Recommend a pair of headphones for me

you should definitely poll it but instead of just asking yes/no do you have the cash to play the mahket i think you should poll all the income brackets

There are cheaper bluetooth earpods now. For example: http://a.co/cHhyKC9

not sure the comparison to a bluetooth phone device really holds up - i don't expect people to be talking into the earphones/headphones they buy for music.

I think the Sennheiser HD series has been partially rebranded "Momentum" in the UK (there's an imbalance in the left channel... arf, little bit of politics #mynamesbeneltongoodnight). The higher-end circumaural wired cans are still HDxxx though.

http://en-uk.sennheiser.com/momentum-wireless-earphones-headphones

£170! Not sure about that neckband. I don't think I'd want that round my neck, regardless of how "luxurious" the feel of it is. I guess you need something like that if you're going to have the charging port and volume control integrated with the thing itself? I assume AirPods and other more minimal wireless earbuds need their own little charging dock?

My earbuds listening is limited to whichever section(s) of my commute where: I can get a seat, I've "cleared" my inbox, the ambient noise isn't too high. So at best it's 10min on a 73 bus or 20min on a Southern train. Unravelling wires eats into that but not to the tune of the £90 premium of something like these Sennheisers over their wired equivalents.

(I've been using various Sony earbuds for about 15 years, but fancied a step up)

An argument for going with wired headphones:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/15/520269673/womans-headphones-caught-fire-midflight-australian-authorities-say

http://fortune.com/2017/04/19/bose-headphones-privacy/

While Bose customers can use the headphones without the smartphone app (simply connect using Bluetooth settings or the audio cable), the app provides more options to use the device—and opened the door for data collecting.

Discussion on the Rolling Metal 2017 thread veered to headphones recently. I mentioned a couple weeks ago I went to AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) to hear the latest of the crazy expensive gear, like speaker systems that cost over $60K and the $50K HiFiMAN Shangri-La electrostatic headphone, which I was actually not that impressed with. One that I was impressed with for it's value was the new Meze 99 Neo, which ships in a week or so. It's $249, about $60 less than the Classic which featured wood cups. With decent headphones, a DAC really does make a difference, even with streaming and MP3s, and there has been some improvement in the chips made in the past few years. Here's some good values: iFi Nano, Schiit Fulla 2 and AudioQuest Dragonfly.

I was tempted to add more there, but figured it's more appropriate in this thread. To those interested in exploring a step up in headphones, I'd mention that there are three popular technologies being used in full sized headphones -- dynamic, planar magnetic and electrostatic. There's also hybrids, and variations such as open and closed back. Dynamic are the most popular for consumer level, but also some major flagship level dynamics from Fostex, beyerdynamics, Sennheiser, Audeze, MrSpeakers, etc. Planar magnetic headphones (and orthodynamic) were quite popular from the mid 70s through 80s (especially Yamaha). It was revived over ten years ago by start-ups HiFiMAN and Audeze. Electrostatics were first popularized by the Japanese company Stax in 1960. More complex designs and necessity of special amps made them more expensive, and were the chosen technology for the uber expensive Sennheiser Orpheus in 1991 and it's successor the HE 1 in 2015, and HiFiMAN's Shangri-La last year. Stax's flagship was nearly $5K, but has dropped to $3,800 lately. However, MrSpeakers is coming out with an electrostatic that will be well under $3,000.

I had the Audeze LCD-2 v.2 for a couple years and you couldn't beat their bass extension. However they were heavy and too uncomfortable for extended wear. I'll be getting MrSpeakers' Aeon which will be much more lighter and comfortable. Monoprice came out with the most affordable the Monolith M1060, for $299. The HiFiMAN HE400i is original $450 but can be sometimes found for a good deal.

love your posts itt.

PortaPro is still the best approach for me in terms of sound sig balanced with comfort, lightness and price. I kill them after about 8 months pretty consistently, though, right there next to the plug head.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/9/15590932/1more-triple-driver-quad-driver-review-in-ear-headphones

I kill them after about 8 months pretty consistently, though, right there next to the plug head.

my life

funny to me how much praise those get followed by how they have to be replaced all the time.

