I'm looking for a replacement set of headphones. I wear headphones basically all day long so I need them to be comfortable. I use them both for my PC and when I watch TV (which is why the cable needs to be long). The set that I have now is long enough, but alas I have broken both sides from passing out on them on numerous occasions. Additionally the sound is beginning to cut in and out on the left side ^[1].

I tried looking at Walmart, but they had no selection at all. I tried going to FutureShop, but they were their usual unhelpful selves ^[2] and had a horrible selection. I bought a pair that had a 3 m (9.8 ft) cable (the longest they had) and it was too short. Looking online I'm not having much more luck...

There is this JVC set:

http://www.amazon.com/JVC-Comfortable-Headphones-Adjustable-Television/dp/B008JFLZS4/ref=sr_1_13?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1349128578&sr=1-13&keywords=extra+long+cord+headphones

I'm not sure where JVC sits on the board for quality, but then I guess I'm not looking to spend money on a "studio quality" set anyway. All I really care about is comfort, cable length, [price], and reasonable sound (i.e., I won't notice quality issues). Still, with shipping and tax it'll be about $60 for those...

If anybody has any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it. I'm not against paying a bit more, but I want to avoid spending too much and regretting it... i.e., I was almost tempted to try getting Beats by Dre, despite the ridiculous price, but I talked myself out of it. I'm assuming those are mostly priced highly for the brand name and celebrity endorsement, but even if they really are that fucking good the cable length is apparently short and I'm guessing an extension cable would degrade the sound quality...

I do quite a bit of gaming too and in particular sound quality can certainly help out a lot in Counter-Strike (often the people you want to accuse of hacking just have really good sound quality). I wonder if perhaps I should invest in a separate pair of headphones for gaming and watching TV... I'd probably need to invest in a sound card too in order to benefit from anything mid-to-high range though anyway...

Discuss.

Look at music/instruments stores for headphones with long cables. They're usually not very cheap but less expensive and better than those beats by dre crap headphones.

EDIT: Here's a good place to look: http://www.axemusic.com

I have the use of some Sennheiser headphones at work. They're very light and comfortable, I can hear everything, and it's a reputable brand.

However, they are strictly stereo, so if you want surround sound, you'll be relying on the software or the sound card to do it for you. I noticed you can get gaming headsets which claim to do surround sound, although I've never tried such things.

You probably don't need to invest in a sound card. I'm getting on just fine with my motherboard's on-board sound. With the Sennheisers I use at work and the AKGs I have at home (which are heavier to wear but probably more faithful), I really notice when something hasn't been ruined by mp3 encoding - I get the feeling processing audio signals isn't one of the hard bits

[EDIT] To clarify, I think my AKGs are probably more faithful because I don't think the Sennheisers I can use at work are likely to have cost as much. You can get Sennheisers that cost more than I paid for the AKGs, and they probably give better sound accordingly. I don't know which brand is better. I only know that the Sennheisers are more comfortable. But really the best thing you can do is find a savvy audio shop and try some.

Some of us would just buy an extension cable

EDIT: Oh, you need the headhpones too. Anything that's not crap should be fine for TV and PC use.

EDIT2: I was thinking about trying out these a while back: http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-380-Pro-Collapsible-Professional/dp/B001UE6I0G. Still need the extension cable, though.

Unless you want to spend a lot of money, I'd go with the extension...

I recently bought JVC HA-RX900 headphones (11.5' cord). They are very comfortable (can be worn all day) and are huge, so they give off the "stay away, I don't want to talk to you" vibe that is ever so important.

I guess they sound all right, but let's not pretend we can tell a huge difference between them and a $600 pair.

I can tell the difference between good and bad, but good isn't always very expensive. I found a pair of sony's with huge pad earmuffs on clearance for like $40, and they sound pretty good. Better than my $200 AKG ear buds, but I guess that's apples and oranges.

Ehm, if you pass out while wearing them, you'll regret spending more Unless you invest in some sturdy/easy to repair set. (does that even exist?)

Sounds like you know the difference between crummy and mediocre Just like me
And, yes, the Dre models are overpriced.

A friend of mine recently bought some headphones of a brand that is known to produce for AKG (basically, the headphones are the same, just without an AKG logo and much cheaper). You can even buy the switchable earpads from AKG and other parts and they will fit perfectly. I have tested them and their sound is really good. A lot of earphones tend to have way too much bass (like the beats audio stuff) or too much mids/highs (PC audio crap). Of course it depends on your personal taste, but these were very well balanced.

He will be around later on. I may ask him for the brand name.

edit: Don't buy Sony stuff. Sony stuff sounds great, but durability is awful.. My Dad had three not-so-cheap Sony headphones in a row and they all had a defect cable after some time (and my father is really careful about handling stuff). I bought Sony headphones - same problem. Now I have wireless Philips headphones, but I would not recommend them. They're quite noisy we no music is being played.

I use a pair of Sennheiser HD477 headphones. They're extremely comfortable for me because the ear cushions have a thin, fabric cover over them as opposed to relying strictly on foam, plus the cord is at least 10 feet long, probably closer to 12 feet. The cord's also detachable, as are the ear cushions, and replacements for them are easy to source if you ever need to.

As for sound quality: Best I've ever heard from everything I've ever owned that could produce sound, and seeing that they're over 7 years old now, they've also lasted me longer than every other pair of headphones I've ever had!

