best headphones for under £150 DT250 vs ATH-M50

[lapieuvre]

Sony MDR 7506

[Slightlydelic]

have a look on the sound on sound web site, they did a big headphone review a while back. might be good to cross reference anything youve already read.

[madlab]

Recently bought Ultrasone headphones for 150€ and I really dig them ! I already have a Beyer DT 250 and the ultrasone compares quite well with these and are cheaper. I'd say that the stereo imaging seems much more accurate to me and the details much more revealing with the ultrasone.

[madlab]

Pro 550.

[madlab]

there are 2 kinds of DT250, 80 ohm and 150 ohm, not sure what the difference is.

The different impedances give different output powers.

One issue that's especially important when choosing a pair of headphones is impedance. So called low impedance and high impedance pairs should not be intermixed.
Low impedance headsets may vary from 75 ohms up to about 150 ohms. Phones in this impedance range may be directly plugged into the headphone jack routinely found on recording and playback equipment.
Higher impedances sets normally have an impedance of around 600 ohms; these are more useful in studio installations where many units may be wired in parallel for studio monitoring applications.
The 600-ohm models are more rugged than low impedance ones in that the higher resistance coils are less susceptible to burn out than low impedance models. On the other hand, high impedance sets require a higher driving signal to produce the same level of sound output in comparison to low impedance headsets.
This means that low impedance headphones will sound louder when plugged in devices with low output voltages such as portable CD players, etc. In reality, because of the limited power available from portable players, headsets for portable use should have a maximum impedance of 64 ohms.
Worth keeping in mind here that the lower the impedance, the more efficient headphones are in converting the incoming electrical energy into sound. On the contrary, the higher the impedance, the more electrical energy is required to drive the headsets tiny speakers.

[leedsquietman]

Don't go too much by this chart, it's a very limited test and it's based on one track (I believe a drum machine sample) so these stats can be changeable depending on the listening material.

Test a few out and see which you prefer, but for me the ATH-M50 is the best headphone sub $150 (and can often be picked up for less than $120 US if you shop around). YMMV.

The Sony MDR 7509HD is a good headphone, better than the 7506 but obviously more expensive. Ultrasones - some people love 'em, others not so much, the Sound on Sound review doesn't favour them too highly but again, YMMV. They seem to be more popular with the DJ and electronic music people than other genres.

People are just gonna give you their recommendations based on what they own - so the most objective thing is to test a few different headphones with a commercial CD and burn a CD of your own tracks, and see which works best for you.

[chris vine]

FWIW I have been using some DT250's for ten years live and in the studio and they are fantastic.

[leedsquietman]

I'm sure you won't be disappointed, I love mine.

[leedsquietman]

They need about 50 hours of burn in to be optimal, so make sure you use them plenty in that grace period.

I found mine were significantly better after only 10 hours though than some other headphones I've tried in the past.

[oxygen23]

I'm sure you won't be disappointed, I love mine.

+1 ..

I agree..I am owner of DT-770 and ATH-M50, and I prefer M50

Cheers

[Mister Natural]

good call on the ATs - love my set

great bass, neutral mids, soft treble that's still very detailed

[locojohn]

I'm sure you won't be disappointed, I love mine.

+1. Excellent phones for studio work !

Andrejs

[rhythm_kitchen]

As stated: Sony MDR 7506s ($99 bucks at Sweetwater). The cables/contacts survive abuse unlike (ALL) including Sennheisers, Beyer, AKG, etc... trust us the only ones still working still are the 7506s and they are 'flat' as in you can mix in em.