[vorbis] OT: good headphones?

[John Morton]

On Sun, 19 Jan 2003 11:46, Graham Mitchell wrote:
> This is off-topic, mostly, but I figure you guys will have some knowledge
> in this sound-quality-related area.
>
> I'm sitting here looking at the most recent "Musician's Friend" at
> headphones and thinking about getting a pair.  They've got products from
> AKG, Fostex, Audio Technica, Nady, Sennheiser, and Sony, at price points
> ranging from $16 to $130 (list prices $20 to $200).  What should I expect
> to pay for a decent pair of headphones?  

Probably <$100 US, I would think. The top list price of $200 indicates that 
they probably don't have the top of the line gear there  Sennheiser HD 600's 
are worth about $450 US, I think.

> Any brands to avoid? 

Sony. Some of there mid price offerings aren't too bad, but there more 
expensive ones just don't cut it compared to Sennheiser and Grado.

> (I guess you could say this question is Vorbis-related, because I'd also
> use them if I were ABXing.  With my current equipment (crappy passive PC
> speakers in a noisy room) I can't even ABX vorbis at quality 1 from the
> original CD source.  But I suspect I have dull ears, too (which is a
> blessing, really).)

I'm using Sennheiser HD 270's. I picked them up because they where the best 
closed back headphones I could find for a price I was willing to pay. Not as 
good as the higher priced open back headphones, but they do a good job of 
cutting out the environment noise, as well as not making much noise to annoy 
your colleagues, too. 

Have a look at Audio Review's headphone section:

http://www.audioreview.com/Headphones/PLS_2750crx.aspx

Use the info from the comments people make to narrow the field down a bit, 
then do some listening tests in the store. You'll definetely want to see how 
the headphones feel after a decent stretch of listening, too. One of the 
disadvantages of closed back cans is there need for a greater pressure across
the ears, which can be irritating after a while.

The quality of whatever you'll pull the cans into will also provide an upper 
bound on what you should bother buying.

John
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