What kills them exactly? They just die?

the wire next to the plug getting wiggled constantly in your pocket while walking ime

that sounds strange to me. i've used tons of shitty earbuds and headphones - it's always the headband, the ear foam or the drivers dying, never the cord

sic probably otm, I've never had that problem except for a time I was walking around with my phone in my pocket and the headphone cable sticking out. If the top of the phone is near the top of your pocket, the cable rubs against the top of your pocket.

i got a pair of sony mdr-1000x phones recently - never had noise-cancelling headphones before, they are honestly amazing. they look a bit dumb to wear out and about, tho they sound so good i sometimes do anyway, but for the office they are great. on flights in particularly they are a revelation. sometimes i put them without music and it's still so peaceful. they make airports so much more tolerable.

great touch control on the earpad too.

this isn't exactly the thread for it but one of my two living Sansa Clip +'s died yesterday :(

aw rip man. i love my lil clip. even if i no longer breathlessly run the firmware updates as i once did

The first official new Rockbox build in like three years just came out though! Big battery life improvement on clips and some devices get a surround sound dsp option

I had about 3 Sansa Clip +'s die, but current ones I have are 3+ years old, go figure!

PortaPro is classic for a great price, but if you have to replace them that often, you can definitely upgrade to better sounding, sturdier option for similar $.

They are not cheap but they are the best ear-plugs I have had on my ears. The Bose ones are called SoundSport these days. Around 90 euros, i.e. 100 bucks. The sound is a million timed better than that of the Bose noise-cancelling headphones for almost 300 euros wich is slightly muffled. Crystal clear and with lots of detail of the different instruments. The bass is fine too but that has always been Bose's speciality anyways.

My Soundmagic E10s have given up the ghost. Before I order a new pair, can anyone recommend me an alternative pair of earbuds for everyday use, around the £40-60 mark??

I do a lot of cycling and walking around, so I don't really like ones that block out the entire outside world. Would be open to some lightweight, foldable over-ears

i got a pair of sony mdr-1000x phones recently - never had noise-cancelling headphones before, they are honestly amazing. they look a bit dumb to wear out and about, tho they sound so good i sometimes do anyway, but for the office they are great. on flights in particularly they are a revelation. sometimes i put them without music and it's still so peaceful. they make airports so much more tolerable.

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Thursday, 11 May 2017 12:25 AM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I love mine for alll these reason and for the fact that they are the first pair of headphones that I have owned that have been truly revelatory - in that I hear a lot more in music. There is a lot more clarity and separation in music than I've had with any other headphones I've.

Added to this, since we went hot dealing and keep cramming more and more people in at work, noise cancelling headphones are essential.

how is the sound of the sony mdr-1000x compared to the bose qc35? the noise-cancelling of the bose is excellent and in the tests i have read it was always the benchmark. when you put them on and switch to noise-cancelling you enter a relaxing zone of silence. another advantage is that it also works without noise-cancelling. but the sound is pretty average. muffled and lacking in the dynamics department. quite astonishing especially for 300 euros.

i've tried both, but not the bose for very long - i think it's p hard to decide - all the reviews said it was a matter of taste. i liked the look of the sony's better and some of the touchpad functionality on the earpad is cool too. you can cup a hand over your ear and it flips the mic outward so you hear things.

the noise-cancelling is fantastic to my ears on the sony. it really makes you realise how noisy everywhere is.

I love mine for alll these reason and for the fact that they are the first pair of headphones that I have owned that have been truly revelatory - in that I hear a lot more in music. There is a lot more clarity and separation in music than I've had with any other headphones I've.

Added to this, since we went hot dealing and keep cramming more and more people in at work, noise cancelling headphones are essential.

second all this. i do hear new stuff in music all the time. and yeah, also in an office which is ridiculously crowded.

i work in a pretty noisy office and got a pair of bose qc35 headphones a couple of months ago, and the noise-cancelling is revelatory

the quality and quantity of my office-hours posting to ilx has improved considerably now i'm less distracted by work

nice

I found the sony's more comfortable because they had bigger cups but they are bulkier than the BOSE ones. Can't really comment on the noise cancelling comparison.

