Audiophile thread - All about sound

[the wicked child]

can we talk about surround sound in here?

No, you cannot.

Spoiler:

Actually, you can. I guess. Not my thread.

[Malkamaniac]

So I got sennheiser earbuds today. For $50 bucks, comfortable and the sound is awesome!

[Physical_Graffiti]

What's the best ipod (or iphone) to get? I'm thinking of getting one for Christmas.

[legame]

I honestly just grab cheap earbuds from Marshalls/TJ Maxx. If you're using them for working out, you're going to sweat and have them short out within a few months anyway.

[Physical_Graffiti]

^Lolwut? I wear my over the ear headphones every time I workout (3 times a week, for 3 hours a day) and the've never shorted out.

[columbia]

^^^

No wonder you don't have time to hit the grocery store. :pop;

[beerman]

^^^

No wonder you don't have time to hit the grocery store. :pop;

He has to burn all the fast food off somehow.

[JS©]

Beats by Dr Dre? Bose?

Holy crap these are TERRIBLE recommendations. TERRIBLE.


Cheap decent headphone: Koss Porta-Pro or Koss KC-75 (same drivers, pick the style you like best)

Mid Range:
Open: Sennheiser PX 200 - II (for portable), Senn 555 (for dedicated - might need an amp), Grado SR60/80 (for rock), Audio Technica ATH-AD700
Closed: Sony MDR-V6, Audio Technica ATH-A700


High end: Depends on what music you like, if you are dropping this much head over to head-fi. Also you will probably need an amp. I have a Beyer DT990, Senn IE8 IEMs, and a Senn HD580. You need an amp for these except the IEMs.


A note on brands:

IN GENERAL:
Sennheiser will give you a huge soundstage which I love. Senn is my favorite brand of headphones. Sometimes they might seem "laid back" to some people. The Senn IE8 IEMs are the exception, they have a huge soundstage but are also pretty heavy.

Beyer: Have a huge soundstage, ultra comfortable, great all around headphones but only really come in high end models AFAIK

Grado: I don't personally own these, they are supposedly really good for rock. Very in your face

Koss: Great cheap all around headphone

Bose: Overrated PoS. Can get MUCH better while paying much less

Beats by Dr Dre: Huge bass, nothing else. Probably good if you only want bass.


A note on open vs closed:

Open headphones allow sound in and out. They usually are much more comfortable to wear and have a better soundstage. Most of the high end dedicated non-portable headphones are open. The drawback is that everyone can hear what you are listening to.

Closed headphones: never found one I liked, although the Sony MDR-V6 is really good for the price. I said screw it and now use expensive Senn IE8 IEMs and love them way better than closed headphones.

Dude, I use them for 45 minutes to an hour a day. Relax lol.

Plus the Beats headphones are waaaay north of $100, probably closer to $200.

[Physical_Graffiti]

^^^

No wonder you don't have time to hit the grocery store. :pop;

He has to burn all the fast food off somehow.

Guess what: My favourite Wing place just opened up a store in that plaza .

[columbia]

^^^

No wonder you don't have time to hit the grocery store. :pop;

He has to burn all the fast food off somehow.

Guess what: My favourite Wing place just opened up a store in that plaza .

[Pitts]

Recently, I was working out and my jokarific Apple Ear Buds finally gave out. I need ear buds purely for the gym, anyone have any good ones that they recommend? With the Apple ones, I'm constantly fixing them, because they just suck. What say you lgp?

Sorry! Late to the game... I've had 3 or 4 pairs of these...the BEST!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-MDR-ED12LP ... 3a6b689130

You find other colors too:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_kw=Sony ... ccessories

[pittsoccer33]

ive been on the hunt to replace my entry level sony receiver.

since all the new avr's have multiple hdmi inputs, I was hoping that I could do a Picture in Picture kind of thing, mixing two of the inputs. Have not seen one where this is possible though.

[JS©]

I have a harman kardon receiver that is pushing 10 years old and the volume knob on front is starting to act weird. If I turn the volume knob up, it goes up. I know, nothing weird about that, but if I turn it down, it also goes up.

