Any other headphone nuts out there?

[chilicoke]

noticed a few headphone related discussion around the forum lately, this being a car forum and members are mostly guys, I was just wondering if there are any other headphone nuts on this board, and also not to hijack other threads, I decided to make a new thread where people can post their headphone/audio related and discussion

here are my audio gear that gets the more frequent use:

Audio-Technica ATH-W1000


Audio Technica ATH-W100


hard case I convert from a camera case for my babies:


Etymotic ER-4S


Single Power MPX3 tube amplifier


my source, NAD C542 HDCD player:


interconnect I built out of 14 gaug pure silver wire ordered from jewelry store


pure audio bliss


these are my primilary headphones, I also have a collection of the entire Sony MDR-Dxx Eggo line of headphones (those in Asia will know what they are) and decent size collection of classic (including some very rare) Sony Discmans.

Feel free to post your headphone gears (if there are any other headphone nuts out here), I'll post picture of my other gears if enough people are interested

[Lilleput]

Damn your headphones live better than i do!!

I just have some random In-Ear headphones..

[Buba]

Dude, you got some impressive stuff there!!!

Buba

[mike_tseng]

i wish i had the time to go out and test headphones and the money to buy the ones i like but right now i am happy with:

Sony Fontopia MDR-EX71
Etymotic ER-6
Sony MDR-V6

i want a set of Bose Triports but ive heard so much shit about it. i know they are over-rated, over-hyped, and over-priced but i like them.

[mgkdk]

I only have these Bang & Olufsen ones

[Lilleput]

Originally Posted by mgkdk

I only have these Bang & Olufsen ones

Uhh, classy!

[v1ct0r]

I had those Bang & Olufsen A8's, they actually are really good headphones unlike some people say but they are way overpriced. But if you can afford it, go ahead, they were way too much for me but they were a gift

sk8er you have some really nice headphones, i saw a guy with the top audio technica's you had with the amp to match it. Looked sweet.

[mike_tseng]

IMHO i owned those B&O earphones and i thought they were an awesome design & the adjustable fit was very amusing, but that was the part that failed on me

the gas "shocks" that go up and down went loose and it just didnt fit anymore and i returned them

i like the sound quality on those but i think it isnt sensitive enough or not enough sound blocking

but without the bad "shock" the fit is WAY better than the Sony MDR-EX81's

[Mischief007]

I had a pair of Sony's 10 years ago and 5 years ago. Then I made the switch. I now have a pair of Sennheiser HD570s and they are amazing. Love them. I can't believe how great the sound is from them. ANd yet I don't have an amplifier so I know I'm not even getting the best out of them.

[avanti]

I have a pair of Koss TD 65, the sound is okay but they get a bit uncomfortable after a while. I think they cost around 30 dollar, so I guess the quality isn't that good.

Would appreciate it if someone could educate me on the topic, who is whe Pagani/Ferrari of the headphone world?

If you don't mind me asking, how much does those Audio Technica babies cost?

[Mischief007]

Sennheiser are close to that. Mine cost me $240 CDN with tax. But I know there are much much more expensive ones out there as well.

I think with Sennheisers you can't go wrong. An amp helps most of the high end headphones as well.

[swek]

This thread made me realize that I know absolutely nothing about highend audio. Can you explain me the purpose of the Frankenstein laboratory looking amp ?

[chaos386]

I have a pair of Grado SR60s, and that's as far as I think I'll go for headphones. I tried looking for an amp to use with them, but they were all over USD$200! That's over triple the cost of the headphones themselves!

[mgkdk]

Originally Posted by v1ct0r

I had those Bang & Olufsen A8's, they actually are really good headphones unlike some people say but they are way overpriced. But if you can afford it, go ahead, they were way too much for me but they were a gift

Well it pays of to live in the city where B&O has all the factorys, I know a lot of people that work there = employe discount

[SL65]

Good thread
Hey I own an iPod and as a lot of you would know, those damn earpieces are crap Good, cheap alternative anyone??

[v1ct0r]

sennheiser PX100, Sony MDR EX-71SL or the EX81SL...ummm these are all pretty portable headphones. The Koss and Audio Technica clip-ons are pretty good. If you want good CHEAP sound try the Sennheiser MX-series. Or for cheap cans you could go sennheiser 202, 212 pro, 457 and 497. We need your budget and what type of phones you're looking for to help more but there are some

[v1ct0r]

Originally Posted by avanti

If you don't mind me asking, how much does those Audio Technica babies cost?

since sk8er hasn't replied to that, i looked up the price for the ATH-W1000 and they're $459.00 USD

..maybe i should save up for those

[Viggen]

Originally Posted by v1ct0r

Or for cheap cans you could go sennheiser 202, 212 pro, 457 and 497. We need your budget and what type of phones you're looking for to help more but there are some

I had the Sennheiser HD-212 Pros for a week (did the "burn-in" method of running the headphones for at least 72 hours), then returned back to the store. My big beef is the bass is too overpowering, which is fine for bass-heavy music like hip-hop, but it is terrible for everything else.

