I'm going to buy some headphones with attached mic. I don't really know the brands though.

What's good and what's not?

I bought a Logitec headset + mic for 15 dollars a year ago. It has served me well. If all you are going to use it for is gaming, there really isnt much of a need to look for something expensive.

I just want good sound quality.

I got AOpen HD-780s I do believe. I destroyed them with a stray step, but they had served me well for 8-ish months. *sigh*

If you take care of them, they're great headphones. Only 17 bucks too.

http://www.plantronic.com/north_america/en_US/products/cat640035/cat640035/prod440016

That's the one I have. Notice the nice rubber pads above the ears, and the metal telescopic arm for the mic. The sound quality is fantastic. I paid $35 Canadian for them in a Radio Shack, might want to check one out near you.

Plantronics is awful. I won't post my rant this time. Listen to Emon.

Every ear hears different. So, taking suggestions is no good. One person could have a 'wicked sweet headset' and you might think it sucks arse. My friend has these $80 headphones, and I prefer my $20 headphones over his. Just the way your ear hears things.

What kind of $80 headphones? What was the source used? Amped or unamped? With crappy equipment pumping out the sound, it is still going to sound like crap regardless. Also, high price != high quality. You'd be surprised about how much people pay for total crap.

My Grado SR-80 with flat pads sounds wonderful compared to any $20 headphone I've used. This is connected to a vintage Marantz 2215B receiver (powered by an Emu 404 sound card) and my Rio Karma. I suspect that it would be better with a dedicated headphone amp, or at least a better matching receiver.

Oh, and I second Emon.

Malus is right. If your friend had good $80 headphones, say Grado SR-60s from a good source, they would sound far superior to any ear than any $20 pair of headphones.

My SR-80s were like $80, SR-60s can be had for less.

Sennheiser > Plantronics -- I'll agree on you with that.

But my headset is one of the only that I found that will actually fit comfortably aroung the back of my head. I have a BIG head. :p And no one deals Sennheiser products at home (I'm away at school now, but I bought this headset a year ago). There's one place, but he only deals pro audio equipment, and headphones are only on special order - meaning that I could not have tried them.

Not really. We just learned all of this stuff last year in Electronics. We spent half a year on amplifiers.

Learned what? I'd trust a bunch of audiophiles before someone who claimed to have learned everything from a beginner's electronics course. However, I would like to hear your expertise on the subject.

I think you need to realize that all headphones, amps, receivers, etc. are not created equal. Even without an amp, I noticed a huge difference between my Sennheiser earbuds and my Grado SR-80s. If you can't hear a difference, that could just be a problem with your ears or your source.

Hehe, beginner's electronics course. 3 hours a day for 4 years, and nationally certified in electronics doesn't seem very 'beginner' to me.

A man thats deaf in one ear wouldnt buy stereo headphones (You hear in stereo but your brain turns it into mono, so by stereo I mean like vocals out left ear, music out the right or something...you get the idea :p), just like a person wouldn't buy 80 dollar headphones that dont sound to great to him over a 20 dollar pair that sounds excellent to them.

You know how some people can hear frequencies higher then others? Some people can hear the hum from a TV, while others don't notice. Hearing is a lot light eye sight in the sense that no two people really hear the same. Bass and Trebel switches and such on cars are there for people to adjust, because not everyone hears/likes their music the same way. That's the basic simple version of it. I don't want to get into frequency cut-off, bandwith (3db point) and all that other crap for now.

i want some

SAJN, sound quality isn't just about frequencies. I suggest doing some research before posting on the subject...Try Head-Fi.

Also, Malus, I could only find the SR-60s for I think 75, the SR-80s for 90 about.

Eh, I thought they went cheaper. Oh well, still decent prices I suppose.

If $20 earbuds sound better than $80 headphones to you, then good for you. However, don't use it as an excuse to say that all hi end headphones suck, or that all cheap headphones are great.

And please don't touch my electronics.

Err, no offense, you should be doing the research. I know I am talking about the right stuff.

Also notice I didn't said frequency had to do with the sound quality.



All I see is me giving examples of various things about how we hear, leading up to my point below...



I know what I'm talking about, you just read it wrong.

