Recommend a pair of headphones for me

they also block out external noise so well that i nearly crashed my pushbike the other day, too

anyone got anything good/bad to say about the klipsch s4s?

― cherry blossom, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 5:37 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

I had the s4i (iphone version), this is the earbud IEM you're talking about yeah?

good sound, a little neutral but shoddily constructed, mine broke after a few months and I'm outside the country so can't take advantage of their 2 year warranty just yet

I picked up some denon IEMs, ah-c560r iirc, which are at the same price point and I like them a lot better. (I already have denon big headphones, so maybe I just like the house Denon sound). great bass but mids and highs are present. and the construction is much better - thicker wire, and the plug is right angle so it won't give out (where my S4is failed iirc).

seems like they make a mid-level version too called the c-260r, dunno how that is.

hallo, a friend is looking for some closed-back headphones - enough to block out the noisy subway but also not leak in quieter situations - for around £40. she can't do the in-ear thing, which appears to be a bit of an inconvenience given her specifications. any suggestions?

sennheiser hd-280

lol

(don't get those, actually)

Still rocking the Denon AH-D1001s that I picked up about 14 months ago. They should be even cheaper now that a slightly beefier D1100 model is replacing them. Highly recommended.

My Shure earplugs have crapped out on me for the second time, and are at the moment in transit back to the repair center... again. That's where a two-year warranty comes in handy, but it's still a serious pain. The trouble seems to be not the earplugs themselves, but the cord, which isn't designed for every-single-day, shove-em-in-your-pocket wear. Eventually you start to get crackle in one or both ears, and finally failure.

I needed a replacement in the meantime, though, since I spend a good deal of my time in transit or at work listening to music and podcasts. The great thing about the Shures is that they're not just sound isolating (as the terminology goes), they're basically earplugs, blocking out so much external noise that someone could be screaming at the top of their voice at you while you're listening to something at a normal comfortable volume, and you couldn't hear a word of it. Since much if not most of my listening time is spent on very very loud trains or walking down cavernous city streets, and since I have a touchy case of tinnitus, it's extremely important to me to not have to listen to loud things. Not ever, if at all possible.

So I've been through three pair of earphones in four days. The first ones I tried were some Sony noise canceling things, and I returned them the next day. These are complete bullshit. You need a battery to get any sound out of them that's not like a tin can, and even then, it ain't too great. And as for canceling noise, well. That's just a straight-up lie. No other way to put it. They don't cancel noise when they have a fully charged battery and are turned on (yes, you have to turn them on and off, which is ridiculous already), that merely makes them work. Pieces. Of. Shit.

The next try was the Bose IE2 earphones, which I have to admit have better than decent sound. Pretty excellent sound, maybe, if you're in a soundproof room. But wearing them while even walking outside in a suburban neighborhood with a barking dog would mean you'd miss half the music. The noise isolating effect of them is zero. Bose does not claim otherwise, but I did see a large ad for them on the train this morning, and wearing them on a train would be ridiculous, unless you want to run them at maximum volume at all times and go deaf before you're 40. I almost feel like it's irresponsible to market them to people who ride the train every day. They do sound great, though. In bed, with a ski mask on and two foam pillows wrapped around either ear.

So the compromise is a big ol' pair of cans, completely over the ears, with puffy foam rims. You know, the Old Fashioned. I went with the Sennheiser HD428 S, which sound good enough, though by no means great. What's important, though, is that they do a fair job of sealing off your ears from the outside world. Not as good as the Shures, but maybe about 70% of that. Of course optimally they would sound rich and natural even as a subway train roars by at full speed inside a tunnel, and you wouldn't even have to turn up the volume one notch. For less than $100, that's way too much to hope for. So mid-level sound it is, in exchange for not going deaf.

That post was kinda long, huh? Sorry about that. But THIS IS IMPORTANT, PPL!

Has anyone tried out the Beats ("by Dr. Dre") brand irl? They sound pretty freakin' fantastic in the store, but they also run in the $250-$350 range. I ain't forgot about you, Dre, I just have other expenses.

Honestly, you oughta spend more time learning about 'phones on Rock Grotto & Head-Fi forums then deliberating about store 'phones

Will check out. Thank you sincerely. I'd rather buy online and get good shit, but googling things like this is a messy business.

I love my Grado SR80s with all my heart and soul. I rue the fact that I didn't buy them years ago and saved all this messing around with headphones that weren't these ones.

