Audiophiles

ROAAAR

I'm going to buy a new set of headphones, a decent set that I'll use mostly for commuting in and out of work on the bus but I have been looking at some of the different brands out there and plugging my phone into the different headphones in HMV and I really can't hear any difference between anything.
I know people say that beats are ****e but they sound as good as the rest to me. Don't get me wrong the price is OTT but do you really notice differences in sound quality when it comes to anything better than a budget set of headphones?

Ruu

What did you call me!?!?!? :mad::mad:

It can depend on what music you're listening to. Some earphones don't let you hear deep bass as well as others, but generally I'm kinda with you. There's a huge difference between a cheap pair of Sony buds and a mid-range pair of Sennheisers or Bose, but little difference that I can discern between those and top-of-the-range ones costing 100+

biko

Yes, I can hear differences between different models.

Hope this helps.

The Moldy Gowl

There was a guy on here who has a set of head phones his housemate bought him which he isn't going to use.

Because reasons.

Ask him for a lend

Digital Solitude

Hopping from pair to pair you won't find a difference. If you use a good pair for a few weeks and go back you'll find a change.

Go complain about how bad everything in HMV sounds, you won't look like a dick

sabat

Get a usb dac/amp combo to go with the headphones and use lossless files and the difference is astonishing.

Custardpi

It really depends on what kind of music you're listening to. Beats are fine for overproduced, undynamic pop/r&b music. Listen to classical, jazz or well mastered rock music through a decent source & you'll definitely tell a difference between Beats & models going for a more neutral sound. Beats aren't necessarily bad headphones, with a lot of music they'll probably sound better as the deeper bass helps mask deficiencies, they're just massively overpriced. You could probably find "basshead" headphones of similar or better quality for half or less than the price of Dre's product.

El Weirdo

ROAAAR wrote: »

I'm going to buy a new set of headphones, a decent set that I'll use mostly for commuting in and out of work on the bus but I have been looking at some of the different brands out there and plugging my phone into the different headphones in HMV and I really can't hear any difference between anything.
I know people say that beats are ****e but they sound as good as the rest to me. Don't get me wrong the price is OTT but do you really notice differences in sound quality when it comes to anything better than a budget set of headphones?

It depends on the quality of music files you're listening to. Are your music files mostly 128kbps mp3 or do you have an extensive collection of FLACs?

Giblet

Headphones should have a flat response in order to hear a song as close as it can be to the master, Beats generally don't and aren't really worth the money. It's a brand.

Harry Palmr

Obviously you road test any 'phones using Dark Side of the Moon.

dr.bollocko

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Obviously you road test any 'phones using Dark Side of the Moon.

How am I going to play my DSOTM vinyl on me phone?

My name is URL

El Weirdo wrote: »

It depends on the quality of music files you're listening to. Are your music files mostly 128kbps mp3 or do you have an extensive collection of FLACs?

This. The amount of eejits going around in €200+ pairs of headphones and listening to crappy quality MP3s is hilarious. It's like spending loads of money on a top of the range TV only to watch VHS recordings on it.

Each to their own though I guess.

Chloris

ROAAAR wrote:

I'm going to buy a new set of headphones, a decent set that I'll use mostly for commuting in and out of work on the bus but I have been looking at some of the different brands out there and plugging my phone into the different headphones in HMV and I really can't hear any difference between anything. I know people say that beats are ****e but they sound as good as the rest to me. Don't get me wrong the price is OTT but do you really notice differences in sound quality when it comes to anything better than a budget set of headphones?

Skullcandy look class, sound fantastic and I picked up a pair in TK Maxx for €15 which have lasted me for four years at this stage, in spite of neglect and abuse in my bag. Do it.

galljga1

You will get a decent set of headphones for less than 100 euro. You should notice the difference between a pair for a tenner and anything over 50 euro. To get a significant improvement on a set over 100 euro, you will have to spend significantly more. I have never spent more than 300 euro on a set and that was a moment of madness. Sennheiser are my favourite brand and cater for all pockets. Nad have a very neutral set for 300. B & W have a limited range, which are pretty good. Beats tend to emphasise the bass on a lot of theirs which I dislike but a lot of people love.
Personally I would go for a neutral sound. That way, you are hearing the music, not extra bass, midband or treble. And if it is for commuting, I would not go mad on price. You are going to be hearing traffic noise although a good over the ear fit will help to reduce this (in ear, either but they bug the sh1t out of me).
Just my ramblings.