I said I'd give the simple version, and I did. I didn't want to get into amlification (which I should have a bit, duh) and resistance, IC's, capaci-blah blah blah...

The point was, no two people hear alike, so quality only goes so far. A $20 pair of headphones to one man might be better then an $80 pair of headphones to another man. Obviously if you make your own amplifier out of a few simple parts and such it isn't going to sound as good as a store bought one. But if you know how to build things, there are simple ways to make things to your liking very cheap.

Ex. One of the seniors at my school made a key chain amplifier. It was so small he just looped it around his keychain, and he had two jacks on the end of it. So he would be on the bus, whip out his keychain amp and hook it up to a pair of built in speakers and his CD player. Fun fun. Another person used more materials but less knowledge, and came out with a three times as big (and expensive) amp, it didn't sound nearly as good. (to me atleast )



Wow, I NEVER said all cheap headphones were good (I also never said earbud) and I NEVER said all $80 headphones are crap. You people should learn to read. I said depending on the person and what sounds good to them. Yes it is a FACT that price doesn't always mean quality, it's a fact that people hear differently.learnign about/teaching/using electronics for more years then you are old (Maybe even times two or three). Stop making up crap. I never made up an excuse to make all low ends sound better then hi ends.



And please don't twists my posts around to make it sound like I said things I never said.

Sorry, I thought you implied it, my mistake.

Curious, why do you think you know so much after taking basic electronics?

I really don't consider 3 hours a day for 4 years, and being nationally certified 'basic'. That's just me :/

I'm not trying to be an jerk, but it's kind of an insult when I am trying to explain something without being technical then I get people saying "You don't know what your talking about! Research first blah blah" when I infact know exactly what I am talking about. But if I use a lot of technical terms people just stare at me blankly.

Try me.

good headphones and a cheap mic... you are not gonna be recording music through a headset mic so why bother going for sound quality there... any pc mic can handle voice for gaming well enough...

If you actually talked about it, it would be easier to believe you. Though I'm more into computer science and mathematics (and not electrical stuff), I would enjoy to hear about your area of expertise. Enlighten me.



Headphones do sound different for different people. For the most part, however, a $20 headphone will just not be the same as an $80 headphone. I think the problem is that most people don't care about sound quality; they just like to have too much bass or the something of that nature. As long as they can hear it, why should they care?



Not true at all. There are quite a few people that make wonderful home-built amplifiers. Saying a device is not as good because it was not bought from a store is absurd. My headphones were made in a basement of a home in New York (or so I was told), yet they sound much better than headphones produced by large companies.



What is this an example of? I thought this discussion was pertaining to headphones, not home-built amps? I guess this proves that price does not equal quality, but this is a pretty poor example. Assuming that a person is skilled at building amps, one would have to assume that a better amp would result if he used better parts. You make it seem like your implying that price will never matter, when it really does. Sure, it may not apply to every case, but I would say it applies to the majority.



Wow, touchy. Getting awfully defensive for someone who claims to be totally in the right. I'll concede that price does not always mean quality, but you give the impression that price doesn't matter, or that we don't know what you're talking about.

Also, I never claimed that you said anything; I just said don't use it as an excuse. No where did my post say "SAJN SAID THIS!!!11111" My apologies for coming across harsh, but I think you're getting a little flustered for no reason. Naturally, I'm going to be a bit defensive when you talk about high-end phones so poorly.

Futhermore, you need to work on your insults. Making fun of my age doesn't really bother me. I could make fun of your wonderful typing skills or your cocky attitude, but that wouldn't be very productive. I suppose it wasn't very nice of me to tell you not to touch my electronics, but you still haven't given us enough detail about your expertise. If you really know the subject well, then it should only take a post or two to prove your point. No sense in beating around the bush. No one is going to take you seriously if you have a "I know but I'm not going to tell you" attitude.



I didn't twist anything around. You just got your panties in a knot.



Uh, the problem is that when you're not being technical, no one is inclined to believe you.

Also, you are trying to be a jerk if you're going to prance around with that snobby "I'm better than you" attitude. You don't have to brag about your expertise in every post, just show it. No one is going to stare at you blankly, so don't be afraid to prove us wrong.