Does Grado make cans that don't annoy people who are next to you on the train?

Honestly, you oughta spend more time learning about 'phones on Rock Grotto & Head-Fi forums then deliberating about store 'phones

Nothing personal or anything, but I take back my very special thanks for the recommendation. No one on any of these boards has anything to say that's more useful that what I said. It's trial and error, as always, and I have tried and I have errored, and while I have never tried a pair of Grado headphones, I gather from these boards that they're just about in line with any other brand. If you want to spend about $100 on headphones, I'm not wrong about a single thing I said. If you want to spend what I would consider to be a lot of money on headphones... well, I'm not there yet. Most people aren't.

I love my Grado SR80s with all my heart and soul.

misread this

My iPod earphones are completely shitting out.

You r wearing them wrong.

kenan, Grados are not "in line with any other brand" they're a step above. They're like five steps above. But they're totally open, so sound bleeds in and sound also bleeds out. Most of my headphone listening is on public transportation so this doesn't really work for me. But I love the sound, love the brand - independent, based in Brooklyn for decades, etc.

Ah, I see.

Yeah, wouldn't work for me, either, for exactly the same reason.

yeah i would be happy to pay good money for them if they made ones that didnt annoy everyone around me

the openness of grados is sort of key to their sound

kenan dunno if you read my post upthread but I am really happy with my denon in-ears. they isolate sound and have very durable construction.

the openness of grados is sort of key to their sound

Same with the Bose IE2 that I had. They work with ambient noise. That's nice, but city noise is usually more than just "ambient". It's usually deafening all by itself.

dunno if you read my post upthread but I am really happy with my denon in-ears

I skimmed before, but I see now. Definitely worth checking out once these Shures crap out on me a third time, which I have no doubt that they will do, as soon as the warranty runs out. It sounds like a lame and made-up complaint, but I've been 'round this track before. These earphones just don't last.

IMO the thing with the in-ear ones is that whether you get a really good deep fit like you describe with your Shures seems to be a really personal thing, down to the size and shape of your ear canal and maybe some other mysterious unknowable factors besides.

e.g. I got the seal you describe with some Goldring GX200 earbuds. Took me a few goes to find the sweet spot to put them in, and if you don't get that right they sound really trebly with weird stereo separation, but fine after that. But I wouldn't really recommend them as they were pretty expensive for the build quality and after I bought them I found they had mostly not great reviews.

Then I lost the rubbery bit and couldn't buy a replacement, so I bought some Sennheiser CX300s because I read good reviews about them having a rich, full sound. But for me they sit near the outside of my ear, sound tinny, don't drown out the bus engine, fall out every so often. But I guess some people find they fit just right and have no luck with the Goldrings.

So, I don't know, but good luck with yr quest, anyway.

I've never been completely satisfied with earbud style headphones either. have often had them die on me as well, I find many of the models uncomfortable, and I also hate how easily they can be knocked out if something tugs on the cord. my favorites were the koss "plug" headphones that fit like earplugs but they always died on me after a few months of use, so that got old after a while.

so, I just got a pair of foldable AKG K 430s and I like em a lot. for portability, they're great. they fold down to a nice and manageable size and come with a little carrying case that I just leave in my backpack at all times.

sound from your surrounding environment will bleed in if you don't crank em but it's really not too bad. also did a test and people shouldn't hear your music if you're listening at a reasonable level.

pretty happy with the sound as well. can't say I'm blown away but it does the job better than any earbuds I've tried. (various sennheiser, koss, and sony models.) could use a little more bass but that's about my only complaint in that dept.

I've got a pair of AKG 430s for listening at work, and yeh, they're great. I know what you mean on the bass, but I find everything else pretty clear. My old sennheiser PX100s were terrific but I went through 3 pairs in a year, all with the same problem, before giving up.

I'm not sure if the Grado's reputation for sound leaking out is entirely warranted. Sure, some sound does leak, but I've tried taking them off during a train journey and I couldn't hear any sound at all from further than about a foot. I guess if you've got it cranked any further than that then you're not doing your hearing much good.

On an added note, I'm not sure an ipod can drive the headphones too loud anyway. When I use them on my home rig I can get them waaaaay louder.

For comfort you cant beat beyerdynamics with the furry cups. Ive DT770s at work and DT880s at home, both great but the open 880s are nicer to listen to.