Just to add, the quality of the rips you are listening to makes all the difference. Lossless all the way.

Custardpi

Giblet wrote: »

Headphones should have a flat response in order to hear a song as close as it can be to the master

That would be my preference for headphones too but to be fair it's rather a purist attitude. A lot of people prefer a bassier flavour to their music, whether via their headphones, EQing on their source device or both.

The Backwards Man

The last headphones I wore came with an ALBA walkman.

Chloris

The Backwards Man wrote:

The last headphones I wore came with an ALBA walkman.

They were probably class. I've found that the quality price gap has been widening year on year. Besides our sound system, the best speaker I own is on a Sony Ericsson phone from around six years ago. It's unbelievable.

ROAAAR

To be honest nowadays I'm mostly listening to stuff on Spotify. I guess I just want a set of headphones that are comfortable and keep the noise out. I think seeing as so many people have told me to go with Sennhesier I'll follow that advice. It's just that the headphones I tried belong to them sort of sit over your ear rather than actually enclose over the ears.

nathang20

Chloris wrote: »

Skullcandy look class, sound fantastic and I picked up a pair in TK Maxx for €15 which have lasted me for four years at this stage, in spite of neglect and abuse in my bag. Do it.

Skullcandy are the business. I refuse to go with any other brand.

One eyed Jack

galljga1 wrote: »

You will get a decent set of headphones for less than 100 euro. You should notice the difference between a pair for a tenner and anything over 50 euro. To get a significant improvement on a set over 100 euro, you will have to spend significantly more. I have never spent more than 300 euro on a set and that was a moment of madness. Sennheiser are my favourite brand and cater for all pockets. Nad have a very neutral set for 300. B & W have a limited range, which are pretty good. Beats tend to emphasise the bass on a lot of theirs which I dislike but a lot of people love.
Personally I would go for a neutral sound. That way, you are hearing the music, not extra bass, midband or treble. And if it is for commuting, I would not go mad on price. You are going to be hearing traffic noise although a good over the ear fit will help to reduce this (in ear, either but they bug the sh1t out of me).
Just my ramblings.

Just to add, the quality of the rips you are listening to makes all the difference. Lossless all the way.

ROAAAR wrote: »

To be honest nowadays I'm mostly listening to stuff on Spotify. I guess I just want a set of headphones that are comfortable and keep the noise out. I think seeing as so many people have told me to go with Sennhesier I'll follow that advice. It's just that the headphones I tried belong to them sort of sit over your ear rather than actually enclose over the ears.

Any sort of outside noise absolutely drives me batsh1t, which is why I go in-ear all the way, cups are just always uncomfortable when you have satellite ears! :pac:

It really depends upon your budget though OP. You could spend anywhere from €50 to €1,000 on a set of earphones, depending upon just how much of an audiophile you actually are!

For me personally, I got myself a pair of these -

Sony MDR-EX650 Earphones with Brass Housing, Smartphone Mic and Control

I use them with my Nokia N8 as the source (stop laughing! :P) because the audio quality is far superior to my newer Windows phone, and I prefer to play my music at full volume. I'd regularly commute and someone sitting beside me doesn't hear a peep, and I don't hear a peep from them, it's great!

ps: The quality of your rips are only taking up space if the audio hardware isn't up to the job. You'll want a song like this to test the quality of the earphones clarity and be able to pick up all the subtleties and really get a feel for how they handle vocals and instrumentals -

ROAAAR

Some really useful replies, thanks for the help

SeanW

I live in a shared house so I have to use headphones all the time with my computer. I got a pair of Sennheuser (sp?) earbud headphones for €20. Sound better than most speaker sets. Deffo recommend them.

kneemos

Got a pair of buds for under a tenner on Amazon,fantastic sound and deep base .Couldn't believe how good they were.

