Headphone Brands Ranked from Worst to First | Hacker News Reader

Headphone Brands Ranked from Worst to First

time.com

31 pointsenthdegree50 comments

They should really list headphones by models instead of brands. Pretty much every brand there has both entry level headphones and top of the line headphones.

Still to this day, I recommend Sennheiser HD 25-II's. These things are indestructible. Plus they sound pretty good as well. When you watch any sporting event on TV or any big DJ, the majority of the time they will be using these bad boys.

I've had mine for well over 4 years now, not really looked after them very well, but they are still going strong. Every part is replaceable too.

Best of all, they are still cheaper than a pair of Beats by Dre.

+1 I've had my HD25s for 8 years. They don't just sound good but are monitoring phones with a virtually flat frequency response. I ran the cable over hundreds of times with my chair as well - just eats it up.

I upvoted your comment for its first sentence, but I hate Sennheiser; to my ears they're absolute crap (lack of depth?)

I use Shure 840 and 440 and find them absolutely excellent, while reasonably priced (840 is about $150 but you can find 440 at around $60).

> When you watch any sporting event on TV or any big DJ, the majority of the time they will be using these bad boys.

As a professional DJ I concur. I have played on some of the loudest soundsystems in the world and the performance from them is stunning for the price. I also use them for music production and the flat response at all EQ levels is what is needed to know what you're hearing is true.

I've been through probably about 4 pairs in the past 15 years, but that's mainly due to the abuse they get from gigs, for home use they'd be pretty much indestructible.

The HD25SPs are pretty decent too if you want a cheaper option, but it's definitely worth paying that bit extra for the HD25s.

The HD25-II are pretty good headphones for their price - i'd still have them if not some ex-colleague had borrowed them and never gave em back...

That said, one thing i never liked about them is the pressure their frame put onto my ears...

The main thing I got out of this survey is that is possible to design an objective-sounding survey that will favor any brand that you choose.

The "Smart Rating" he uses factors in various critical review sites at various arbitrary weightings (eg., TechCrunch at 13.9%) and various specs at various arbitrary weightings (eg., cable length at 0.7%).

If I wanted to cheat and create a survey that favored brand X, I could choose and tweak parameters until X came out on top. For example, I know that brand X always has nice long cables, so I'll give cable length a higher smart score. I know that Wired has reviewed some of the crappy models of brand X, and hated them, so I'll drop Wired from my formula. PC Mag however has reviewed the best model that brand X makes, and loved it, so I'll add PC Mag to the mix. Etc.

I'm not saying the author rigged anything. I'm sure it's his earnest effort to create a meaningful measure for headphones. It's just that the formula looks objective and authoritative, but another formula would've given you any result you desire.

Agreed. The methodology was pretty weak.

The best thing about the article was it got Hacker News readers talking about headphones! Now I know I'm getting real scoop from users who likely are using the phones in a similar way to myself.

So, a list about supposedly the best headphones doesn't list any Beyerdynamics? mhh, sounds legit.

I have a hard time believing Time is an authorative source for, well, anything.

Stax is also missing but I guess they are not a "major manufacturer"..

The list seems mostly focused on brands that lots of people have heard of before. I've heard of every brand on their list before, but I've never heard of Beyerdynamics.

Or rather it's a consumer-oriented list. BDs aren't much of a consumer brand (though they do have a consumer line) and don't market as such. Most of their stuff is marketed for industry, so this makes them a bit "underground."

Further, most of their line is designed for industry or hardcore audiophiles: a lot of it is high-impedance (200 Ohm+), which means you need a real amplifier to drive them (otherwise they'll be pretty quiet), making them not a great portable solution. For comparison, consumer-type stuff is typically standardized 8/16/32 Ohms.

Even further still, their headphones are designed for accuracy, which consumers don't always want either (... subconsciously). For consumers, listener-enjoyment is more important: accenting bass or adding color (distortions) can make music more pleasurable to listen to, etc.

That said, I own a pair of BD DT-990 Pros, and they're the most excellent pair of headphones I've ever owned.

At least they shit on Beats.

Beyerdynamics is in the full list of models.

But in general, anyone who owned few > $100 headphones can see that this rating is a joke.

If anyone is looking for portable headphones, Beyerdynamics DTX 501p are brilliant (and great value at that). Comfortable, good isolation, no music leaking out bothering others, surprisingly nice sound for their price and size. These days I tend to pick them up more often than my Grado SR-80 (which I also recommend).

I only use in-ear earphones, and my go-to earphone shootout lists are these:

http://www.inearmatters.net/2009/01/list_01.html

http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/multi-iem-review-314-iems-co...

