I'm looking for some cheap headphones. I just recently spent most of my funds on a Samsung 712N so I need to keep the price under $60-$70. Preferably around $40-$50. Although I realize that I wont be able to get top quality in this price range, I would still like to try and get a high quality pair. I will primarily be using them for gaming, although I will also use them for a lot of music and movies. I'm mostly looking for closed sets so as to not annoy my roommate, I tend to game at odd hours.
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Cheap Headphones
- Thread starter Razer X
- Start date
For 62$+Shipping you can get a nice pair of Grado SR-70 at http://www.turntablelab.com/headphones/headphones1.html and on www.headphone.com (69$)
or at http://www.toddthevinyljunkie.com/products/product.php?id=129, they are at 69$ on ttvj.com but with the 10% off you can get them at 62$
You can also check the FS section on head-fi.org
EDIT: There is also the Sennheiser HD 497 at 60$ on headphone.com, Beyerdynamic DT-231 at 59$
or at http://www.toddthevinyljunkie.com/products/product.php?id=129, they are at 69$ on ttvj.com but with the 10% off you can get them at 62$
You can also check the FS section on head-fi.org EDIT: There is also the Sennheiser HD 497 at 60$ on headphone.com, Beyerdynamic DT-231 at 59$
Razer X said:
I second that. They're excellent headphones that should last a long time, especially since the cord is detachable and easily replaced.saturnine2 said:I have owned the 497s, they are awesome. I'd go for them.
The 497s are open headphones. However, unless you're blowing your ears out with insane volume or your roommate requires complete silence, then I don't think you need a closed set.
SJetski71
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^^^^saturnine2 said:I have owned the 497s, they are awesome. I'd go for them.
Nazo
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No one believes me, but, these 5.1 KY-100s are pretty darned nice, especially for gaming IMO.
Yeah yeah, all you Sennheiser people are turning up your noses at me. They have a clearer sound than my speakers and all the headphones I ever had before though. I'm noticing tiny things I didn't notice before.
Yeah yeah, all you Sennheiser people are turning up your noses at me. They have a clearer sound than my speakers and all the headphones I ever had before though. I'm noticing tiny things I didn't notice before.
Nazo
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I bought mine from newegg, so you can look there for some info. Also, Kinyo's homepage will tell you a good deal as well. On their homepage, go to products, select digital headphones and choose the KY-100 from the list. On newegg you can see some of the user reviews, even if there are often idiots that post reviews. (My favorite is the person who complained that they had to send a bunch of motherboards back and finally it turned out they hadn't actually bothered to check to see if their CPU was working, all the while giving the motherboard a bad rating...)
Now, I will admit that the amplifier that comes with it is a bit cheap. Nothing to be done for it. It could be worse certainly, mainly it has a bad SNR. I SUSPECT that it amplifies first and the volume control adjusts the final output rather than the amplification, so you get a tiny bit of noise (note that speakers plugged into the back bypass this.) All of this is no surprise, these are about $50, and for 5.1 that's an amazing price. I find them to be positively wonderful for gaming and movies, but I wouldn't recommend them to an audiophile of course.
EDIT: Oops, sorry. Kinyo's homepage is www.kinyo.com They use flash, so I can't directly link for you. Here's a direct link to the product on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=36-401-016&depa=0
Basically it's as simple as this. These are made to be cheap, yet, IMO, turn out to be surprisingly good for such a price.
I'm kind of thinking of rigging up some kind of connector to bypass the amp. They have a converter to hook it up to a stereo source and they basically work fine without the amplifier using that, so it seems to me I might be able to plug them directly into the soundcard. Not sure on that, it may be a waste of time. Really, the noise isn't so bad since you don't hear it when you are actually listening to something -- provided you aren't an audiophile.
Now, I will admit that the amplifier that comes with it is a bit cheap. Nothing to be done for it. It could be worse certainly, mainly it has a bad SNR. I SUSPECT that it amplifies first and the volume control adjusts the final output rather than the amplification, so you get a tiny bit of noise (note that speakers plugged into the back bypass this.) All of this is no surprise, these are about $50, and for 5.1 that's an amazing price. I find them to be positively wonderful for gaming and movies, but I wouldn't recommend them to an audiophile of course.
