Audiophile Headphones? - Axiom Message Boards

Axiom Home Page

My brother is looking at getting some headphones, he picked up a $180 pair of Bose headphones (OUCH) at futureshop and I told him to take them back RIGHT AWAY!

I suggested to him to check out AKG, although they are more for studio use. I am not well versed in the average consumer level of headphones, only studio where most of the headphone designs are not fully closed.

He is looking to spend around $200, either on ebay or off of ebay.

I was thinking AKG's line of DJ headphones might be worth a look, they can be had under $200.

What do you guys think? He is no Audiophile by any means but if he notices that I think his heaphones are inadequite, he will quickly convince himself that he needs something better.

I personally have some Sony studio headphones at home that have served me well. I think he wants something that is more practical, not TOO big, mostly for home use and on airplanes, he needs a closed headphone.

I did find a company called Beyerdynamic that has been raved about by the steriophile group, but they are mostly UK and are harder to get in Canada as a reasonable price.

Thanks!

-Hutz

Does he need closed air headphones, say for noise isolation? If so, then AKG DJ81s might fit the bill. If not, then I'd be looking a little broader, say at Sennheiser, Grado, etc. There's a lot of headphone geeks around here, and I'm sure they'll jump in.

>>Does he need closed air headphones, say for noise isolation? If so, then AKG DJ81s might fit the bill. If not, then I'd be looking a little broader, say at Sennheiser, Grado, etc. There's a lot of headphone geeks around here, and I'm sure they'll jump in.

Yes, he is looking for fully closed, he goes on alot of business trips on planes and stuff. He wants complete silence around him.

To be fair, I DID listen to the bose headphones, they weren't all that bad, but in all honesty, for $180, the K 81 DJ will probably perform better than those Bose's.

The Bose was stuggling on the low end bass, my bro listens to alot of hip hop/top 40 stuff so bass is something that he wants.

I searched heaphones and found your review of the K 81 DJ, seems like you liked them?

EDIT: He is also using an Ipod for all his listening, so something with a high ohm is prefered.

-Hutz

They're great, but they clamp a little tight. I recommend ordering from headphone.com, they have an excellent moneyback guarantee. I ordered 3 sets of headphones and returned 1 for a full refund.

I second headphone.com. Good information about the various pros/cons and their customer service was good.

Is the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro a good pair too?

HAve any of you had experience with these? I guess the 81DJs are a little tight on the head?

-Hutz

I actually found the 280s to be far less comfortable than the 81DJs, but that was mostly because of my glasses. A lot of it's a personal thing. I also preferred the sound of the AKGs.

>>I actually found the 280s to be far less comfortable than the 81DJs, but that was mostly because of my glasses. A lot of it's a personal thing. I also preferred the sound of the AKGs.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it!

-Hutz

Quote:

Is the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro a good pair too?

HAve any of you had experience with these? I guess the 81DJs are a little tight on the head?

-Hutz

I bought a pair about 3 years ago to block out noise at work. When you put them on the outside world pretty much disappears.

Unfortunately, the inside world wasn't that great and I started hearing !@#$%% noises whenever I had them on (probably tight jaw muscles), even with no music playing so I had to give them away.

As for comfort, they are pretty heavy. The 600's that my brother has are much lighter.

To my untrained ear, the sound was excellent.

Jared

My 2 cents...

I also did a headphone/earphone search back in Dec/Jan. I wanted something small (for planes, office, etc) and good sounding. Sound isolation wasn't key, but a bonus if possible. I wanted it to sound good from my iPod or Mac and since it's mostly streaming audio or MP3, I wasn't necessarily looking for top notch audiophile quality.

I didn't go the over ear route, just too bulky to be used everyday for me. If I had, I probably would've looked hard at AKG. My father in law has the noise cancelling Bose but w/ the feature on, it felt like my eardrums were being sucked out. Not comfortable at all.

So I started w/ in ears. I have the Sony MDREX51 and they're decent at $25. They fit OK, but w/ in ears, they have to fit perfect for you to like them and for them to produce sound properly. I lucked out at Macworld and there were some demo's I tried. The Shures (E3c) were fine but a little tinny. Etymotic were the same for me, though the fit wasn't right. I tried Xtrememac's FS1 (designed by Future Sonics) and they fit very well. The only negative is it uses some foam pads that can wear but the fit is VERY good and bass response is good. (I listen mostly to hip hop, R&B, jazz, reggae/ton, rap, neo soul etc so bass is relevant.) Future Sonics sells monitor headphones and these are based on them. Future Sonics has a similar set for cheaper.

Then I tried what I ended up buying. Ultimate Ears Superfi 5EB. Bass response is amazing, as if my head was a sub. It does this w/ 2 drivers per ear. Fit is greatt, for me. AND, because it's in ear, it's complete sound isolation. Normally $200, but I got them on ebay for cheaper.

Good luck.

Superfi

If isolation is a main concern I too would have to suggest the SuperFi's. I have the SuperFi 3's and find the sound on par with both the AKG 81's and the Senn 280 pro. As far as comfort is concerned it's no contest imo. The 280's are pretty comfortable but a bit to heavy for portable use. To me the AKG's are like having my head in a vise, they are way to tight for me but they sure do sound good.

Quote:

There's a lot of headphone geeks around here, and I'm sure they'll jump in.

I would like to point out that Ken has been fairly active in this thread.

You can pick out the operative word.

Oops...

I'm just readin' and not sayin' nuttin' all I know is Alessandro.

Rich.