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[Headphones] on phones on phones on phones (NSF56K)
chidona
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
There's nothing that gets me in a spin more than seeing people spending big £££££ on expensive phones/MP3 players and using the shitty factory earbuds that get packaged with it. Factory earbuds are poorly built, have terrible sound quality and are often really uncomfortable. It's somewhat baffling as to why so many people opt for them, but I tend to reason that the main drivers of the trend are (in the following order):
Expense
Not having the time to research headphones
Style
Given the popularity of Dr Dre's Beats series and the prevalence of unfamiliar brands, it's tempting to think that to get a decent pair of cans you have to spend a crazy amount of cash and that anything less is a cheap Chinese knock-off. It doesn't help that a lot of headphones tend to go for the grey/black look, with pointless faux-futuristic decals and detail (my 'favourite' example of this are the Sennheiser HD 215s, which have great sound, but look bulky and plastic-y, and urgh).
But this isn't the case! You can get great looking headphones with decent sound quality for way less than you may think.
I'll structure this post by QUALITY, STYLE and EXPENSE, so you can have a quick look at whatever takes your fancy the most. This isn't a comprehensive review of the headphone market, just some select observations - for a proper in-depth review, go to the head-fi forum ( http://www.head-fi.org/t/433318/shootout-105-portable-headphones-reviewed-bowers-wilkins-p3-added-11-11-12 ).
QUALITY
Okay, unless you're an audiophile you're probably not going to be able to sweat the detail between any pair of headphones in the same price 'band'. However, everyone notices a massive step up from factory/sub-£10 headphones/earphones and the £30 - £50 range, and you should notice another significant jump when you start getting into the serious money category at about £100/£150. From then on though, it's very incremental, and you have to pay a lot of money to get the tiniest extra bit. I would honestly really sit down and think about what you would use your cans for before you dropped a lot of money on anything - the £30-£50 range has plenty of great choice, and should be more than sufficient for everyday commuting.
So, what are you looking for?
Usually, the first thing everyone searches for is bass (low-frequency) or treble (high-frequency). People will often listen to a pair of really bass-heavy headphones and declare them amazing. Which they are, if you happen to love bass-heavy music. However, most music tends to incorporate a mix of bass, treble, and mid-ranges, so you should be looking for how well the headphones balance as well as how they perform at the extremes. Really bass-heavy phones can have a problem where the mids are drowned out by a wall of bass, which is no good if you listen to pop or whatever.
In terms of brands, Senneheiser should be pretty familiar, and they have an extensive range across a number of different price ranges. If you're in doubt/don't feel too adventurous, then you could do a lot worse:
But there's so much more! Grado tends to get a lot of praise, but here a big distinction opens up: Closed-back vs Open-back.
Closed-back headphones have, funnily enough, a closed back of the earpiece (much like the last sennheiser above). What this means is that the sound doesn't 'leak' (so you're not going to piss off your entire office), but it also means that the sound comes closer in. If your headphones were a band actually playing, then the band would be all up in your face.
Open-back headphones have no such constraint, and therefore leak sound like all hell, but have a much more expansive sound. Using the band analogue, it's like the band is playing a foot or two away from you. Strictly for home use, unless you want to broadcast your love of Carly Rae Jepsen to your office.
There are closed back headphones that try to mimic open-backed ones, but at reasonable price ranges you'll notice a substantive difference.
Still, Grados do excellent open-backed headphones at fairly reasonable prices (you can pick up a decent pair for about £100) :
Finally, just to follow on from the Grados - there's a big distinction between portable and full sized headphones. While you can theoretically lug around a massive pair of headphones with a super thick cable, you'll look like a massive twat and it's super impractical. I don't have massive amounts of experience with full-sized headphones, but if you're going down that route you may as well go for broke and aim at the really high-end products, like STAX:
High end gear is amazing, but also needs a lot of extra stuff to do it justice. You'll need specialist amps and cables and all sorts.