If it's just for the bus I'd go cheap though.

scuba8

A couple of points to note.
If you are playing MP3 files at 128 Kbps there is no point in sending more than €50 euro on headphones. Sennhiser earbuds around that price would be fine.
If you are ripping CDs or downloading uncompressed files it is worth spending more. It is very easy to rip CDs onto a computer using iTunes or something like dbPoweramp which is even better as you get accurate rip . I have an iPhone 4 which is old now but sounds fine. I do not use iTunes at all. I have downloaded a McIntosh music player app free from the iStore. This is much better than iTunes.
I use B&W C5 earbuds which I got from Cloney audio in Blackrock.
The earbuds are of more use to keep noise out when commuting and they are more discreet than some big red headphone brand.
Just my tuppence worth.

ToddyDoody

I can really hear a huge amount of difference between the white iPod earphones and a pair of €10 JVCs, particularly for a live recording of string / piano music, where the JVC ones have a nasty direct sound, like a guy shagging a girl in a forceful way and making a bags of it.
The iPod earphones have a much broader sound, they seem to have a greater range of frequencies or incorporate more overtones or whatever. I don't get the in ear earphones with the tiny cone at the front, can never hear anything... Before beats headphones became cool, we thought the big earphones made someone look like a constipated chicken.

Aongus Von Bismarck

I've a lovely pair of Sennheiser Momentum headphones that I picked up at Dublin airport last Christmas.

Very comfortable and the build quality and design are reflected in the price. The one thing I didn't like was the sales assistant's flippant and :too cool for school' attitude. Asking me if I'd ever owned a 'set of cans' like that before etc.

Cold War Kid

I've a pair of Sennheisers just sitting on top of a chest of drawers gathering dust.
Clunky.

Prefer my Sonys.

anncoates

Chloris wrote: »

Skullcandy look class.

Always a major consideration for me with headphones.

Have a pair of Sennheiser here too. Cost about 90 quid IIRC correctly and they're fine. The only thing that does my head in about them is the length of the wire.

FanadMan

I got a headset (headphones & mic) with an Aldi laptop about 12 years ago - the sound from them is unbelieveable and they are really comfy to wear. They have a really big range of sound. A sound engineer friend tried them and freaked at the quality. Hate using them outside though - the boom mic is stupid looking

Andrewf20

I picked up a set of Grado Labs SR60s 2nd hand a few years ago for 30euro off a guy in Blackrock. They are old at this stage but are the best earphones ive ever had. Check adverts, buy and sell etc. Id highly recommend. Only gripe is sound leakage, which on a bus may be heard downstairs by the driver if you like the big vols.

http://www.gradolabs.com/headphones/prestige-series/item/15-sr60-reviews

Good quality earphones come into their own when there's very complex music like some fast jazz sets or when the volume is very high - i.e. the sound remains clear / unmuddled and each instrument is still clearly defined. Signal to noise ratio should also be better as well as coping better with distortion at very low and high frequencies. Some instruments can disappear on a cheap system - double bass or bass guitars instruments are prone to this as they lose out to drums, lead guitars and vocals. Good hifi systems are less likely to let this happen.

The sound should be well balanced, not too much boom or harshness but this or course depends on the source recording / file format etc. For most mp3 formats the music files are compressed - so average sound quality in = average sound quality out. Ive listened to some uncompressed 5 min songs that are 35mb (FLAC) and a good set of ear phones will reveal another layer of clarity that can be truly remarkable.

Although its mp3, listening to the drum solo at around 5:15 here on a Diana Krall tune you should be able to detect the fizz and a "texture" to the drums with a good pair of earphones. Can be amazeballs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkUS5HMPJ-o

Chloris

nathang20 wrote:

Skullcandy are the business. I refuse to go with any other brand.

The majority of my music files are FLAC and I'm an amateur musician so when I listen to bad headphones or low sound quality I notice all the discrepancies,
albeit without fully understanding why it's not of the quality I'm used to. The difference between my Skullcandy ones and my boyfriend's Sennheiser ear buds is insane. His are tinny, not to mention uncomfortable, but we think that might be because my earballs are too small to fit them properly

anncoates wrote:

Always a major consideration for me with headphones.

