Headphones.

We've discussed this before. 

My Bose headphones have died. They are 6-8 years old. I've rebuilt them before. I think it might be time to replace them. 

I don't mind spending money for sound quality as long as they are reasonably durable. The Bose set was about $150. I don't fly or deal with public transport so I don't think I want noise canceling unless someone can convince me otherwise. They are mostly used for music while sitting in my living room. 

What does everyone recommend. I despise sticking things in my ears so earbuds are out. Over ear are preferred, on ear can be tolerated if they are lightweight. 

This. Watching for good suggestions because SWMBO often doesn't approve of my music tastes.

Grado 60s are my favorite

MDR-7506?

I believe Koss still sells the Pro 4AA headphones.

Which ones are the ones that make you look like Mary's handicapped brother Warren in There's Something About Mary?

I like the Sennheiser HD 558. It has a neutral sound signature so can seem a little clinical to some ears but there is plenty of bottom end. Be aware they need amplification  - your iPhone isn’t going to drive them. There is a lot of detail, they will expose subpar audio sources (like badly compressed MP3 files).  The construction is light and they are easy to wear but so much plastic is a little off-putting at $150  

My go-to favorite phones are Beyerdynamic DT 990. They are a little warmer and richer than the HD 558 without being boomy or manipulated to thump for the bassheads. They are available in several impedances if you must drive them with a portable device.  Tons of detail here, same caution as above about source material applies. Substantial feeling, mostly aluminum construction.  You will look like Warren wearing them.   

Both are open headphones. The soundstage of an open phone can be bigger than closed cans, which is nice, but others nearby may hear your music at higher volume levels if that’s a consideration.

I retired and sold Sennheiser HD 380s, an Audio Technica ATH-M30, AKG K240 and a Sony MDR-V6; all are well regarded but couldn’t keep up with the Senns and Beyers.  

I have a pair of Skullcandy Hesh 2 headphones, and I really like them when I can wrestle them away from my kids and/or my wife.

Second Sennheiser's. The 6XX series are excellent. Massdrop just finished up a crazy deal on them so the timing is bad deal wise.

Sennheisers are good.  I liked the Momentums and HD series.

Audio Technica also good.  ATH-M50 I think.

On the cheap end, I've been pretty happy with Monoprice 8323 for not crying if they're lost/broken/stolen.  They're down to something like $15 these days.

I hear PSB M4U1 (non-noise-cancelling) or M4U2 (noise-cancelling) are good, but I've never listened to them.

Final note: if you're auditioning them, the good ones will have good bass/treble response, but not thumpy or "sparkly".  I was impressed on initial audition of a pair of pioneer headphones, but they turned out to be fatiguing for listening for more than an hour.

I love my Sennheiser HD600s and despite trying much more expensive headphones these remain some of my favorites. But they are open back and really need a good amplifier to sing so you are looking at say $400 for the headphones and an amplifier (the Schiit Magni 3 is an excellent choice). They are not mobile though between the open back and the need for a decently powerful amp. But IMO this is the best value in headphones in terms of build quality and sound quality. Really the intro to high end headphones.

The Grados are pretty good on certain genres of music but they are over ear which some people hate and they can be a bit bright which can be fatiguing. Also open back which limits the portability but they can fold up pretty well, there is a large aftermarket community for them, made in the USA and they are easy to drive. SR60s remain one of the best values on the market and they IMO are one of the best headphones for rock. The RS1s are also audiophile classics. I really want to spend some time auditioning a set of GS1000s. I very much recommend trying out Grados before buying. They are one of the most polarizing headphones.

My absolute favorite headphones I have tried out where ZMF Eikons (if you are feeling pretty flush with cash) and various electrostatics like Stax or the Koss ESP-950. The Eikons just sound incredible but you are looking at $1400 and they are fairly large. You are find Stax and Koss at reasonable cost and they will sound like no other headphone you listen to. The Koss are incredibly comfortable and come with a life time warranty. Electrostatics require a dedicated amp so they are not portable at all.

