Buying an inexpensive pair of headphones ($5-$20)


To achieve a wider range of sound, look at the fine print on the packaging to see what the frequency range is (the Hz). The first number is the bass (the lower the better). The second number is the high frequencies (the higher the better).

Remember the 20/20 rule. Try to buy a pair where the first number is 20hz or below. And the second number should be 20,000 or higher (sometimes it’s called 20khz).

If the packaging has no information about Hz, put it down and slowly walk away.

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Angie O'Neal
20 years ago

Thanks for that post! Buying headphones has always been a crapshoot for me. Lately I’ve just tried to buy the most expensive pair that I can afford which tends to work fairly well but not always.

unlikelymoose
17 years ago

i own these headphones from BestBuy. They were $15. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5335657&type=product&productCategoryId=cat08352&id=1051826204520 I’m pretty happy with them. They are 20/20. I’m not a sound expert by any means, nor am I a sound junkie. But i do like sound.

Nico
Nico
16 years ago

This “20/20 rule” would be great, only problem is that makers of cheap headphones always lie on their product boxes. Sure, there might be some bass at 20 hz, but there will be so little that you wouldn’t be able to hear it. Most cheap headphones wont have any appreciable bass below 50 hz, not much of any treble above 15k.

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