Recommend a pair of headphones for me

Yo I just got this here HRT Microstreamer. It's a DAC. Forget which thread we were discussing DACs on before and search is broken. Anyway, I did the right thing and made "Barrytown" the first test. Holy cannoli, this thing is real as hell. Unbelievable. Listening now to Joelle Leandre which I just listened to earlier today and it's like...so much richer...wow wow wow this is a great device.

yeah i got a Dragonfly recently, really makes a difference

also got some Beyerdynamic DT 770

http://cdn.head-fi.org/7/74/300x300px-LS-74869037_B0006NL5SM-31LAQBPAziL.jpg

was quite "chuffed" as the british say when i was re-screening howard stern's private parts and, at his first paid radio gig, howard slid on to his birdlike skull these very same model of headphones :)

http://popcornmoviereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/howard-stern.jpg

I'd think a lot of pros like the Beyerdynamic DT 770 because they have a very unfiltered sound, they don't add a lot of bass oomph or anything the way many other hi-fi headphones (like Sennheisers) do. It took me a while to get used to it, because I'd been using those sort of bassy headphones before, but nowadays I really like the clarity and balance of sound they have. They're especially good for classical music in that regard, IMO.

They look kinda goofy while walking around the city wearing them, but the upside to that is that they're very sturdy. I don't treat my headphones super carefully, and typically some part tends to break within 2-4 years of use, but this hasn't happened with the DT 770.

yes i like them a lot, though you are right they are pretty flat and aren't always kind to sub-par recordings.

using a Audioquest Dragonfly DAC/headphone amp has helped a lot (I have the 80 ohm model), my phone can't drive them very well, they need some power

I have the 250 ohm model, and without a headphone amp they'd be useless, but I couldn't imagine living without a headphone amp anyway. So much of my music listening is done while commuting in public transport, it's so great for music to sound good there too, not just in the home stereo.

are there headphone amps which also double as power supplies? Like, the two extra bricks I can imagine running around with attached to my music player are a power brick and a headphone amp. I don't suppose anyone has combined those two things...

the Dragonfly is the size of a USB drive & gets its power from the computer

http://www.audioquest.com/dragonfly-series/

Looks like the new ones can work with iPhones too...

the hrt microstreamer is the same and imo is better than the Dragonfly. kinda blowing my damn mind tbh, this thing.

i want to get some wireless headphones. the apple earbuds look great - sounded ok and sync up perfectly w/ my iphone (and they're the right price @ $159) but i tried some of the actual headphones like the bose quietcomfort 35 and it was glorious - but i'm not spending > $350 on headphones. any thoughts? what's something in an okay price range that'll give decent sound for the money? should i just go w/ the wireless earbuds?

my coworker likes the wireless beats by dre earbuds, they're a bit less $$

idk what the sound is like

I have a pair of wired Audio-Technica over-the-ear cans that were pretty cheap and sound decent. They make wireless ones that are a bit more, but still under $150.

the over-the-ears are pretty much always better sounding than the buds right? that's been my experience at least.

In my experience, yes. Never heard earbuds that didn't sound a bit tinny.

the hrt microstreamer is the same and imo is better than the Dragonfly. kinda blowing my damn mind tbh, this thing.

― though she denies it to the press, (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, February 5, 2017 2:58 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

goddamnit don't get me started with this shit man!!!!!

is it like A LOT better than the dragonfly?

my Dragonfly was a couple years old and it's my understanding that the next build was a big improvement. my initial experience with the Dragonfly was revelatory and I loved it but fuck. the microstreamer is just a huge difference yeah. it's in the staging, it really feels like a more 3D sonic picture. on everything I've listened to. pretty mindblowing.

Do / Can you use the microstreamer with your phone?
Thing has a lot of good reviews on amazon

i went to the apple store to get airpods today and they were sold out. this of course made me want them more.

ppl are buying them up and listing them on ebay for double the price. pretty shitty :/

March 24 is the date they're avail for pickup in NY - I marked my calendar

they told me that the dates on the website aren't correct - they come in sporadically w/out warning and get automatically updated for that day so you should just check every day

These look like they might be as good/better than the QC35s for much less money (still $200 though): https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/06/sennheiser-hd-series-wireless-headphones-hands-on/

Not quite out yet either, but supposed to ship in March, I think.

The air pods are very cool tech but whenever I see someone wearing them on the street I think "what a douche"

Probably accurate

ive thought that for years about anyone in public with a bluetooth earpiece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooxTIF98_lQ

i love my airpods i don't care how i look

i don't go everywhere with buds in my ears bc i particularly care about hearing what other ppl think u kno

i want a pair tbf

the convenience alone seems worth it idk

They seem maybe douchey but at the same time I haven't seen any other bluetooth headphones that aren't either huge or, like, affixed to some sort of Matrixey neck strap thing??

I just want earbuds. That go in my ears. And are wireless. Maybe a little loop on them so I can take them out and they can dangle when somebody rudely interrupts me at the gym.

Not sure dealing with headphone wires is worth $150 to me. ymmv!

Would rather buy a share of AAPL

Why are there no financial interest or investing threads on ilx?

I guess either no one gives a shit or we're all poor as fuck

i suspect the % of ilx with enough money to play the stock market is v low, and probably among those who do have the cash they tend towards safer investment at the very least like maybe a mutual fund.

When I see the air pods I just imagine how long it would take me to lose one. Guessing about a week. Also I hate trying to deal with bluetooth. And I suspect the sound quality is probably not that great. And fuck, you'd need to charge them all the time, another fucking thing to charge. And I like having a headphone jack so I can plug my phone into any sets of speakers. Apart from that they look good, yeah.

What would you guess - 10% of ilxors have cash to play the mahket?

I'd put it at 17.5%

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