banshee43 wrote right now i have skull candy heavy medal, ear buds, what do u think of those?

I've actually borrowed a pair of these for a bus ride. They weren't really much good at all. Even the Titans in the same line were better. They just sounded really veiled, more than the Titans, which already sound pretty foggy.

And r00t_b33r, would you mind adding this little tidbit to the first post further explaining open vs closed? What you have is cool, but judging by the amount of people asking for open headphones for use with dubstep, they need a bit more.

The concept of open headphones is basically the driver has the most air possible to reverberate and allow backwaves to be set free. This results in (usually, save for Grados and a few others) a large soundstage and an open, airy sound. The tradeoffs are that save for a few anomalies, open headphones usually can't begin to compare to closed headphones in regards to bass quantity. They also leak a lot of sound in and out, so they aren't ideal for usage other than at home.

If you want a ton of bass, you'll probably want a closed headphone. In closed headphones, the backwaves of the driver bounce back to your ears, creating a colored sound, which usually means more bass because of the less damped sound. The tradeoffs are a smaller soundstage, a slight "closed, stuffy" sound (More prominent with lower end (<$150) than higher end, save for Beats. Those are really stuffy), and they may get a bit hot.

Now, as always, there are exceptions and much more to learn about the different designs, but this is the basic gist of open vs closed headphones.

Just updated the OP with Ishcabible's explanation of open and closed headphone designs and the merits of each.

r00t_b33r wrote Just updated the OP with Ishcabible's explanation of open and closed headphone designs and the merits of each.

Shoot, forgot to add a part to the open part:

Open headphones, other than Grados, are typically on the higher end of the pricing spectrum. The cheapest open headphone that isn't too finicky in regards to amping is the Audio Technica AD900 at roughly $250. The AKG K701/K702/Q701 are a bit cheaper, hovering around $200, and the Beyerdynamic DT880 at $230, but they typically are finicky about amps.

buy beats they r the best

FireZ wrote buy beats they r the best

How so?

Bah, stupid character minimum.

FireZ wrote buy beats they r the best

Well, I guess that pretty much renders this whole thread invalid. Sorry for misleading you guys. Instead, you should all go buy crappy overpriced headphones. Yep. That's what you should do.

damn im still surprised this isn't sticky. +1000 replies and +20,000 views

oneonone22 wrote damn im still surprised this isn't sticky. +1000 replies and +20,000 views

I know asking for a sticky is the best way not to get one, so there's not much I can do. I guess a moderator has to approve, and maybe they don't for some reason.

Anyway, it gets enough bumpage to stay at the top.

HMMMMM... I love it when people go "oh you can't afford beats, that's why you hate them."

but my Akg costs about the same.

People who thinks beats are the best are just sheeples that thins "oh... because there is dre's name and justin bebier use it, it must be the best."


Honestly Ultrasone hfi-580s($118) are better than the $300 beats... didn't even bother to learn their names.

Uhh, I don't think any AKG's should be compared to Beats by any stretch of the imagination except the DJ series. The K701 costs the same as the Beats but they're really an acquired taste. For example, I'm an AKG fanboy (I have a K271, Sextett variation, and I scrounged for an incredibly rare K4. I also want a K400, K500, K340, K240DF, and K1000), but I HATE the K701's upper mids. And most consumers will think they're bass light, while bass is legitimately the only thing Beats have. They're comparable price-wise, but if you got someone to try them, they'd be disappointed in all likelihood.