FWIW my sister really rates the cheaper MDR100ABNs

this isn't exactly the thread for it but one of my two living Sansa Clip +'s died yesterday :(

― gimmesomehawnz (Jon not Jon)

yeah also not on the thread topic but since my last hard drive-based ipod died i've been up shit creek when it comes to my music library and portable listening. i'd really like something with a good dac to listen to on my commute, but everything i look at has a total shit ui. "oh, you should check this out it's really good but it won't read the id3 tags on half your files". really? is that where we're at on 2017? fuck that. also they tend not to do well with large collections (more than 10,000 songs), which is, like, my entire reason for wanting this, as i'm not the sort of audiophile who will just listen to 24-bit flacs of steely dan albums and nothing else in perpetuity. is there any hope for me, or do i need to keep half-assing it on my cellphone?

get your dead iPod refurbed with a 512 GB SSD drive? I have one iPod 160 in fine shape and a second that has hd problems and I hope to do this sometime this year with the crappy one.

everything i look at has a total shit ui. "oh, you should check this out it's really good but it won't read the id3 tags on half your files". really? is that where we're at on 2017? fuck that. also they tend not to do well with large collections

Actually, there's the new agptek rocker but the port's still a work-in-progresss:
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,51653.15.html

get your dead iPod refurbed with a 512 GB SSD drive? I have one iPod 160 in fine shape and a second that has hd problems and I hope to do this sometime this year with the crappy one.

― fish louse (Jon not Jon)

i've been thinking about it, but i don't know how reliable those things are, and every time i go looking on ebay the price has gone up a couple hundred bucks.

i don't know why there's no like legit licensed rockbox on some of these things. god knows the smaller companies aren't getting anywhere by building their own software.

although i see now that people are outright selling services so i might, might, might consider it, particularly since for some godforsaken reason i'm still using itunes for my library.

yeah if I do it it's gonna be the guy on eBay who has an excellent star rating and you send him your iPod classic and he puts a huge SSD in it and sends it back. It's not cheap compared to DIYing it but I am extremely non-handy. TBRR I am dreaming of the 1TB drive service even though that's like 700 bucks. I could finally have my classical, film score, rock, weird shit and jazz libraries on one device!

anyone got wireless earbuds? having got wireless headphones i feel ready for these.

i love my airpods. i never use anything else.

I don't know how I would get them to stay in my ears, the best I can do with other earbuds is use those shure triple flange tips and cut off the smallest flange; even then I have to re-screw them into my weird ear holes every few minutes

Put foam pads on them! That'll make em bigger and increase the friction

Last day for the Massdrop x AKG K553 Pro, $110. That's a pretty good deal, usually are more like 150 on Amazon.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/akg-k553-pro-studio-headphone

Also currently available, Massdrop x Fostex T-X0 Planar, $150. One of the most popular headphones for hobbyists who modify them, both MrSpeakers and ZMF got started by modding those.

HiFiMAN marked down their HE400i Planar from $449 to $249. I'm guessing they're clearing stock to get ready for a new model.

Also Sennheiser HD 6XX drop starts Monday. Last time it sold out in a few minutes, so they figured they might as well up the price to $249 (it's around $315 in general market).
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-sennheiser-hd6xx

Are any of those Bluetooth?

Of course not. Due to limited bandwidth, there's no point in getting any fancier than the current bluetooth models of Bose and Sennheiser, if that's important to you.

Wow, 8 hrs to go with Sennheiser HD 6XX drop and they dropped the price to $199. Very tempted, hrm.

ooh nice, thx for the heads up. just ordered.

ok i splurged on Sennheiser HD 598 cs. these are pretty great, imo

1) so so comfortable.
2) sound quality is righteous, great separation, wider "sound stage" than other closed ear cans i've used.

nice. getting new cans is the best.

Happy with my B&O H6 but feel like their days are numbered cuz they're wired. Not sure whether to bite the biker and get some wireless HPs or maybe stick around with a "dongle" whenever I upgrade to latest iPhone later this year

My my b-day a couple weeks back I got a used pair of HifiMAN HE-6, and love them. They are much more comfortable than the Audeze LCD-2.2 I had, and also less dark, at least when driven by my iFi iCAN Pro.

Coincidentally Massdrop just debuted a new collaboration with HifiMAN, the HE-4XX for $170. Great deal.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-hifiman-he4xx-planar-magnetic-headphones