Hey guys, my little brother comes over a lot to visit and loves my Aperion's. Unfortunately, he's 18 and still lives with my parents, and cannot blow up the house with loud music. He wanted to know what the best headphones are. I personally have never spent more than a hundred dollars. I've listened to some Bose in the stores, but always feel like it's giant marketing on Bose. I've read some reviews and all but was wondering if anyone had any experience on high end headphones. His budget that he wants to spend is $175. Thanks.

No highs, no lows, must be Bose.

Buy Other Speaker Equipment.

OK....sorry....and no disrespect to anyone here who has Bose. It was one of the finalists when I was buying speakers. Sure glad I went with Aperions.

Back in the day....Koss was real good stuff, and a few models fit your price range. Give em a google.

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Scottiemon

I am a fan of Sennheisers myself, check out the HD595s, the cheapest I found them is on this site, which I am not familiar with:

http://www.dakmart.com/product_info.php?products_id=4513

They are also on Amazon for around $190. 

I will say that Bose headphones are much better than their speakers, in my opinion. 

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

I had a Bose (note the past tense). It was OK but for the money you can do better.  To be fair, they were terrific at noise cancelling.

I now have the Sennheiser that Jason recommends; very happy with it.  I think I paid $175-ish so the price Jason found is better but I'd check the return policy in case he doesn't like it.

Another alternative, and if I had a younger brother I'd try to talk him into this, is 2 Aperion speakers and some duct tape.  There are some 422-C open boxes available for under $100 each.  If you talk him into this option please provide pictures.

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Joe
If you can't have fun doing it, it's probably not worth doing.

Heya,

 For noise cancelling purposes, I use the Sennheiser PXC300. These have worked really well for me due to the traveling I end up doing. However, if noise cancelation isn't of interest or takes a low position on the totem pole of priorities, there are some other great options.

If these are going to be worn in private or if your brother hasn't any sense of vanity whatsoever, Koss's Porta Pro headphones are hard to beat. Check out this Cnet review: http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/koss-portapro-headphones/4505-7877_7-32897197.html   I picked up a pair for my Dad on father's day and they sound incredible, given their value... It's just those temple pads that weird me out.

Grado is a maker of superb headphones. They deserve a look too!

Good Luck!

CD

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Caleb Denison

Thanks for the help guys. My bro really likes the looks and reviews of the Sennheiser HD 595's that have been recommended. I have a question though. My brother is mainly going to be listening with his ipod. My concern is that these will kill the battery of his ipod faster than earbuds. Is there truth to that? Or should he be fine listening with these.? Thanks again.

mjwarburton:

Thanks for the help guys. My bro really likes the looks and reviews of the Sennheiser HD 595's that have been recommended. I have a question though. My brother is mainly going to be listening with his ipod. My concern is that these will kill the battery of his ipod faster than earbuds. Is there truth to that? Or should he be fine listening with these.? Thanks again.

Good question, the impedance for the 595s is pretty high at 50 ohms as most headphones impedance fall into the 15-25 ohm range, so they will actually draw less power than some earbuds.  Plus they have a max SPL of 112 dB so you shouldn't have to crank the volume all the way up, unless you want to go deaf. 

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

So he's not even going to consider 2 Aperions and duct tape? Damn, I was sort of looking forward to seeing the pictures. :-)

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Joe
If you can't have fun doing it, it's probably not worth doing.

joetag:

So he's not even going to consider 2 Aperions and duct tape? Damn, I was sort of looking forward to seeing the pictures. :-)

Please note that Aperion is not reponsible for any chiropractic injury that may result from the use of the 422-C headphones. 

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

Wait.. should I align my ears between the woofer and the tweeter or the tweeter and the passive radiator?

 

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Caleb Denison

Joetag,

I tried my best to tell him em that would be the best option. And when I first read your post, I literally laughed my ass off for like twenty minutes. I got so delirious I considered pulling my 4B's I use for my surrounds real close to my head to be a guinea pig on the whole thing. And then came to my senses that I still wanted to hear. I've actually been trying to sell him on the idea of some 5B's and a stereo reciever for his listening, but to no avail. I guess I was a little weird when I was that age too though. That's when I thought my Sony htib sounded good.  

I think the practical thing to do would be to get a VERY big funnel; something at would fit over the speakers. You could then position the smaller end in your ears.

I'm really surprised Aperion hasn't considered this as a product offering.

You're right about the age thing - I remember saying "wow, this is LOUD!!!" and thinking that was all that mattered. Now that I'm older (60) I have to jack up the volume just so I can hear it but I've certainly learned to appreciate a lot more than that.  I'm sure your brother will do what any sensible 18 year old would do :-)

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Joe
If you can't have fun doing it, it's probably not worth doing.

Simply couldn't be helped...Rock out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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David Bolt
Aperion Audio Guru
www.aperionaudio.com

You made my day! 

Now let's dicuss where to place the sub.

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Joe
If you can't have fun doing it, it's probably not worth doing.

You just had to go there, didn't you Joe.....

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Scottiemon