Ya, last I checked these cards were pretty much impossible to find, and even on ebay were going for $60+.

My old TB Santa Cruz card just died (excellent quality sound), and I'm not sure what I want to replace it with yet. :/

Any other suggestions for good quality, inexpensive sound cards?

shure se530s or klipsch image x10s?

shure: http://store.shure.com/store/shure/e...ctID.105460200

klipsch: http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/image.aspx

I'm looking for headphones for listening to music while traveling (airplane and train), hence I'd like some kind of noise-cancellation. I've looked at the JVC NC250 which can be found for $100 (and that's my budget). Would it be a better option in-ear isolator headphones?

I picked up a pair of Sennheiser PX-100 for $40 the other day and so far they've been wonderful.

Imod 5.5g +RWA cable + RSA Hornet(now a Tomahawk) + Shure SE530s(Now Senn HD650s)

decent stereo setup imo

Hey guys,

I'm currently in the market for headphones, and I would like to spend under 150$.

My biggest concern is comfort. The quality etc of the sound/music does not concern me much, but I do need headphones that are comfortable as I would like to spend 8 hours+ in them. The issue I have is that I think my head is somewhat sensitive to pressure. The headphones I have now (some cheap 40$ model) aren't very adjustable and press too much onto my temples, and I get a headache withing 30 minutes of wearing them. I also don't like earbud headphones, as they give me headaches as well and I generally find them uncomfortable. I guess I just have a sensitive head.

Ideally I would want headphones that are fully adjustable so that they don't press too much onto the sides of my head (I want them to barely be hanging on). They would also have to be the type that completely go around and enclose my ear, as that would be most comfortable.

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

I think I can recommend an exact model for your budget/requirements.

Check out the AKG K240 MKII. At $150, they are right at the peak of your budget, but they are the newer model of the ones I own (without the MKII).

Very light as far as pressure on the head. I can wear them pretty much non stop. I also own a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pros, that squeeze my head like a vice grip, so I can definitely relate to your issues.

I demoed the AKG's in my audiophile store of choice the other day, and I am sure they will not disappoint.

hey, i lost my Qc3s and i bought the PXC-450s from seinheiser. after using them the past 2 weeks (on a few flights too), i gotta say...meh, i think i liked my QC3s better. the sound quality just wasn't very good, bass wasn't very good, and the noise cancellation had a spinning noise if i left it on for too long.

is it because my iphone can't give good quality sound? (most of my mp3s are ~ 224kps).
or do i need an amp?
any help would be appreciated, or else i'll just return these soon.

I like!! Thank you sir. Other than Amazon, where can I get them online?

Since I was looking for headphones two months ago I'll share my final decision: shure SE530...
All the reviews said it was the best by far (without getting custom molded to your ear -headphones)
shure SE530... are completely amazing.... noise cancellation, I can't ever hear my roommates walk in my room or even talk to me while they are standing behind me... and on a plane, you move the volume of your ipod little past 1/2 volume and you're set.... literally awesome for travel/computer use... but I wouldn't imagine them on an ipod for working out.. seem too nice for that... and if you get off ebay.. they are super cheap

Yep, Shure's are very good. I have 310s and if you have the ability to give them a little bass boost (+3db under 220hz), then they're excellent for a lot less money than the 530s and they're probably more coherent. A non-intrusive EQ is important ofcourse.

Maybe somebody here can help me out so i don't have to send my 530's back to Shure again.

Recently i've started hearing a crackling in my headphones whenever i'm walking home from work. It's got so bad lately that listening to podcasts is pretty much impossible. The crackling comes when the headphone jack gets moved around, and will stop when i hold my ipod upright and there's minimal movement on the jack. There's also much less crackling when i listen to the headphones when they're hooked up to the computer, but still a slight crackling when i rotate the jack in the input.

Any ideas?

You've proven that it's a connection/wiring problem, most likely in the headphones. You can isolate problems by keeping one variable constant and changing another.

I have a pair of the highly regarded Beyerdynamic DT 231. I only get sound of the left ear and I've only used them sporadically over a year or so. They sounded great and were very comfortable while they lasted but would never buy another product from them because they saw limited use and were not abused in any way.

So, I'm looking for some IEMs for use with iPod/laptop. Two finalists are the same price (within $30) so what's better:

Shure SE530

or

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro

Opinions? Thanks.

Actually I guess the price isn't as close. The Shure SE530 is $274 and the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro is around $150-160. Is there a huge difference between these two?

Having owned both, i can say that the difference is huge. The super.fi's aren't even close. Also, they just didn't wear as nicely as the shure's either. Still a great pair of headphones and the UE customer service is top notch, but they're not in the same league.

Yeah no one answered so I erred on the side of expensive and got the Shure SE530.

Also, I assume all of you guys with really nice headphones are changing all your mp3s to FLAC? Certainly what I'm doing in preparation.

This might help some people since an iPod (and some other MP3 players) can't natively play FLAC files. This software changes all that: www.rockbox.org

If you encode at 192kps VBR or something like that I highly doubt you'll be able to tell the difference between an MP3 and FLAC.

Sounds like a prop bet is brewing.

Mmm, they came. Is nice.

The background noise generated from my laptop is annoying as **** though. Decided that I'm just going to listen to music on my mp3 player.

I've come to realization that my music collection in FLAC will not fit on a 120GB mp3 player. So I've done FLAC backups on a 500GB external drive of everything and then converted everything to 300kbps VBR AAC which I can't tell the difference between that and FLAC so it seems fine.

Fun chore to do all of this. I'm definitely keeping a backup of these FLAC files in a different location. I'll be damned if I'm doing this again ever.

If I need to get someone a last minute gift of headphones, what do you recommend?

They want full-size headphones, preferably sealed. They will probably use them about 50% of the time with their ipod and 50% with their computer for music and gaming. I'm looking to spend maybe like $150-$200, but if there is anything really good value for less, or really good quality for slightly more, thats fine too.

Also, where would you recommend ordering them from? They don't have to be here by the 25th or anything

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
list $199, now $99

http://www.headphone.com/products/he...hd-280-pro.php

If you want good sound quality on your laptop, just buy an inexpensive external sound card or USB DAC.

Here are the best 2 'budget' optons I know of:

1. HotUSB1 - a custom created DAC from an enthusiast - $60
http://www.hotaudio.com/

Plug it into your usb port, plug your headphones into that. Done.

2. Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro - $30
http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/micro/home.aspx

Same deal, not as good quality, but cheap