Best Closed Over-Ear Headphones for under $100

For me, I like noise isolation not noise canceling.

Interesting.. what's the difference?

A quick Google search reveals:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffreymorrison/2013/09/19/noise-cancelling-vs-noise-isolating-headphones/#6ca537ae27a2

Noise isolation means the cup is usually designed to cover the whole ears as to prevent exterior/ambient noise or sounds from entering and mixing with the signal.

Noise cancelling usually has a mic in the cup that ‘listens’ to the noise entering it, then introduces another sound that is out-of-phase with the noise thereby cancelling it, leaving just the music to sound cleaner.

I have several sets of headphones including the 250 ohm DT770 pro’s. I drive those with my WooAudio WA6 and a Cambridge Audio 550C CD player, or the Schiit Audio Asgard (first gen) through my Mac Mini with a Schiit Audio Modi Dac. The DT770 Pro’s are my favorite. I even like them better than my Sennheiser HD 650’s which I sold a few years ago.

Nice setup!

I agree the 770 pro is a very good headphone. The small differences between the 770, 880 and Sen. HD-6xx are more personal preference than a fault with any of them.

The 770 certainly is my recommendation for a closed back over the ear headphone at that price point or anything close to it.

You might want to wait for BlackFriday :wink:

I updated the original post.

The sale on the BossHiFi B8 is over...

Now you can find it for under $65 on Aliexpress; just do a search.

I'm not sure why they sent it to New York, but shipping is coming along nicely...

I got the BossHiFi B8 today.

The stock earpads are surprisingly comfortable.

The left and right audio channels are not switched, so that's good.

I'm going to burn-in for at least 100 hours, then I'll report on sound quality.

So far, it seems very nice in all respects.

I’m an AKG fan and also love the Schiit equipment (they know so much more then i ever will)

Hard to beat a mass drop a 7xx

Mass drop for Every day still have the 712 in the box for when they get worn out.

I've used the BossHiFi B8 for several hours today, after burning them in for 100 hours.

The sound quality is really good.

And the stock earpads are amazingly comfortable.

Before I received the headphones, I complained that the earpads were pleather and I don't like pleather...

Well, there are at least two different types of pleather.

There's cheap polyurethane, which I don't care for.

And then there's really nice protein leather, and that's what the BossHiFi B8 has.

A lot of manufacturers/marketers lie about using protein leather, but the BossHiFi B8 actually has it.

My only complaint so far, and it is a minor one, is that the headphone wire is two meters long.

That's over six feet, and in my opinion, it's too long.

The wire is very nice, but it keeps on getting stuck in my recliner.

I am very happy with this purchase.

I have Sennheiser 650’s, but most of the time I use MUCH cheaper Sennheiser earbuds or canal phones. Many of the over ear types benefit from a good head phone amp.

When I was into “Hi-Fi” back in the ’60’s to ’90’s Stax were the best avail in Electrostats.
(for the normal wage packet.) Germans were closing though.
I had custom KEF Column speakers in lounge.2 x B139, 2 x B110 and T 27 tweeters.
Hand tuned crossovers. 1812th or Tubular Bells made you shiver.
Lead lined Reflex units on concrete bases. You Felt the bass through the walls (solid brick)
I was put onto a pr of Yamaha Electrostats in mid ’70’s. Still use them today,
through an original LEEK 30. AMP/Pre.
The Yamaha’s were a cheaper copy of the Stax but ohhh soooo close. Both Japanese.
Around 195 UK Pounds in those days from memory
Though it took them decades to catch up with speakers.
Mike’s, and styli were Screechy things
These modern Speakers are too clinical. NO soul in music.
Enjoy.

I was into music since I was in high school, then into car stereos during college (the Pioneer KP500 and the Sony TCD-30 (IIRC) auto-reverse was the ‘in’ thing then).

Eventually after some jobs in the construction industry I started my own Hi-Fi store, selling almost everything at that time, from Laser-Disc players, ‘audiophile’ CD players, dynamic and electrostatic speakers and vacuum tube pre/power amps, etc. even carried pro-audio equipment like 32-channel audio mixers, etc.

Though I had few headphones displayed at that time, actually we were not into it really, and sorry to say this in this thread, headphones are considered an ‘unnatural’ way to listen to sound and specifically, Hi-Fi music!

On the other, whatever floats your boat, why not!

Stax are still around and still very expensive. Ownership has changed hands a couple of times.

A few years ago, Audio Technica ATH-M50 could be had for under $100. I really like them in this price range, especially if you enjoy plentiful bass.

I think they may have gone up in price since then.

I have had a pair of Bose AE2 cans for a few years now and am very happy with them. I know a lot of people have strong opinions on Bose and I am not a Bose fanboy by any means. I am suggesting these mainly because of the comfort level. The sound is decent (a bit lacking in bass), but they shine in how amazingly comfortable they are for a long session (think coast to coast and international flights). I have tried Sennheiser, Shure, Koss and AKG and I can’t keep any of them on for any significant length of time before they are uncomfortable or are giving me a headache.

Just my $0.02

Raccoon - you are lucky - I’ve had headphones before where the cable is too short - I’ve wrecked a few when the cable jerked and stretched and pulled out of the earpiece. You can always tie a few loops in the cable to shorten it.
I now only buy headphones with plug in jack type cables.

+1

100% agree. I have repaired so many pairs of headphones from a fixed cable getting ‘ganked’.