Slaneman and Carl's Headphone Thread :p

[slaneman]

Headphones always affect the sound but although I have about 4 sets of varying quality I end up using my 30 year old Sonys. 

A few years ago I borrowed my buddy's audiophile rig--high end Grados and a tube headphone amp and a D/A converter and piled them up on the table next to my laptop---sounded glorious but didn't resolve words any better than the Sonys.

[Carl]

Right now I'm on $20 panasonic earbuds - actually really good for daily listening, but not nearly as clear/crisp as my Shure EC2s (died with over 3 years of use), then a pair of $100 Klipschs that had a wiring issue in ~6 months but I've lost the receipt (but kept the box, how useful) before that.

I think I'll invest in a good pair of traditional cans for home use again (sony? Sennheiser?)and then just get http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-RP-HJE350-S-Earbud-Headphones-Silver/dp/B003EM0RNG/ for out and bout use and if they get trashed no worries.

[slaneman]

Best sounding phones for iPod are iGrado--50 bucks...I've tried everything there is cos we used to sell a zillion brands over the years. Short wire not good and they suck in looks on the back of your head but sound great.

all the Shures, Klipsch, Monster, Bose, earbuds, whatever--tried them all a lot. We used to try them all on different amps, ipods, D/As...killing time lol

For home there are a zillion options and a forum of obsessive users (head-fi) out there. D/A and separate head amp are important for quality but as it turns out not necessarily for transcribing. 100 buck Sonys are quite good for the money. Can't go wrong and they obviously last a lifetime.  I had a pair of Bose that snapped in two after 2 months. Plus they were crap sound.

[Carl]

I was thinking of getting a pair of 7506's, but saw these weren't too much more on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SRH840-Professional-Monitoring-Earphones/dp/B002DP8IEK/

I'm often a victim of bad cabling, so detachable cables appeals to me, the M-Audio Q40 has a similar feature and has good reviews, but the list price is a lot lower.

I'd mainly be listening on my laptop, a mix of 192-320kbps mp3/m4a and some flac.  The FiiO E6 looks like a sweet little portable amp for ~$25 (could get a LOD and use with iPhone/iPod), but with the price of some of the higher end amps I'd just get a fracking Mackie 402-VLZ3.   I know Mackie does amazing mic pre-amps, so I imagine line in would be pretty good as well.

[Carl]

Shure's went up in price, boo. any thoughts on http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-280-Pro-Headphones/dp/B000065BPB/ for $82 or http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-518-Audiophile-Headphones/dp/B0042A68R8/ for $100?

For home listening the 518s seem a bit nicer, it's quiet here so open cans aren't a problem.

[slaneman]

I remember both of these! The 280s have been around quite a while, have a bigger, more comfortable earpiece, a bit more neutral sounding than the 518s. For me they're the better choice.

518s are not comfortable, they have a slight 'bump' in the bass, and they smooth out the highs too much for transcribing imho
However I liked them for listening to older recordings like (Sinatra, 60's rock) that were a bit bright sounding or poorly mastered, stuff put on CD in the 80's, etc.

But listening is so personal. Best if you can do an audition somehow with your own music.

[Carl]

Hmm. I figured the 280s would be more neutral sounding, but that sucks about the highs on the 518s... I feel a slight bump in the bass would be good for general listening (I'm not going to be doing actual tracking or anything). I want something fairly neutral, but something lifelike and not fatiguing are more important, as I'm going to be listening not recording. Grado SR80i are another one I'm looking at for ~$100.

[slaneman]

Ha! Moved me while posting...

Grados YES! That's your best choice. Pretty sure you'll like those.

[Carl]

Heh sorry about the bump there, I figured it'd be worthwhile to split off the thread in case anyone actually wanted to comment on Zoo Station.

um, wow. http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATHM30-ATH-M30-Professional-Headphones/dp/B00007E7C8/ Audio-Technica-ATHM30 for $38. The 40s are only $50, but having a 1/4" output adapted is slightly annoying for my use case. The ATHM50s get a lot of praise, so these can't be too bad, and for that price they'd still make a good backup set if I spend more time in the future to get a really nice pair.

[slaneman]

I think Brad has or had some Audio-Technica phones? That's one brand I don't recall trying though they usually get some good marks.

[Carl]

I ended up going for the 30, the 40fs is possibly a better buy, but for $38 I can easily upgrade in the future to an expensive pair of senns/grados/etc and these will still have their place. I need an upgrade, but can't really demo expensive pairs to see what I want at the moment, so these should work out (pretty) well.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/119043/mini-review-audio-technica-ath-m30

[Brad]

I do have some Audio Technica cans, the ATH-M40fs. That's what I primarily use for listening on my computer. I have them paired with a Beresford external DAC connected to my Mac's optical digital port. Much nicer sound than using the analog audio from the Mac.

My newest headphones are the Sennheiser HD 380 Pro. I mostly use these with my stereo when I'm listening to CDs or vinyl. They sound a bit different from the Audio Technica's, but hard to say which is actually "better."

I also have a 17-year-old set of Sony headphones that still sound pretty darn good. 

[Carl]

Well if the 40fs isdifferent but not obviously inferior to a 380 I should be happy with my 30. These are going to be a "around the house/cafe on my laptop" pair.

I've had a pair of sony mdr-7506s back when, then a shure e2c earbuds (which I liked, but died after about 3 years), and a comparable pair of klipsch earbuds that were a bit more clinical/dry but particularly nice for electronic/instrumental music.  I should try rewiring kliptchs as I've unpacked everything and still no receipt. If I recall the failure was at the 1/8" stereo mini, not in the earbuds (where my shures failed) so it should be a pretty straightforward fix...

update: they're here. a little thin/boomy sounding, but we'll see how they burn in. already hearing things I didn't hear with my ~$20 panasonic earbuds (which are, btw, a great cheap everyday listening pair), and more than I remember hearing on my ~$100 klipsch earbuds.

[Carl]

Not muddy at all, I think it was a combination of picking a poorly mastered album + not being burnt in at all.

The bass is def a bit lacking, but it's there - great set of cans for instrumental music, both electronic and acoustic and lighter more spaced out songs. It works well on well mastered rock (prog in particular), it has a nice crunch in the low mids / high lows but doesn't have much oomph. Which is what one should expect from a pair of monitor headphones, and for $38 I'm really impressed! Just takes a bit to get used to the new sound.  I'm not skipping the ends of songs anymore, noticing a lot of little instrumental details that were buried before.

Budget headphones = ATH-M30.