Decent headphones not too expensive (up to £50)

[tar1984]

Basically I wouldn't be willing to spend more than about £50, which I know isn't much for quality audio gear but surely there must be something half-decent.

For monitoring and mixing so needs a balanced eq or whatever you call it... giving a clear representation of the music. But also something decent for listening to music. Obviously the mixing/monitoring is not being done at a professional level I just want something more efficient than my shit £20 headphones from tesco for doing acoustic recordings.

 

[Clair De Lune]

Oooh oooh, I am also looking for some so will sneek on here and blag a ride. My requirements are much the same as the above but with one important add on - The jack plug - lead must either be super strong (because I have destroyed three pairs of headphones this year in that spot) or the jack has to be removable, so at least the wire could be fixed if it broke...again

 

[editor]

Fun and retro: Panasonic RP-HTX7 £35
Good value and decdent sound: Philips Citiscape Downtown £55
Best for a £80-100: http://www.wirefresh.com/the-best-headphones-you-can-buy-for-around-100-akg-and-grado/

 

[tar1984]

Good call clair, we need sturdiness

Although all the sturdy construction will not help if I sit on them again, a la my last pair..

 

[tar1984]

Fun and retro: Panasonic RP-HTX7 £35
Good value and decdent sound: Philips Citiscape Downtown £55
Best for a £80-100: http://www.wirefresh.com/the-best-headphones-you-can-buy-for-around-100-akg-and-grado/

Cheers ed, looking up some of those now

 

[Clair De Lune]

I am considering looking for some second hand metal detector headphones cos my mam has some and they are super sturdy and I tested them out for music and they were great.

 

[tar1984]

What I really want is these Beyerdynamic DT 100's as recommended by atomic suplex on another thread. Exactly what I am talking about but they cost too damn much.

Metal detector headphones would be cool. I wonder why they would have good sound quality when they usually only play 'bleep bleep bleep' all the time, seems like overengineering to me

 

[chemn]

I had a quick scan of amazon... and found these to be interesting:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyer-Dynam...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347104338&sr=1-44

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Systems-HP8...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347104371&sr=1-60

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347104643&sr=1-3

If you want good noise cancellation then go for a closed back design, as they're better for cancelling out background noise and if you want to use them for an instrumentalist's monitor feed when recording.

Open or semi open back designs tend to have a flatter frequency response and be more comfortable for periods of longer use. The sealed back headphones tend to have an enhanced bass response because of the pressure loading in the space behind the back of the driver...

I like my Beyer's because I like bass a lot and spend a lot of time trying to get the bass in my tracks sounding good. And I use them to listen to music when I travel by train so they help to stop people being annoyed by my loud music and me stop being annoyed by babies crying etc.

<Those Beyer's look like they're more for DJ'ing, but I think there's a lot to be said for sturdiness! I had some Sennheiser 25-SP's and the drivers/ connections were forever breaking...>

 

[Clair De Lune]

What I really want is these Beyerdynamic DT 100's as recommended by atomic suplex on another thread. Exactly what I am talking about but they cost too damn much.

Metal detector headphones would be cool. I wonder why they would have good sound quality when they usually only play 'bleep bleep bleep' all the time, seems like overengineering to me

that's what I thought! which is why I tested them thouroughly with a range of music.

 

[tar1984]

I had a quick scan of amazon... and found these to be interesting:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyer-Dynam...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347104338&sr=1-44

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Systems-HP8...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347104371&sr=1-60

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347104643&sr=1-3

If you want good noise cancellation then go for a closed back design, as they're better for cancelling out background noise and if you want to use them for an instrumentalist's monitor feed when recording.

Open or semi open back designs tend to have a flatter frequency response and be more comfortable for periods of longer use. The sealed back headphones tend to have an enhanced bass response because of the pressure loading in the space behind the back of the driver...

I like my Beyer's because I like bass a lot and spend a lot of time trying to get the bass in my tracks sounding good. And I use them to listen to music when I travel by train so they help to stop people being annoyed by my loud music and me stop being annoyed by babies crying etc.

<Those Beyer's look like they're more for DJ'ing, but I think there's a lot to be said for sturdiness! I had some Sennheiser 25-SP's and the drivers/ connections were forever breaking...>

Thanks for that! I am quite tempted by the beyerdynamic's as they seem to be a cheaper version of the ones they ones I was saying were ideal.

