Audiophiles' Thread

[ian]

dude just bought me some Sennheiser HD 280 pros for my birthday

http://www.dansdata.com/hd280.htm

The HD 280 Pros are billed as being "designed for professional monitoring applications". There are tons of really awful headphones out there that're described with some combination of the words "Pro Studio DJ Digital Hi-Fi Reference" in front of the word "Monitor", but Sennheiser actually mean something by it.

They sound exceptional on my crappy old 2.0 sound card, but very bass-distorted on my ipod (probably because of the 62 ohm wattage; 32 is recommended for portable devices). The bass distorts a tad on some high bass songs, but I reckon that could be avoided by investing in a nice 5.1 sound card to be able to efficiently drive the 'phones.

Anyone else here have headphone or system reviews to contribute? Music is so good :)

[DesDownunder]

dude just bought me some Sennheiser HD 280 pros for my birthday

http://www.dansdata.com/hd280.htm

They sound exceptional on my crappy old 2.0 sound card, but very bass-distorted on my ipod (probably because of the 62 ohm wattage; 32 is recommended for portable devices). The bass distorts a tad on some high bass songs, but I reckon that could be avoided by investing in a nice 5.1 sound card to be able to efficiently drive the 'phones.

Anyone else here have headphone or system reviews to contribute? Music is so good :)

In the days of real sound reproduction (read: vinyl LP records) Sennheiser headphones were considered second only to the legendary Stax ribbon headphones. So you are very lucky to have the Sennheisers as they have a long history of being very highly regarded.

[ian]

Is that so? My friend was trying to tell me that Sennheiser are 'overpriced crap' and that no proffesional studios use them, but they were recommended to me by my brother, so I'm not sure who to listen to.

[DesDownunder]

I know that Sennheisers were used in the BBC in the UK and the ABC in Australia.

They may have been more expensive top of the range models, but they were Sennheisers never-the-less.

Like so many brand names of the "Golden Era" of sound reproduction many of the great names have been over ridden by losing their pioneering spirit due to financial viability in a brave new world of digital substitutes for analogue quality.

Not that digital is not good, but analogue set the standards which digital has in some respects, still yet to achieve.

Everything expensive is over-priced.

The trick to any sound equipment is to remember that if it is bringing you your audio "jollies" it is doing its job.

[Bruin Fisher]

They're clever people, Sennheiser. They make some of the best headphones (and microphones) available when money is no object, and they also make remarkably affordable headphones which manage to sound very natural, not at all like the unbalanced, overblown budget models from some competitors. That's why they are recognised as reference units and are very widely used by studio engineers.

Watch closely on telly when a DJ or studio engineer is being interviewed. If he's anywhere in Europe the phones around his neck are sure to be Sennheiser or Beyer. I don't know how well respected they are in the US, and nor do I know at what price they sell on that side of the big pond. Here they're priced fairly competitively, considering their quality.

Nowadays I refuse to use anything else.

Bruin

[DesDownunder]

Is that so? My friend was trying to tell me that Sennheiser are 'overpriced crap' and that no proffesional studios use them, but they were recommended to me by my brother, so I'm not sure who to listen to.

I just realised you shouldn't listen to either of them, listen to the music instead. the Sennheisers are good to help you with that.

[colinian]

I listen to music mostly when I'm walking around campus and sitting between classes, and when I'm out walking or hiking on the trails up above the campus or around my home.

I have a pair of Bose model 2 over-the-ear headphones my grandma and grandpa gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago. They sound great, but are too large and heavy and bulky to be usable for my needs.

I have a pair of Shure E5c earbuds and the sound is absolutely f'ing fantastic. There's no other words for it. My folks got them for me Christmas before last. That was a major gift: these earbuds cost $499. Trouble is, when you're walking or hiking or jogging they tend to fall out of your ears. Or, more correctly, out of my ears. And I find them uncomfortable because you use the stiff 3" section of the cord where it comes out of the earbuds to wrap around the back of your ear and it's supposed to hold them on, but that doesn't work for me. These are best when you're sitting around at home or in the dorm and you want to listen to music up-close and personal and with fantastic reproduction, and you're not going to be moving around a lot.

