Headphones and PC setup

[Imakeholesinu]

I've been looking for a great pair of headphones for a long time to use while I'm at my computer. I used to have a two good pairs of logitech headphones that were ok, but I kept breaking them for lack of a place to set them safely. Not only that but even though the cord to them was quite long it would get caught underneath my chair or get tangled on something else.

I am hesitent to go wireless because I think they are 1) quite expensive and 2) short lived due to battery life limitations.

The sucky thing about shopping for headphones and earbuds is you are always going on someone elses recommendation. I doubt if I were to walk into a best buy and cracked open a set of $200 Sony DJ headphones to test them out, I think I'd be leaving in a pair of handcuffs.

I will say I probably do consider myself a bit of an audiophile. I can tell the difference between a set of Sony earbuds and apple's stock ear buds. They definitely don't make over the ears like they used too. My dad had a pair of old over the ears that were great.

I love my speakers, I've had them forever (Altec Lansing 20watt system that still sound amazing but suck at higher volumes) but sometimes headphones offer a better escape. I don't know if anyone else does this but I'll find myself sometimes just completely losing myself in my music collection for hours.

So anyone got a suggestion? 3.5mm jack requirement.

[Shellie]

I just bought a pair of Sennheiser ear buds on Woot. I LOVE them! They came with 3 sets of buds to fit various size ear canals. They are soft, "suction" to your ears, and have some really great bass and noise cancellation. They're kind of expensive(compared to what you can just pick up at Walmart) but I keep a deal alert on Slickdeals to alert me when a deal on them is posted to the site.

I assume with the quality of the earbuds, that their "audiophile" headphones have to be excellent.

[SineSwiper]

Plantronics. They make professional call center headsets, so they have good headphones and head/mic combos. I have a USB version that comes with separate head/mic jacks, with a fold-away headset. Works very well, and I used them when I was eight feet from my monitor (the HDTV/PC setup).

[Shrinweck]

I'm going to go with Shure on this one. If I'm looking for in ear ear buds I go to them. The last two pair of headphones I bought were from AKG but since buying my last pair Shure has released affordable headphones.

This might go better if you tell us the genre of music perhaps? I've been told that the Shure in ear ear buds are somewhat (read: you need excellent hearing, but according to my latest doctors visit my hearing is very good and I can barely tell even on the cheapest model) crummy for heavy bass music unless you're completely fine with spending $200+ on them. Which I actually tried once. For the year they lasted me (probably averaging 3-5 hours of use a week) they were amazing.

As for Sera's Sennheiser recommendation I had a pair of their HD515s for a while and I used them for gaming and light music listening and they were great for that. Still if I wanted quality I'd switch to my Shure stuff, but the issue with the in-ear technology is that they cancel ALL sound which makes you miss a lot of phone calls, miss knocks at your door, etc. These were only Sennheisers cheapest alternative, though, so I wasn't exactly expecting magic.

I guess in summation - Shure if you're checking out in-ear and AKG if not. Can't say for sure whether Shure delivers a decent pair of over ear headphones, but in terms of fuck the world don't wanna hear nothing but sweet ass music, I never stray away from them. Even their $65 in-ear buds are top notch. Oh and my favorite part of in-ear technology is that no one can hear what you're listening to.

[Kupek]

Best Buy actually has most of their non-bud earphones out so that you can listen to demos with them. Bud earphones you're still SOL, though.

[Shrinweck]

I just ordered a pair of Shure SRH 440 Professional Studio Headphones to give 'em a try. I've needed a pair of back up headphones in case I break one and I might as well do it while the AKGs are going strong.

[Oracle]

I have a Plantronics noise-cancelling mic/headset combo. Very comfy, great sound, and the mic works really well.

They are a USB headset, however. I will never use a mic jack headset again.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, that was the thing. Some of my LOTRO friends had crappy mics and sometimes it was hard to heard them, but my Plantronics was great. Plus, with the USB output, I could use the headphones for voice communication only, and use the speakers for sound effects.

[Imakeholesinu]

I'm not really looking for one with a MIC actually, looking for some over the ears that I can just rock out with when I'm shit canned by myself.