Budget headphone buying advice

phoenix

phoenix

New member
So....the soft ear-protector bit on my headphones are looking rather the worse for wear these days.
I am looking for a pair of headphones to replace them. My budget is R400 tops. Suggestions please?


Thanks
 
Question is whether you are using them for music or gaming.

These Sennheiser's would be rather good for music and basic gaming. I like the brand and should not be to bad.

http://www.dionwired.co.za/headphones/sennheiser-dj-pro-stereo-closed-headphone.html

For gaming you might be looking at spending a bit more unfortunately.

I use my Sony virtual 7.1 surround Bluetooth headset on my PC as well and they sound great.
You might also want to look at these: Logitech G930 USB Connector Circumaural Wireless Gaming Headset and is about R800
or
Gioteck Multi EX-05 Stereo Headset - wired (PS3, PC, XBox 360) for R554 from Takealot
http://www.takealot.com/gaming/accessories/gioteck-multi-ex-05-stereo-headset-wired-ps3-pc-xbox-360,12810592

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Ike_009 said:
Save up for these guys.
http://titan-ice.co.za/corsair-vengeance-1300-analog-gaming-headset.html

Personally I would rather save up than settle for cheap earphones
Click to expand...

I would also save up and wait a bit longer for good ones.
 
@maaz, the audio quality of a headset is always inferior to that of a pair of headphones.

If you go the headset route, any Razer, Corsair or CM Storm one will do. But finding a decent one for R400 is tough.

As chan0o suggested, rather buy a pair of headphones and slap on the Zalman ZM-MIC 1. If you go this route, you can choose between DJ headphones (bass boosts, amplified highs with a 'smile curve' eq) or studio headphones (neutral or flat response rate).

If you're able to scrap some extra money together, the Sennheiser HD 419s are R599 and well worth it. Then stick the ZM-MIC 1 on and be on you way.

It's a far better alternative and that Zalman mic is extremely well built and effective for its price.
 
I'd give the 202s a miss too. Buying a manufacturer's bottom end product is rarely a good plan - even if its a good company.

I like the steelseries suggestion, but Jokers offer of 400 for the American Audio is hard to beat so I think that would be the best choice. Esp given that you mentioned budget is 400 tops.

----------------

Rant - somewhat OT.

Honestly I don't get this place.

Ask for headphones and you get a constant stream of "gaming" names and sundry marketing campaigns - razer, roccat, corsair, beats by dre etc.

Corsair has ~2.5 years experience at audio. Sennheiser - 68 years, Beyerdynamic - 89 years. Now I'm sure Corsair makes excellent products & learns fast but that fast - I find it difficult to believe?

Now obviously R400 bucks limits things, but its the same every time - even if OP has a 1k+ budget.

*sigh* - maybe I missed a memo somewhere. Perhaps experience no longer counts for anything.

Next time someone wants a PSU I'm going to recommend a Sennheiser PSU. Watch me. :p
 
I'm not seeing the issue. I've had Sennheisers, I still have a pair for my Ipod and I also have Corsair's 1500 earphones. Now I'm not saying Corsair is better but they have a great performance vs price ratio and would happily recommend them to anyone, especially when the guy has a tight budget.

I'm sorry if you don't like the brand but I when I'm recommending them it's not because they are a gamers brand or I'm just passing on a brand for being a brand but I'm genuinely happy with their products.
 
HavocXphere said:
Honestly I don't get this place.

Ask for headphones and you get a constant stream of "gaming" names and sundry marketing campaigns - razer, roccat, corsair, beats by dre etc.

Corsair has ~2.5 years experience at audio. Sennheiser - 68 years, Beyerdynamic - 89 years. Now I'm sure Corsair makes excellent products & learns fast but that fast - I find it difficult to believe?

Now obviously R400 bucks limits things, but its the same every time - even if OP has a 1k+ budget.

*sigh* - maybe I missed a memo somewhere. Perhaps experience no longer counts for anything.

Next time someone wants a PSU I'm going to recommend a Sennheiser PSU. Watch me. :p
Click to expand...

This is quite ridiculous.

OP states he wants a headset. Now, obviously, we want to make sure OP gets the best bang for buck and we'll try to offer the best way to stretch OPs money to get the best.

At R400, we're limited to very few 'decent' headsets/headphones. Personally, I feel buying headphones and using the Zalman clip-on mic to be the best solution.

If you're cloth-eared or are not an 'audiophile', then that option wouldn't appeal to you and you'd just use a headset for gaming, movies, music etc.

Obviously we cannot suggest a set of Beyerdynamics or AKGs or even Audio Technicas. Those are far out of the price range and is why they were never mentioned in the first place.

If OP can stretch his money past R400 to the ~R600 range, then the variety widens tremendously and we can offer better suggestions.

We're offering what we know personally from first hand experience. If someone like Ike_009 has used Corsair headsets and has had zero problems, then I don't see why him suggesting them would be such a bad thing.

I've had no issues with Sennheiser headphones and I stand by them in quality and construction.
 
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DuckKnuckle said:
...
Click to expand...
I clearly recommend he should go for Jokers' R400 offer. Then I added a nice striped line to split the post in two and added a comment that the rest is a rant and off-topic (signifying that it does not relate directly to OP's original topic).

...and yet by some miracle you managed to quote *only* the part clearly marked off-topic and proceeded to interpret it in terms of the original post. We'll chalk it up to you being new here.

You make a good point regarding the personal experience. :)

Ike_009 said:
I'm not seeing the issue. I've had Sennheisers, I still have a pair for my Ipod and I also have Corsair's 1500 earphones. Now I'm not saying Corsair is better but they have a great performance vs price ratio and would happily recommend them to anyone, especially when the guy has a tight budget.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Its not so much an issue as a trend that has me perplexed. In this instance I totally get the corsair angle (or better yet Jokers AA set). I've just noticed this trend even when the budget isn't all that tight - and it seems to be stronger here than other corners of the internet.

Anyway - apologies if I have offended anyway. It was not intended as an attack but rather as a comment on a trend I find perplexing. Carry on...
 
HavocXphere said:
We'll chalk it up to you being new here.

Anyway - apologies if I have offended anyway. It was not intended as an attack but rather as a comment on a trend I find perplexing. Carry on...
Click to expand...

My time registered here doesn't correlate with my audio experience.

But moving on. Didn't mean to 'attack', but you came off as generalising where we were offering genuine suggestions.

But anyway, to quote Joker and HavocXphere, those AA cans have received good reviews and for R400, they're a steal.
 
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The most important thing here is whether you are going to use the headphones for music or gaming. Get a decent set for gaming as it sucks when your mic is bad quality and people cannot hear you. Also, when it is for gaming it pays to get the virtual surround ones as it just adds to the immersion. My Sony headphones are awesome and I love them to bits. They've been on special at various places for around R799 while the retail price is R1299. Check them out.
 
For the most part, I shall be using them for listening to music, and watching movies at night so that I don't disturb the fellow in the room next to mine. I would use them while playing games at this time too, but don't think that I would need a microphone unless I had a good reason to use Skype or the next great multiplayer RPG depended on voice for part of its excellence.

Currently have pretty old Sennheiser HD 201s.

Thank you to all of you for your input.

Joker: how sturdy are the HP 700s?
 
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