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Bottom-Feeder 'Phones - The Cheaphone Thread

macaltec said:
Instant Koss Porta Pro fan.
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Jammin with my new to me Sony WM-10II. The Yaxi pads are much better than what comes standard.

Gonna try them with my Schiit Fulla and Spotify later.
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I just picked up a pair of all black Koss Porta Pro off Amazon for $27. The all black treatment treats the headband, making it keep its place rather than wanting to collapse back to the smallest size. These are an amazing headphone, still competing with anything under $100 after being in production since 1984! They are my go-to on my public transit commute, or when doing yard work or workouts for that matter.

For $27, anyone can pick these up and be amazed at how well they present a soundstage. They are light on the head(my ears heat up with lots of the heavy phones) and have bass performance that they have no business having. A warm presentation that is easy on the ears.

I've done the Yaxi pad mod, and something called the Kramer mod to one of my Porta Pro pairs(the Amazon pair was my third). The Kramer mod is to remove the plastic plate that covers/protects the drivers and drill 18 holes in it at strategic points, then reinstall. The result is more subtle than overwhelming, but it adds some air/presence to the sound. Others do ear pad mods, headband mods, or dynamat mods and it's surprising just how easy it is to mod these things!
 
EyeHateGod said:
Samson SR850 all day long. Sound absolutely terrible for the first week or so but after that they are clinically flat and accurate. They have most neutral and flat bass response I’ve heard yet. You can get different padded cover for them if the fake leather makes your head warm. They can be bought here in the uk for under £25! Unbelievable value
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I couldn't agree more! For the price, it's the best deal in audio.
 
I've used and abused my Samsung EO-IG955 earphones (not really a headphones user) for over 2 years now, and they're outstanding for being free earphones (came with my Samsung S9). They have a coaxial driver design and are tuned by AKG, nice braided cable and good build quality
 
Some time in the mid-80's I had cheap Koss phones that were about the size of Senn 414's yellow-pads but sounded a lot better. Don't remember the model but they're weren't Porta Pro's, had no temple pad. It was an on-ear design with full pads (not donut). Pads were blue with a black plastic frame-grille on the back of the pads with plastic head-band. Paid $30 or so for them to use with a Walkman as they sounded much better than the uber-cheap ones Sony provided. Like I said they sounded better that the aforementioned Senn 414's which had almost no bass. Been looking all over the Net to find what model but so far no luck :(
 
New to headphones and I'm cheap because it"s required when you're disabled. I'm an analog guy and first thing I realized is headphones voiced for digital don't sound good with an analog source. So, the Sony mdr x10 don't cut mustard. They sound veiled. The v-moda crossfire don't sound much better, good thing I have less than forty into each pair or I'd have trouble getting my money back. My first headphones I bought were the philips 9500's. These are OK at low volume but don't play loud enough for me. They don't play welle ought to get me involved with the music. Next analog phones were vintage pioneer the black ones top of the line. These need some restoration as I can't believe they were this bad when new, so they have been abandoned. I could have given up at this stage but that's not my nature. Got a pair of Sennheiser 200 and gave them to my wife. She really likes them and so did. For what they are, they sound pretty good and for$20 a good buy. Next, as my research continues, I bought a pair of K Mart skh-50. My research compared these cans to a pair of Stax phones. True or not, these outplay anything I had previously purchased so I got more than my $20 worth. There are dynamic and engaging. Next, my best score for $24 plus shipping I got a pair of those $1500 AKG cans that get a lot of so so reviews. Now I don't know how they sound with a digital source but these are Outstanding with an analog source. First time put them on I didn't want to take them off! You hear it all, every little nuance and suck you into the music. I bought these because I figured at $1500 people would expect the musicians to pop right out in front you. Absolutely outstanding! I got a pair of vintage Sansui ss headphones today and understand why these get the love they do. These headphones have a balanced presentation and are voiced similarly to the vintage speakers many of us own. The bass is there at the level of vintage rock, not excentuated like much of today's music. They engaging but a bit uncomfortable, I need to soften up those old leather earpads. Also, these fit me somewhere between on ear and over ear with my ear lobes getting smashed by the pads. Did people have smaller ears back then? Lastly, I don't listen to my headphones often as I like as I can't hear my wife if she needs me. I've got many speakers I really like That's all folks. Hopefully my tablet has submitted too often other words than the ones I 've tried to write. It's been a rough day here for those like me who are weather sensitive, I've got "granny" beat by a mile. I CA feel a storm coming two days before it get here. Over and out. john
 
