Topic: Suggestions field headphones under $40?!

[HealthCov Chris]

Looking for quality headphones under $40 to take to festivals and indoor shows to monitor recordings.  I tend to leave things behind, so don't want to take my good ones. 

[chinariderstl]

I like these dogs, they are my "backup" cans; a step down from my MDR-7506's.

You can't beat them for 40 bones.

# Sony MDR-7502
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/49508-REG/Sony_MDR_7502_MDR_7502_Headphone.html

[voltronic]

I used to have a set of these, and they are way better than you'd expect for the price.  They get smoked by my much more expensive Sennheisers for detail and range extension at both ends, but for sealed cans for live show monitoring, they're plenty good enough.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=108&cp_id=10823&cs_id=1082302&p_id=8323&seq=1&format=2&cpncd=XPERT912&ref=cj

[John Willett]

Sennheiser HD 201 - cheap, rugged and seemto be popular with professionals who need cheap but quality cans.

[mfrench]

I've heard a pair of these Tascam headphones before while recording live acoustic music.  I thought that they sounded as good as my Sony 7506 cans.
For $18, its a no brainer.
https://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-TH02-B-Closed-Back-Stylish-Headphone/dp/B00B1N06PO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469103849&sr=8-1&keywords=tascam+headphones

[2manyrocks]

I respectfully offer the observation that ear buds offer better isolation and are easier to carry.  They may be more affordable as well.

[Brian Skalinder]

I respectfully offer the observation that ear buds offer better isolation and are easier to carry.  They may be more affordable as well.

This.  Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with any specific < $40 products, but I'm fairly certain they're available.

[voltronic]

I respectfully offer the observation that ear buds offer better isolation and are easier to carry.  They may be more affordable as well.

The ones I suggested are sealed circumaural phones and they isolate very well.  I haven't found cheap in-ears that isolate better until moving up to my Etymotics.

[Fried Chicken Boy]

I respectfully offer the observation that ear buds offer better isolation and are easier to carry.  They may be more affordable as well.

This.  Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with any specific < $40 products, but I'm fairly certain they're available.

x3

Reading all the recent posts regarding our taping brethren with damaged hearing (not due to the use of headphones but other factors; a cautionary tale nonetheless), I would no longer consider headphones to be an option when monitoring in the field.  Even the best cans can't isolate as well as IEMs or earbuds.  Less isolation means you'll have to turn the volume up louder to hear your mix in the field, and turning up the volume will have a greater impact on your hearing. 

[HealthCov Chris]

Thanks for all the feedback!  I went to Homegrown Music Festival this past weekend and took my expensive (for me) AKG headphones against my better judgement.  They came home fine, but I'm not sure they offered any better use for my purposes.  In the past I used my Klipsch S4 earbuds, but saw all the other tapers with full size headphones and thought I may be missing something.  Glad to see there are several other earbud votes out there.  I guess next show I will take both and do a comparison to see if there is any need for full size cans.

[acidjack]

I've never understood the logic of using over-the-ear headphones while recording shows; even for the ones with pretty good sound isolation like the Senn HD280s there is still WAY too much outside noise to be able to hear much of anything. All you're really doing is listening to see if there are obvious errors in what's being recorded that you can't see with your eyes on the level meters (e.g., random interference).

I'd just get a pair of half-decent earbuds with good sound isolation. I believe Etymotic makes a pair that's not too expensive and would fit that bill, but honestly, pretty much anything will do. Earbuds also have the advantage of requiring less energy to drive, so you can get more volume out of them.

[earmonger]

There's a difference between earbuds (like the throwaway headphones that come with most phones and players) and IEMs, in-ear monitors.

IEMs go deeper in your ear and create a seal against outside noise--basically they are earplugs with speakers built in.  Often they have a few different sleeves of various thicknesses to make sure you get a good tight fit.

The Etymotics that people are recommending are IEMs, so that's cool, and Etymotic was possibly the first and definitely one of the first to make IEMs.

But there are many, many other IEMs available now at various price points. I'm a big fan of Shure IEMs--often what your rock singers are wearing for monitors onstage--but there are a lot of newer choices depending on your budget. Good old www.head-fi.org has all sorts of reviews and comparisons--enough to drive you up the wall, actually, but if it's something basically for monitoring while recording  on a certain budget you'll get an idea. 

http://theheadphonelist.com/headphone-list/
http://theheadphonelist.com/earphone-buyers-guide/

For ultra-cheap and pretty decent sounding, you can get the Xiomai Piston 3 from geekbuying.com for under $10.