STYLE
Please do not buy these headphones
Okay, here's one of the biggest draws of headphones over earphones/in-ear monitors for me: headphones can look really great as a fashion accessory. Further, there's no real need for compromise between style and quality (the STAX headphones in the last section look great and are amazing in the sound quality department). Of course this will all be very subjective depending on individual preferences, but a general rule of thumb is that Audio Technica looks fucking amazing:
Personally, I love a really simple, refined design that isn't all flashy logos, and doesn't make your head look like an American football. If that's your dig as well, then you could do a lot worse than checking out Urbanears and Coloud (especially good since you can mix and match with your clothes) :
What may suffer is comfort. I had a pair of the urbanears plattans (above) for the last year, and it had a very tight clamping force; combined with wearing glasses, this meant that my glasses really started to dig into my skull after an hour or so and became really uncomfortable. Similarly, if you're looking at a pair of headphones with a very simple design, it's possible that the cups aren't getting the swivel they need to fit the contours of your head properly, and will become uncomfortable after prolonged use. This has an impact on quality as well - because the padding can't form a 'seal' with the ear, sound will leak, and isolation won't be great.
It's also time to introduce another distinction between two types of headphones - over-ear (circumaural) and on-ear (supra-aural). The over-ear surround your entire ear, creating a great seal that blocks outside noise; the on-ear rests on your ear, doesn't create as much of a seal.
I suppose it's safe to say that portable headphones tend to skew more toward on-ear, and full-sized are predominantly over-ear (although there are exceptions in both cases). I tend to stay away from portable over-ears, since they're usually quite massive and look a little silly on my head, but YMMV. Important thing is, find a pair of headphones that fit you well, and that you're comfortable wearing in public.
Someone out there is probably reading this going 'WHAT ABOUT BEATS BY DR DRE HUH, RIP INTO THAT SHIT CHIDONA, EVISCERATE THOSE SHITTY OVERPRICED SHITTING FUCKS'. Look, Beats are really stylish:
Their sound quality isn't amazing, but it's decent enough. At £200 or whatever they're too much for me, and you can find the same quality in a £50 pair of phones - but if style really matters to you, and you're willing to pay a premium for it, then go for it. Live and let live.
EXPENSE
I suppose it's all good and well me going on this massive headphone-wank session, talking about STAX and high-end ATs/Sennheisers, but I'm totally ignoring the massive price tag that's attached to them. Recession? What recession?
Actually, you can get really good, stylish headphones at a very reasonable price - without even shopping around that much. The first two Sennheisers I posted? One's £17 on Amazon, the other's £36ish. Urbanears? You can snag a pair for £40 or less. Even the lower-end ATs come in at around £50/60, at the upper end of that price band. Hell, you can pick up a damn nice pair of AKG 450s at £40, that have an amazing sound quality for the price, nice looks, solid build and replaceable cable:
The market is totally flooded at this price - the trick is to dig a little deeper than the store-front phones that high-street (main-street, for all you Americans) retailers stock. The link to the massive review thread in head-fi is probably your best place to start.
Like anything else, you get what you pay for; if you're picking up a £15 pair of sony over-ears, don't be surprised when they're not super amazing. But do be careful of over-priced crap (generally, if you see 'AUDIOPHILE' anywhere on the packaging just put it back), and don't be afraid to take a risk on unfamiliar brands.
I would also recommend that you spend a while going through a couple of different phones in the £15 - £60 range before laying hard cash on anything £100/£150+. Experiment with different styles, sizes, sound signatures and find something that you really like. If you're dead into it, you could also always get involved in the headphone modding community - it's not too difficult or expensive, depending on what you're trying to achieve.
Thanks for reading this far! If you've just skipped all the text and stared at the pictures as you scrolled down, then fair enough. Use this thread to talk about headphones that you have, want or fantasise about. Also feel free to talk about your earphones/IEMs or other audio-related shit (your home-listening set up/amps and whatever). I'm not an audiophile, nor an expert on headphones, so if someone spots an error in the above, feel free to send me a message and I'll clear it right up.
Since I started this post with a picture of a pretty lady, I'll guess I'll book-end it in the same manner:
chidona on
+9
Posts
why would you do this
chidona do you hate me
do you hate me having money
anyway:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-50-headphones-compared
Currently I use Grado Sr80 s at home (they're quite nice although EVERYONE around you can hear everything you listen to), and a pair of cheapo skullcandy buds when I'm out (they were good enough at $25 and they have a lifetime warranty so when one side inevitably goes out I just get them replaced).
SteamID: Baroque And Roll
As such, I will be watching this thread
Yes.
Give me all your money Rolo.
I used to have a pair of skullcandy headphones:
These were my first foray into above-£15 headphones, and because I was 16 I thought they were the bees knees. The cord on them went out after about 6 months, got them replaced with a black version, went out after another 6 months. Decided to 'upgrade' to the agents:
Cord went out after 2 weeks. They make their headphones out of paper and spit, I swear. At that point I decided that I couldn't be fussed with replacing them every other week and jumped ship to some sennheisers.