When I think cheap but good sq, Koss Porta Pro, Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro, and Sony MDR-7506 spring to mind.

Also Grado SR80. Like Sony, are priced above $100 but compared to the crazy high prices for "audiophile" headphones, these are cheap and can be picked up used even cheaper.
 
All of these posts give me hope there is something out there at a cheap price lol. Porta Pro is a raved about set that a friend of mine owns.. he says there’s a cheaper set with same drivers,,, i mY get rhat one :). I’m so super cheap. Lol
 
Does anyone own both the Port Pro and Phillips 9500? What are the differences between them and which sounds beat to you?
 
Beats headphones SHOULD be bottom feeder cheapies. Does anyone remember the thread that had a link to the break down of what it acually cost to manufacture a pair from raw materials to finished product? If I remember right, it was something like $19. :rolleyes:
 
KPH3oiK. That's the model I had for out door use. Much better bass than yelowpad Senns and woulsn't slide off your hear. Off course Sennn avenged this wit the on-ear momemtum which do indeeed sound enons better and wouldn't fall off an F18 Hornet at 2.5 Mach but for $350 that's what you'd expect. Along with the 2.5 Mack vise.
 
Don't Use the phones too much, but when I do, I find that Sony seems to get them right to my ears. MDR-7506 Professional Monitors are great. I also agree with the post about the cheaper Sennheisers.
 
Not a big phones user, but recently decided to get a walkman again to listen to tapes on the go, so picked up a pair of AKG K52, currently running £25 on Amazon. I have to say they are super comfortable with great sound, much better than I expected for the price! That long cable though...
 
Yeah, I bought a set of K52s many years ago and thought they were pretty OK. Then bought a set of slightly used K92s a couple years after that and at first I thought the K92 was better but after letting it break in and doing some direct comparisons, I think the K52 is better and I prefer how it looks.

The really big difference is when comparing to to an older entry closed AKG, specifically the K44 and to my ears, the K52 (and K92) is about 50 times better than the K44.
 
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cratz2 said:
Another cheap but very decent set I forgot about until I saw them mentioned on a music production forum are the Status CB-1s.

They physically look like the ATH-Mxx series. They are slightly less robustly built and they sound pretty great.

It's been a while since I listened but in general, I preferred their upper frequencies to to ATH-M40x and M50x. Their mids and lower frequencies seemed more open. They still have an elevated bottom. Plump, I'd call it. Or fun. Not bloated.

That's basically how I'd describe the M40s and to a lesser extent, the M50s. The M40s sound better to me than the M50 or the M50x.

The Status are in that ballpark, bit inthink they went for more detail in the upper mids and treble but I'd imagine if listening to questionable recordings, the ATHs would be less fatiguing.

Om pretty sure I still have mine. I might have given them away. They were t poorly built at all, but Audio Technica has had a lot of years to tweak their weak areas and some of their materials and I would assume will last longer.

I think I paid $30 or $35 for mine. I think they are now around $45 or $50. Half the price of the ATH-M40x. Similar bass, better upper frequencies, slightly lesser build quality, half the price.
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Was thinking of the CB-1s. They were also well reviewed by Steve Guttenberg. However, a review on Amazon says that they have been adversely modified since the time of Guttenberg's review. Any way of verifying this?
 
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