I bought myself a pair of cheap Sony earbuds ($14.99 at Target) that have a little plastic piece on each bud that goes behind and around your ear. They are super comfortable, never fall out, and sound, uh, not great. Don't get me wrong, that's good when compared to the freebie 25? crap earbuds everyone (esp. Apple) stuffs into the box with their players and makes a BFD out of how you should love them for giving you such sexy-looking crap earbuds.

I recently tried out and then bought myself a pair of Bose BW-1 earbuds for $90. Of course, being Bose, they don't call them earbuds, they call them "in-ear headphones" la-de-da. They came with three sizes of silicone tips that go just outside of your ear canal. It took a little getting used to the feel; they always feel like they're about to fall out, but I found out they don't fall out. The sound of my BW-1's is almost as good as my 5-plus-times-as-expensive Shure E5c's. I haven't been hiking with them yet, so I can't comment on how stable they'll in that environment. I jogged with them a couple of times, and they didn't fall out. Oh, and they come with a lanyard that goes around your neck and make them feel more stable. These work great for me, for sitting around in the dorm or between classes, for walking, for jogging. And I think they'll be great when I'm hiking, too.

My dad's got a pair of Sennheiser over-ear headphones he uses sometimes to listen to music at home. I don't know the model, but he's had them for as long as I can remember, back to when I was maybe 5 years old (13 years ago) and loved put them on and listen to music even though they were way too big to really fit correctly on my small head and tiny ears.

Colin

[Trab]

Forgive me; I'm not trying to hijack the thread.

"and when I'm out walking or hiking on the trails up above" is a reference to when music is being listened to.

This can be a very dangerous thing to do. In Vancouver there have been numerous cases of people being rushed from behind as they are hiking along, and they cannot hear the sound of the approach. Other dangers include not hearing animals and/or not hearing calls for help or warning from others. Please, for your own safety and that of others, don't listen to music when hiking on trails in parks, or even worse, wilderness.

[ian]

when compared to the freebie 25? crap earbuds everyone (esp. Apple) stuffs into the box with their players and makes a BFD out of how you should love them for giving you such sexy-looking crap earbuds.

I disagree. The best earbuds I've ever listened to came with my iPod.

[DesDownunder]

I guess it is the projectionist in me But I really dislike listening through headphones.

Give me a six channel array of mammoth 16 inch speakers with multi-cellular tweeters and an 18 inch sub woofer and I am perfectly happy.

As far as the little things you put in your ear are concerned, well, for me, an ear-bud is a close friend who whispers sweet nothings in my ear whilst nibbling my ear lobe.

[colinian]

Forgive me; I'm not trying to hijack the thread.

"and when I'm out walking or hiking on the trails up above" is a reference to when music is being listened to.

This can be a very dangerous thing to do. In Vancouver there have been numerous cases of people being rushed from behind as they are hiking along, and they cannot hear the sound of the approach. Other dangers include not hearing animals and/or not hearing calls for help or warning from others. Please, for your own safety and that of others, don't listen to music when hiking on trails in parks, or even worse, wilderness.

First, I never hike alone.

Second, I'm big enough (6'2" 181 pounds) that I'm not as good a target as single females.

Third, when I'm out walking alone on our in-town trails (like the Iron Horse Trail) that aren't really trails in the hiking sense (they're paved former railway right-of-ways, for one thing) it's always daytime and there are lots of other people around, so I think I'm safe.

Fourth, I keep the volume set to a reasonable on-th-low-side level. I have very good hearing, and I don't want to damage my eardrums!

Fifth (and most important), my Sony wrap-behind-the-ear earbuds and my Bose earbuds still let me hear what's going on around me. They don't seal the ear canal, they sit in the bowl of the ear.

The Shure earbuds close off all external sound, one of the reasons (besides their falling out of my ears) that I don't use them.

Colin

[ian]

I guess it is the projectionist in me But I really dislike listening through headphones.

Give me a six channel array of mammoth 16 inch speakers with multi-cellular tweeters and an 18 inch sub woofer and I am perfectly happy.

As far as the little things you put in your ear are concerned, well, for me, and ear-bud is a close friend who whispers sweet nothings in my ear whilst nibbling my ear lobe.

Yeah, I was specifically looking for studio headphones that seal out all other sound. When I've got these Sennheisers on, people around me can't even hear what I'm listening to if it's full blast.