Headband headphones.

[kbasanti]

Hello everyone,

I am in the market for some headband headphones. My budget is under 200 canadian. Can someone reccomend me some good headphones that are good sounding and are comfortable.

Thanks


Kevin

[dimmer]

I assume you want portable headphones, as non-portable opens up the choices a lot with all sorts of Grados, Sennheisers, AKGs available inside your price range. But if you want good sound and portable the actual choices narrows down to only a few.

Firstly closed headphones - these have the advantage that they block out sound and no one else can hear your music either. If you are a frequent air traveler for example these are necessary for use on planes.

Sennheiser HP25-1 is the king of the portable headphones. The sound is the best of all the headphones I list here, and they are comfortable and still small enough to not look dorky while wearing them outside. They are also the best at isolating sound. Don't confuse them with the HD25-SP which are cheaper but not nearly as good - before you consider these go for the others I list below.

Audio Technica ATH-ES7 are also very good, and the best looking of the portable headphones. Not quite as good as the Senns, but not a bad choice soundwise. Both these and the Senns may be over budget for you - but you may also be able to find them cheaper on the net or ebay if you look around.

AKG 81DJs are the best value of the closed phones - they are probably 80% of the quality of the Senns, but one quarter of the price. Downsides are that they clamp fairly tightly on your head, which means they may be uncomfortable at first, and also the bass is over pronounced.

An also-ran after these choices are the Sennheiser PX250s, which sound horrible with no bass and a muddled sound.

You can also go for open headphones, which let sound in more, and let everyone know what you are listening to, but they do tend to give better sound for cheaper prices than closed headphones.

Here the best value are the Sennheiser PX100s (not to be confused with their closed cousins the PX200s) which are good little headphones - quality sound (especially for their meager price), very portable and quite durable as well. For getting around the city these are my headphones of choice, as they are discrete as well.

Looking dated (sorry I mean retro) but sounding good are the Koss Portapros. It comes down to personal choice which sounds better out of the Senns and these, but I prefer the Senns.

After this the going gets tougher - there are some good headphones without headbands (eg the Koss KSC75), some good behind the head models (eg the iGrados), and lots of not so good choices (cheaper Senns, AKG26 and 27s). Some people will recommend Grado SR60s, but I don't think these are portable, because of their ridiculously long and thick cord.

Headphones to be avoided at all costs are the Bose Triports, which may seduce you with their advertising, but are badly built, with murky sound.

Hope this helps - others are bound to suggest a few I have forgotten, but I have tried all the headphones I have listed, so have some idea of these ones and not others! If it was my choice I would go for the PX100s for an open phone and the Senn HD25-1s for a closed phone.

[kbasanti]

Thank you for the post.

[dimmer]

My pleasure - I am amazed some of the other regulars haven't also replied, as there are some knowledgeable people here.

[Macromedia]

Dimmer has it covered. I personally really like the Senn HD 25-1 for portable headphones. Great isolation.