100$ Closed-back over-ear headphones advice

[Julin]

I am looking for a decent 100$ closed-back over-ear headphone for my girlfriends birthday. 

She wants headphones to use in the office without leaking to much of her music into the room. She primarily listens to hip hop and electronic music or therefore prefers a little extra oomph to the bass, without the bass getting gimmicky and overpowering. Also her head isn't very large, so headphone with super wide headbands wont fit her very well. Looks doesn't matter to much. 

So far the only set I've come across that remotely matches her needs are the Shure SRH550DJ, but i am not to happy about the build quality, the width of the headband and the cable design. 

I've been looking quite a bit for headphone who match these criteria but without much luck. I was hoping someone could give me a couple of good suggestions to check out.

Also comments on the Shure are welcome as well.

 

Many thanks in advance  

[Luc401]

Steelseries siberia  - http://www.ncix.com/detail/steelseries-siberia-v2-headset-headphones-f6-45743-1360.htm 

[iNothing]

Sony MDR-V6s

[Julin]

Thanks for the ultra fast reply. I've had some Siberia myself and unfortunately she didn't like them very much.

I am deffenetly gonna check out the Sony MDR-V6. Again thanks a lot.

Feel free to add more suggestions.

[BaconComputing]

Possibly Shure SRH440. Although to make it more comfortable you may need to spend more money on the 840 pads.

[spwath]

V-moda crossfade lp.

[jacobffeldman]

Yeah that is a rather limited budget for closed back headphones, your best bet with that kind of money would be a pair of IEM's.

[Dragonzeanse]

In an office environment, Philips Fidelio L1s would be great. They're semi-open, not closed, but they should isolate just well enough for an office as opposed to a noisy commute. Creative Aurvana Live! are good headphones too, but also have poor isolation - again, not such a big deal if she's only going to use them in an office. If isolation is key, then Sennheiser HD 429 and Philips CitiScape Uptown are two good pairs. While I normally would recommend Sony MDR-V6s, those sound better for rock and metal than they do for electronic music. They have a neutral sound but not too neutral. Fidelio L1, Aurvana Live, HD 429, and CitiScape Uptown all deliver good bass. Aurvana Live and Uptowns have a v- or u-shaped sound signature (that means emphasis on bass and treble) so I think your girlfriend would like either or.

 

If your budget is flexible, L1s are my top pick.

[BennisTheMennis]

shure makes great stuff, ive had several different headphones from them and they're all great, I have the srh750dj which is pretty similar and i dragged those those around everywhere for a year and a half without a case and they're still fine.

[NannerBeans]

CHC Silverados are still $80. They are perfect for what you want. They are basically a $200 pair of headphones that are discounted every now and then. They were designed with rock music in mind so they will probably be great for electronic as well. Also, the metal construction is really nice. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/California-Headphone-Co-CHC-SILVERADO-Headphones/dp/B009F4BV8C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397429733&sr=8-1&keywords=chc+silverado

[Julin]

Thanks for all the great advice.

I went out at listened to a huge bunch of headphones today. Many where pretty good with certain genres of music and i especially loved the Shure SRH440 at first. However almost every headset seemed to have some issues with certain tracks and i didn't feel like spending money on something that may sound like something is missing when exploring different kinds of music. Luckily i came across the Audio Technica M50 at a greatly reduced pricetag and feel pretty much in love with them after listening to them for a good while. I know they are not a perfect sound fit for my gf, but i feel they do a pretty good job in general, and they also rank pretty decently in terms of looks and isolation. If she doesn't like them i will keep them for myself for sure. I even had a couple of goosebumps moments listing to a Wovenhand track on them as they gave me a quite different and absolutely enjoyable experience compared to my daily use AKG IEM. 

 

Anyway enough with the rant.

Thought it would be nice to give some feedback on what i ended up with.

Again thanks for your help