Rockworms know that choosing the best headphones within your budget can make a huge difference in your aural pleasure. We realized that we had never done headphone reviews here on Rockworms.com, so we thought we’d give it a shot. For your budgetary convenience, we’ve sorted these into three ranges: $100 headphones, $20-30 headphones, and cheapie-cheap headphones (around $10). Of course, if you want to spend more on your headphones than I did on my big-screen TV
, go right ahead. Let me know how they sound.
Mid-Range Headphones
If you’re like us (broke), you need to find a balance between good sound and good value. In the $20-30 range, you’ll want something that’s a signifcant improvement over your old walkman headphones, but we all realize that these are not the cadalac of headphones (like these $3,000 beauty’s
).
The MDR-XD200’s are the little brother of the studio-standard MDR7509HD’s. And while there’s a substantial difference in price (around $160), we’ve got to give these little XD-200’s credit for closing the sound-quality gap. At $20 these are a phenomenal value. These phones are very listenable to music of any kind, but we also liked that Sony added a built in EQ that let’s you switch between movie mode (bigger bass) and music mode. Nice. These puppies are a little bulky (we’ve heard them called “the Princess Leia headphones”), and a little on the heavy side, but you’re a rockworm. You don’t care about that. Right?
If you’re going to spend a few more bucks on your headphones than Sony’s XD200’s, Sennheiser’s HD 202 headphones are a great step up. These are the most natural sounding headphones under $80 on the market. The closed dynamic design gives solid bass (although they’re not temple-thumpers, like some similar headphones) and while they’re not billed as “noise cancelling” headphones, they manage to keep out a lot of outside noise. The extra bonus (imho) is the comfort factor. These are also really light, and very comfortable to wear for hours at a time. Not much else you could ask for from a $30 set of headphones.
Headphones à la Benjamin
If you’re willing to drop a Benjamin on your headphones, you’re going to want a few things over the cheapies, and the mid-level phones. First and foremost - an audible difference in sound quality. After that probably comes durability, and then probably some personal style/sound preferences. So if you’re shopping in this price range we’ve got two picks for you:
Once upon a time I was at a bargain-basement recording studio in Los Angeles, and our sound engineer/producer/janitor pulled a set of HD-280’s out of his backpack. They were folded up, and I thought to myself: these things must be cheap. Only crappy gimmicky headphones would need to be “collapsible” in order to be different. I was wrong. These are, imho, the best hundred-dollar headphones on the market. period. These have huge sound, great isolation (very handy while recording, when headphone sound can bleed into the mic). They are also made with quality materials, and will hold-up for years of frequent use and abuse. I’ve also come full-circle on the collapsible thing. I love that these fit in the small outside pocket of my man-purse (aka laptop bag). Buy these headphones. You won’t be disappointed.
The MDr7506 headphones are the Toyota Camry of headphones. They’re a helluva nice ride, at a good value, and they’ll last forever. While Sony has improved upon these phones with the more expensiveMDR7509HD’s, these have been the standard by which all other headsets are judged for the last 20 years. They’ve been criticized for having an “unnatural” sound, but yet their so ubiquitous that some professional engineers & studio musicians have trained their ears by these headsets, and they wouldn’t use anything else. Whether you’re a rockworm who loves listening through a great LP, or a recording musician or engineer needing to upgrade from your iPod earbuds, it’s hard to go wrong with the old MDR7506. If nothing else, you’ll send a signal to other music lovers who are in the know. It’s like sporting Chuck Taylor’s, Levi’s 501’s, or a Fender Strat.
The Cheapie-Cheap Headphones
Ok, you’re cheap, we get it. Let’s move on shall we? Here are a couple options that’ll only cost you a Hamilton (plus maybe a couple Washington’s for tax and shipping).
If you want big sound out of little money, you’re better off going with ear-buds rather than a full headset. These little buggars from Jbuds are comfortable (a must when sticking anything in your ears), and really do have a good sound at high, mid, and low levels. If you’ve lost your iPod earbuds (or your dog ate them…in my case) these are a good substitute.
So you want that “I’m really into music” look at that “I really live with my parents” budget. The sound from these is throughly decent. You can hear good detail at low levels, and they don’t blow-out like most cheap sets at this level when you crank up the volume. On the negative side of things, there’s not much going on in the bass department. But hey-just don’t expect much and you won’t be dissapointed. If you can spare an extra $7 we would definitely step up to the MDR-XD200’s.
There you go! Happy listening rockworms. If you grab one of these, let us know what you think! Oh and PS - if you are going to buy…do us a solid and buy from Amazon by clicking on one of the links above. We will get $0.000001 for every purchase you make. We’re hoping to earn enough to buy some JBuds by sometime in the 24th century AD.
