Perhaps the best headphones at...$50?

sorry for being a noob, but the open air design means they don't isolate you from noises in your environment right?
 
Busted an earpiece off of my trusty Siberia 150s so decided to go shopping.....got a Arctis 7 and a Phillips SHP9500S.

The Arctis came yesterday. Solid, nice looking, so far so good. The Phillips literally got here about an hour ago and I've been rolling them a bit.

Man. Considering they're 1/3 the price of the Arctis they sound flipping amazing. I'm no audiophile but seriously. The only reason I decided to grab both is the open design is a little limiting in usage scenarios and the wireless on the Arctis is handy for wandering around the abode.
 
Busted an earpiece off of my trusty Siberia 150s so decided to go shopping.....got a Arctis 7 and a Phillips SHP9500S.

The Arctis came yesterday. Solid, nice looking, so far so good. The Phillips literally got here about an hour ago and I've been rolling them a bit.

Man. Considering they're 1/3 the price of the Arctis they sound flipping amazing. I'm no audiophile but seriously. The only reason I decided to grab both is the open design is a little limiting in usage scenarios and the wireless on the Arctis is handy for wandering around the abode.
I have been watching "The Terror" and the scenes where the ship is frozen in the ice are freaking me out when I listen with the Philips. The soundstage (and good audio in the show) make it sound like there are boards creaking in my house and people having coversations outside.
Hope you like the Artis.
 
Busted an earpiece off of my trusty Siberia 150s so decided to go shopping.....got a Arctis 7 and a Phillips SHP9500S.

The Arctis came yesterday. Solid, nice looking, so far so good. The Phillips literally got here about an hour ago and I've been rolling them a bit.

Man. Considering they're 1/3 the price of the Arctis they sound flipping amazing. I'm no audiophile but seriously. The only reason I decided to grab both is the open design is a little limiting in usage scenarios and the wireless on the Arctis is handy for wandering around the abode.

those arctis do they have any passive sound isolation?
the videos I had seen from the makers of them as they launched them showed him showing off how amazing the sound isolation on microphone is, but, they could have been using modified versions of to cherry pick the results :D

I got a pair of hyperx gamingx they are pretty decent at noise isolation (better than most) get quite loud, but, the quality of volume toggle sucks (as others have said) beyond that are built VERY well for the price
hard to get non bias opinion of the products which also sucks ^.^
 
those arctis do they have any passive sound isolation?
the videos I had seen from the makers of them as they launched them showed him showing off how amazing the sound isolation on microphone is, but, they could have been using modified versions of to cherry pick the results :D

I got a pair of hyperx gamingx they are pretty decent at noise isolation (better than most) get quite loud, but, the quality of volume toggle sucks (as others have said) beyond that are built VERY well for the price
hard to get non bias opinion of the products which also sucks ^.^

Being brutally honest I rarely use a mic, and haven't really tested that on the Arctis yet. It's a thing I like to have in a gaming headset because I this fancy idea I'll use it but rarely do.

They're solid though. I partially bought them for aesthetics because they don't "look" gamer-y so I can use them for the plane and work trips without people looking at my pulsing RGB ear pieces.
 
Being brutally honest I rarely use a mic, and haven't really tested that on the Arctis yet. It's a thing I like to have in a gaming headset because I this fancy idea I'll use it but rarely do.

They're solid though. I partially bought them for aesthetics because they don't "look" gamer-y so I can use them for the plane and work trips without people looking at my pulsing RGB ear pieces.

I did not care about the mic passive noise isolation (as I rarely use mic anymore lately either)
meant the headset itself as in open air block basically no background noise and fully closed should block all (but many do not because of shoddy material choice)
^.^
 
I did not care about the mic passive noise isolation (as I rarely use mic anymore lately either)
meant the headset itself as in open air block basically no background noise and fully closed should block all (but many do not because of shoddy material choice)
^.^

Oooooh my bad.

Pretty solid. I can't hear my wife trying to get my attention when I'm wearing them, so it passes that test.
 
