Stump Us # 1

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Here’s a question we got yesterday from Kaina:

What’s up man, I was wondering what are the best (over/on ear) headphones for around a hundred bucks?

I have brought it down to a few headphones myself but I can’t device yet. Can you help?

1. Soul SL100
2. Aiaiai Tracks
3. Sennheiser PX 200-IIi
4. Sony MDR-NC40

Please let me know what you think.

- Kaina

Hi Kaina,

Thanks for your question! We’ve had a hard time picking between these headphones; you did a really good job narrowing it down to what’s simply the best.

1. Sould SL100: This definitely wouldn’t be our first choice, simply because of the lack of reviews we can find on it. We’re not too fond of buying things that we can’t find any reliable reviews on. Additionally, the lack of popular retail channels where the SL100′s definitely make us wary of it. Although they have the backing of Ludacris, we’re not quite ready to recommend them without either trying them ourselves.
2. AIAIAI Tracks: What do you get when you put together amazing engineering and a thoughtful design process with great drivers? The AIAIAI Tracks would definitely fall into place for this category in the headphone category. The Tracks provide great sound and reliable hardware that would definitely meet and exceed what you’re looking for. Although, we haven’t worked with these headphones ourselves, we think you should check out AskMen’s review of the AIAIAI Tracks here.
3. Sennheiser PX 200-IIi: After using the PX 200-IIi, I was genuinely amazed. They’re a really great pair of headphones accompanied by amazing design. How many over-the-ears can you find that are collapsible and engineered very well? Well the Sennheiser definitely meets both those standards. With the amazing sound quality that we know and trust from Sennheiser, we’d recommend these over-the-ears from Sennheiser to just about anyone looking for great sound at a reasonable price too.
4. Sony MDR-NC40: We really like your choice here. The Sony MDR-NC40′s are a decent pair of headphones that come at a great price too. While they don’t quite compare to Bose’s array of noise-canceling headphones – they can still satisfy most people. These don’t really collapse as well as the Sennheiser PX 200-IIi’s (and definitely nowhere near as nicely as the AIAIAI Tracks) but they’re a great choice for over-the-ear headphones when considering the quality of sound they offer. The thing we’re not too fond of about this pair is that they need batteries to operate. We’re also not too comfortable with the engineering nor appearance of these headphones either.

At the end of the day, we definitely recommend the AIAIAI Tracks or Sennheiser PX 200-IIi headphones, with the rest depending solely on what your personal needs are. If we had to choose between these two, after a lot of consideration, we’d pick up the Sennheiser PX 200-IIi’s from the store.

Don’t agree with us? Have a better choice for Kaina? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!