Which Headphones for <£60ish?

*AdvWar* · 13-01-2008, 6:43 PM

Hello all, as title states I am looking for new set of headphones for less than £60ish, as a replacement for my old and broken CX300s. I will be using these almost exclusively for music, with infrequent gaming or movie uses as well. My current shortlist reads as follows:

Grado SR60
Alessandro MS-1
Equation Audio RP-21
Sennheiser HD280 Pro
Sennheiser HD555

Currently, I am leaning towards the HD280 pro due to its good sound quality and better comfort than the Grado models. Does anyone have any recommendations on any of these, or any other I should be looking at? Thanks in advance for any help.

SDF1965 · 13-01-2008, 7:42 PM

Hi,
I was given a pair of Grado SR60s by my partner for Christmas, I can highly recommend them for audio use provided you have a good source. Very comfortable and reveal a lot of detail bu remember, these are open backed so high volumes will be heard by people around you.

*AdvWar* · 13-01-2008, 8:42 PM

I wouldn't describe it as a very good source, just an 5G iPod.

mattski73 · 14-01-2008, 3:29 PM

RP21's or MS-1's. don't buy the HD280's whatever you do!

bart2k8 · 14-01-2008, 6:59 PM

I got a set of SR60's. Excellent sound from them and dead comfortable. Loads of detail. I don't think you'll be disappointed

me-uk · 19-01-2008, 3:43 PM

Alessandro MS-1 (esp if you listen to rock music) - for the price I was blown away by these cans.

NicolasB · 21-01-2008, 11:10 AM

Second-hand Sennheiser HD580 should comfortably blow away any of that lot.

Socrates · 21-01-2008, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicolasB

Second-hand Sennheiser HD580 should comfortably blow away any of that lot.

Hard to drive!!

NicolasB · 21-01-2008, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Socrates

Hard to drive!!

Not really. There's an absolute fetish for headphone amps on this forum, and everyone who hasn't actually tried it is convinced that you can't drive high-end Sennheisers without one. Having actually tried it myself

I can assure you that you can. That's not to say an amp won't make it sound better (indeed I use a Graham Slee "Solo" amp myself) but even without one they still sound damn good. The only time I would advise caution is if you want to drive them directly from something that's powered by batteries, like a flash MP3 player; that might cause problems. But any mains-powered device with a headphone socket will be fine.

Broosta · 21-01-2008, 4:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicolasB

Not really. There's an absolute fetish for headphone amps on this forum, and everyone who hasn't actually tried it is convinced that you can't drive high-end Sennheisers without one. Having actually tried it myself

I can assure you that you can. That's not to say an amp won't make it sound better (indeed I use a Graham Slee "Solo" amp myself) but even without one they still sound damn good. The only time I would advise caution is if you want to drive them directly from something that's powered by batteries, like a flash MP3 player; that might cause problems. But any mains-powered device with a headphone socket will be fine.

OP said source was 5g ipod tho...