@skettios I can offer up a couple of suggestions if you want bud. What sort of price range/style you looking at? What sort of music do you tend to listen to?
someone recommend me some good wireless headphones
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
I'm not too keen on buds, but if you know of some that fit what I want, lemme know!
Listen to all kinds of things. Metal, indie, podcasts, etc
I mostly want something that folks can't hear what I'm listening to, but that I don't have to crank the volume on my phone to nearmax to be able to hear.
honestly I have yet to find a manufacturer where this doesn't happen
senns, shure, sony, I've tried a bunch in the $20-$120 range and they all crap out the same way
the only real trick is to get a set from a place that has a no-hassle returns policy and a good warranty
Clips are long gone
Ear padding has fallen off
Sound quality has deteriorated tons
Have to turn up the volume a ton to hear anything
My HD555s also had their sixth birthday recently. I wish I could get a pair of buds to last this long.
I got a pair of V-MODA headphones for my last birthday. They're the first nice headphones I've gotten, I'm not a huge audiophile but they seem to be pretty good midrange headphones, especially since I got them when they were on sale for $90. I'd like to try out some open-back ones at some point but I need to do more research first.
Sennheiser HD555
Sennheiser HD558
I thought this was just me because literally every single pair of earbuds I've gotten has died in this exact same way. So annoying.
I primarily use a pair of Grado SR-60's when I'm at home or sitting at a desk somewhere:
But for portability I use a pair of Sennheiser PX100-II's (after my PX100-I's cable busted from 2 years of constant use)
The grados are great but bleed sound like crazy and I really only use them when I'm alone, and the PX100's are really nice since they only have one cable coming out of the left can, and they also collapse down to fit in bags/pockets easier.
Also, the earpods that came with my iphone 5 aren't super terrible. For working out or just shoving in a pocket when you dont have a bag with you for bigger stuff, they do a decent job
Who needs a 6 foot cable? Not this guy, not ever.
Love your work Chidona
I've got a pair of Senn 598s and I love em. I like heavy bass and they get most of their use playing vidja games so they never leave my PC, which is pretty much the 598's wheelhouse imo.
For my out and about 'phones I've got a set of Audiofly af56s. They've got fantastic detail and punchy bass for a mid range set of canal phones. I got two dodgy sets but my third set is going strong
I'm lucky in that there's a fantastic headphone shop just up the road from me. They welcome people to come in and try out the equipment before you make a purchase which I fin to be an unfortunate rarity in most shops
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Also to not press the arms of my glasses against my head.
I soon realized that 6€ earbuds from big stores have the same sound quality as those the small chinese shop next to my house have, so i bought those for less than 1€.
Obviously I didn't bother reading the box (chinese), and that is how I ended up with 5 meters of chinese earbuds.
Logitech H150s
cheap but effective
But what I mostly use is a pair of Shure SE215s that are really nice, the only thing I can't do with them is sleep with them in.
But I could also just be fooling myself.
I really want to try building something bigger and less portable when I have some money for quality parts.
I really like a pair of Bowers and Wilkins but they're too damn expensive for me to justify'em.
I've also got a pair of Sennheisers for work.
I wanna get a nice turntable at some point I can hook up to our home theater receiver but haven't found one I'm happy with yet.
easily the best earbuds I've ever owned
Unfortunately I do not use them to listen to Norse/Viking metal.
Anyway they were probably the most frivilous purchase I've ever made, I dig the headphones and could appreciate what the amp brought to the party, but that DAC was just throwing away money.
Basically don't buy DACs, I am sure whatever you got for onboard sound is fine. Someone will try and tell me I'm not correct, well ok, but I'm just relating my experience.
listen dude these gold plated connectors make the sound more pure and you're just not getting that with sub-$300 cans wait where are you going I haven't even begun to explain the necessity of wooden knobs as opposed to inferior plastic when it comes to sound degradation and ahggoihgghhh
I wear glasses, so I really don't know how feasible this is.
You probably don't want closed ear ones then, since the whole point of them is to make a seal over your ears they have a real tendency to push your frames into your skull.
I know Grado SR60-80s don't push in on frames from personal experience. The only time they've ever really hurt my ears is when I wore them for like 12 hours straight.
I'm pretty sure you didn't
I find that Audo Technica make some good, loose fitting sets and like what Kadith said, quite a few of the Grado sets sit relatively loose. The one set of Beyerdynamic 'phones I tried were loose too, but I can't remember which model they were
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke