Recommend me some headphones

Right, my trusty pair of work headphones (for listening at work, not for doing my work) are dying, the left earbud isn’t working right. They’ve accidentally fallen into my cup of coffee too many times…

So recommend me some new ones – a wishlist:
[list]
[*]Don’t mind what style (in/over/on ear).[/*]
[*]Can’t block all noise, I have in-ear rubbery ones for home/outside use, but they block too much noise, I need to be able to hear when someone wants my attention.[/*]
[*]Can’t leak noise too much, don’t want to disturb others. I realise this is at odds with the above point, but I don’t listen that loud.[/*]
[*]Noise cancellation would be nice (so I can turn it on/off) but not required.[/*]
[*]Iphone clicker would be good, so I can easily stop music.[/*]
[*]Not too pricey, or coffee-cup proof ;-)[/*]
[*]Sensible cord length, just needs to go from my desk to my ears, 3m long cables etc get in the way.[/*]
[*]Comfy. Might be wearing them all day[/*]
[/list]
The deceased pair are some apple earpods that came with the phone, quality isn’t great on them but they meet the other requirements, wondering if there’s something better out there.

Aw noooo! You broke the forum, and the new one ain’t coming till 2012 🙁

Ooops. I used the list items without surrounding it with an unordered list tag…

STW you’re failing me here…I expected loads of replies.

Is disappoint.

Well, TBH, the current EarPods fit the bill, and if you look on eBay you can pick them up for peanuts; I’ve seen them going for two or three quid. Honestly, for the price, there’s little to touch them.
I wear other canal phones, like Shure SE215’s, UE SF3’s,TF10’s, etc, and the EarPods aren’t too shabby by comparison, the others have much better sound isolation, so wouldn’t be appropriate, I don’t think.

My UE400vi’s have been through the wash with no harm done, if that’s any recommendation.

This might seem like an odd suggestion, but if you’re using an iPhone, then they’ll work: get a pairm of Beats Solo HD’s off eBay. They don’t block background noise too much, they sit neatly ofer the ear and don’t bleed sound too much, they fold up, and they have replaceable cables, ear-pads and headband cushion. They do sound crap, though.
However, there’s an app for that; EQu, which lets you set up custom acoustic curves to tweak the sound.
I bought a pair, original packaging, with receipt, in imacculate condition, eighteen months old, for £70, inc postage, and using EQu they sound brilliant, I’m chuffed to bits with them.
Without the app, they sound muddy and lacking in detail, basically music comes from World of Doof.
Worth considering.

Anything by Sennheiser sound amazing and way cheaper than them beats fashion thingies

It really depends on how much ‘not too pricey is’. At the cheaper end I can heartily recommend Soundmagic E10s for buds and AKG451s for on ears, although the latter don’t really suit my big head and are a struggle to get to sit comfortably they sound great.

Koss. Why? Lifetime unlimited warranty. Just had mine returned, replaced for free, no questions as to how they got broke, again… 😳 And they came back within three days of being sent off.

I bought some expensive Sennheisers and they sounded very thin. I took them back and the shop keeper agreed they sounded weedy. We opened some boxes, did some listening and I left with the best of the Sennheisers for only 79e. Grado SR80s on my head at present but if I turned up the volume Madame sitting nearby would start giving me dirty looks.

These are really good, apparently…

IGMC

I did think of some more earpods, I could probably find a pair from someone’s iphone that are unwanted fairly easily I suspect. They do sound poor though, even compared to some £30-odd Sennheiser canalphones I have which are loads better.

Problem with using any EQ app is I like to listen to music from various different apps, not just on the phone.

As to price, I’d spend up to £100 probably if I was convinced it’s worthwhile.

I’ve a fairly large head if that has any bearing…

Find a shop that will let you try them. My local shop is about 10% more expensive than buying on line but I’m prepared to pay the extra to choose the stuff I like the sound of rather than what the “experts” say.