I agree with the conclusions in general, but it always makes sense to judge headphones by model than brand. My fav earphone is Sony MH1C. It used to be available in eBay for $30 and was the best you could buy the sub $100 category.

Let me toss in my favorite headphone model: the PSB M4U2. This is a $400 pair of closed-back 'phones with a built-in amp and active noise cancellation. Don't buy these for the ANC -- buy them for the sound: clear and smooth, with clean highs, good imaging, and extended but not overemphasized bass. Very musical. There's a less expensive M4U1 model with no amp or ANC; these might be a better deal.

I was hoping the ANC would be useful in the office; it is, a little, but not hugely. Mostly it filters out low-frequency noise from the ventilation system, which didn't bother me anyway; it doesn't do so well with voices. But, it's pretty easy to mask voices with music.

Another recommendation you probably haven't heard: the German Maestro GMP 8.300D. I spotted a pair of these on eBay for $80, took a chance on them, and was pleasantly surprised. From 1kHz up they're stunning, with even better imaging than the PSBs, but they have a hump in the midbass response that annoys me a little.

I have the M4U1 model after owning Sennheiser Momentum for six months - they are obviously better in side-by-side tests and they have larger ear cups that I can wear all day with comfort in a noisy office. Definitely my closed-headphone favourite. Too bad they aren't pretty stitched leather like the Sennehisers!

I don't believe ANC is worth the $100 - as you say, same headphones minus ANC.

Here's my favorite headphone model: the Bose QC20. The noise cancelation is unreal – when friends try them on for the first time the consistent reaction has to be to smile and laugh. The earbud that just rests in your ear instead of drilling into the center of your head only makes the experience better.

No I'm not a shill I'm just in love with these headphones.

Canalphones beat active noise cancellation (ANC) every time. ANC doesn't attenuate all frequencies as evenly as passive protection does and it sounds very strange to me. To rub salt into the wound, passives don't need batteries and they pack into a tiny pouch that takes almost no space in carry-on bags.

Oh it's no salt in the wound, I know the advantages to passive. The canal plugs are just far too uncomfortable for me. I'm happy to have found something that I find to be equally great.

When looking at headphones, I HIGHLY suggest figuring out what you want to use them for. I use several sites, but HeadRoom (http://www.headphone.com) is probably my favorite because they do some nice graphs of the frequency response for most sets.

I just picked a Sennheiser HD558 to complement my older HD555 I just cleaned up (replaced the cushions, cleaned the drivers, did the HD595 removal of foam mod). I've had that HD555 for over 8 years now, and I would highly recommend those or the newer HD558s easily.

I'm a huge fan of Sennheisers for open-ear headphones, but for environments where I need closed, I've got a Shure SRH440 that is pretty awesome. For travel, I've got the Sennheiser PX 200-II, which replaced an older pair of AKGs that didn't feel so good over the ear. The folding AKGs did have better sound though.

While indicative of overall lineup, rating by brand is suboptimal in regards to picking actual headphones for use. For example Koss, while being rated bad has some pretty good performing headphones.

Anyways, here is more substantial headphone buying resource: http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide

Can anybody suggest overear headphones for people who wear glasses? Most of the ones I've tried press my glasses into my temple and cause pain after a short while.

This turned out to be a bit more credible than I expected, though I'm surprised to see Shure rated higher than Grado.

Moepstar is right, Beyerdynamics should absolutely be on the list, and given the success of the TMA-1 Aiaiai should be as well. Also, Audio Technica may have produced some cheap crap in the past, but they should be at least one category higher based merely on the strength of the ATH-50.

Absolutely - Grado is fine if you really like supra-aural open headphones, but you can pretty much rule them out if you sit anywhere near another person who doesn't care to hear your music. Another problem with Grado is they "protect" international distributors who are free to add any ridiculous markup they like to arrive at a local price. There can be no competition because headphone vendors like Headroom and Amazon just aren't allowed to ship Grado products internationally under threat of no supply.

I'm surprised Grado is at this high position at all - their production quality is absolutely abysmal, they came apart in a year - unlike Sennheiser (using for few years), Audiotechica (using for few years) and Technics/Panasonic (these I use for 15 years!). As for the cost - for same money there is always better alternative than Grados.

They may come apart in a year, but they're so simple and so fixable, I prefer them exactly the way they are... and they sound better, which is really why I'm buying headphones.

Any recommendations from the HN community? I'd like to get a new set and I don't really trust Time's research.

Depends on your budget.

http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/headphones/

I find The Wirecutter to be very trustworthy for all gadgets. Top notch research across the board. For headphones they even have a "Which Headphones Should I Get" section if you aren't sure where to begin.

