Grado - SR60e

Grado SR60e made me an open-ear headphone enthusiast, then gradually shifted to koss lineup and never looked back

Grado My sr60e survived so much abuse over the past 5 years I honestly don't get how. Now the sr325x is even tankier My friends one day showed up to work with his dad's sr60c (Yes c) And they still work like a charm. He has driving them daily for 3 years.

Sealed back headphones are going to be bad because they will have bass resonances, and are usually designed to do so in a way which exaggerates the low end. It's desireable for consumers but not great if you are trying to get a relatively flat mix. I find the AKG K240 open back headphones are very neutral. I'd also put the Grado SR60 in the same general category of neutral open back cans. The Beyer DT770 are really good for tracking, but they have a notch around 4k or so and another in the low mids that will trick you. Stuff I mixed on the road sounded pokey and harsh on good monitors. BTW K240s are about $80 most places. Much cheaper than most of the suggestions on here.

New? Ft1 pro, the regular Ft1 is good but not "big ass easy to drive planar magnetic that come with both 3.5 and 4.4 cables. For about 200 But year on year, used grado sr60, 80, 125, and 225's. Used pristine 125e's are like 50 bucks everywhere and they're just a fabulous set of cans, and durable as hell.. But new, its the Ft1 pro, no contest. Or iems. Moondrop kadenz are just astonishing for 200 bucks. But the simgot em6l are also amazing for 100.

If you’re looking for quality v price, I would be investigating wired headphones. - Grado SR60 (open back) - Sennheiser HD280 (closed back) Those are gonna be your best bet for sound quality and price. If you are looking for wireless and ANC, your choices under $100 are gonna be notably worse, audio quality-wise. Thats just the nature of that price point. The Anker headphones are fine for the price. A couple other good options: - JBL tune 670nc - Sony WH-CH270n

Get a pair of Grado SR-60s. It will be like seeing colors for the first time. BTW it's easy to find adapters to swap 1/8" and 1/4" plugs if you're ever stuck with the wrong one. It's also easy to lose them so buy a spare.

I just went shopping for a pair of wired closed back cans and stumbled on the Meze 99 Classics V2 and was super impressed with the gorgeous sound and build quality, especially for ~$350 and played with and without a separate DAC/AMP. My first serious headphones were Grado SR60 more than 20 years ago and Sennheiser HD-25 a few years later. I have no doubt the Meze will still be functional and repairable for a couple of decades, which adds a lot of bang in the long run. https://www.headfonia.com/meze-99-classics-v2-review/

if you like metal and jazz, give the grado sr-60 a shot. some think they are polarizing; i think they are fun. they were my first "serious" headphone that got me into headphones.

I have a bunch of headphones ranging from 500php to 100k. Grado SR60 should be around 3k. Sounds amazing for the price.

If you're looking for decent wireless noise cancelling in that price category you can always grab a pair of Soundcore Q30 (or 35 if you can get them used/on sale) For plain old wired headphones in the $30-40 range you can always snag the Koss Porta Pros, or the KPH30i. They sound much better than you'd expect, especially if you swap out the pads. Moving up the price range you'll find things like the Audio Technica ATH-M50x (Wired or Wireless), Grado SR60/80 (Wired), Beyer Dynamics DT770 (Wired). These all sound different, ATH being more bass, Grado lots of Treble, and Beyers are flat. If you like thumpy headphones you can absolutely enjoy Skullcandy Crushers, or Marley over ears. The latter have a pretty solid build quality whereas the other are more affordable. Everyone has a preference, so just enjoy what sounds good to you. I would probably shy away from unreviewed no name headphones like those you linked, though!