The headphones thread! [Sorry about your wallet]

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › The headphones thread! [Sorry about your wallet]

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#704374 21-Oct-2012 18:03

Cadriel:

I'm more budget conscious, but respect good sounds. I run a pair of Senny HD555's - which I love.

Turn your 555's into 595's.

da5id

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#704413 21-Oct-2012 19:18

ATM-M50 review from HeadPhone Review HQ-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Va7wOjbg4w

So glad I got them now..

Cadriel

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Master Geek
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#704430 21-Oct-2012 19:51

fahrenheit:
Cadriel:

I'm more budget conscious, but respect good sounds. I run a pair of Senny HD555's - which I love.

Turn your 555's into 595's.

That has become my mission for the evening. Thanks! :D

CASE: Zalman HD160; MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3; VIDEO: Geforce Asus GT240 HDMI;
SOUND: HDMI Passthrough; CPU: Intel E8200; RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB;
HDD: 160MB 2.5" Hitachi; TUNER: Hauppage HDR 2200; DISPLAY: Sony 46" 1080p X Series;
SOFTWARE: Windows 7, XBMC;

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NZtechfreak

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#704636 22-Oct-2012 13:45

da5id: Great topic.

Lifehacker just did a Hive Five vote on the best 5 headphones around HERE

Looks more like 5 good headphones in the lower price range, not familiar with the Sony, but the others have reasonable reputations (although the Bose stuff is very overpriced for the sound quality you get relative to similarly priced options).

da5id:I'm only a newb when it comes to headphones.
Last week I went to Computer Lounge in Mt Wellington (near Sylvia Park) and tried some out.
The guy didn't have the Grado SR80i's in stock, but I did try the 60 (which he said were similar).

I also tried the Audio Technica ATH-M50 and the Sennheiser 280PRO.

Out of all three, I ended up going with the ATH-M50's.
Had a great rich, full bassy sound, to me.

They have a very good reputation in their price bracket, probably the most recommended headphone in that price bracket.

da5id:As far as players, I only have an iPod Touch. I'm using FLAC Player to play my music (tracks downloaded from HD Tracks etc).

I used that with my iPhone when I had one. Most iOS devices don't really have the storage available to make FLAC worthwhile though, unless your music collection is quite small or you're prepared to rotate the songs on the device. I ended up using 8-PLayer to play FLACs, which I streamed from a Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive.

da5id:I did have a question about players. I know that the iPod Touch can physically only output 16/48 - any flacs with a higher bitrate get downsampled. Are there any portable music players that can physically output music at a higher bit rate? As I said, I'm pretty much a newb when in comes to high quality music.

There are a number of players that can, but I'm fairly unconvinced there is any particular need to - see here.

da5id:As far as MP3's - I also have the Aphex Audio Xciter Studio app on my iPhone. It's supposed to give better sounding MP3's and is promoted by Alan Parsons. I think it does help a bit.

I also installed SonicMaxPro which can give better quality than the built in iPhone player as well.

Not familiar with these specifically, but they sound like sound processor type programs. They might make it sound subjectively better to your ear, but they do that at a cost to fidelity. Varying schools of though on that, I tend to side with people doing what makes it sound better to them, since ultimately this is all subjective, but I wouldn't go near them myself.

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Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

boby55

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#704641 22-Oct-2012 14:22

Call me a Sennheiser fanboy but now that i've tried them i'd never go back!.

I use the majority of my headphones for djing hence why that style.

I Own

Sennheiser HD25 1-II Adidas Edition (My Preferred "Headphone" for when djing)
Sennheiser CX-300 II Earbuds Perfect levels for general iPod listening I find.
Logitech UE 900 - BEST In Ear buds i've ever heard but ideally need to go through an amp/mixer to get best sound out of them.
Pioneer HDj 1000
Pioneer HDj 2000

NZtechfreak

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#704646 22-Oct-2012 15:03

boby55: Call me a Sennheiser fanboy but now that i've tried them i'd never go back!.

I use the majority of my headphones for djing hence why that style.