Actually, the best headphones I ever had the pleasure to use were also Sennheiser brand, just not mine, so if I had to recommend a brand for sound quality, that would be the one.

I don't have a lot of headphone experience but the Audio Technica "wings" system is very light and comfortable.

Update: The brand name was SuperLux (orig. BeyerDynamics).

Those look pretty good (a bit better than the ones I found, anyway). I think those will be good if I don't find anything better.

That's all I'm looking for. If you can't tell the difference then they're good enough.

My brother bought the Solos. I tried to be supportive about it because he couldn't afford them and probably regretted it, but I didn't find them special. I imagine they would hurt after 30 minutes or an hour of wearing. The sound qualify was fine, but again you couldn't tell the difference between a cheaper pair.

I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

My current headphones are Sony's (both at home and j0rb). The ones at home were pretty good. They could have been a bit stronger, but honestly unless they're made of steel they're inevitably going to break if you drop on them enough. They weren't great though. I don't think they fit very tightly so they'd easily fall off if I leaned over, etc. That's especially true now that both support arms are broken.

At j0rb I have a pair of on-ear Sony's. They're horrible. They hurt my ears after like 10 minutes (and I routinely wear them all day at j0rb). I finally just got fed up and went looking for a smaller pair that hangs on your ears and the band goes around behind your head. I had a pair of those with my portable CD player in my youth (which probably lasted me close to 10 years) and they were really comfortable. I went looking for those at the same time as the bigger pair. The only model that FutureShop carried like that was a cheap little pair of Sony's (MDR-G45). They were "only" $20 though. Turns out two of my colleagues have the same pair. So far I'd say they are more comfortable than the on-ears at least, but still not really comfortable. Still, they will suffice for now at j0rb...

Ahem, back to researching the over-ears for home..

I have a goldring dr-150, and I'm very happy with it. I've had it for 3 years or so, and it's getting a bit busted up now. The sound quality is good, the cord is detatchable (comes with a 3m cord) and it's very comfortable (which was my primary goal when buying them). Not sure what it costs in the US, but I think I payed around $150 for it. I will certainly buy them again when these break (if I find them again).

AKG headphones here. Excellent stuff. Not cheap though.

Bonus points if someone links to a good headphone/mic combo.

Im a too late to save you?

I would buy Sennheiser HDR 120 wireless or any newer version they have.

Dont Buy Wired Air phones its 2012.

My old mid-range Sennheisers are going on 7 years now. I've replaced the cable once - because I ran it over repeatedly with a slightly broken office chair - but that's it. I bought them for the comfort (got to try a friend's pair), but they turned out to have great sound quality as well. And they weren't that expensive to begin with. They've actually saved me a bunch of money, if I look at how long the el cheapo headphones I used to buy used to last.

As for Beyer, I've only heard good things. A friend of mine's studio headphones broke. He inquired whether there were any spare parts available for the ones that had broken. The general agent replied that "everything's available" and sent him an exploded view of his headphones with every single part numbered.

I have two that I own that I can recommend:
*Beyer Dynamic DT880 Pros
*Asus ROG noise cancelling headphones (They dont seem to have the model number written on them). Black+Red and they fold up for travel, come with a black heart-shapped travel case.

[EDIT] There are no good wireless headphones. No there isn't. You would have to mod a good pair of normal headphones with a battery powered wireless audio bridge. There are commercial solutions (I've seen them before but I don't have any links. The ones that I'm thinking of were designed for ear buds so they probably don't have lots of volume).

These?

Stop giving him choices.

Don't you realize he's going to buy every single pair mentioned?

Why not?

I laughed out loud.

I'm so glad you started this thread; my crappy earbuds with the barely-makes-it-to-your-pocket foot long cord have been pissing me off for awhile. I totally moved my box under the monitor - 90's style - to avoid the problem.

I'll see how it went on IRC in a month or two...

I have an 8 year old set of Sennheiser HD497s. They sound awesome even after all this time. Truth be told, it took a good week or so for them to "warm up". They didn't sound quite as good when I first got them.

That said, I probably have big ears, and all over the ear headsets seem to bug my ears. It took quite a while for those sennheisers to stop bugging my ears. Same with my new set of PC 333Ds. They both have plenty of padding, but somehow rest on my ears a bit causing some discomfort after a little while. But it does go away after prolonged use.

I use Sennheiser PXC 450 NoiseGard Active Noise-Canceling. Music and games sound great. I fly a lot so the noise cancelling kills enough noise on the plane that I don't have to turn up whatever I'm listening to so loud. They are VERY comfortable and I can wear them all day. You can also bypass the noise cancelling.

Today my headphones finally failed epically. I started playing Counter-Strike when I got home from j0rb and they went from cutting in and out to cutting in every 5 seconds to being practically dead. I opened them up to see if there was a simple problem, but I don't see it. I imagine it's either the cable or the solder. Either way, it's not worth trying to fix (Sevelecan...).

I went with ML's suggestion (HA-RX900). Should arrive in about two weeks.

torhu's (HD 380) and Kris Asick's (HD 477) suggestions will arrive the week after. The week after that Jonatan Hedborg (DR-150) and Tobias Dammers' (K 271 MK II) suggestions will arrive. piccolo's suggestion (HDR 120) is gonna be 6 weeks. I'll start with that.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

Feel free to lend me a pair or two

I agree, it's not worth trying to fix Sevalecan