I also found these by searching amazon for 'monitoring headphones', anybody have any opinions?

Alpha Audio HP

Essentials SMH100

 

[Firky]

Eh?
Oh two different threads.

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/sennheiser-headphones-up-to-£200.298894/#post-11499994

 

[tar1984]

Eh?
Oh two different threads.

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/sennheiser-headphones-up-to-£200.298894/#post-11499994

I already posted on that one, everything was too expensive

 

[Firky]

I was confused because I looked at that thread and thought it was this one, assumed everyone had edited their posts whilst I wasn't looking.

 

[tar1984]

It's too much choice. Do you think in a communist society central planning would just assign me a suitable pair, or does it not work like that?

 

[chemn]

Be wary of technical specs stating frequency responses from 10Hz-30000Hz, it's technically true but the response at the extremes will be so low that it will have minimal audible effects. To truly represent those extremes you would need huge subwoofers and super tweeters.

 

[tar1984]

If you want good noise cancellation then go for a closed back design, as they're better for cancelling out background noise and if you want to use them for an instrumentalist's monitor feed when recording

I think I need closed back design because I can't have noise bleeding out at all. Which rules out they beyer's, gah

 

[editor]

There's going to be some headphone-thread-mergin' later. Oh yes.

 

[RubyToogood]

I have a couple of pairs of Shure SRH440s which are fractionally above your price range at their cheapest, but have always done me well for studio purposes.

You wouldn't necessarily want to listen to music through studio headphones - they can be quite unforgiving as opposed to listening headphones which try to make things sound nice.

 

[RubyToogood]

There's going to be some headphone-thread-mergin' later. Oh yes.

Don't merge them! It'd be too confusing.

 

[Firky]

Don't merge them! It'd be too confusing.

Sticky: What Headphones to buy?

 

[tar1984]

I think I'm going to order these

Red5 RVH95 Studio Monitor Headphones - £39, seem decent enough

 

[editor]

I've never heard of them.

 

[editor]

Don't merge them! It'd be too confusing.

There's currently about 15 different threads, so I'll merge them into a two or three logical uber-threads.

 

[tar1984]

I've never heard of them.

It is the same company who makes the condenser mic I have ordered. I found a couple of good reviews online and they are supposed to have a clear & balanced sound. One video review the guy is comparing them to more expensive brands and they compare quite favourably.

 

[editor]

I'm always rather wary of video reviews unless they're from a site I've heard of.
I think I'd go for a more well known (and reviewed) brand myself.

 

[tar1984]

I'm always rather wary of video reviews unless they're from a site I've heard of.
I think I'd go for a more well known (and reviewed) brand myself.

Well it's too late for that. This is why I hate buying stuff, I get stressed by all the choice the just go 'fuck it that'll do' then afterwards wonder if I could have spent my money better. Never mind they'll be fine I bet.

 

[RubyToogood]

Well it's too late for that. This is why I hate buying stuff, I get stressed by all the choice the just go 'fuck it that'll do' then afterwards wonder if I could have spent my money better. Never mind they'll be fine I bet.

I'm exactly the same with tech purchases. I find the choice too overwhelming and too boring to spend ages researching it.

 

[tar1984]

I'm exactly the same with tech purchases. I find the choice too overwhelming and too boring to spend ages researching it.

I can spend a while researching but still not have a clue what to pick.

I have been using tesco headphones for the past couple of years, which is ridiculous considering how big a part of my life music is - the least I could do is have quality headphones for maximum utility.

Red5 have a good rep for making good quality budget gear that is supposed to replicate more expensive audio equipment fairly well. Apparently. Surely these are going to be a vast improvement on my tesco headphones, and I will be happy. If they aren't completely amazing I'll save up for a £100+ proper quality pair and use these as backup.

 

[editor]

Red5 have a good rep for making good quality budget gear that is supposed to replicate more expensive audio equipment fairly well. Apparently.

I'm sure they'll be fine, but I'm yet to see a proper review that backs up that rather bold claim.

But, yes, they should be better than a Tesco pair!

 

[starfish2000]

I bought some JVCs in a sale, they seem pretty good! These ones were reduced to like 30 quid

http://www.jvc.co.uk/product.php?id=HA-S600-E&catid=100159