Recommend a pair of headphones for me

couple of weeks

arghh.

i kind of hate klipsch but my current headphones are just not as good (despite being similarly priced) and are already starting to fritz out. With my luck I'll have two headphones in a warranty return process. what i get for being lazy and not doing this months ago.

I emailed Klipsh via their website on the 21st, confirmed my shipping address on the 22nd, and received my third(!) pair of headphones yesterday, no questions asked. Plug design is the same so anticipate these dying out sometime next May.

that's comforting! the speed of your new headphones anyway.

Their willingness to just mail me new ones every couple of months means that it must cost them like five bucks to actually manufacture these.

yeah, they aren't even asking me to send them back! i could have gotten warranty on my other klipsch that i destroyed totally by my own carelessness.

i can expect them within 7-10 biz days. woo!

(i don't understand the plug design thing. my old klipsch shorted out within 10 days -- amazon replaced with ones that had the l-shape...so they do make them. does amazon just keep em in reserve for headphones that die quickly?)

does klipsch never ask for the defective ones back? if so, i might try to get the other one replaced too--the two years will be up in a few months.

audio technica m50s vs ad700 's?

basically: closed vs. open.

to be used primarily at home (porta-pros for bus, etc) so the open feature isn't so much an issue. intending on 75% music, 25% film/videogames. i really want to experience this whole "sound stage" phenom, especially having coming from a lineage from super-budget closed headphones (porta pros, whatever sony charges more than $30 for) but at the same time seem to continually find that m50 has an fairly decent soundstage for a closed headphone and has a vastly larger following.

budget: under $130 if anyone else has other recommendations. i'm new to the whole game, really. porta-pros are the best thing i've heard yet.

AKG are my home headphone. Will check model and price later.

AKG K601s, but price is probably nearer $250.

what do you guys think of beyerdynamics? builds (ultra-foamy earpads, etc) + included case (not just the standard bag) suggests a sort of market for luxury. i'm thinking the dt 990 pros... retailing about $168. open.

i'd like to go off the enthusiastic reviews off amazon for recommendations but, honestly, after hours of searching it really seems like the enthusiasm level for headphones is always unanimous with the purchase. seems like everything i'm looking up is supported by a fanbase which absolutely, absolutely loves everything about what they just bought.

Head-fi is where you want to research this stuff

Only if you've got a LOT of money. Hanging out on head-fi cost me about £500 a few years ago, and I was a light, hesitant user. VERY easy to get sucked down the wormhole.

i love my beyerdynamics...
though if you want to go open design....Grado's lower end stuff like the SR 60s/80s are just a ridiculous value

I've had a pair of DT 880s (the 200 ohm version) for about 2 months now, replacing some Denon cans that wore out after 3 years of heavy use.

They're super comfy and they sound marvellous to my taste, but I get the feeling that I should pick up a headphone amp sometime in the future to get the most out of them. My iPhone packs *just* enough juice to drive them acceptably loud if I'm wearing them on the couch or in bed.

Yeah, be careful around head-fi.

i just ordered audio technica m50's and then immediate regretted it, despite them being apparently great headphones. see, i'm in that state where the purchase is so costly that i just *need* to find a headphone i absolutely adore, or at least want to adore, before i even.... you know, use it. it's ridiculous, because now i'm torn between having these ship and using them - and being delighted by them - but missing out on that open-ended sound i've been craving and even prompted a headphone purchase in the first place.

god dammit amazon one-click

i'm seriously thinking about buying a pair of ad 700's and having 2 new pairs.

or returning this and going with the beyerdynamic dt 990's which some dude in head-fi champions above the M50's

like....really, really passionately. it's just one guy, really, but he has me convinced.

They're both good and if you haven't had headphones this good before you'll be blown away. The dt990s make my ears ache after a while. Wot are you going to be plugging them in to? These things really sing if you plug em into a decent amp.

rediscovered my AKG 240s last night - coupled with the nu-force DAC these deliver...!

Headphone amp u&k. I got a Fiio e6, they're dirt cheap (about £20) and sound amazing.

I'm so new to this idea of amping. 80 percent of my listening will be via Android spotify. The other 20 vinyl and movies. Can an amp be used for these things? I assume the investment isz mostly for hi fi systems.

sure, if there's a line-level out option or you find a good standard output for the headphone jack you can use it, or there appears to be a digital audio-over-usb standard some may support.

amping & DACs can be awesome with laptops. I hear they can also add to ipods and the like but then it just seems too much of a bother to carry that stuff around.

Fiio E6 not massive or a bother to carry around:
https://www.decrescent.com/admin/ebay/product_images/FIIO-E6-04.jpg

my klipsch replacements arrived! i'm surprised they don't require you to send the old ones back--how do they know you're not like, stockpiling klipsch headphones?

Looking into those Fiio amps but unsure whether my Audio Technica ATH-M50's can take full advantage of them? Again, majority of listening will be via phone + Spotify. I don't understand all the technicalities behind it, but I certainly know these aren't .FLAC files I'll be booting up. (Is there a noticeable difference at just 320k?)

