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Headphones and Me

post #1 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:10am
Thread Starter 
I'm not an audiophile, and don't particularly have time to be one, so I need your help! I need to find a great pair of headphones for a Sager 7620, probably getting some kind of sound card through Best Buy. (I love employee discounts I don't have to work for, heh).

P.S.: I'd prefer if they were oversized to prevent sound leakage, I think. The dorms up at CU have an extremely strict noise policy. :/
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post #2 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:12am
price range..
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post #3 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:21am
Thread Starter 
Let me pull out the ol' calculator. And the calendar... Okay, say about the $200 range.
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post #4 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Namblin
I'm not an audiophile, and don't particularly have time to be one, so I need your help! I need to find a great pair of headphones for a Sager 7620, probably getting some kind of sound card through Best Buy. (I love employee discounts I don't have to work for, heh).

P.S.: I'd prefer if they were oversized to prevent sound leakage, I think. The dorms up at CU have an extremely strict noise policy. :/
LTB 5.1 Surround Sound USB Headphones.

Amazing. Extravagant sound. Excellent sound-proofing. Very lightweight.
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post #5 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:28am
what format is your music, mainly? e.g. mp3, aac (iTunes), wav (CDs), etc.

It may not be worthwhile to spend all the way up to $200
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post #6 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:29am
Thread Starter 
Mostly oggs and mp3s.
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post #7 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:30am
i got some Etymotic ER-6 for $150 back in the day.....really good imo. As a general rule Etymotic and Shure are great brands for headphones.
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post #8 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:36am
In that case a $70 Grado SR60 should be MORE than enough for your needs

You may also want to check out the Sennheiser HD280

and btw, do you have any aversion against earbuds? They usually have superior sound isolation and better quality (at the expense of initial discomfort)
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post #9 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:36am
Etys are too lacking in the bass dept IMO.. Shures are good though (at least the ones I have E5s :-/)

for 200.. closed cans.. hmmm..

A500/A700/A900 from http://www.audiocubes.com/ depending on what you're willing to spend..

for closed/unamped headphones, those are the best you can get under 200 bucks.. actually.. if you don't have an amp.. those are the best you can get period.. you'll have trouble driving anything else from a sound card..

don't go with tri-ports(bose), and don't get in-ear monitors(plugs.. unless you want them strictly for music listening) if you want cheaper options, let me know
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post #10 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by awingedpig
In that case an a $70 Grado SR60 should be MORE than enough for your needs

You may also want to check out the Sennheiser HD280

and btw, do you have any aversion against earbuds?
SR60s leak.. they're like speakers next to your ears(open) :-/

and he won't know if he dislikes earbuds until he tries them.. so I wouldn't recommend it.. the audiophile-level IEMs feel like something is raping your ear at first..
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post #11 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:39am
Oh, BTW. What bitrate ogg/mp3 are they most of the time?
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post #12 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:42am
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys! This is a great help. I'll be checking these out. Meanwhile, any opinion on whether I should use the internal on the 7620 or go the SoundBlaster card route and play havoc with my wireless networking?
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post #13 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:49am
get the card.. neither is really good in terms of music quality though.. if I were you.. I'd get a USB external like this one..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829121107

it is pricey.. but as far as music playback audio quality goes.. Creative blows.. :-/
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post #14 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:51am
ive got these http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite...ransid=newHD-2
and they own me
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post #15 of 19
7/18/05 at 1:54am
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=14575
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post #16 of 19
7/18/05 at 2:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by plageclochard
problem is that that thread is mostly gsferrari's views on different headphones.. he's a nice guy, I've read some of the things he says in head-fi.com.. but not all ears are created equal... you'd be better off going to http://www.head-fi.com and ask the same question.. you'll get various answers from different audiophiles.. some will praise 1 brand.. others will praise an other.. just like in the PC wars but worse.. because there's no benchmark to prove 1 headphone is better than an other.. :P
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post #17 of 19
7/18/05 at 9:02am
I think the major problem is people recommending near top end hardware to someone who just plays compressed/downsampled audio.

There's usually about $100 of excessive technology that won't make a 160kbps mp3 sound any better.
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post #18 of 19
7/18/05 at 10:11am
Ok headphones I recommend are sennheiser and AKG. Sennheisers are great in my opinion the best out of the 2. I haven't checked out many AKG but my dad has a $99 he bought 20 years ago and they still work. Sennheisers also give quality sounds and build a durable product. I'm looking on the low end range Sennheiser has 2 the HD202 and HD201 that are both extremely good for something under $30.
Here is a link to a site that chose what they believe to be the top 10 headphones
http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-ap...st-headphones/
Sennheiser is 3 out of the 10 ten AKG is 2 out of the top 10.
You will probably want to go with something better than the $25 Sennheiser but this site should give you a good place to start looking, you can check out comparable products and find what is right for you. Make sure you test the headphones because some people complain about it not fitting their ears, and the head band doesn't sit on their head right. Some want louder some want crisper sound but in the end its your opinion that matters so test any set before you buy them. You won't find sennheisers in most stores but circuit city is supposed to carry them or so their website says and Sam Ash music stores do have them.
,
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post #19 of 19
7/18/05 at 3:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by awingedpig
I think the major problem is people recommending near top end hardware to someone who just plays compressed/downsampled audio.

There's usually about $100 of excessive technology that won't make a 160kbps mp3 sound any better.
he didn't say at what bitrate he's compressing audio.. on my desktop, all the audio I use is FLAC.. but in my MP3 player, and my laptop.. I compress to Ogg, and it does sound pretty good at the higher bitrates.. heck.. even at 192~kbps the Ogg format sounds pretty good.
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