Looking for headphones

[wayliff]

I'm looking for wired or wireless headphones to use at night while spouse and/or kid are sleeping.

I'm not looking for state of the art headphones but something that is built well and produces good sound for movies and tv...however I'm not looking for $20 headphones either.

I have no clue what to choose...

Thanks

 

[SLCentral]

What's the source? Are you planning on amping them or did you want them to connect directly to your computer, TV, iPod, etc? Can there be noise leakage, or does it have to be completely isolated so no one around you can hear anything? Did you prefer a full headphone, or IEM? Lastly, what's your pricerange?

 

[wayliff]

there can be some noise leakage...full headphone is fine and it would be connected to the tv.
I guess price range is around $75 - $100

 

[SammyG]

I've had a pair of audio-technica ATH-A500 headphones I got for ~$100 here.

To be honest I don't know too much about this kind of thing but the reviews seemed good so I picked them up and they sound awesome. I mostly use them for music and when I put them on its like I enter 'music-world' - if that makes sense... They're comfortable for long periods of listening, and they feel stable on my head without feeling tight. When the wife watches TV ten feet behind me I usually can't hear the TV in the background. Again, they sound wonderful in my opinion...

 

[potato28]

Koss KSC75 --------------- ~$20 Clip-On, Extreme Value
JVC HA-FX33 -------------- ~$20 In-Ear, Budget IEMs (AKA "Marshmallows")
Creative EP-630 ---------- ~$30 In-Ear, Excellent entry level IEMs
Koss Portapro ------------- ~$35 Open Supraaural, Collapsible
Yuin PK3 ----------------- ~$35 Ear-bud, Great sound to replace stock buds
Sennheiser PX100 --------- ~$40 Open Supraaural, Collapsible
Grado iGrado --------------- $50 Open Supraaural, Street-style (SR60 drivers?)
CrossRoads MylarOne X3 ---- $57 In-Ear, High class sound at a low price
AKG K81DJ --------------- ~$60 Closed Supraaural, Bassy portables
Etymotic ER6i ------------ ~$70 In-Ear, Entry level Etymotic house sound
Grado SR60 ---------------- $70 Open Supraaural, Rocker (Bass light, though)
Sony MDR V6 ------------- ~$70 Closed Circumaural, Good All-rounder
Audio-Technica ATH-A500 - ~$90 Closed Circumaural, Gateway drug to higher models (Recommended for gaming, no need for amping)
Alessandro MS1 ------------ $100 Open Supraaural, Master Rocker (improved SR60)
Equation Audio Tools RP-21 ~$100 Closed Circumaural, Nice Bass, Good all around (been compared to HD600)
Sennheiser HD555 --------- ~$100 Open Circumaural, More forward than HD580 (not as refined, but don't require amp)
Westone UM1 ------------- ~$110 In-Ear, Fun-punchy In ear sound, comfortable
Audio Technica ATH-ES7 -- ~$110 Closed Supraaural, Portable non-collapsible (Bling finish)
Goldring DR150 ------------ ~$130 Open Circumaural, UK Hi-Fi stuff (Sennheiser competitors, some say DR150 win)
Sennheiser HD580 --------- ~$130 Open Circumaural, Hi-Fi stuff (Needs proper amplification to sound best)
Beyerdynamic DT770 ------ ~$140 Closed Circumaural, BASS=Good for Gaming (2 Versions: 80 Ohm & 250 Ohm. 250=NEED amp)

Not my list, quoted from Head-Fi

 

[Snakexor]

would a home theater receiver with a headphone jack (yamaha htr-5960) be a good amp to drive them with or are we talking about a mono block amp

 

[montypythizzle]

While we are on the subject... Any headphones for ~20-30$?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
would a home theater receiver with a headphone jack (yamaha htr-5960) be a good amp to drive them with or are we talking about a mono block amp

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the headphones (a lot of the ones made today are low impedence so they can be driven fairly well by a lot of sources) and the reciever itself (typically the headphone jack on them isn't terribly great as its not a dedicated headphone amp). Most will be decent, but even a cheap headphone amp will most likely outdo it. You don't need to spend $500 on the amp or anything, but, especially with the right headphones, a good amp will make or break them (some higher end ones are accepted as being entirely dependent on the amp you use).

In fact if you have some soldering skill (really it doesn't even take much skill) you can make your own to put in an altoids tin. Works pretty good and doesn't cost much.

There are hundreds of headphones in the $20-30 price range, but most aren't that good. Koss has several that are pretty good (the KSC-75s are very popular and they do sound very good). The JVC Marshmallows are pretty well liked as well. I know there's a few others that are fairly popular too, but can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

[wayliff]

thanks for all the info