Gluegun, have you really heard them? I prefer to have absolutely NO mids, NO bass and NO highs whatsoever!!!

And I call ANYTHING that has ANY bass extension whatsoever (below 150Hz) EXTREMELY BOOMY!!! And I call anything that extends the highs above 5kHz waaaaaay too bright!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My musical tastes now REQUIRE severely overboosted mid-bass and severely depressed everything else! And all that at an extremely high price!

Gluegun, based on the above paragraph, could it be that I prefer extremely boomy headphones, or that all of the music recordings that I listen to are so crappily made?

Last edited by ShadySlim on Oct-17-2001 at 22:58

*Talking a la DBZ, with much melodrama*

GRRRRR!!!! HIS SARCASM IS INCREDIBLE!!! I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!!!


(anyways, let's keep this discussion on this thread, mkay?)

Gluegun: On that last "sarcastic" post(s) of mine, I had been suffering from a head allergy, which clouded my judgment.

As for the V700's, they may have sounded "boomy" and "sloppy" to you, I think of them as an analogy to a cheap screw that's way over-tightened so that some of the screw's threads have already stripped. And when you have a pair of headphones whose mid-bass is way too tight, the rest of the sound of that pair of headphones will have lost much of their control (i.e. portions of the V700's mids and their high treble are very recessed, and frequencies close to that mid-bass peak have already begun to resonate, as well). And I still stand by my statement that the V700's have less low-bass extension than many headphones that have smaller drivers than the V700's - they barely reproduced 20Hz, a frequency which the Sony V6's/7506's reproduced with ease.

And since too few trancEaddicts have even bothered to answer my original question(s) (or too few trancEaddicts have heard enough different headphone models to make such a judgment), I am continuing the headphone discussion on the thread regarding "my real opinion of DJ headphones".

hey guys, this is awesome, you all know so much! anyways I'm looking for headphones for my mp3 player based on the answers below:

Do you want headphones that block out sound? preferably

Do you mind big headphones that go over the ear? no. i'm also considering those headphones that go around the back of your neck

Do you mind headphones that clip on the ear? no

Do you mind earphones that go in the ear? yes, they hurt!

Do you mind headphones that leak a lot of sound? doesn't matter

Can you stretch your budget to $70 US? no, i want something that's $50 or less

and no exaggerated bass. i just like a nice full sound. i'm looking for headphones geared towards trance. thanks!

I bought some headphones from radio shack.
the brand name is optimus.

I can hear all you big DJs laughing (ha radio shack) but seriously, these headphones sound AWESOME, they are super comfortable, long cord, good for mixing with, full sound reproduction, they block out extra sounds. I'm very happy with them, and they were only $50 canadian.

He's right. The two brands that make some of the best cheap headphones -- Koss and Optimus (optimus being Radio Shack's brand), have many of the exact same headphones, mostly under different names.

However, it is easier to find the REALLY GOOD MODELS of that stuff from Koss, because you can often only find the "pretty good" models in the Optimus brand!

Hands down, from personal experience, the best sound for under $50 is the Koss KSC-35's. These are open, earclip style headphones that don't block out any outside sound. And they ROCK!

Better than the newer model of the same, the Koss KSC-50 (which I also have), and better than the best Streetstyle headphone on the planet, the Koss KSC-55, which is mostly the same as the KSC-50. All three share the same drivers. But get the KSC-35's. If you *need* something closed, or something easier to find, another headphone that is ALMOST as good as the KSC-35's (Again, this is from personal experience) is the Philips HP550. Check these out too!! You can probably get these models at any major electronics or Walmart type store: Philips HP550, Koss KSC-50, Koss KSC-55. However, if you want to look around some more for that extra quality, get the Koss KSC-35's.

Again, I would suggest you find the KSC-35's. Try ordering them from www.headphone.com --that's where I got mine!

Yeah, I had some koss ones, not sure the model number, but they were green and black, open air design, not dj cans.. but they sounded PHAT! and they folded up neatly.. too bad my sister broke them.

and as for optimus, yeah these ones sound awesome, better than my DJ friends sony MDR6s and technics ones. I use these ones for DJing and they work great, I can hear everything, not just the bass.

they had some higher end models too, with two drivers, one for bass and one for treble, those sounded REAL nice in the store, but they were a little heavy..

