Under $150 headphones(buy locally)

[Komeda]

Hello everyone newbie here!!

Ok so I want to get my first set of decent headphones but I don't want to spend over $150. But here's the catch I want to buy them localy. I don't care if I spend more money. Listening to music is a subjective thing so I want to be able to return them.

My criteria:
1. I want to get something that is all purpose. I like everything from the Beatles to the Chemical Brothers. I'm not a big fan of Rap, Country, or Heavy Metal.

2. I want to use them with a Audigy soundcard, boombox, and amp.

I see Grado mentioned alot but I can't find any in my area. I have a Tweeter, Best Buy, and Circut City near me. If anyone can recommend a better store in the Philadelphia area please let me know!! Thank you for your help.

 

[Mystic]

Komeda,

If your only reason to buy locally is to be able to return them, some online stores have better return policies than local shops. Headroom (headphone.com) is one such place with a very liberal return policy. You can do a search on them to find out more if you're interested. Chain stores such as Best Buy and Circuit City are not you best choice for good headphones, I'm not familiar with Tweeter. If you're willing to go into Center City then you may want to send doobooloo a PM, or perhaps he'll respond here. He has posted before about a place in Center City where he has gotten good deals on some nice phones. Unfortunately, he didn't mention the name of the place.

 

[radrd]

Tweeter is probably your best bet locally, but all they have for over $100 is the Sennheiser HD590, which would probably be a good choice for you, but it is $200 on their website; so it might be even more in the store.

 

[Komeda]

Thanks for the advice.

I went down to Tweeter with some of my CDs and tried the HD 570($150) and the HD 590($200.) They sounded great on acoustic music but muddled on electronic music. Maybe it's just my ears(music is a subjective thing) but I found myself turning down the treble on many of my CDs. Also I think you need a headphone amp to get the most out of the HD 570s and HD 590s. Great headphones but I don't think they are right for the kind of music I listen to.

I tried some Bose Triports at Best Buy. Great bass but the mids and highs sounded like mudd. You couldn't pick out the insrtuments in the mix. At Circut City I tried the Sony MDVR-600 at one of their listening stations. Man did they suck!! I can't believe they charge a $100 for them.

Anway I knew Circuit City had a 30 day no questions asked return policy so I picked up some Sennheiser HD 477s for $40(I asked about the HD 497s but they didn't carry them.) My only complaint is that the highs could be a bit brighter but over all it sounds good. I realize my CDs and MP3s are probaly mixed for the lowest common denomiator so a high end headphone is probaly too good for me.

So anyway in my opinion the Sennheiser HD 477s are a good under $50 choice for people who listen to bands like Stereolab or the Thievery Corporation. Call me crazy but I think they sound better than the $100 Sony MDVR-600s or the $150 Bose Triports.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Yep, Komeda, I agree with you that the MDR-V600 flat-out sucks. I just don't see the MDR-V600 sounding any better than a $20 pair of the Sony MDR-CD180, yet they charge $100 ($130 if you buy them straight from Sony) for that piece of crap.

 

[Davie]

If you're committed to bricks & mortar shopping, you would probably do better in New York City. B&H Photo is just a block from Penn Station, and has a wide selection. You can get Grados at any number of places, though I'm not sure about return policies. A place with great prices and a 30 day return policy is the etronics storefront location on the lower east side. On the whole, though, I agree that you'd do better shopping somewhere like Headroom.