EDIT: Oops, sorry. Kinyo's homepage is www.kinyo.com They use flash, so I can't directly link for you. Here's a direct link to the product on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=36-401-016&depa=0
Basically it's as simple as this. These are made to be cheap, yet, IMO, turn out to be surprisingly good for such a price.
I'm kind of thinking of rigging up some kind of connector to bypass the amp. They have a converter to hook it up to a stereo source and they basically work fine without the amplifier using that, so it seems to me I might be able to plug them directly into the soundcard. Not sure on that, it may be a waste of time. Really, the noise isn't so bad since you don't hear it when you are actually listening to something -- provided you aren't an audiophile.
i just bought a pair of refurb hd 497s for $34 from www.ecost.com but they dont seem to have them any more. the cheapest i see them for now is $45 on www.froogle.com
i love my 497s, the sound is great, and they are very confortable, i have been wearing mine for about 4 hours now and i cant even tell that they are on.
i love my 497s, the sound is great, and they are very confortable, i have been wearing mine for about 4 hours now and i cant even tell that they are on.
Luthorcrow
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Not agrue but I made the mistake of buying some 5.1 headphones, Zalman's and the suck for music and they suck for gaming. In my opinion, the same effect can be done through software without the need for cheap driver effects.
Get the Grados or Sennheiser and you will be much happier.
But even better most of the cans are common and can be found around town and listened to. The Grados can be found at any Cambridge Soundworks or any other good stereo store. Finding the Sennheiser probably any Good Guys (they sell Sony and Sennheiser only so I am sure they have some demos). You would probably need to call around on the Beyerdynamic. But given your tight budget I would listen to the real thing before buying because you are going to be doubly pissed if sounds bad.
Get the Grados or Sennheiser and you will be much happier.
But even better most of the cans are common and can be found around town and listened to. The Grados can be found at any Cambridge Soundworks or any other good stereo store. Finding the Sennheiser probably any Good Guys (they sell Sony and Sennheiser only so I am sure they have some demos). You would probably need to call around on the Beyerdynamic. But given your tight budget I would listen to the real thing before buying because you are going to be doubly pissed if sounds bad.
Nazo
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These don't use acoustic tricks to get 5.1, they actually have multiple speakers in them.
Now, I won't deny that they aren't as good as real speakers when you want precision, but, they beat plain 2.0 headphones for gaming, music, and so on if you ask me. I especially liked them for music. However, I'm not an obsessed audiophile, so I get to enjoy music/etc even if there is a tiny noise in there.
EDIT: Oh, btw, even though they do explicitely say that they have multiple speakers, I was unable to resist opening the things up to see for myself, and it's true. Kind of weird really, but, no doubt that they have a bunch of speakers on each side. And yes, I know that Seinheiser is incredible quality (BTW, who needs greater than 192KHz frequency response? There isn't a soundcard in the world that can do that I bet and, even if there was, you'd just have to resample whatever you had to such a frequency since only DVD-audio even goes that high.) This is just a great gaming/etc headset for the $50 pricerange.
Now, I won't deny that they aren't as good as real speakers when you want precision, but, they beat plain 2.0 headphones for gaming, music, and so on if you ask me. I especially liked them for music. However, I'm not an obsessed audiophile, so I get to enjoy music/etc even if there is a tiny noise in there.
EDIT: Oh, btw, even though they do explicitely say that they have multiple speakers, I was unable to resist opening the things up to see for myself, and it's true. Kind of weird really, but, no doubt that they have a bunch of speakers on each side. And yes, I know that Seinheiser is incredible quality (BTW, who needs greater than 192KHz frequency response? There isn't a soundcard in the world that can do that I bet and, even if there was, you'd just have to resample whatever you had to such a frequency since only DVD-audio even goes that high.) This is just a great gaming/etc headset for the $50 pricerange.
misan-thrope
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I'll prolly get flamed, but amazon has the HD-570's for like 70 bucks shipped, I have a pair and I personally like them more than teh 497s, I cant tell the difference in the sound and the 570s are extremelly comfortable. Like pillows on the side of your head.
Luthorcrow
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Nazo said:
As stated prior, I have a set 5.1 headphones, so yes I am aware that there are multipule speakers, 6 in fact in the Zalman units, which I suspect is standard for gimmick units like this. Yes, it is a trick because these units are not set-up in the proper 5.1 format are attempting to mimic an actual 5.1 set-up. No, it is not a software trick but a trick all the same. And at least for the Zalman's it fails completely.
