For work: beyerdynamic DT 770 pro, Fiio E9 (amp)+E7 (DAC).
It was a hard choice between the Beyer and the ATH-M50. I found the Beyer to be much more comfortable so I went with it and have been very happy. I used to have the Sony’s mentioned earlier, but the earcups wore thin and they got entirely too loose.
For travel: Ultimate ears 500’s. Not bad, but they seem to break a lot (good thing they are cheap!). I used to have some Etmyotic MC3, and loved them. However, they isolated too much noise to ride my bike/walk around in public with (I like to have somewhat of an idea of my surroundings).
I used to always lose headphones so I’ve got sound magic E30’s, for the price they are incredible! Blow most big brand headphones in the price bracket out of the water! Not exactly pretty but even the build quality is A LOT better than most of the big names.
The Wirecutter picked the 7506’s as the best $150 over-ear headphones. Has anyone tried their other picks? I’m thinking about getting the Onkyo ES-CTI300, they look real bad ass.
As I mentioned before, I do have the “Sony MDR-7506”, and they are very good. I really am happy with them, I just wished they looked better. All of the other suggestions so far have looked way better than the Sony’s.
I still use my Sennheiser HD 219 Headphones. No frills and comfy. Years ago my favorites were Porta Pro 25 by Koss. The bass produced was rich and deep.
Great choices, I’m glad to see only one chose Beats by Dr. Dre (someone who happened to work on them).
The Audio-Technica ATH-M50x seems to be a good choice.
I still love my 7506’s even though they are now being held together by electrical tape. They are made using 20-year old technology so the labels are peeling off and earpad covers are wearing off. I just saw you can get a good deal on them on Groupon.
Fantastic cans. Silky sound that lacks a bit in the bass, but for everyday listening they are amazing. Relatively dry sound but not “tinny,” and comfortable enough for me to wear all day. Took a few hundred hours of listening for them to start to break in but well worth the time spent.
I avoid wireless and noise cancelling because they always change the fidelity regardless of how good the circuitry is, and these do a great job of keeping external noise to a minimum. My set came with two cords, one with a iPhone remote and one without. The cord with the remote has a pivoting cable which is cool, but the cord without the remote is a fixed straight connection which is a bit of a bummer. No idea if both cables are still included.
Owned them about two years and loved every minute of use.
I have some Skullcandy Hesh wireless headphones for work. The Hesh has a cable you can add if the battery is low, and that cable has a mic and play/pause switch. For other stuff, Shure SE530’s, worth every penny. I do need to mail them in to Shure to get them replaced do the a cable cracking, hopefully I will get 535’s or can upgrade to 999’s.
I wouldn’t expect much in the way of acoustic quality from those. It looks like a lot the the internal volume is taken up with that headband pass through.
Personally also in the Audio Technica ATH M50X camp. I really like them. The sound is mostly neutral. Not unlike my reference monitors. They have slightly hyped bass which I find quite enjoyable and keeps me from cranking up the volume all the time. Also, the slight bass hype is not at the expense of deep sub which can happen in other cans.
Stylistically, I quite like the clean design. Nothing is sticking out and there’s no crazy bling to them I’d really like a black on black model though. They may seem a bit boring and start to be dated but they may just be due to their popularity.
For functionality, I didn’t think the collapsible design would be all that useful. Seeing my AKGs had lasted years of being thrown in my bag. But it turned out to be super useful as they take up a lot less space that way. They are quite comfy. They do get hot and start pushing on the top of my ears after a while though. But I’ll wear them 4-5hrs a day at times without major discomfort. The removable cables and bundled 3 pack is really neat to. I keep the super long one plugged into my work desktop, the slinky one on my desk at home and the short cable stays in my bag for on the go listening.
I’d recommend these to just about anyone. The price might be a bit higher than their value due to their popularity. But that popularity comes from a solid product that won enthusiasts over mostly through word of mouth.