Definitely, they're just the right size without being cumbersome and you can get them in any colour you like really.

anncoates wrote:

Have a pair of Sennheiser here too. Cost about 90 quid IIRC correctly and they're fine. The only thing that does my head in about them is the length of the wire.

That's because they're probably for use in a studio where you might be rolling around in a chair listening to them. I had headphones ages ago with a ridiculous 20 foot long cord and they were a living nightmare if they somehow got tangled.

RichFTW

ROAAAR wrote: »

To be honest nowadays I'm mostly listening to stuff on Spotify. I guess I just want a set of headphones that are comfortable and keep the noise out.

I use Klipsch S4i earphones and the noise isolation is really good and they sound quality too. Wouldn't go any higher than that price wise if you're just listening to Spotify or an iPod.

Jesus Wept

Spent 40 on a pair of seinwhatnots earbuds and quickly lost them.
Still struggled to hear when on a busy bus.

Just want feckin loud buds. Anyway around the volume control on the S3?

zarquon

The best value for money earphones one can buy are the Xiaomi Piston either V2.1 or V3.0. Incredible sound for approximate €20 and highly regarded in the audiophile community as comparable sound to earphones up to €100 range. Nothing comes close to them in this price range, just make sure to buy from an official xiaomi reseller such as ibuygou as there are many fakes out there (which is crazy as the genuines are so cheap anyway!)

Kintarō Hattori

If you love your music then a decent set of headphones is a must. Personally I use a set of Sennheiser HD 280 Pros. Yes they look a little silly but they are nicely neutral meaning you hear a lot of detail in a well produced recording.

Pinch Flat

Picked up a pair of AKG buds in TKMAxx a while back, they sound great and sound leakage is minimal.

If I was going over-ear, I would go Sennheiser as a go to - I have a pair of 15 year old HD-470 over ear one's and they sound amazing. Didn't cost the earth either.

Have to agree with the poster about the Grado's above - they are amazing, suitable for home / private listening in that the person beside you will hear everything, but superb headphones.

Matt_Trakker

Beats are sh!te, they're pointless headphones.
Seinnheisers are the dogs, but they are expensive, there's a fairly new-ish company called Superlux, making headphones just as good for half the price.

grumpynerd

FanadMan wrote: »

I got a headset (headphones & mic) with an Aldi laptop about 12 years ago - the sound from them is unbelieveable and they are really comfy to wear. They have a really big range of sound. A sound engineer friend tried them and freaked at the quality. Hate using them outside though - the boom mic is stupid looking

Xtravision had some tdk headphones recently they were fantastic for thirty euros

KungPao

As said, you can't polish a turd (Mythbuster's did, but you know what I mean).

If you are listening to default 128Kbps files on a ****ing mobile telephone, you have threshold of quality. A set from Dealz will be a joke, but going for a fancy set is wayyyy overshooting the mark.

At those bit rates and hardware, you just need a decent set. Fancy ones are a waste of your hard-earned bananas.

TitianGerm

Would anybody be able to recommend a pair of wireless headphones for running/gym ? Have about €60 to spend.

dxhound2005

There is a dedicated Headphone forum on Boards. It has an Audiophiles Lounge thread, but not much activity recently. The word Audiophile cannot be applied to any ordinary portable music player setup.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=624

I think there was just one mention in this thread of headphone amplifiers / DAC's (Digital Audio Convertor). Any decent audiophile headphone setup must include either or both.

The place for all things headphone is the Head-Fi site and forum. As they say there, welcome to Head-Fi, sorry for your wallet.

http://www.head-fi.org/

jjoncik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/95354726#Comment_95354726

Tronsmart Apollo? About 60 euro, battery life about 100 hours.

jjoncik

Hifiman Sundara or Hifiman Deva Pro

melekalikimaka

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118089961#Comment_118089961

lets hope he hasnt been waiting on your reply

Gregor Samsa

The second worst kind of phile.