Gaming / Music / Airplane Headphones

remi

<div class="IPBDescription">Collective Wisdom Time</div>I want to get some new headphones, and I want something better than what passes with this masses for high quality (aka Bose).

My uses are video games, music, and movies. I tend to use them either in a computer lab, at home, or in an airplane... Noise canceling is not necessary (though I wouldn't mind), but I prefer the sound canceling aspects of around-the-ear (or is it over-the-ear) style headphones. I also have an aversion to headsets because I feel the quality of the headphones are lower when you're also paying for a mic.

Also, no budget yet. I don't really know the range of prices for good headphones, so I'm hoping this thread will help me figure that out.

So, any suggestions?

:-)

Scythe

I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD202s seven years ago and they're still kicking along just fine. Sound quality isn't mind-shattering, but still damn good. They're fairly no-frills, and thus cheap.

--Scythe--

ZiGGY

I prefer Sennheisers myself, though I couldn't give you a specific model.

Cereal_KillR

Do you have an aversion towards in-ear? I would say they are better for noise reduction than even massive headphones. And they're less cumbersome for planes. Ultimately though you'd like two 'phones, the one at home being headphones and the mobile ones being in-ears. I have heard great good of UltimateEars and etymotic. I don't have much quality earphones but my Shures (e2c) are much superior to my previous Sennheisers (forgot the reference but same price range).

Note that , on the move especially, sound also depends on the player and music encoding. So the 100-150€ range is probably the highest to consider with average mp3 players and integrated pc sound circuits.

frostymoose

I have Shure SCL3s. They are in-ear monitors and they are very good. They come with many different sleeves for a good fit, but I find the only ones that are any good are the yellow foam. (so if you get Shure headphones and you wonder why they suck, go with the yellow foam!)

I agree with Cereal_Killr about having 2 sets. I'd get good open-air headphones for at home use/music, but in-ears for traveling. In-ears are best for travelling because they're small and block noise very well (with a good fit). If I'm at home, though, I'd rather listen to my grado sr80s

Pipi

Sennheiser HD 515

remi

<!--quoteo(post=1755769:date=Feb 27 2010, 03:20 AM:name=Cereal_KillR)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cereal_KillR @ Feb 27 2010, 03:20 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1755769"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Do you have an aversion towards in-ear? I would say they are better for noise reduction than even massive headphones.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

There's no doubt that they give better noise cancellation for the money. My issues with them are that having the speakers actually in my ear make me more paranoid about causing hearing damage, and they don't tend to stay in my ear, and when they do, they get kind of grody.

Seems Sennheiser's are popular.

-Drake-

<a href="http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/efx3/home.aspx" target="_blank">Turtle beach</a>

They're what I've been using for a while now.

Pretty mint if I do say so.

Kouji_San

<!--quoteo(post=1755952:date=Feb 28 2010, 04:12 AM:name=Psyke)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Psyke @ Feb 28 2010, 04:12 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1755952"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Seems Sennheiser's are popular.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There's a reason for that, what with the good quality for affordable prices...


I've got a HD555, a friend of mine has a HD595 (which has a noticeable wider array of sound and that headphone can also pick up more ingame sounds them mine)