If you need privacy provided by an closed back, I would suggest either the Meze 99 Classics or the B&O H6. The Meze 99 Classics are the best sounding closed backs I have tried and they look incredible but they don't fold up so portability isn't the best. The H6 has had two generations. V1 is a bit brighter then V2. I have a pair for work/travel. They don't sound quite as good as the 99 Classics but they are more portable. The Sennheiser HD598CS is also an excellent cheaper closed back.

For a cheap headphone, the Superlux HD668b is a pretty sweet budget option. They are pretty hard to beat for ~$40. Honestly if they were $100 I'd still think they were pretty good. The build quality is surprising good for $40 and the sound is really good. I have swapped the pads on mine for velour AKG K240 pads from eBay which changes the sound. They are semi open. 

Things that I don't recommend, the Sony MDR series (yes they were great in the 90s but in todays market they lack SQ of many other closed backs), Audio Technica ATH-M50X (unless you just want thumping bass there are much better closed backs on the market) and Bose.

Personally I have HD600s, Grado SR60e, vintage Grado SR80, vintage Realistic Pro50s (which use 600 ohm AKG K240 Sexett drivers), vintage modified Yamaha HP1 orthodynamics, H6s and the Superlux HD668b plus a Schiit Magni 2, modified Bravo V2 hybrid tube amp and a Schiit Modi DAC. Working on a set of Grado style headphones with aftermarket drivers and a Starving Student hybrid tube amp and I want to add a Liquid Carbon amp in the near future.

For a closed-back headphone that keeps a lot of ambient sound out without active noise canceling, I can make a positive recommendation on the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's.  I apparently have what is now referred to as the "old model" and I don't know what changes were made to them.  They retail for around $100 USD.  I bought them due to working in office environments where coworkers can be distracting.  I find them comfortable for a couple hours at a time, easily.  

pres589 said:

For a closed-back headphone that keeps a lot of ambient sound out without active noise canceling, I can make a positive recommendation on the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's.  I apparently have what is now referred to as the "old model" and I don't know what changes were made to them.  They retail for around $100 USD.  I bought them due to working in office environments where coworkers can be distracting.  I find them comfortable for a couple hours at a time, easily.  

These are what I have along with a Headroom BitHead amp. Prefer Grado's but I like to listen loud and I'm in open office environment now, so I don't want others to have to hear me blasting Meshuggah or Cannibal Corpse or whatever. 

In reply to pres589 :

I can confirm they're a good pick.  Used them for a while when I was running the sound board at my church.

scardeal said:

In reply to pres589 :

I can confirm they're a good pick.  Used them for a while when I was running the sound board at my church.

Yep I would recommend these if you don't want to spend a lot and still have good quality. Don't need to amp these for good sound either. 

I bought my wife a pair of Bowers & Wilkins P7 wireless headphones for her birthday this past January. They are great, the best headphones we've ever owned. The quality is great and the leather is comfortable, its light, and sounds amazing. No regrets. I want a pair for myself! 

Not totally analogous to the situation at hand, but I've got two pair of headphones I like. I havea set of shure se215k earbuds, that are usually on sale for like 90 bucks. This won't help you, but maybe others. The other set I use is actually a gaming headset. I managed to find a sennheiser game zero for 150 bucks on clearance a ways back, and I use it as regular sound when I'm just sitting at home. It is not cordless however, and it's not totally sound isolating, though it is over ear and white comfortable.  I keep looking at the massdrop sennheiser 6xx for a dedicated set. 

I have multiple dozens of headphones and have spent way too much time critically listening to them for comparison purposes.  

A general reminder for people unaware: open-back headphones leak sound both in and out.  If someone is in the same room, they can hear what you hear, depending on volume level and external noise, etc.  Some headphones are very open, and listening at even moderate volume with low environment noise means someone could hear them in another room.  Also, open means you can more easily hear things like computer fans and air-conditioning, etc.  Closed-back headphones can also leak sound, but not nearly as much.