I Own

Sennheiser HD25 1-II Adidas Edition (My Preferred "Headphone" for when djing)
Sennheiser CX-300 II Earbuds Perfect levels for general iPod listening I find.
Logitech UE 900 - BEST In Ear buds i've ever heard but ideally need to go through an amp/mixer to get best sound out of them.
Pioneer HDj 1000
Pioneer HDj 2000

You should really branch out and try some other stuff!

Don't me wrong, Senn make some great gear, but there is a lot of other stuff out there too.

(must.arrange.meetup)

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

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networkn

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#705571 24-Oct-2012 11:09

I'd be keen to see if anyone has reviewed or has experience with noise cancelling headphones? I have some blackbox m14's which are amazing, but they are broken and are being quoted for repair, which I think won't be cost effective. The m14's are much better than the last generation of bose, but I think lately phitek who does the NC technology is lagging behind.

timmmay

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#705577 24-Oct-2012 11:14

I find my Beats by Dr Dre excellent on planes. They're overpriced, but mine were review samples. Repairing consumer electronics is rarely worthwhile.

NZtechfreak

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#705581 24-Oct-2012 11:17

networkn: I'd be keen to see if anyone has reviewed or has experience with noise cancelling headphones? I have some blackbox m14's which are amazing, but they are broken and are being quoted for repair, which I think won't be cost effective. The m14's are much better than the last generation of bose, but I think lately phitek who does the NC technology is lagging behind.

The Bose QC15 is very highly regarded as a noise cancelling headphone.

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networkn

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#705584 24-Oct-2012 11:18

NZtechfreak:
networkn: I'd be keen to see if anyone has reviewed or has experience with noise cancelling headphones? I have some blackbox m14's which are amazing, but they are broken and are being quoted for repair, which I think won't be cost effective. The m14's are much better than the last generation of bose, but I think lately phitek who does the NC technology is lagging behind.

The Bose QC15 is very highly regarded as a noise cancelling headphone.

As well they should be for that money! They are so pasticky and feel really junky though is my main concern.

Jaxson

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#705604 24-Oct-2012 11:41

timmmay: I find my Beats by Dr Dre excellent on planes.

Plus you look all gangsta

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geekiegeek

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#705607 24-Oct-2012 11:42

Sennheiser fanboy here. Actually just paid a visit to their concept store in Kuala Lumper last week.

Home - HD650 currently connected to a Beresford Caiman DAC+AMP but thinking of adding in a separate amp and just using the Beresford DAC as the headphone amp doesn't have quite the same power as my previous Xoner card.

Work - HD380 Pro connected via Fiio e7+e9 combo.

Portable - CX-400 II

Travel - PXC 450 using the fiio e7 as a portable amp with my iphone 4s.

All music is FLAC or ALAC (on my iphone).

timmmay

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#705609 24-Oct-2012 11:43

Jaxson:
timmmay: I find my Beats by Dr Dre excellent on planes.

Plus you look all gangsta

Last time I was on a plane (a prop plane) I wore the earmuffs I got to mow the lawn with, really high grade ones. Noise cancelling headphones work a LOT better.

cauld

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Geek
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#705614 24-Oct-2012 11:51

geekiegeek: Sennheiser fanboy here. Actually just paid a visit to their concept store in Kuala Lumper last week.

Sennheiser here (mainly) too.

HD25 MkI's - DJ Headphone
HD465 - My primary listening to music while working at home phones. Too big to travel well

For exercise I have recently picked up a pair of Polk Audio Ultrafit 3000's
http://www.polkaudio.com/products/ultrafit3000
Audio snobbery and profuse sweatiness don't typically mix. These are the best I've found yet. 4 months in and not rooted yet so not bad for durability. Audio is the best I've had from sports phones (usually go through 1-2 pairs a year)

Poll

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Ultimate Geek
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#705633 24-Oct-2012 12:18

Does anyone have good recommendations for In ear headphones which aren't Canalphones/iem's?
I currently have Sennheiser mx470's which are ok but not amazing. My Galaxy S3 is my main player and I cannot comfortably wear canalphones, this may be because of the ones I've used so far, I've not bought any, only used the stock ones from my last few phones.

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