It's been mentioned, but the Koss Porta-Pro's are like WOAH. I looked at them online and assumed that for the design that they were great headphones, but great in comparison to other bigger, heftier, around the ear 'phones? - possibly, but more likely not. Couple months later I'm gifted them for xmas and was fucking blown away by the clarity, the loudness, and the extremely surprising amount of bass these had. THEY SHAKE from too much bass. They're tacky loooking but cheap and well worth it.

- Michael J. Koss, President and CEO of Koss Inc.

I'm gonna need a headphone amp for the DT770s huh

I got a pair of HD25s recently. pretty good

i miss my sr-60s :(

My old sennheiser PX100s were terrific but I went through 3 pairs in a year, all with the same problem, before giving up.
― 전승 Complete Victory (in Battle) (NotEnough), Tuesday, January 11, 2011 8:43 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ugh, I just lost my PX-100s last week! They lasted a good year or so before one channel stopped working - I've read that's a very common problem, unfortunately. Not sure now if I should invest in another pair; that and they're sixty dollars. I'm too cheap/broke to be spending that much right now **sigh**

And like most people here, I can't use in-ear headphones. I find them terribly uncomfortable for more than 10 minutes use, and they always pop out.

I tried DT770s but I found the midrange lacking, tbh. my denons are much better in midrange, and have bass almost equal to the DT770s.

for a headphone amp, I can't recommend the iBasso D4 enough, if you listen from a computer. it solves two problems - it moves the DAC process from the crappy enclosures of your laptop offboard, using high-quality chips, and it also amps the signal. kind of pricey though. but really, if you're a music nerd, I don't see why you wouldn't invest in some quality sound equipment.

-this has been brought to you by friends and supports of the iBasso political campaign for president 2012

which denons?

Has anyone tried the new Bowers & Wilkins model?

denon ah-d2000s xp

IMO the thing with the in-ear ones is that whether you get a really good deep fit like you describe with your Shures seems to be a really personal thing, down to the size and shape of your ear canal and maybe some other mysterious unknowable factors besides.

The Shures put out all of their sound through a single short stem, and I discovered that the best way to fit them and get a perfect seal was to take a normal pair of earplugs, cut them in half, punch a hole in the middle, and put the stem through it. Then when you put them on, you roll them around between your fingers, just like earplugs. They'll get dirty and lose their foamy-springiness in about a week, at which point you throw that half of the earplug away and do it again. Works brilliantly.

Shure sells tips for their earphones that are pretty much exactly like that!

Ultimate Ears does too, if you look for the "comply"-style tips.

Shure sells tips for their earphones that are pretty much exactly like that!

Yeah, but for like $10 a pop.

It's like $20 for a pack of five pairs, for the more expensive ones.

It's still better to be able to just throw them away when they get the inevitable ear crap on them.

I just wanna discourage anyone here from getting these newish AKG iPhone earbuds. wasted 100 EUR on these and went back to the Apple in-ear ones.

Basically there is two camps of headphone audiophiles. The more rock/hip-hop/techno leaning listeners usually prefer the favorites over at RockGrotto forums. RockGrotto folk tend to prefer the "colored/brighter" sound. The folk at HeadFi tend to prefer the neutral sound which is recommended for classical, jazz and a bunch of softer bass stuff. On first listen regular joes will almost always prefer the 'phones suggestions from the RockGrotto camp. I prefer 'phones that try to recreate the original "neutral" sound and I even enjoy rock on many neutral 'phones. But if your price range is low it really doesn't matter what camp you join. IMO, if you are eventually going to get expensive 'phones then you are better off in the HeadFi camp. It can be harder to get into the neutral sound if you are used to the other way around. Colored 'phones are much more common and they too can get some real good sound. Grado's sound is unique - not all colored 'phones are the same.

What are good examples of each camp?

Excellent question. Thread bump.

I'll post some things I've read tomorrow

Sony MDR-V6. The SPL (Sound Pressure Level) is insanely high, and I think they're some kind of industry standard (I always see them in clips of people in recordings studios and radio stations).

I need a cheap headphones, $50-and-down thread.

If you're going for in-ears in that price category I'd recommend the Sennheiser CX300's.

Not the CX-300 II though, because they're shit.

Hm. Didn't know about the MkII replacing the old ones. What happened that makes them shit?