Nazo said:
Eh, no. Here is an example that doesn't resample is not that expensive. The $100 EMU-404 is supposed to sound almost as good.
EMU-1212M
Nazo
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I guess it's a matter of opinion on the whole 5.1 thing then. IMO it sounds just fine, even if you don't get precice positioning. It's still clearer than any 2.0s I had before and more accurate in 3D than any 2.0s I had, plus I don't have to switch back to non-surround mode every time I have to switch to headphones. I don't really call it a trick or a gimmick though. They claim to have a 5.1 system and that they do. It has a center channel, a sub, as well as front and rear channels on each side (in this case, that's 4 speakers on each side.) For $50, that's a pretty good deal.
As for the resampling thing, I was referring to the headphones (Seinheiser I think) that I saw earlier which said they had a frequency response that went up to over 200KHz. Even DVD-Audio is 192, and I've never heard of a soundcard that can do more (the emu card you mentioned doesn't claim to doing more -- which isn't a surprise, who does and why?) and, besides, the point is that even if the soundcard could do it, YOU (not the soundcard) would have to resample everything up to that amount just to use it, and that kind of defeats the purpose.
As for the resampling thing, I was referring to the headphones (Seinheiser I think) that I saw earlier which said they had a frequency response that went up to over 200KHz. Even DVD-Audio is 192, and I've never heard of a soundcard that can do more (the emu card you mentioned doesn't claim to doing more -- which isn't a surprise, who does and why?) and, besides, the point is that even if the soundcard could do it, YOU (not the soundcard) would have to resample everything up to that amount just to use it, and that kind of defeats the purpose.
senns are not made just for computers, they are high end speakers for high end sound systems. 5.1 or 6 chan headsets are ridiculous. i have HD-555 + an Audigy2 and i have also Use 6 chan headsets at lan and they were ALOT worst then the HD-555. It was not even fuuny compared to the HD-55's i could hardly tell the difference better something infrom of me and something behind me. the sounds seemed muddy and meshed together and there was no clarity at all.
bottom line is muilty chan headsets really suck if you have any idea about audio quality. dont by into the gimick that they are better for gaming because they are not. Nazo is most likeing running a shitty sound card with no EAX and is a bad gamer. personaly i have been gaming for around 10 years (FPS) and i know what i am talking about.
bottom line is muilty chan headsets really suck if you have any idea about audio quality. dont by into the gimick that they are better for gaming because they are not. Nazo is most likeing running a shitty sound card with no EAX and is a bad gamer. personaly i have been gaming for around 10 years (FPS) and i know what i am talking about.
Nazo
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Uhm, firstly, you can see my setup in the signature. Maybe not a Terratec, but, the best creative makes (unless you count the platinum pro which I think is primarily a difference of software) and the one of the very few they make that don't suck. Secondly, I've been gaming since the very late 80s. As far as FPS goes, well, I admit I wasn't one of those people who used a mouse when playing wolfenstein or doom, but, I was the only one I knew who didn't use the cheats. I'm not going to claim to be one of the best, but in things like UT2004, my accuracy is pretty good (I only touch accurate weapons, none of that flak cannon crap) and so on. Last lan party I went to, I was the one who won the prize even though I came in late and had to catch up... Bad gamer? Well, I guess you have a pretty darned high standard there, so maybe by yours I am.
Speaking of the DOS days, I've been working with soundcards & etc with computers since those days as well. Lol, you can't imagine what a pain it was to upgrade a compaq back in those days (took about a whole day to get rid of the millions of conflicts.) Thank god I wasn't the one who had one, I merely had to help them fix it.
So I know nothing at all? Yeah, sure. I never claimed to be an expert, nor did I claim to be an audiophile. Just someone who likes games, anime, and music.
馬鹿野郎
Speaking of the DOS days, I've been working with soundcards & etc with computers since those days as well. Lol, you can't imagine what a pain it was to upgrade a compaq back in those days (took about a whole day to get rid of the millions of conflicts.) Thank god I wasn't the one who had one, I merely had to help them fix it.
So I know nothing at all? Yeah, sure. I never claimed to be an expert, nor did I claim to be an audiophile. Just someone who likes games, anime, and music.
馬鹿野郎