Calling all audiophiles

Alathald · Post by **Alathald** » Tue May 15, 2007 5:56 pm

OK, I'm finally taking the pluge here and plan to buy a good pair of headphones. I'm a gamer so I know I'll probably be going with a wired headset but I don't know a whole lot as far as brands go (never payed alot of attn).

I'm somewhat an audiophile but I'm not anal about it. I do tinker alot with audio circuits (mainly in my guitar) and can easily distinguish between quality sound and crap. Bass quality is rather important but then so is the treble and the mids, so thats a moot point but I know with some headphones you sacrific either bass or treble. I don't mind spending a little extra for good headphones. Also, I like behind the neck headphones but thats not a requirement. Oh yeah, I need a mic. Ok I guess I am a bit anal...

I'd like to keep it around $100-$200 but could go a bit higher...any suggestions?

vicaphit · Post by **vicaphit** » Tue May 15, 2007 6:36 pm

Sound is my least favorite sense, and I cant stand spending any large amount of money on sound.

I do however know that bose makes a noise cancelling headset, but it doesnt have a mic. You may want to shoot for something that is noise cancelling.

Then again, dont listen to me.

Zelig · Post by **Zelig** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:19 pm

Bose doesn't make audiophile quality headphones, and audiophile quality headphones are generally too large to be the behind the neck style, unless you're picking up pricey Etymotic or Shure earbuds.

What are you using as a soundcard? With onboard sound, it isn't worth spending anything over $100, if you've got a good soundcard, up to $200, but much past that and you start needing an amp to really drive them properly.

Regarding mics, I just have a separate one on a stand, it sits on my desk, plugs into my mic port, and has an on/off button, no connection to my headphones.

Grado makes real nice headphones for the price. Your best bet would be to go to an audio store, and ask to listen to headphones you're interested in. The Grado SR80 might be something in your range, you can either bring your own cds in, or they'll have some nice material to make them sound good.

Alathald · Post by **Alathald** » Tue May 15, 2007 8:13 pm

Actually, my board has a decent onboard sound card built into it (an ADI Soundmax I believe), I know it's not the greatest, but I do plan on buying a soundcard in the future so I don't mind spending a little more now so I don't need to buy a whole new headset later.

I've been to a Bose outlet and was somewhat impressed with the little demonstrations they had set up, but after playing my cd's in their system they don't have any better sound quality than many other (cheaper) home systems. Then again, those were 5.1 systems but I'd bet there headphone quality is comparable.

I wouldn't mind some decent earbuds, but so expensive for a quality pair. Also, as far a the mic goes, I'm a complete moron as my board came with a directional mic (actually works quite well) so I guess that does broaden my choices...thanks for throwing a couple quality brands at me Zelig, as I now have something to research. While I'd love to just go to an audio store, the closest one is a little over an hour away so I need to do some research and make some phone calls before making that trip.

Zelig · Post by **Zelig** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:07 pm

With my Audigy 2 ZS, I ended picking up a set of Grado SR60, pretty much the cheapest set of cans that give that kind of quality. I'm more of a speaker guy myself, but am at my parents' house for the summer, and wasn't able to transport my speakers here.

The aptly named headphone.com is a good resource for anything concerning headphones, they've got good prices for US customers, I've never tried ordering there though.

CMcguire · Post by **CMcguire** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:47 pm

Personally I use Sennheiser HD555...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6826106392

only annoying thing is its defaulted to the large plug and have to put on the adapter to make it fit with normal audio outputs which leads to a big thing sticking out of the connection..

o and obviously they have no mic..

slugbug · Post by **slugbug** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:52 pm

You can't go wrong with Sennheiser.

Alathald · Post by **Alathald** » Wed May 16, 2007 5:47 am

Thanks for all the input, after looking around a little, I think I'm going to go with the Shure SE210 In-Ear Moniter (read Earbuds)...I've always liked Earbuds and these look fairly decent. While the treble isn't quite as good as other headphones and the harmonics aren't perfectly smooth, the isolation is quite good, which is nice when you live in a house full of women

and even with my onboard ADI, I doubt I'll be able to thank full advantage of a more expensive pair. I'm still going to look around for a while but I'm about 80% sure that I'll be going with the Shure's (no pun intended

). BTW, thanks for referring me to HeadRoom Zelig, that site saved me a lot of time searching and trying to pick through different reviews. Very cool

.

First Chart - Higher is better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Second Chart - Lower is quiter

CMcguire · Post by **CMcguire** » Wed May 16, 2007 6:55 am

I personally don't like all external sound to be blocked out.. then how can you tell if someone is yelling at you

but enjoy the new headphones