Greiko

Alrighty,

I'm a soldier in the US ARMY and i'm currently in iraq, I'm not an expert on music, nor a musician of any kind.. However, I do love music. So I take my head phones seriously.

I've tried to do some research and I found two head phones that I want in my price range.

Either the Grado RS2i

OR

the hennheiser HD 650.

Mock me all you want, I have an Ipod, nothing fancy, but it's the only thing I could find in iraq. I listen mostly to Rock, although I dip into everything else occasionally.

SO! I figured if anyone would know which of the pair I should get it would be you guys.

Thanks for any input you can give me.

-Greiko

crash_override

Go with Bose. I have triports and they work great. i got them for 120.

Greiko

Alright, any models I should check out specifically.

Also, is there a major difference in the sound quality that the two head phones I mentioned produce than with your bose?

thanks.

crash_override

Well Bose are top of the line. Along with most Sennheiser brand, I have the Triport model and they sound amazing and drown out alot of ambient noise. They aren't completely noise cancelling however. If that's what you want, look into the Bose QC2 model. Those are about the best personal headphones money can buy.

Greiko

thats wht i want the best i can get for 600 or less

crash_override

Bose QuietComfort 2 Headphones

Best bet. Unless you're a DJ or something, these are the best headphones I have ever heard for personal use. They're better than mine, and mine are super nice. I think they run a little under $300 american.

Freebase Dali

With all the hazard duty pay and tax free-ness you're enjoying, you could afford anything. But yea, you'll find some great headphones in your price range. Go with Crash on this.

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crash_override

Save the rest and go crazy on I-Tunes.

GuitarBizarre

I HIGHLY disagree with the recommendation of Bose ANYTHING.

Bose in my opinion have always been a company considerably more focused on marketing and lifestyle equipment than audio of any kind.

The Grado's would be my choice, but depending on what kind of iPod you have, you'll find they're going to WAY outmatch the iPod itself. The Analogue outputs on the current classics are way sub par, and even units with good analogue outputs, like the Creative Zen Vision:M that I used to own, the limitations of the small package are readily evident even when listening through Grado's SR60s, which while great in their own right are a good ways behind the RS2is.


Bear in mind your usage too. If yougo for open style headphones like the Grados, you'll get ambient noise creeping in and will want to be in a quiet place to listen. How feasible that is in the middle of a tour in Iraq I don't know. The same flaw is evident with the sennheisers.

If you want really great sound with great ambient noise reduction, I would recommend looking into some good earbuds, particularly those available with custom tips, like the Etymotic ones, or Ultimate Ears. (Disadvantage - You'll need to have an ear impression taken to get the truly custom ones. If thats impossible, you can still get a great, high quality replacement tip to suit you from a company called Comply who specialize in replacement tips made from a special silicon foam.)

Some of the best earbuds available are made by Shure, they sound great, they block out a lot of ambient noise and latent cable noise is low. The only disadvantage to them is that like all earbud type headphones, bass reproduction is lower than similarly priced full cover headphones, although according to all reviews of the shures I link to below, that problem is pretty much negated in their more expensive designs due to the use of seperate drivers in the earbud housing.

Check these out.

Shure - SE Products - SE530 - Sound Isolating Earphones
Etymotic Research, Inc. - Musicians Earplugs
Ultimate Ears Custom Ear Plugs - Custom Store - Ultimate Ears Earphones Headphones Personal Monitors
Tx-100)

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Greiko

Awesome, alright.

I really do want the Grado's but you are right, they don't cut out ambiant noise. which is important for me. And.. all I use is my ipod or laptop, so maybe it's a waste of money to invest in something that I can't use to it's full potential.

Ok, i'll check out everything you guys sent, thanks a lot for your help.

-Greiko