Oooooh my bad.

Pretty solid. I can't hear my wife trying to get my attention when I'm wearing them, so it passes that test.

this is good, the best I so far have had for noise isolation was Razer Kraken V2 Pro, however their overall quality on the earpads was bleeek to say the least (IMO) because they make sweat that much more and cannot keep the earpads clean, they fall apart quite quickly
superlux 662F claim to have excellent noise isolation are mehh because they seem to make exterior sounds almost echo unless you really screw around with equalizer or jack their sound to extreme levels
the hyperx cloudx overall I find them not quite as good as the Razer but much better than the superlux ones while the earcups may not be quite as deep as the superlux they are far more comfortable overall (to me with a fair amount of room in the earcup)
they do not look as stupid as either the superlux or especially razer (which look funky as hell massive earcups)

Razers win as far as overall combined with sound isolation, loudness, ability to equalize, lose on durability
CloudX (keep calling them gamingX lol) win overall if durability, sound quality (after equalized), loudness, sound isolation, big time on quality of earpads etc
superlux are "ok" balance, they probably would be vastly better if the earpads were deeper and more squishy so they could isolate more noise, they are not "bad" just not as good as packaging etc make them sound like they should be.

for sound isolation, if I CLAP my palms together, with the Razer at ~45% I have to clap very hard to hear much of anything, the CloudX ~52% the superlux ~70%...I overall prefer the fit, comfort etc of the CloudX pretty much on par spec wise and price to the Razer

anyways...so Arctis 7 would be give or take ~$200 shipped (Canadian)
seems like sound quality etc would be nice on them, but :breathable: seems like they may not be as good for noisy environments (hyperx cloud Alpha pretty much same concept, because of extra breathability are not as isolating as one would expect)
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/steelseries/arctis-7

not downing on your opinion which I very much appreciate, but certainly one of those things would hate to throw ~$200 and find out they are not as good as should be for that price ^.^
 
Picked these up during the last sale in March and they are definitely worth $50.
 
Wanting to pick these up for work and gym but the sweat thing might actually hold me back.

Speaking of JVC HARX 900, I went and threw these back on the other night to compare to my AKG Q701 (massdrop 7xx are comparable). The open back soundstage blows the harx out of the water. When people say they can hear things they never heard before, this is exceedingly true. Sound seperation and detail are on a different planet. The problem with $200-300 headphones is... not being able to go back to non-$200-300 headphones.
 
Wanting to pick these up for work and gym but the sweat thing might actually hold me back.

Speaking of JVC HARX 900, I went and threw these back on the other night to compare to my AKG Q701 (massdrop 7xx are comparable). The open back soundstage blows the harx out of the water. When people say they can hear things they never heard before, this is exceedingly true. Sound seperation and detail are on a different planet. The problem with $200-300 headphones is... not being able to go back to non-$200-300 headphones.

For the gym I recommend Bose IE2
(no seal against the ear canal - so you don't hear movement against the cord, don't feel pressure when you move, and can still hear external sound without pulling them out of your ears, they have a great latch with the silicone form and stay in well, small and out of the way so you can do any exercise).

Big over the ear cans aren't exactly a great fit for the gym, IMO.

51zDltqrFXL._SL1200_.jpg
 
So I have the option to pick these up at the same price as some Audio-Technica ATH-M30X phones.

Are these better? if so, by how much?
 
I bought a pair of these headphones (Philips) and cannot keep them due to noise leakage. If anyone here is interested in a headphone trade, send me a message.
 
Tried a pair of the OP headphones a few days ago, just that impressed personally. Hell, my 1st gen Koss Porta Pros that are >30 years old now sound better to me, go figure. Along with my 1st gen Sony V6 purchased at the same time I still haven't found better sounding headphones in all the decades since.
 
Tried a pair of the OP headphones a few days ago, just that impressed personally. Hell, my 1st gen Koss Porta Pros that are >30 years old now sound better to me, go figure. Along with my 1st gen Sony V6 purchased at the same time I still haven't found better sounding headphones in all the decades since.
let them break in for 24 hours on a radio station at a decent volume and give them another listen.

