Sub £100 Headphones

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I am wanting to purchase some headphones but there is so much choice I don't know what to get?

I have a budget of £100 and I have been looking at all sorts. I will be using them on my iPod but will also use them for watching films on the television. I looked at Bose Tri-port in ear phones for the portability of these due to size but these will be no good to use for watching films. I have been looking at over ear phones but there is so much choice. I have been told to look at Grado SR60 or SR80's but these look so old??

I am looking for the best quality sound that I can get for my money.

Can anyone on hear reccommend any to suit my budget?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

Grados would be a good bet at this price range, and look pretty cool in a kind of retro-chic way. An acquired taste perhaps?
Since you're concerned about how they look, I imagine that you're going to use them while you're out and about? In that case you might be interested to know that the foam ear pads of my new Grado SR60s "bleed" black dye, with the result that when you take them off after an hour or so you look like you've got comedy sideburns. Not ideal if you're in a public place.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Nath

I have a set of SR60's and the sound from them is awesome. Excellent bass and detail. I couldn't find a set of headphones below £100 that could touch them and believe me I tried loads. My dealer told me that they sound better than a lot of sets treble their price. Worth a listen m8

 

[Anonymous]

Problem is that headphones are really hard to demo?

I have looked at all my local dealers and cant find one who will let me demo a pair?

Will the SR60's or 80' be good for both Movies on the tv and music on an ipod?

 

[Anonymous]

They should be good for both. That is, assuming that you've ripped your music at a reasonably high bitrate, preferably lossless etc. Some of the music on my (admittedly 2003 vintage) ipod is ripped at 128kps and frankly it sucks through the Grados, since they really show up the effects of compressing the music to that degree. Good quality headphones will let you better hear what you've got. If what you've got is poor quality, they'll make it sound just that.

I doubt you'll find somewhere who'll give you a demo of headphones, unfortunately.

 

[Anonymous]

Any of the above mentioned Grado's will do the job but I would also add a pair of Alessandros MS1's to the list, these are without doubt the best sub £100 headphones you will buy. The company receive the phones from Grado and then do some adjustments to them, that improves the sound better than the SR60's or 80's, in simple terms hearing is believing and the best bit they only cost $99 including postage from the States. As I have both the 60's and the Alessandros believe me the Alessandros are incredable.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

I have some new Grado SR60s that I got from empiredirect for £50-odd and £1-odd back from Quidco.
And they're
grreeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaatttttt!

 

[Thaiman]

[quote user="tractorboy"]ipod is ripped at 128kps and frankly it sucks through the Grados, since they really show up the effects of compressing the music to that degree. [/quote]

I could not agree with you more (something I am not normally do with a guy from Ipswich!). For an mp3 player I would recommend Sennheiser PX200

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="bart2k8"]Hi Nath I have a set of SR60's and the sound from them is awesome. Excellent bass and detail. I couldn't find a set of headphones below £100 that could touch them and believe me I tried loads. My dealer told me that they sound better than a lot of sets treble their price. Worth a listen m8[/quote]

Are these good for watching films? I am interested in the Grado's but not sure about the open backs? I was hoping for closed ack but Ive been reading that the sound quality of closed acks is not as good as open backs?

Is this true?

If I was going to go for the Grado's would you reccommend SR60 or is the SR80 worth the extra money?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi. As I said in my last posting the 60's or 80's would do the job but the Alessandro's will do the job even better, they are simply amazing and anyone who has a pair will tell you the same, I believe other people have said this before on this forum and as I said for $99 including postage you can't beat them.

 

[Anonymous]

What site sells them for $99?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi this is the site you want http://www.alessandro-products.com/headphones.html all the information you require will be on this site and you can order direct from them. You will not be dissapointed with these headphones. Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I was wondering, did you have to pay for the headphones to be imported through customs when they came from America?

 

[Anonymous]

The other ones you should take a peek at are the Sennheiser HD595. Amazon are selling these for £78.22 incl. del.

The Grado's are very nice too (SR-80) and have a look at Ultrasone while you're browsing!

 

[John Duncan]

I'd recommend noise-suppressing/noise-cancelling phones - for starters, they don't bug the person next to you on the train, which any open-back design is going to do, and that to me is more important than out-and-out sound quality (dontcha just hate that tccchhhhssss tssss tssss going on next to you?) -and secondly you'll lose much of the benefit of top-notch phones if you haven't got a completely silent background.

I spend two to three hours every weekday day watching films through Sennhesiser CX300s, and they're great. I mean it's not your full-on-immersive surround-sound experience, but to my mind you're not going to get that with headphones anyway, particularly on-the-move.

If you want to spend your full budget (which I wouldn't, tbh), look further up the sennheiser range or the Shure in-ear designs, which are also good - my E2c's had a slightly different tonality from the Sennheisers but were a) a b-gger to get to fit (I had to buy aftermarket teeny-weeny earplugs) and b) broke quicker (which my previous pair of CX300s also did, but not as expensively). The Shures do have the advantage of having wax-guards included though (ewwwwwwwww).

 

[John Duncan]

Or - best of both worlds - 60 quid Grados or suchlike for in-the-house, 40 quid Sennheisers for on-the-move (conveniently avoiding pointing and staring).

 

[Anonymous]

Hi. No need to worry about the good old customs the price of $99's is all you will pay for the headphones including postage and that is all, as I said I ordered mine and they where with me within 5 days, well boxed in the same box as the Grado's, as they receive them from Grado. Hope this helps, without doubt it will be the best $99's you will ever spend on headphones.

 

[matts]

if i had a £100 to spend on headphones then i'd get the Sennheiser HD25-1's. they sound brilliant, they're smaller than your average grado's, so you won't look like a n idiot, should you choose to wear them in public. they sound nearly as forward as your average pair of grado's as well.

although the MS-1's are a bargain from a UK point of view (ask Alessandro to send them as a gift to avoid the customs charge) i'd still go with the HD25-1's. they have bass depth and timing the grado's and Alessandro's can only dream of.

 

[John Duncan]

[quote user="matts"]
if i had a £100 to spend on headphones then i'd get the Sennheiser HD25-1's. they sound brilliant, they're smaller than your average grado's, so you won't look like a n idiot, should you choose to wear them in public. they sound nearly as forward as your average pair of grado's as well.

although the MS-1's are a bargain from a UK point of view (ask Alessandro to send them as a gift to avoid the customs charge) i'd still go with the HD25-1's. they have bass depth and timing the grado's and Alessandro's can only dream of.

[/quote]

They do spill sound like nobody's business if you sit next to somebody with them on, though. This may or may not be of concern to you.

 

[matts]

Any....... any headphones will leak if the volume is high enough......so the answer is 'yes'. but that goes for any headphones. but they are better at keeping the sound in, than the grado's, and as good at keeping the sound out as many noise cancelling headphones.