Ask Slashdot: Best Headphones, Earbuds, Earphones?

alexbgreat writes "What do you think is the best set of head-mounted loudspeakers for the money, with a cost of less than $50? Here are some featuresthat would be stupendous to have (in descending order of importance): noise isolation (not cancellation), flat/near flat response (I need to be able to hear bass, but I don't need my eardrums blown out), long-term comfort (earbuds usually hurt for me), and durability. Over-ear is preferred to anything on- or in-ear. Boom mics are permissible, as I may well use it as a broadcast intercom headset." If you have experience using headphones from different price ranges, feel free to share that as well.

Comments

Sennheiser PX100

[Anonymous Coward]

Downside: almost transparent to sound. People can hear what you're listening to and the isolation you get is next to none. Still, audio quality is great for the price, they're light and very comfortable.

Re:Sennheiser PX100

[gstrickler]

I'll second that recommendation. I've had several sets of Sennheiser headphones over the years, and they've all had excellent sound quality. They've always been excellent build quality too.

Re:Sennheiser PX100

[tlhIngan]

There are two headphones I'd recommend.

For around $140 or less, the Grado SR80i's are pretty damn hard to beat. No isolation also (you can't really have good sound with closed headphones - the best ones with flattest response tend to be open). Spending anymore money on headphones is silly. It's strange, as Grado is "audiophile" but $140 makes it amongst the cheapest available. Hell, they're cheaper than the crap called Beats. The only downside is they can be hard to get (only sold at very high end audio stores - and probably the cheapest thing those stores sell).

Of course, for less money... Koss Porta Pros (not Sporta). Darned thing can be had for under $50 and for a "cheap" brand, surprisingly good. In fact, they've re-released them with slight modifications. Not sure if they're still as good, but I think you can find the old version new still. 80's looks, open design again, but for a set of headphones that are cheap, stunning.

Re:Sennheiser PX100

[SenseiLeNoir]

There is also other considerations for closed vs open vs active noise cancellation
Closed (including in ears)
Pros:
- reduce background noise by actually blocking the air from the outside reaching into the cup. Ideal for listening to delicate sounds with treble and mid range in relatively noisier environments.
- Good bass response

Cons:
- due to closed nature, strong bass can "reverb" around the cup, as the closed nature does not allow excess pressure to "escape", causing treble to be lost, or the sound becoming distorted. At higher volumes/bass levels, the pressures induced can cause damage to the hearing system, and in some people can affect their ability to balance (they feel dizzy).
- loss of outside sound

Open backed:
Pros:
- "natural" sound as air is free to escape
- good dynamic range
- safer for activities where you need to hear outside sounds.
- perfect for quiet environments

Cons
- poor for loud environments
- definition is lost in loud environments.

Active noise cancelling:
ANC is theoretically the best solution, as it allows an opened headphone to still be able to isolate external sounds.However, this is very much an exact science, where electirics "add" a negative phased waveform of the outside noise at the same time and volume as its passing into the ear.

Unfortunately this requires:
- High quality microphones placed as close to the ear as possible to record the outside sounds, as if your ear is picking up the sounds with as little distortion as possible, in order to create an accurate "negative sound". IT is at the moment hard to create such a "perfect" microphone, let alone one small enough to fit on the earbuds as close to the ear.

- High quality, and fast electronics to process the incoming sound wave, invert it's phase, then mix into the music fast enough for the negative sound to reach the ear drum at the same time as the outside noise. If the sound is not exactly on the same "phase" it can reduce the effectiveness the the noise cancellation, and also induce a high pitched hiss. Its relatively easy to cancel out low pitched (up to 200hz) compared to higher pitched sounds (greater than 10,000 hz), hence why current technology only really manages to filter out low constant rumbles rather than high pitched sounds, and even voices.

- Volume matching also needs to be as close as possible. Too low, and the external noise is not negated sufficiently. too high and also the noise will not only be canceled, but reinserted in the opposite phase. In addition, if there the sound is delayed, and the volume is high, it creates horrible sounding artifacts.

- The headphones themselves need to re-produce the negative sounds well enough to cancel the noise.
- Batteries/power source!

In the case of ANC, it is a case of the more you pay, usually the better the quality. Those cheap no brand phones are likely to be appalling. Even the best are only good at reducing low rumbling noise (aircraft engines, etc) rather than general noise (traffic, people etc).

Monoprice!

[Eponymous Coward]

I bought two pairs of Monoprice 8323's and I think they are fantastic. I keep one at home and the other at work.