RavingLunatic,

WHICH Sony model did the Optimus whoop? You mean MDR-V600 (the one where you can hear only bass, as you put it), right? Because, generally, Neither Koss nor Optimus (each has some headphones that the other doesn't) Isn't known for making great HIGH END headphones; they are just the king of cheap headphones...all of which whoop the V600, though, most of which whoop the V700 and Technics and other "DJ" headphones...

King of big CHEAP closed cans, king of little earbuds, king of streetstyle, king of vertical in the ear, king of cheap open supraaural...

Could you PLEASE find the model numbers of the ones you are talking about?

These optimus(Nova 403) sound better than ANY headphone I have ever put on my head, and I have tried some HIGH end ones, including the sony MDR-V600 which I didn't like, the technics ones (not sure the model number, but they are big DJ type ones), some stanton ones that came with my friends turntables(these were possibly the WORST I have ever heard), and many, many kinds of earbuds, street style, open air kinds. these optimus really sound WAY better than any of those.

I will try to find the model number of the koss for you, next time I go to my parents house, they are packed in a box somewhere or something..

Yea, that's 'cause V600, All Sony Streetstyles, all earbuds but, like, three models, all suck! The fact is, unless you do some SEARCHING, you will get crap. People think that sony mdr-v600 and v700dj and v900 are high end because sony is smart--they give them looks, comfort, and they have market penetration, and brand name recognition, and they know that the target audiences haven't heard good sound--which is how they like it. saves on engineering costs. The only reason sony stuff is so expensive is because of the way the japanese and us market has interacted, and because Sony realized they could get away with it (before they could get away with it, before the term "Sony Quality" was invented, in the 80's, when your average joe in Japan actually cared--and could recognize--sound quality, they made good stuff. Hence so many good models that they don't make any more--CD999, CD1700, E484, all of the good vertical-in-the-ear models they used to have, etc. etc. They even tried to get rid of the MDR-V6's, and tried to replace it with the crappy MDR-V600! Ugh. At least the engineers got all pissed and got the V6 back, so Sony couldn't COMPLETE their transformation from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde... this is true in Sony speakers as well; the only good stuff they have is old, like this one old subwoofer that they almost stopped making...)

It's not Koss and Optimus achieving "high" quality.

It's them setting MINIMUM quality, and everyone else getting below it (Like the entirety of the MDR-### line, and basically almost everything else Sony makes).

The fact is, in this country, few people see headphones as "quality" sound. They're viewed as expendible. So, 97% of the ones you will find are crap!

Koss UR-20, King of cheapo big closed headphones.
Koss KSC-55, King of Streetstyles.
Koss Sportapro (Optimus Pro 45): King of Cheap small open supraaural headphones
Koss KSC-35 King of earclips...

(if you are wondering about good earbuds, check out Sennheiser MX500 and Sony MDR-E888, and, for vertical in the ear headphones, check out these: http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...%5Fid=33%2D1133 )

However, optimus makes soooo many headphones, so many of which are hard to find and spread out among so many radio shack stores, so many of which aren't in any particular LINE of headphones, that NO ONE has any REALLY good idea how all of them sound! I mean, look at all of these!

http://www.radioshack.com/category....08%5F000&Page=1

You KNOW there is a gem in there. But no one, not me, not my friends at www.head-fi.org and the others at www.headwize.com, nor the professionals at www.headphone.com, really know which ones of those are REALLY GOOD, unless they are in some other, more organized lines...

But, if you want something quality, you should be looking for something BETTER than these; stuff from Grado, a few models from Sennheiser (HD495, HD25, HD580, HD600), The two good sony models (MDR-V6 and CD3000), Every Grado Except SR-40, Many headphones from AKG, good models from Beyerdynamic (DT250, DT770, DT831, DT931), etc. etc.

Last edited by Gluegun on Oct-30-2001 at 22:25