Anything by Sennheiser sound amazing and way cheaper than them beats fashion thingies

Agreed. I’m guessing if you’re using them at work you can’t have them at full volume anyway. I bought some nice Fischer ones after a recommend on here… they’re really good, but no better than the Sennheisers they replaced. CX200s I think they were. After iPhone ‘phones you’ll be chuffed to bits with them.

I agree with the idea of finding some to try, headphones can be a quite personal thing, and worth a premium to try on.

However I’m not spending 100s so anything widely thought to be decent probably is.

Personal recommendations (rather than reviews) are welcome cos then folk can comment on practical things like real life durability etc.

OK: Sennheiser HD238. I bought them for my son to plug into his guitar amp, for the money they’re fine.

+ plenty of bass (more than the Grados and kids love bass), warm sound, very comfortable, a good compromise between hearing what others are saying and disturbing others, work fine on everything from an ipod to a guitar amp.

– could be crisper, the Grado SR 80s are better for film dialogues, painfully thin cable I’m expecting to break any time.

Beats are overbassed pap, get PSB M4U2’s

AKG K451

Really not worth buying anything else unless you’re spending over 4 times as much. They’re £50 at Richer Sounds. And yes I have some. Really no comparison to Beats.

http://www.whathifi.com/review/akg-k451

I’ll listen to some of those when the cable on the Sennheisers snaps, Loddrik.

Hmm those AKGs do look decent, cheers, will check them out. Slightly concerned about the big head comment above.

tuffty – Member
Anything by Sennheiser sound amazing and way cheaper than them beats fashion thingies

Clobber – Member
Beats are overbassed pap, get PSB M4U2’s

You did bother reading what I said about them, didn’t you? Or did you just see the word ‘Beats’ and stop there.
Beats are well-designed, and well made, or at least the Solo HD models are, but I wouldn’t pay full price for them, and neither would I pay full price for B&W P3 or P5 phones, because I’ve done a direct comparison against my Shure SE215’s using my own device and music I know, and I was unimpressed with them. The whole point I was trying to make, was that picking up a cheap pair, >£70, and using EQ, they’re very comfy, very impressive sonically, and worth paying that sort of money for.
There’s no way I’d pay more than the £66, plus postage, that my Beats cost me, for any headphones, especially as I have canalphones worth around £350, which are much better; but I want to have a choice sometimes.

Hi IA, despite what I said above I do recommend you check out the AKGs, for that price they are superb and it’s probably got more to do with the shape of ear, head and all that not just the size, they have plenty of adjustment (I don’t use all of it!).

Best thing is at that size they can’t fall in a cup of coffee.

If you’re interested in ear canal ones the Soundmagic E10s can be had for £30, they sound good and are well built, the cable is made of studier material that the Sennheisers at that price and I think they sound better. You can’t really go wrong there.

Try some of these too
Sennheiser PX200

Didn’t realise I had some phones costing that much 😉 Bought them in the US. Massive electronics store in New York – big row of headphones to try out. Tried loads, chose the best sounding. Love em

+1 for the AKG451’s. Amazing sound for the money.

AKG451

About £46 on Amazon I think

Try Aftershokz!! They’ll do all if that and you can answer the phone – really handy when you are in your bike!

Ok to follow up I’ve ordered some AKG 451 off Amazon after a bit of local wandering/trying stuff out revealed nothing that took my fancy. It’s pretty hard to get a go on anything that’s not either >£150 or horrendously bass-heavy, garish and targeted at the yoofs.

I’ll update this thread after I’ve had a bit of an ears-on in case it helps others.

Sennheiser px100 mk2

http://www.richersounds.com/product/all-headphones/sennheiser/px100-mk2/senn-px100-mk2

I have had several pairs and i think they sound really good for the money. Plus you get three year guarantee

Yeah I saw those somewhere though didn’t get a listen – the version with an iPhone clicker is more expensive though, so thought I’d try the AKG first as they seem to come out top in many cases.

+1 for the AKG 451’s

I’ve friends with Beats & Bose that wish they hadn’t bothered spending all that money 🙂

Some follow up: Got the AKG51s, they’re everything I was looking for.

Cheers all above that recommended them!