ok my headphones have finally packed in and im looking to buy some new ones, but the only problem is im not sure which route to take; In-ear or ear-cup headphones, tho im set on in-ear ones atm unless i can justify otherwise.

i have been using In-ear headphones for years now and they do just fine, nice sound quality, portable etc but im using them more for on the pc nowadays so portability isnt really an issue, my main reason for wanting to go to ear-cup style ones is the draw (of supposedly) better audio quality, higher treble and deeper bass, the frequency response details seem to show so.. but does this effect to real world performance?

so my main question is; Do the ear-cup ones really offer a much better sound quality over in ears and how much better?, and secondly recommendations (even tho i am quite sony biased)

heres what i was using last, thanks for your help =)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDR-EX71SLB-Fontopia-Headphones-Black/dp/B00008XYJL

A good pair of Shure earbuds is my recommendation. The sound quality is brilliant. I got a pair of SE310's for under £120 last year. There are cheaper models available if you want.

First off, over ear headphones come in two categories, open back and closed back. The first leak sound (in my case, an awful lot), but they sound a lot better at the same price bracket, because they aren't an enclosed structure. As such, unless you need to keep everything really quiet, I would suggest open backed, you'll get more for your money (or in ear).

Secondly, different headphone manufacturers produce headphones with very different sounds. I should stress that all of this is my opinion based on a sample of each of the manufacturers (and trying to describe sounds is really rather hard)! Sennheiser tend to be more punchy than say AKG or Beyer. Beyerdynamic have a slightly richer tone, but aren't quite so "in your face" with their sound. Bose are really good with simple stuff that only occupies a relatively small section of the frequency range (single instrument etc.) at a time, but get completely lost when playing say a full band. Unless you have very narrow music tastes that just happen to suit, you'll find better than Bose at the money. I'm personally not a fan of AKG, I find them a bit too sterile, but I know people that like them.

I personally own these:

Sennheiser HD555s at £75

I've also listened to these that a friend of mine has:

Beyerdynamic DT880 at £275

Both are surprisingly good driven off something like an iPod, even though their stats would naturally suggest otherwise. If I had the money, I'd certainly be looking at the Beyers, but as my HD555s have been running solidly for around 5 years now, it's very hard to justify,

I tend to avoid in-ear headphones, not because of sound but more because they are often so delicate, and I've found them surprisingly easy to drop in a drink or just lean something on. I've had a number of the cheaper Sennheiser pairs, mostly for using in the gym, and they've all lasted 3 months tops. If I was spending good money on headphones, I wouldn't want something that fragile.

I have a pair of noise-cancelling, in-ear Shure E2c cans for use with miPod.

Mark

i know Shure headphones are pretty good but there pricy a bit xD, as for open backs im going to stray away from them because i need minimum noise leakage for late night gaming

ideally im looking at £50 and below because i really cant afford to blow out on headphones =( usually u get what you pay for, but im hoping that i can find a pair that offer fantastic quality for a low price

after a bit a of looking tho im pretty settled on these, mainly because i found a review of a guy whos was using the same headphones i was and wanted the same i did from a new pair, and there not wallet breaking either, if only i could afford the EX700's lol
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDR-EX500L ... 341&sr=1-1

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electro ... oduct.html If you go for grown up headphones

only thing that bugs me there is the statistics
Frequency response: 12 -19000 Hz

on the Sony MDR-EX500
Frequency response: 5Hz - 25kHz

im looking for deep sub bass and clean highs

I also have the HD555's, they some nice headphones

Also use Klipsch Image S4i out and about.

I believe the £60 S4 version is pretty similar, just without so much compatibility.

Dont know what for under £50 now though..

Do bear in mind that if you are older than about 18 your ears simply won't register anything above 19KHz, and the difference between 5 and 12 Hz is irrelevant. Secondly, any kind of stats are irrelevant, it's how they actually sound that's important.

good point

well it seems like a cut between the Sennheiser HD 212 Pro and the Sony MDR-EX500

You simply won't get as much bass from in ear compared to proper full cups

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electro ... type=genre
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electro ... type=genre

Couple of others to think about, guy I used to work with who was a bit of n audiophile had those sennheisers

Only ever used the cheap in-ear Sennheisers myself, but even those were above and beyond their equivalent Phillips and Panasonics

ok gonna do a quick think over with all these items and il get back to ya on what happens =p

thanks everyone