Comparing to the 202, they're not much different other than one is around $25 and the other is around $65. I'd go with the 202 if you like a sealed headphone with a lot of bass.

[chilicoke]

sorry for the lack of reply, last night I typped up almost 1 page of it and the forum went down before I could hit the submit button so here it goes again...

Originally Posted by v1ct0r

sk8er you have some really nice headphones, i saw a guy with the top audio technica's you had with the amp to match it. Looked sweet.

Thank you, and in my opinion, Audio-Technica Headphones are definitly extremely attractive. The quality of the built and fit is nothing short of spectacular, and that polished Japanses hard red cherry wood is just beautiful! And before anyone ask, yes they sound just as good as they look, if not, BETTER!

Originally Posted by avanti

Would appreciate it if someone could educate me on the topic, who is whe Pagani/Ferrari of the headphone world?

If you don't mind me asking, how much does those Audio Technica babies cost?

not at all, as v1ct0r found, Audio-Technica ATH-W1000s are $459.00 USD before shipping from audiocubes.com, which has some of the lowest price for Audio-Technica headphones, other sites often have them for much higher price because they are only sold in Japan and must be imported, and as far as I understand, they are open priced in Japan

the ATH-W100s had been discontinued for a few years now (ATH-W1000 are the successor to ATH-W100), W100s are now very rare and extremely hard to find in the used market. I often see buyers on headphones forums searching for ATH-W100s, some even offered up to $500 USD for used pairs but still having hard time to locate an owner willing to sell their ATH-W100s

as for Pagani/Ferrari of the headphone world, that's hard to say because almost all high-end headphone manufactures make headphones in all price ranges, however some of the most rare/exotic/expansive dynamic headphones are:

Sennheiser Orpheus ($14,500 USD)
Sony MDR-R10 ($4,000 USD)
Sony Qualia Q010 ($3,300 USD)
Audio-Technica ATH-L3000 ($2,350 UDS)
Audio-Technica ATH-W2002 (around $1,000 USD)
AKG K 1000 ($1,200 USD)
Ultimate Ears UE-10 Pro ($1,000 USD)

Others that are more affordable and more popular (I guess the Lotus Elise, BMW M, and Mercedes-Benz AMG) in audiophlie headphone world such as Sennheiser HD650/600, Beyerdynamic DT 880, Sony MDR-CD3000, Audio Technica ATH-W1000, Grado RS-1/RS-2, Shure E5C, and Etymotic ER-4S/ER-4P ect...

Originally Posted by swek

This thread made me realize that I know absolutely nothing about highend audio. Can you explain me the purpose of the Frankenstein laboratory looking amp ?

unless you are interested in audio related stuff and purposely look for them, audiophlie headphone world is unknown to most people as these arnt the kind of stuff you see in stores.

first of all, for dynamic headphones there are two types of amps: solid state and tube (three if you want to count tube/solid state hybrid).
solid state amplifiers uses chips called "operational amplifier" or "op-amps" to amplify the audio signal, usually producing more neutral, faster, sharper, and less-colored sound, they're sonic characteristic mostly depen on the op-amp within the circuit. Tube amplifiers on the other hand use gas-filled glass vacuum tube to ampifly, people who perfer smoother, moody, or slightly colored sound will like tube amplifiers better, also by swapping/matching different tubes will result in different sound

as you can see I went with the tube route, I wasnt able to compare it to other solid state amplifiers in the same price range simply because there's no way I would be able to afford both to compare (my MPX3 ended up at $1,150 ). but from other's experience on head-fi.org I went with Single Power MPX3 with tons of upgrades, and boy it was love at first sight (or should I say first audition )

Originally Posted by chaos386

I have a pair of Grado SR60s, and that's as far as I think I'll go for headphones. I tried looking for an amp to use with them, but they were all over USD$200! That's over triple the cost of the headphones themselves!

you can always go with DIY (do it yourself) route, thanks to the ultra-friendly headphone community, there are many directionson on the web on how to build amps in endless types/designs, both solid state amp and tube amp

here's my PIMETA v1.0a (designed by tangent) I built when I first started






It's a v1.0a PIMETA with crossfeed bard loaded with high-end parts (Burr-Brown AD8620AR op-amp for both channels and AD8610AR for ground, pure-silver wire/ Vishay Dale resistors through out, triple stacked Burr-Brown BUF634 buffers, ALPS pot, Elpac A/c adaptor ect..), It's built into a wooden picture frame , under the glass it's a piece of sheet aluminum to get that metal texture, matches with that wooden dark brown frame extremely well. total I believe cost me around $210 or so (cant remember exactly), you can built a fully working basic model for as little as $100 or less, however since it's DIY, it's price/performance ratio is unbeatable!

more to come later

[mautzel]

Mmmmh, tube amps - unfortunately not my price range. My current headphoes are AKG K301 - quite basic ones but wonderfully detailled, though they've got some problems with lack of bass.