So much of the online head-fi like chatter on this subject is near voodoo. I bought some Alessandro MS-1's which are tweaked Grado's after delving deep into online opinions, and they're peaky inferiors, an opinion objectively shown by an obscure online debunking I later found.

Beware popular opinion. Grado SR-80i's are good value for money, detailed but they have flaws.

I could live with Stax all day long.

It's really more helpful if you give a budget, but I think you'll find very few people who wouldn't recommend the ATH-M50. From what I've owned, nothing hits the price:performance ratio as sweetly, and it is great-sounding no matter what genre I throw at it.

They are closed-back, so the soundscape is limited, but still great. I wear them on planes and they passively cancel noise well.

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M50-Professional-Mo...

I've got these as well, great sound for the price.

I've a set of these. Good sound and comfy, too.

For the brands mentioned, I broadly agree with them this time round in my limited experience, but I can't really judge more broadly than a few brands there and as others have mentioned, they notably miss any Beyerdynamic offerings.

It really depends what you want. I have a pair of the Koss KSC-75 for my portable use and they're fantastic. They cost about $50 and are clip-over-the-ear sort of things but have some of the best sound below $100.

For home use, I use a good ol' pair of the Alessandro MS-1 (which are essentially the Grado SR80i, albeit with some slight differences that make them more preferable to most). They're also an open headphone but are fantastic and come in at about $125-$150. They excel more at the rock end of the spectrum and aren't heavy on bass, so if you like thumping dance music then maybe avoid them but that's not to say the bass isn't there. They're a good, balanced offering for all types of music listening.

Note that both of the above are open headphones, so they will not block external noise. Depending on your use case (e.g.: isolation for coding) this may be a major downfall. Open headphones are invariably better audio quality for the equivalent price however, so you're hard pressed to get a good set of cheap closed headphones.

I'm happy to recommend both, depending on what you want to do with them. Alternatively, there's a fantastic website run by some knowledgable people who can give you some input even if you don't end up ordering from them, at www.headphones.com.au . Obviously an AU retail store, but their forum is good for discussion and they have a mostly-sensible set of recommendations.

Sennheiser HD25. Either the cheap version or the full ones. Cans are the same.

Find an old pair of Sennheiser HD-580s. They were so good they un-discontinued them. Been using the same pair since 1999, with the same cable they came with (apparently the cable can be problematic.)

Depends on many factors, but if you want the most simple guide:

budget <= $125 -> Sony MDR7506

budget > $125 -> most expensive Sennheiser that still fits your budget

earplugs: a-Jays Two (good sound, flat cables -- durable and don't get tangled),

portable headphones: Beyerdynamics DTX 501p (great overall, don't leak sound),

home: Grado SR-80 (great sound, durable except for the cable; also, the cable is in Y configuration and twists a bit. I had to replace it after a couple years).

If I had to buy just one of these, DTX 501p win hands down as the most versatile.

Can't recommend Grado SR-80 - sound is OK, but build quality is really bad - they just fall apart much faster than any other pair I owned.

What exactly broke in yours? I've had mine for 5 years and except for the cable (had to replace it) and the pads (foam) they're holding great. And I can't say I look after them much.

First plastic decal with model name in the middle of the earpiece came off in a month. OK, not a big deal - I can use them without it. But then, after few months of use, side plastic holder slipped off from the headband, which is metal. I plugged it back, but overtime it became too loose and doesn't hold anymore (obviously plastic latch inside the piece is worn off).

I like retro look, but cheap-looking plastic shouldn't be actually cheap, you know.

Shure SRH 440 (around $60) or 840 if you can afford them ($150); they're over-ear (closed) which beats active noise cancellation in most environments, they have a rich, deep sound, they're sturdy... and Sure came out first in this survey! ;-)

I have the Sennheiser HD 280 pro, which I love. They are comfortable over-the-ear, flat frequency response, a little bit of attenuation (just enough to cut down background noise so that the music covers it, and decent on a plane, too), and really comfortable. I can wear them all day with no problem (no problems with my glasses, either). One of the best $100 that I've spent.

It's weird to have the professional Grado PS100 at 165$ in the listing[0], but none of the Sony pro series like the mdr-v6 priced below, nor the mdr-cd900st priced above.

[0] http://head-phones.findthebest.com

You can't rank a brand when it comes to headphones especially when the market is segmented between cheap shit, pro consumer and studio.

Universally though if its a pretty colour or a TV advert its going to be shit.

I'm shocked to see Plantronics at the bottom of the list; I've found them to be quite excellent, and they seem well regarded in terms of features and reliability.

On a similar theme, can anyone recommend a good Skype headset that also function as noise cancelling headphones?

Best headphones ever: Stax

Reply on news.ycombinator.com