Sound quality… but they have to be comfortable. The most uncomfortable headphones I have tried are the nuraphones . Cool concept and decent sound, especially for gaming, but they hurt. I usually stay away from over the head at work because it messes up my hair.
IMO, the Sony MDR-7506 has all three, and one more: durability. The headband is metal, rather than the cheap plastic you see on a lot of similarly-priced cans. As long as they keep making them, it’s what I’m going to stick with. There’s a reason they’ve been around for 30 years.
@bocoroth big advantage also is that if you do break them they are common enough, especially in industry, that you can buy all kinds of replacement parts online
(on mine I set something heavy on them and the fork that holds the earcups to the band broke. Just glued them up temporarily and ordered a new piece for like 5 or 10 bucks)
I only like in ear kind and I have a very hard time with in ear buds. I can’t stand apple kind they hurt my ears so bad. My ears are small and most of the rubber ones don’t come small enough to fit my ears and they keep falling out so I can’t even enjoy anything else if they won’t stay in my ears.
Go for musician in-ear monitors. They stay in place, sound great. Ok, $500 for the cheap ones (including ear mold) but still a long way down from idiot audiophile prices over $1,000.
@Evansdoor@Salanth My son uses Westone brand IEM’s in his band. We found them at the same place I get my hearing aids. If you want to go this route look for a good hearing place locally. You will get a better fit this way.
I prefer Grado headphones. comfortable, different prices, and damn nice sound. I have the 125’s and might spring for a higher end pair if I ever feel a real need to do so.
Comfort is most important, but if they don’t sound good enough, I won’t bother.
The consequence of this lately is that I’ve all but stopped listening to music. Good open backed headphones seem to either induce or aggravate headaches, and earbuds don’t sound good enough.
Damn… I think I am officially getting old. “Comfort” was a quick and easy choice for me, and I love music.
If they aren’t comfortable, I can’t enjoy the sound. Now I can afford comfort and quality.
“Sound quality, comfort, or affordability?”
Pick any two…
do I look “cool” wearing them to the grocery store
@awk you look better than in a face diaper… well I hope you do.
Sound quality first and followed real close by comfort.
Sound quality… but they have to be comfortable. The most uncomfortable headphones I have tried are the nuraphones . Cool concept and decent sound, especially for gaming, but they hurt. I usually stay away from over the head at work because it messes up my hair.
IMO, the Sony MDR-7506 has all three, and one more: durability. The headband is metal, rather than the cheap plastic you see on a lot of similarly-priced cans. As long as they keep making them, it’s what I’m going to stick with. There’s a reason they’ve been around for 30 years.
@bocoroth big advantage also is that if you do break them they are common enough, especially in industry, that you can buy all kinds of replacement parts online
(on mine I set something heavy on them and the fork that holds the earcups to the band broke. Just glued them up temporarily and ordered a new piece for like 5 or 10 bucks)
@bocoroth The MDR-7506 reminds me of the MDR-V600 headphones I have that Sony discontinued. I will have to check them out.
definitely comfort. if they’re uncomfortable, i’m not going to wear them so /shrug
i’m not an ~audiophile~ either so sound quality, as long as it’s not truly dreadful, is fine at second place.
I only like in ear kind and I have a very hard time with in ear buds. I can’t stand apple kind they hurt my ears so bad. My ears are small and most of the rubber ones don’t come small enough to fit my ears and they keep falling out so I can’t even enjoy anything else if they won’t stay in my ears.
Go for musician in-ear monitors. They stay in place, sound great. Ok, $500 for the cheap ones (including ear mold) but still a long way down from idiot audiophile prices over $1,000.
@Evansdoor I may need to go this route because I’ve never found any comfortable in-ear options. I apparently have weird ears.
@Evansdoor @Salanth My son uses Westone brand IEM’s in his band. We found them at the same place I get my hearing aids. If you want to go this route look for a good hearing place locally. You will get a better fit this way.
I prefer Grado headphones. comfortable, different prices, and damn nice sound. I have the 125’s and might spring for a higher end pair if I ever feel a real need to do so.
Comfort is most important, but if they don’t sound good enough, I won’t bother.
The consequence of this lately is that I’ve all but stopped listening to music. Good open backed headphones seem to either induce or aggravate headaches, and earbuds don’t sound good enough.
For spoken word (audiobooks and podcasts)
Controls/ease of use and comfort
And price, i’m hard on them and break them.
For music
Comfort and sound quality.