The volume still works through the remote, but I'm starting to wonder if the knob is starting to go if something else isn't too far behind?

[columbia]

I have a harman kardon receiver that is pushing 10 years old and the volume knob on front is starting to act weird. If I turn the volume knob up, it goes up. I know, nothing weird about that, but if I turn it down, it also goes up.

The volume still works through the remote, but I'm starting to wonder if the knob is starting to go if something else isn't too far behind?

It sounds like the physical wiring from the volume knob has a short in it.
As long as you don't lose the remote - like I would - I wouldn't worry about it.

[steve784]

OK, so I'm looking for sweet headphones. I came upon the Bose ae2i and seemed to like them. I remember kind of picking up on this thread that Bose is way overpriced for what you get. I am clueless when it comes to audio stuff. The main things I want are something over/around the ear (hate buds) that I can use either listening to music/watching stuff while traveling, or watching movies in bed. The plus that I liked about the ae2i were that they're designed for Apple products and have the little volume control thing on the cord. Thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-48652-Bose%C ... 962&sr=8-1

[steve784]

Pleeeease? Went to Best Buy today and still have no idea.

[eddysnake]

Pleeeease? Went to Best Buy today and still have no idea.

I was going back through my older Sound + Vision magazines and found a recent article reviewing 6 different headphones...

check it out

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article/head-room-six-audiophile-headphones-tested

[AlexPKeaton]

Pleeeease? Went to Best Buy today and still have no idea.

Are you running these straight out of an ipod?

Also what is your preference, do you want closed headphones (block sound in and out), or open headphones (leak sound in and out)?

For closed and with an iPod, I would personally go with:

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD25-1 ... B000TDZOXG

[pittsoccer33]

I got some new speakers a few months back.

2 x Sony SSF5000 three way towers
1 x Sony SS CN5000 center channel speaker
2 x Sony SS B1000 book shelf speaker (will buy two more when I get a 7 channel receiver)

These are definitely not high end speakers whatsoever, but they are by far the nicest ones I've ever owned. Previously I've had a JVC CD shelf boombox system, Boston Acoustics 2.1 computer speakers, and the tiny tweeters that can with my Sony receiver.

You really can hear a lot more in songs, especially in the middle of the mixes. Theres a lot more definition in guitar riffs played in the lower registers and keyboard parts that fill that part of the mix up as well.

A little tip: back when I got my system in college I just jacked up all the satellite speaker levels all the way, not accounting for room balance. I just wanted them as loud as possible when we had parties. I noticed over time as I got more sensitive to it that the speakers would clip, especially the center one. This would happen in various movies during different things. I assumed it was the cheap speaker and perhaps cheap wire too.

When I set up new much larger center channel speaker up I noticed some of the same clipping. When I went through and used room correction software to adjust my levels, it made me realize I still had those satellite speaker levels way out of whack from years ago. Just lowering them stopped the clipping all together. I have to turn the volume up a few notches to account for it, but that extra stage of amplification isnt causing any distortion now.

[eddysnake]

I got some new speakers a few months back.

Spoiler:

2 x Sony SSF5000 three way towers
1 x Sony SS CN5000 center channel speaker
2 x Sony SS B1000 book shelf speaker (will buy two more when I get a 7 channel receiver)

These are definitely not high end speakers whatsoever, but they are by far the nicest ones I've ever owned. Previously I've had a JVC CD shelf boombox system, Boston Acoustics 2.1 computer speakers, and the tiny tweeters that can with my Sony receiver.

You really can hear a lot more in songs, especially in the middle of the mixes. Theres a lot more definition in guitar riffs played in the lower registers and keyboard parts that fill that part of the mix up as well.

A little tip: back when I got my system in college I just jacked up all the satellite speaker levels all the way, not accounting for room balance. I just wanted them as loud as possible when we had parties. I noticed over time as I got more sensitive to it that the speakers would clip, especially the center one. This would happen in various movies during different things. I assumed it was the cheap speaker and perhaps cheap wire too.