Sure, it has a lot more to do with volume/power boosting or some audio massaging depending on the unit.

some recs from (yeah, i know) lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5949489/five-best-headphones

Loved my Koss PortaPros, much recd on this thread, but one of the channels went out permamently (had 'em for maybe four years). Seems like they're no longer being made, but Koss UR40 or UR 40 are real good. Big cans (look like flies' eyes) but light, comfortable even after several hours, good range--the bass might be less obtrusive than Porta Pros, but it's def there (I worked in Dirty South CD stores for many years---I must have my bass!) UR 40 is what they require: 40 bucks American, but worth it.

Good treble and midrange too.

I am gonna say this once. I am not a hi-fi guy. But I recommend my Panasonic RP HT225. These are the standard headphones at my work (a film production company). They sound very good, to me at least. I have been frustrated with my Sennheiser headphones that I bought for about £50. And my work headphones are genuinely comfortable to wear all day. I am not a hi-fi guy, but these headphones sound good enough and are comfortable enough that I googled them thinking I'd get my own pair for, I dunno, hopefully less than £50. Turn out they are around £15 (£12 in Argos even!). I recommend them very highly. I can't imagine you'd get better budget headphones. I only mention these things to contribute to eternity.

Not making Portapros anymore? Sadface.

Is there a the source for PortaPros being discontinued? Love mine, and am thinking of getting a spare set for when they (eventually) give up - still seem to be widely available and the Koss site has a live page for them. But will def. get a spare if they're end-of-life.

i think 'no longer being made' was wrt ', but Koss UR40 or UR 40 are real good', not portapros.

i sent back a couple of pairs of PP (inc the nylon-cord BBC set i was hoping would mark the end of of the frayed-wire problems) a while ago, making do w/o bass response for the time being

Oops sorry, another version of PortaPros may well be available, but this was the excellent model I had, now marked "no longer available" Note that it had 4.8 out of 5 stars, based on 52 customer reviews
http://reviews.bestbuy.com/3545/9492391/koss-portapro-portable-headphones-black-reviews/reviews.htm

Can someone recommend a set of earbuds that doesn't crap out after a year (or less)? I'm on like my fifth or six pair (some Shures, some Sennheisers). Either one of the buds craps out or the wiring falls apart (or both.) I think at this point I care more about durability than I do about fantastic sound.

My current set of Jays are by far the most durable set of earbuds I've owned.

Koss UR40 or UR 40 are real good. Big cans (look like flies' eyes) but light, comfortable even after several hours, good range--the bass might be less obtrusive than Porta Pros, but it's def there (I worked in Dirty South CD stores for many years---I must have my bass!) UR 40 is what they require: 40 bucks American, but worth it.

Thanking u for this recommendation. Got a pair of UR40s at Best Buy tonight, was just what I needed.

I think I've given up on durability and don't seem to have the right shape ear canals for really good sound, so now I just want them to be cheap enough to replace every year.

I feel like a decade ago in-ear headphones were complete pieces of brand X crap that you bought for £2 and they were uncomfortable and sounded terrible and fell apart within a year (sometimes as soon as you opened the packaging), and then Sennheiser brought out a pair for like £12 that actually were good, and everyone was like "whoa, these are actually good, imagine that"

so now there's a market for actual good earbuds, there are a hundred companies including Sennheiser selling ones which sound maybe at best as good as those old £12 Sennheisers, except now most of them cost £30-£50 and the build quality is worse

(tl;dr version with model numbers: I got some Sennheiser CX 300-IIs last year for £20, but they crapped out within a year. So I went to buy new ones last month and they were now £40, so I got CX-475s for £25, the cheapest Sennheisers in the shop. Then 2 weeks later I wanted another pair to keep one at work, but the 475s had also gone up to £40, still the cheapest Sennheisers in the shop. So I bought some Maxell "metallics" for £13 and they sound just as good, seem maybe a bit sturdier, and at that price I won't care so much when I lose or break them.)

Picked up a pair of Grado/Alessandro MS-1i's on the advice of this thread and other internet sources and they are really fantastic. This is whole new territory for me as I've never purchased a pair of headphones > $35, so take that for what it's worth, but I'm super impressed with their sound.

Anyone got bluetooth headphones they really love? Can't decide between buds or over-ear, so interested in either

The Wirecutter had what seemed like a comprehensive round up of bluetooth HPs

speaking of the Wirecutter - these guys are raving about the Velodyne vPulse - has anyone tried them here?

what buds are you all using these days, buds?

i've been a devotee of the same sony pair for 3/4 years but it has been discontinued now. there is a similar newer model but one amazon comment saying it doesn't fit in the same way has me a bit paranoid. need a new pair asap.

I've had good times with these: http://www.rha-audio.com/earphones/ma350.html

They have a fabric cord which has failed on me once, but five year warranty and they got a replacement to me the next day.

(wait no, 3 year)

do you run or exercise with them? if so, how do they fit?

just reading the amazon reviews, pretty conclusive, 300 reviews and 4.5 average.

Nothing high impact like running, no, but I walk with them for a couple of hours a day to and from work and they fit me pretty well. They're very well made (metal not plastic) but still nice and light. They take the standard silicon tips and fit about as well as my old beloved sennheiser cx95s did (which is to say, much more comfortably than the klipsch s4s I've had since). Definitely pretty happy with them.