Koss Porta Pros are great cans, I've demoed a couple, and bought a pair for my dad who likes them, but I don't think they are better than these Phillips. The Philips do need some time to break in -- I think - at first listen I wasn't terribly impressed either. I pluged them in, let them play for a day, came back and they sounded much better on the second demo - and subsequently.
 
They were a set that an "audiophile" friend of mine has and he burned 'em in for like 36 hours, crazy stupid kinda stuff. Some people, I swear. :)

Everybody has different ears so no matter what anyone else says about any given set of headphones/earclips/IEMs/earbuds/etc in the long run all that matters is how something actually sounds to us and for me there's never been anything that can touch the V6 for listening but that's just me - I've been doing audio production work since the early 1980s and have tried a thousand headsets of various kinds from Sony, Sennheiser, AKG, etc etc. and even demoed some Stax Lambda electrostatics once, not impressed in the slightest.

Oh well, the V6 and the Porta Pros + the KSC-75 earclips I use on the go, they work for me.
 
Anyone know of a mod to make these closed back? or some that sells a milled piece to fit them? Just purchased for $49 shipped an worth every penny! .also has anyone used or had luck using a BT to 3.2 to make these wireless? If so what are your recommendations.
 
Anyone know of a mod to make these closed back? or some that sells a milled piece to fit them? Just purchased for $49 shipped an worth every penny! .also has anyone used or had luck using a BT to 3.2 to make these wireless? If so what are your recommendations.

Buy different headphones if you want closed back. The drivers are designed for open back, stick your hand over the grill and see how terrible it sounds.
 
The JVC Harx 900 are trash. I can't believe that people actually recommend them. I know that the SHP9500S are open but I have a little more faith in these and have been looking to try them out for some time now.
 
Anyone know of a mod to make these closed back? or some that sells a milled piece to fit them? Just purchased for $49 shipped an worth every penny! .also has anyone used or had luck using a BT to 3.2 to make these wireless? If so what are your recommendations.

I agree with Ocellaris, if you wanted closed phones you should have bought closed phones. I can make recommendations...

But:



Also, when it comes to Bluetooth - meh. I suppose you could try one of the Mpow branded receivers that are like $15 on Amazon... Just make sure you upgrade your signal chain to support AptX on both ends.
 
Heh, I'd be worried about how the cord for that HyperX is holding up under those conditions :p

I ran over the cord about a dozen times with my chair it's good yet. The newer set has a removable headphone jack or cord but the reviews are not that good.
 
Still thinking about pulling the trigger on these cans, deals been going on since Feb lol.
 
I ran over the cord about a dozen times with my chair it's good yet. The newer set has a removable headphone jack or cord but the reviews are not that good.

First thing I do whenever I get a set of phones without a removable cable - cut the cable off and solder a connector in.

Second thing - HM5 Hybrid pads, I love me some velour

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I'll never put any money into HiFiMan's pockets until they can deliver a set of headphones that don't break when a baby sneezes half a mile away. The build quality and durability is notoriously horrendous.

Still better than Stax. Build quality I mean. I love my 207s, but damn they're wonky.

W/ amp (required for electostatics) https://www.amazon.com/SRS-2170-Stax-Srs2170/dp/B0043HPD0I/

Step down transformer (Japan...) https://www.amazon.com/PowerBright-Vc500J-Transformer-Step-Japan/dp/B000J1ANSY/

Also - cough... http://www.modhouseaudio.com/stax-earpad-adapter/xbd7diflbdflc39z62hgswzxgqship

*

And the SHiPs. Good, great for <$100, best? Oh hell no.

BUT... best open circumaurals you can find for $50
 
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For the $50-100 bracket, I'd go with Takstar Pro 82s, Sivga SV007, or the Bosshifi B8s.

Some of the Chi-Fi stuff is ridiculously good.
 
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