DAC and amp can be very important.  Some headphones will sound awful without a decent amplifier to power them.  Plenty of people use a high-ohm headphone with their cheap phone or plugged straight into their computer that has typical bad onboard sound, and then blame the headphone when it sounds bad or doesn't sound better than their $5 headphones.  The DAC might be of low quality, but the amp is probably underpowering them too.

I could go on typing another 20 paragraphs.  The main point is that asking what headphone is good is a very broad question that has many possible answers depending on environment, amplifier, price, what kind of sound you're looking for, how big of a soundstage you're looking for, etc.

Some nice lower budget ones are most Superlux/Samson, the Sennheiser HD558 if it's on sale, the Philips SHP9500.  In the lower 100s on my short list would be things like Beyerdynamic DT880 and DT990.  DT990 can be love/hate with its big treble spike.  There's lots of choices up around $200.  Also, diminishing returns can be a big thing for headphones.  A $300 pair usually sounds better than a $50 pair, but it's not going to sound six times better, or probably even twice better.  And remember many/most higher $ headphones require a decent amplifier to sound like they're supposed to.

In reply to DejaVue :

Can you talk about in-ears/buds? I’d like to hear about your experience. 

I rarely use in-ear stuff, so after reading about the best $10-ish ones and getting 10 or so of those, and finding most of them nice in their own ways, and being cheap enough that I don't care if they get lost or broken during travel, that's where I currently am with those.  Off the top of my head:

Rock Zircon. airy and v-shaped, small and stylish. I prefer more mids and a more even sound, so I don't listen to these as much as I used to, but they are good at what they do. I changed the tips to reduce the boomy bass.

Practically any KZ is good, ATE and similar are popular.  ED2 is probably an unbeatable value since it can be as low as $3 shipped, and I can understand if people prefer it regardless of price.  My favorite is probably ED8 but they might not be made anymore and are like bolts sticking out of your ears.

Those and many others are only available online from Chinese sellers.  Some are on Amazon and ebay but they get marked up.

Some nice ones available in regular stores are the Philips SHE3580 and similar/newer models.  The Panasonic TCM125 (and the cheaper HJE no-mic version) won the tested.com 40-pair in-ear shootout in 2013, and I can understand why.  They don't really do anything wrong so are easy to not hate, the warm with nice mids and dull highs sound is great for people plugging them into typical mediocre-sounding phones using typical mediocre-bitrate mp3s etc.  Combine the close but laid-back sound with good noise suppression, and that's why I use these while cutting the grass. 

There's lots of other nice in their own way IEMs and earbuds, this is just a (above average) portion of the $10 zone I've been talking about.  A thing about IEMs and especially buds (and portable headphones) is if they're not good at blocking sound then the noise of the outside environment can make for a lot of diminishing returns on better-sounding ones, like having a nice car stereo while having lots of road and wind noise. 

In reply to Toyman01 :

I have ATX MH50X, fairly comfortable.

I really like my Grado SR80e headphones, but they're the only "nice" headphones I've had.

One thing about earbuds, for the in-canal models sound quality depends on getting a tight fit, especially for bass response. Anatomy varies so you will want to experiment with the different sizes included with the buds, or pick up a set of replacements from Amazon.  You can get foam or silicone for not much money.  

I nearly threw away a set of JBL buds until I swapped to a larger set of tips, which was a revelation. I use the jBLs around the house and a set of Audio Technica ATH-CKX7iS in the gym (somehow I found them for $12, I see they are more like $50 now).

One other thing, think of your intended use when picking out earbuds. In-canal is great for reducing outside sounds in the gym or office but can be disorienting outdoors, like walking or running.  And they can stethoscope cord noises.  Read the user reviews in addition to the pro write-ups, they can highlight practical issues that don’t crop up in some tests. 

Grado SR125i's or 325I's if you can go up in budget to around 225-250$.

I use SR325i for mixing and most of my listening. They last forever.

Agreed on foam replacement tips for earbuds.  Something about the material used on the rubber-esque tips that come with most earbuds doesn't make the skin in my ear channel happy and I can't wear them for very long.  Almost like an allergic reaction, where they feel like they're burning/itching.  The foam tips also block out a lot more external sound.