use the headphones when I'm studying in the library.  So "portable" in the way I meant before isn't really necessary anymore.  Also forgot to mention that I am still strongly considering the Sony ZX700

 

[alexv131994]

Bump

 

[money4me247]

  So I've been doing a TON of research, and I think my final list are the: NXV XPT100, UE6000, JVC HA-S680, Takstar Pro 80, Takstar HD6000
 
These are in no particular order, but I'm really favoring the top three since I can't find enough info comparing the bottom two to the others.
 
I don't have an amp, but EVENTUALLY I'll purchase the Fiio E6. All of these are around $80 or less... which is the best? Unless you guys have another pair of headphones I don't know about.... Thanks!
 
Edit:  I realize that the NVX aren't really "portable", but I've decided to buy a good, cheap IEM (like Xiaomi Pistons) and use those on the go and use the headphones when I'm studying in the library.  So "portable" in the way I meant before isn't really necessary anymore.  Also forgot to mention that I am still strongly considering the Sony ZX700

At sub-$100 ($70ish) your choices are very limited. The only pair of headphones I have experienced on your list is the Logitech UE6000 because I am interested in headphones from the $200-$400 price range. I only reason I have experience w/ em is because they retailed at $200 and was reviewed favorably in comparison to other top-end closed, portable ~$300ish headphones.
 
They are actually currently on-sale $70 at tigerdirect. I don't know what you are waiting for. They are the perfect pair of portable headphones with a lot of extra features, fits into your lowlow budget, and probably better than anything else you can get for that price. The thing is a lot of the more budget headphones may be reviewed well for their price but they were released at the low price. The UE6000 was reviewed as a good value for sound at $200... so at $70, it's a no brainer lol.
 
The Xiaomi Pistons will probably break in a few months. Just skip it & get the portable UE600 or add $30 to your $100 budget lol & see if you can find nicer headphones. you don't really need to research anymore lol, the options under $100 is pretty limited, so when a $200 pair of headphones that is reviewed to be good sound for $200 drops down sub-$100... IMO. hahah

 

[stin]

  At sub-$100 ($70ish) your choices are very limited. The only pair of headphones I have experienced on your list is the Logitech UE6000 because I am interested in headphones from the $200-$400 price range. I only reason I have experience w/ em is because they retailed at $200 and was reviewed favorably in comparison to other top-end closed, portable ~$300ish headphones.
 
They are actually currently on-sale $70 at tigerdirect. I don't know what you are waiting for. They are the perfect pair of portable headphones with a lot of extra features, fits into your lowlow budget, and probably better than anything else you can get for that price. The thing is a lot of the more budget headphones may be reviewed well for their price but they were released at the low price. The UE6000 was reviewed as a good value for sound at $200... so at $70, it's a no brainer lol.
 
The Xiaomi Pistons will probably break in a few months. Just skip it & get the portable UE600 or add $30 to your $100 budget lol & see if you can find nicer headphones. you don't really need to research anymore lol, the options under $100 is pretty limited, so when a $200 pair of headphones that is reviewed to be good sound for $200 drops down sub-$100... IMO. hahah

Second the UE6000. Picked them up from tigerdirect (in white) because I researched them a lot and the reviews were pretty great, plus money4me247 and a few others recommended them. Been listening to them for a few days and they are definitely worth the money, comfortable too. The only real big cons with them are that they are heavy and the leak a little more than I'd like (but not that much). The sound great on passive mode and when switched to ANC the bass and treble increase for those bassy songs. ANC isn't great but it does work for road noise, but that shouldn't be a reason to buy/not buy these headphones.

 

[alexv131994]

How much do they leak? I plan on using these in some very quiet environments and don't want to disturb anyone.

does anyone know how they compare to the NVX? They are pretty much the same price and I've read fantastic things about their build/sound quality and accessory list.

 

[stin]

They only leak a lot when on full volume. At a reasonable volume they barely or not even leak for me. When casually listening to them they shouldn't bother anyone by you. If you are really blaring it the person next to you will hear it. Here is a video (watch his review too and innerfidelity's about them) about the sound leakage from the UE6000.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkF5wwCz56w
 
I cannot compare them to the other headphones though.

 

[money4me247]

How much do they leak? I plan on using these in some very quiet environments and don't want to disturb anyone.

does anyone know how they compare to the NVX? They are pretty much the same price and I've read fantastic things about their build/sound quality and accessory list.