I've never been disappointed with anything I've bought from Monoprice.

These same headphones are available from other people (Kicker and others) for significantly more money.

Sony MDR 7506

[Anonymous Coward]

Not under $50, but Sony MDR 7506 or the MDR V6

Monoprice

[hawguy]

Monoprice's $23 headphones have gotten some pretty good reviews:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57337747-47/how-good-can-$21.59-headphones-be/?tag=mncol;txt)
http://www.head-fi.org/t/608453/monoprice-dj-headphones-8323-review

They sound good to me, but I'm not a serious audiophile, I just use them to cover up background office noise. I think the sound is comparable to the $80 Sennheiser's I use at home. (which, a friend tells me are completely unbearable compared to his $500 Sennheiser HD650's, so I refuse to listen to music through his headphones, 'lest some of his "golden ears" rub off and I find myself needing more expensive gear)

HeadRoom

[juventasone]

HeadRoom tests more headphones than probably anyone. They're unbiased enough to say when a $40 pair is better than $100 pair that they sell.

Re:HeadRoom

[TheInternetGuy]

They're unbiased enough to say when a $40 pair is better than $100 pair that they sell.

I have no experience from HeadRoom ( I am sure they are good if you recommend them).
But I did use to work in an electronics store as a teenager, and I just want to say that it is quite possible for the reseller to have better margins on a $40 pair than the $100. Especially when the cheaper product isn't all that well known and the more expensive one is. So that is not really a foolproof sign that they are unbiased.

http://www.head-fi.org/

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.head-fi.org/

Re:They cost about $79

[Danzigism]

I'm very happy with my AKG K240 studio headphones. They are also close to $99 retail. But worth every penny. The audio cable is detachable as well so if years down the road you get a short, you can easily replace the cable for about $15. If I'm just at home, nothing beats a pair of big ass headphones.

Engadget...

[xded]

Seriously? Is this the kind of deeply technical questions that the diversified and experienced /. community is supposed to answer? Is this becoming Yahoo Answers?

And to the poster (because the first paragraph was to the editors), just take some time to type something into google and head over to:

• ilounge
• engadget:
  http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/26/ask-engadget-best-over-the-ear-headphones/
  http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/04/ask-engadget-best-passive-noise-cancelling-headphones/
  http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/31/ask-engadget-best-usb-headset-for-skype-calls-and-podcasting/
  http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/11/ask-engadget-best-non-gaming-wireless-headphones/
  http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/24/ask-engadget-best-non-ugly-noise-cancelling-bluetooth-headset/
  http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/01/ask-engadget-best-earbuds-for-outdoor-fitness-use/
• any audio forum

At least you will get more detailed answers and consistent comparisons. And I won't have to do the google typing for you.

Koss Porta-Pro

[Chirs]

In that price range you'd be hard pressed to beat the Koss Porta Pro. Very old-school styling, on-ear, and no isolation, but the sound is really good for the price.

My upscale headphones are AKG 501s, driven with a homemade PPA amplifier with a custom bass-boost filter designed to compensate for the bass rolloff in the headphones themselves.

If you want isolation, you're either looking at DJ-style headphones or else isolating earbuds. I can't help you there.

Re:20 dollar sonies

[EdIII]

There are a ton of companies out there that make headphones.

How about picking one that is not extremely well known for fucking over consumers, sticking their noses where it does not belong (my home), and sponsoring (read purchasing) legislation that fundamentally violates our rights to Freedom, Privacy, and Anonymity just because they are loathsome greedy pieces of shit?

Last I heard.. Denon, Coby, Bose, Urbanwear, etc. did not have any financial interests in copyright specific IP law, content creation, and content distribution.

I understand your point that all companies might be objectionable in some ways, but some companies are clearly and flagrantly, objectionable in so many, many, ways.

Re:20 dollar sonies

[elashish14]

A million times no! When I got frustrated with the headphones that came with my phone because the buds kept falling out, I replaced them with some earbuds from Sony. The sound quality would basically qualify as what I call Brittney Spears quality. In other words, they have no bass, the treble is hissy, the sound is static-ey and unclear. To me, the represent another low-quality piece of crap from Sony made with the slogan 'rush it out and try to make as much money as possible.' No quality, no value, nothing. I can't imagine a $5 pair sounding worse. I knew it was a mistake to buy from Sony, but I gave them just one more chance. Not doing it again.

Personally, I got a Sennheiser HD 202 for $20 and they're quite simply the best value you can possibly get for headphones. For the price, the sound is impressively rich, clear and well-rounded.