Good quality budget headphones?

[Matt Harper]

I'm looking for a pair of headphones (not in-ear) around the £15 mark. They're only for listening to music from my PC or iPod so don't need to be anything fancy, just something a bit more powerful and the standard iPod earphones.

The ones I've ben looking at at the moment are: (prices from Amazon)

Sony MDR-XD100 - £12.99
Skullcandy Recruit - £13.25
Sennheiser HD201 - £13.92

Andy ideas are welcome

Cheers

Matt

[chippyteaforme]

I never found anything better than genuine Sennheiser PX100s in that kinda price range - my last set were £17 from SVP and I was shocked at how good they were.

If you can get real ones in that price range, definitely consider them - but be careful on eBay and suchlike as there are fakes out there

They are open though, and no good at blocking out external noise - so they'll be pretty useless if you are on a train or similar.

[JimiAces]

these may be above your budget but at £25 they are a real bargain

Play.com (UK) : Grado iGrado Headphones (Black) : Electronics - Free Delivery

[c64]

Having a good look round myself and keep coming up with the soundmagic pl30 SoundMAGIC - HiFi Headphones

[HiFi Headphones]

Over the last couple of weeks I've been giving the SoundMAGIC's a thorough test and have actually just written a SoundMAGIC PL30 review on our blog. I've been very impressed by these budget priced earphones.

SoundMAGIC PL30

The PL30 has a nicely balanced sound with plenty of warmth and definition in the bass and good clarity in the upper treble frequencies. The instrument separation is very impressive for a 'budget' headphone. In my opinion the SoundMAGIC PL30 are without doubt the best budget headphones available for less than £30 (a bold claim, I know!).

The PL11 is also very impressive for the price (£20) and has a sound signature not miles apart from the Sennheiser CX300 (lots of bass and recessed mids). I know it's not very audiophile, but it's definitely a sound that appeals to many people's ears - especially if it's their first step into in-ear sound isolating earphones.

[Matt Harper]

thanks for all your suggestions guys.

the soundmagics seem impressive but i was looking really for proper headphones rather than in-ear.

the igrados look very good although are still a bit of a stretch on what i wanted to pay - cheers for bringing them to my attention though.

[Drubbing]

THe Grado's will have top quality drivers in there, and would be a good choice and worth the extra. Having a pair of Grado's myself, I think they're a top notch product. Of the 3 you listed, I'd pick the Senn's, despite being a non senn fan myself, as Sony's are pretty variable in SQ and value for money.

Skullcandy is a brand I'd steer clear of; design and bling, coupled with a conscious marketing approach to skate and snowboarders = poor quality product.