Not sure how much they leak, but my friend uses them in the med school library without any problems & ya kno that stressed out med students will be at each others' throats if music was leaking excessively.
 
look, what I'm telling you is that there are tons of great random flavor-of-the-month budget sub-$100 headphones that you can get. for example, look at this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/647897/so-what-are-the-latest-budget-headphones-people-are-fawning-over/15#post_9094127. I've never heard of the NVX XPT100, but it looks like Fischer FA003/Brainwave HM5 rebranded clone to me.
 
however, the ue6000 was released as a mid-fi, portable, closed headphone to compete with the other $200-400 headphones. It's in a different class, and it was reviewed to perform well for that class... so you can probably assume that it will outperform all entry budget headphones no matter how awesome/well-reviewed they are.
 
The only thing to note is that a lot of different headphones have different sound signatures (the frequency response curve), so you may prefer a sound signature of a less expensive (or worse sound quality) pair of headphones. However, that is not something that anyone on these forums can help you out with. You will need to try the headphones for yourself & see what you personally prefer. Unless you've already spent a lot of time with a lot of different headphones & know exactly what kind of sound signature you prefer, it's hard to go off what other people like when talking about budget headphones as other people may have preferences different than yours. I think it's in your best interest simply to just get the best sound quality that you can afford instead of wasting time digging through alternatives.
 
You are worrying too much about this purchase. Every pair of headphones even going up to the $1,000+ headphones have flaws. The UE6000 offers great value for sound & features, and it is an easy recommendation at its current price point. You can spend more time researching & digging through threads, but I can assure you that you won't find something else that will outperform the ue6000 in terms of sound quality currently at this price point.

 

[alexv131994]

Guess I never thought about it that way...
 
In that case, the Monster Diesel Vektr are the same price and I saw those featured in the winter guide.  Which one do you recommend?

 

[money4me247]

  Guess I never thought about it that way...
 
In that case, the Monster Diesel Vektr are the same price and I saw those featured in the winter guide.  Which one do you recommend?

hahaha personally I would stay away from monster brand headphones, but your choice. I have absolutely no experience w/ em either, so I can't really say.
 
if you're just being cute, then lol.
 
MSRP does not have a direct relationship to sound quality. however, the ue6000 was highly reviewed as a good performance per value by a lot of ppl really passionate & experienced with lots of different headphones ('audiophiles' lol) when it was released at $200. thus, even when its price drops down to sub-$100... it should still outperform cheaper headphones that were considered to have a good performancerice as those budget headphones were never designed to compete with the $300 range headphones*. The reason I say that I doubt that the ue6000 can be outperformed at that price point is because I have personally heard them and the general consensus among people passionate about headphones is that they worth $200 value in sound quality.
 
but by all means, if you are uncomfortable with my recommendation, go pursue other alternatives. I hope you find something you like!
 
*the market was/is very saturated with a lot of $300ish headphones... not all of them offer the sound quality that you would expect of "$300" headphones. However, the UE6000 matched up very well with some of the best mid-fi portable headphones of that time (sennheiser momentum, sony mdr-1r, akg k550, v-moda m100, etc). Hence, an easy recommendation when the price drops down sub-$100
 
edit: basically, I just wanted to let you know that no matter how much research you do, you will not find another pair of headphones that are deemed to have $200 worth of sound quality/performance for under $70 lol (just trying to save you some time hahah). If you want something that sounds obviously nicer, you will need to throw down $200ish for a open, non-portable such as the akg q701, HD598, beyer dt880 that require an amp. Or you can throw down $200-$300 for a closed portable which has improved sound quality, but more subtle difference.

 

[alexv131994]

Yea I understand what you mean, the only thing I am concerned with is that people have stated that they don't work or sound well with non-apple products... I don't know if it is just the cable or the headphones themselves.

I only brought up the monster because it was in the headfi winter buying guide. The other one I am looking at, that is selling for $100 on newegg (missed the $60 black Friday sell) is the Martin Logan Mikros 90. Do you have experience with that?

 

[money4me247]

Yea I understand what you mean, the only thing I am concerned with is that people have stated that they don't work or sound well with non-apple products... I don't know if it is just the cable or the headphones themselves.

I only brought up the monster because it was in the headfi winter buying guide. The other one I am looking at, that is selling for $100 on newegg (missed the $60 black Friday sell) is the Martin Logan Mikros 90. Do you have experience with that?

No experience with the Martin Logan Mikros 90, but they are on-ear, so they will naturally leak more noise than an pair of over-ears.
 
The UE6000 will work fine with anything that has a 3.5mm headphone jack lol. They don't do bluetooth or anything, so there is nothing to worry about. They don't need an amp/dac or anything fancy either. When talking about headphones not sounding nice with a specific smartphone/computer/whatever, the problem is probably that the DAC chip inside that device probably sucks... not really a concern against the headphones. I've never heard of those sorts of concerns, but I never had any issues with my ue6000 for android or windows computer lol.