Best headphones for your needs

I know it's a bit late for this post since people would have probably liked to see this before Christmas but hey, maybe there are some people exchanging gifts or looking for a nice pair of headphones to buy with their gift certificates.

I don't know why but it bugs me so much every time I see people wearing the stupid Beats headphones like it's jewelery. I supposed it shouldn't since that's basically what it is. I would love to know that people buy Beats headphones because it's fashionable rather than because they are good quality headphones, since they are not. If you are going to spend that kind of money on a headphone and you know anything about audio quality, you will stay away from that brand. Beets only has one thing they excel at, marketing. Below I posted a nice picture of Dr. Dre using his Audio-
Technica headphones :P (relevant http://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/16n8vb/i_bought_beats_by_dre_it_was_a_mistake_what/)

I should have made this post a few years ago when I was looking for headphones. I knew all the best ones at the time and I ended up picking up a pair of Sennheiser HD555. It was the best $200 dollars I could have spent on headphones at the time. The sound on them is absolutely brilliant, great treble, solid mids with good enough bass for my taste. Perhaps if you are going to be listening to music that is heavy on the low bands there may be a better match for you out there. Overall though, I don't think I could have spent my money on anything better. These are amazing for listening to my music, but also do an exceptional job for gaming and movies, which was definitely a consideration for me.


Now, this was a few years ago and now the models are different of course. But for anyone looking, here is a great resource that inspired me to make this post http://www.reddit.com/r/headphones

I think explaining the types of earphones you can get would be relevant before I continue:

Earbuds - I think everyone knows what these are. Basically the little ones that go inside your ear canal and will generally come with your iPod or other music players. These tend to be cheap and you will not get the same type of quality in these as you would with bigger pieces. A variation of eabuds are the IEMs (In-ear monitors) which are basically the same thing, but actually go further in your ear kind of lodging themselves a bit tighter. They provide a bit more isolation for the sound and in my experience tend to be of slightly better in quality.

Suggestions
Shure SE215 ($100) - Shure is a pretty popular manufacturer for music equipment, and back when I used to play in a band we always thought of Shure microphones being some of the best for our price range. Sennheiser PMX 680 Sport ($60) - These are a bit cheaper but they are supposedly good for listening when moving around alot, for instance during workout.

LH's Budget pick: Grado Labs SR60i ($80) and Sennheiser PX 200-II ($90)

Midrange: Etymotic Research HF5 ($150)

Highrange: JH Audio JH13 Pro ($1100) or Westone ES5 ($950)

Closed Full-sized Circumaural - These are the big ones that are fairly popular nowadays. They are full-sized if they basically cover your entire but circumaural means that they sit around your ear rather than on top of them. These are generally not very portable and I wouldn't necessarily walk around the street with them, although people do. The Closed part just means that they separate your ears from the surrounding sounds, meaning they isolate the sound so that they prevent your music from coming out of your ear but also prevent outside sounds from coming in. This is not the same as sound cancelling, that's a whole other technology, all it is is that they are closed and will provide some cancellation.

Open Full-sized Circumaural - These are very similar to our previous category of course, but instead of being closed to the outside they are open. Some of you may ask, why would that be good? Well I think there is a level of personal preference, but I think in general most people would say that these will generally provide a better and more realistic experince. While you will annoy more people in the bus with these and you will hear your neighbour cut the grass through them, they sound better. The closed earphones will bounce sound inside and around your ear while you listen to them, which can sound almost as if the music is coming from inside your head sometimes. They kind of give you this feel that you are listening to music in a studio, but to me that isn't how I think things should sound. I like my music and sounds to sound normal as if they were happening around me. So the open headphone allow the sound to dissipate around you which makes it sounds a lot more like you are seeing a live band. The sound just feels more alive and true to me. Of course that's why I ended up chosing the HD555 when I did. That is an example of a open circumaural headphone.


Suggestions
Low: Shure SRH440 ($100 - closed)

Mid: Audio-Technica ATH-M50 ($160 - closed) This is a very trusted brand from audiophiles and I certainly considered buying something similar when I was shopping around. It's a popular pick at this price range. Alternatively, the Sennheiser HD558 is the modern version of my headphone and tends to sell around $200 (open). This is probably what I would buy at this price range just because of my 3 year experience with the previous generation. They are superbly confortable and sound amazing. If there is one complaint I have is that they can get a bit warm if you are wearing them for a long time in the summer. The velvet pads are great when the temperature is nice, but not so great at 40ºC.


Expensive: Sennheiser HD800 ($1500 - open) Of course the top end I would suggest would be an open piece.

Full-sized Supra-aural - These are quite popular for people that have earphones hanging around their neck on the street. They can be seen as the portable version of the circumaural as they are smaller and only sit on top of the ear, meaning they don't have to cover your entire ear. This of course affects how natural they can sound if you aren't even using your full ear to add to the experience. I've tested a few of these but never bought one becuase I just don't have a need for it.

Suggestions
Low: JVC HAS400B ($35)

Mid-High: Sennheiser HD 25-1 II ($200) and Beyerdynamic DT 1350 ($300)

Noice Cancelling Headphones

I've tested a few but to be honest I have never found myself needing something like this. I don't fly very much and would have no other reason to buy them, meaning I don't know as much about these types of pieces. What I do know, is that they often require a battery because they have a tiny microphone on the outside that picks up ambient noises, with these they are able to produce changes to the soundwaves coming out into your ears so that they remove the annoying sounds from the outside. Some people don't even use them for music, they can be great for just removing ambient sounds. This technology is very cool, but will also make so that you will pay a pretty penny for these. They are not cheap and generally you won't get the best sound quality even if you spend $300 dollars for them. Not saying they are bad, I'm just saying you are paying for them to cancel noise, and not produce quality sounds. I tend to think that way about anything, I always try to buy products that fit my precise need and not pay for a bunch of technology I have no use for. I think that's a good piece of advice to anyone. Technology costs money and you end up paying for it even if you don't use it. That is money you could be spending on some other aspect of the product, in this case quality of the sound. Another piece of advice, don't ever think that spending more money garantees you a better product. Just look at Beets, Bose and Apple, you pay more for their stuff and that's it, you are not necessarily getting the best bang for your buck, and with these 3 I can garantee you that you are not. Unless having the most popular product is your bang and not the actual quality, than ignore what I'm saying.

For further literature check out that subreddit I linked above and Head-Fi.org.