Hi, I'm looking for comfortable, decent-sounding (prefer a little heavier bass), decent-looking headphones. I bought a pair of Audio-Technica M50's a year and a half ago and find they clamp my head way too much. I love the sound (would like a little more bass, admittedly), but it literally feels like a bear trap on my head after about 40 minutes of use. So, I'm about to sell the audio-technicas and am in the market for a new pair. Right now I'm looking at JVC HANC250 Noise Cancelling Headphones that weigh about half that of the Audio-Technica's, and are supposedly pretty comfy.. and cancel noise. Basically the only reason I want these and not in-ear earphones is that these were originally marketed at $200 (are $100 on amazon) and I've found a new pair for $61.30. And upper end in-ear earphones generally cost $80 and up. So, please reply if you know anything about comfortable headphones or can recommend a pair or something
I always suggest Sennheiser headphones because I find them to have a good frequency response, comfortable and have a long warranty that is beyond what the competitor's usually offer. That being said, some people mention that they feel Sennheiser headphones can be considered tight at time but I still don't seem to think so. They have some great higher-end headphones but I would spend anything less than $99 when looking to buy a pair so that might be just out of your price range. Have you checked out any of the Sony headphones? I would recommend finding a Best Buy or a music shop and just listening to music you're familiar with them on them. Also, if it is of any interest to you (which it should be), try looking up some graphs on the frequency response of any given pair. I wouldn't recommend the JVC headphones -- just because JVC has really fell off as being "budget headphones" and because I have never really used them for anything beyond a cheap pair of ear buds. There are plenty of headphone buying guides on the web too.
I've heard Sennheiser is pretty good. At least I wouldn't be paying extra just for the name. I just found these: http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Su...78005266&sr=8-4&keywords=Sennheiser PX 200-II Reviews say they sound good. 3 ounces looks promising. I can't believe something 1/3rd the weight of the m50s can crush my ears lol. I'm a little worried about sound leakage both from the headphones and from people around me Thanks for the advice, I'm still not 100% fixed but we'll see Edit: My biggest priorities are: sound decent, very comfortable, noise-cancelling/limited sound leakage, $70 or under
Hmm, I think anything Sennheiser will leak a decent amount -- even moreso once you get in the higher price range since most are intended for critical listening which caters more to the "open back" design. So I would reconsider buying Sennheiser but I would look up some stuff on Beyerdynamic stuff. It cancels quite a bit of incoming and out going sound supposedly, looks comfortable but will be an eyesore if you wear them in public so that's always there to consider. If you're wearing them in public though, you should probably just get ear buds to be completely honest, unless you want to look like a tool.
I use those JVC HANC250s at church playing the drums. I haven't used them for listening to other music but they are great coming off the Aviom pushing guitar, bass, my electric drum kit and at least 9 different voices. Given the fact that the Aviom let's me control the levels of seperate instruments, I can't really tell you about bass from music tracks but I keep the bass guitar fairily heavy in the headphones and it doesn't clip or muffle. I think it'd be good though. They are great for keeping out the noise too, though I haven't used many others to compare them to.
You sir, are a life saver. I've been looking around for about 4 hours now and still can't find any headphones I really like. The main thing is: Are they comfortable? IE can you wear them for 2+ hours without feeling like a clamp is on your head?? I'd like to be able to game/watch a movie/listen to music for a while. I can't get over how painful the M50s are. I'd love to have noise-cancelling too. I go on long plane flights/car trips and listening to a baby crying for 5+ hours can be awful. I usually study with white noise on too. My 2nd choice would be just to keep the M50's and try to stretch them out or something, though I highly doubt that will work. I've tried stretching them over night and it really hasn't done much. @Furry: I've found Beyerdynamic DTX 501P and some of the reviews says it's uncomfortable to wear. The rest are pretty expensive :/
Well, the longest I wear them is 30 minutes or so. They haven't ever bothered me in that amount of time but they have gotten kinda sweaty lol, that could just be me though. Btw, my ears are above average size & the headphones still cancel out other noise pretty good, lol.
Hm, mkay. I'm thinking about just keeping the old ones and stretching them out a bit if that's the case. I'd love some in-ear earphones that block out sound but I find in-ears break at least once a year, and the M50s are sturdy as hell. This guy I was going to sell the M50s to hasn't seemed all that interested. I'm selling for $50 too <.< Edit: So I've been listening to them all morning and I honestly don't really like them so I think I'll sell them. The thing I've realized is good headphones aren't useful if you have bad mp3 files or listen to bob dylan or something. It's just not worth the $140 and I could use some extra money and/or buy something that has noise-cancelling or something. As furry's recommended, if I plan on getting good earphones I'll probably just go into best buy or something and try them out. Edit 2: Just sold them. The thing is I bought $6.39 earphones (here) on amazon last week and I'm astounded at how something so cheap can sound relatively similar to expensive headphones with a $133.61 difference. I say relatively because honestly with about 20% of my songs on my ipod the M50s made them sound A LOT better. With another 20% they sounded pretty good. That leaves another 60% where the M50s didn't seem to change much besides being able to hear the singers "sss" noises. Idk, I'm just kinda rationalizing my selling them right now lol. It might be that most of my music isn't very "glamorous," aka live recordings, bob dylan like I said, a lot of cough downloaded stuff. But I'm serious, I don't need expensive headphones... unless they have noise-cancelling or make me love my music 5 fold for at least 75% of my songs. Anyways, thanks to the people who posted. If you have some pair that you guarantee will blow my mind feel free to post
Whatever you do, don't 8uy 8eats or in-ear phones. Over the ear is always the right way to go, and JVC and audiotechnica are good 8rands.
Just going to show my support for Sennheiser and my hatred for Beats. I have a pair of Beats and I kick myself everyday for owning them.