When I set up new much larger center channel speaker up I noticed some of the same clipping. When I went through and used room correction software to adjust my levels, it made me realize I still had those satellite speaker levels way out of whack from years ago. Just lowering them stopped the clipping all together. I have to turn the volume up a few notches to account for it, but that extra stage of amplification isnt causing any distortion now

.

I went through the same thing. I previously had a HT setup with all Bose (301, 201, center) bookshelves. I decided to make the change over to Polk (see below). They were very bright compared to the Bose. I ended up getting a new Pioneer receiver that had the mic and autosetup built in. What a difference that made. Then I got a proper Sub and then the fun started.

Spoiler:

[steve784]

Pleeeease? Went to Best Buy today and still have no idea.

Are you running these straight out of an ipod?

Also what is your preference, do you want closed headphones (block sound in and out), or open headphones (leak sound in and out)?

For closed and with an iPod, I would personally go with:

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD25-1 ... B000TDZOXG

Yeah my usage of these would almost strictly be to iPod and MacBook. I would prefer closed headphones, but don't really care that much. Thanks for the tip on the Sennheisers. These were the ones I was previously looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/Grado-Prestige-Se ... 22130GGI0U

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-48652-Bose%C ... 22130GGI0U

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-449 ... 22130GGI0U

http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-Image-ONE ... 876&sr=8-1

[AlexPKeaton]

Pleeeease? Went to Best Buy today and still have no idea.

Are you running these straight out of an ipod?

Also what is your preference, do you want closed headphones (block sound in and out), or open headphones (leak sound in and out)?

For closed and with an iPod, I would personally go with:

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD25-1 ... B000TDZOXG

Yeah my usage of these would almost strictly be to iPod and MacBook. I would prefer closed headphones, but don't really care that much. Thanks for the tip on the Sennheisers. These were the ones I was previously looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/Grado-Prestige-Se ... 22130GGI0U

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-48652-Bose%C ... 22130GGI0U

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-449 ... 22130GGI0U

http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-Image-ONE ... 876&sr=8-1

Those Senn HD 449 look pretty good. I was trying to find a medium range Senn for you that was closed back, and that one looks probably better for you than the one I linked. Grados are awesome headphones for the price, however they do not block sound at all as they are open designed. I love open designed cans at home, but you can't really use them at work (unless you are a baller with an office) or out and about.

The thing is if you want a portable headphone to be used with an iPod without an amp, you have to be careful and make sure the headphone is designed to be used with such a low power device as an iPod. The high end Senns and Beyer's almost always require an amplifier or need to be driven from like an audio receiver. The ones designed for portable use are what you want.

These ones are really expensive but they look really BA. Listened to them for a brief period at the apple store and dug them quite a bit.

http://www.amazon.com/Bowers-Wilkins-P5 ... 477&sr=8-1

[Admin]

Y'all crazy. Get some Koss Portapros and buy some lottery tickets with the remaining $165.

[Moe Wanchuk]

This is like the official HDTV thread in SLP VHS quality trying to use the tracking wheel to unscramble porn.

What's good for HT isn't for music listening.I have a Marantz 2270 with BSW speakers, a passive sub and a Sansui turntable I got from my uncle. That was audiophile back in the day. My HT is a Marantz 5006, Athena front towers, bookshelf surrounds, and a **** Polk 12" sub. For listening to music, the old 70's setup absolutely destroys my home theater. It's a one trick pony, but to me more people want every song ever written on their ipod, and compress the hell out of it. Sitting in a dark room and just listening to music is an afterthought now. That's a shame.

[JS©]

This is like the official HDTV thread in SLP VHS quality trying to use the tracking wheel to unscramble porn.

What's good for HT isn't for music listening.I have a Marantz 2270 with BSW speakers, a passive sub and a Sansui turntable I got from my uncle. That was audiophile back in the day. My HT is a Marantz 5006, Athena front towers, bookshelf surrounds, and a **** Polk 12" sub. For listening to music, the old 70's setup absolutely destroys my home theater. It's a one trick pony, but to me more people want every song ever written on their ipod, and compress the hell out of it. Sitting in a dark room and just listening to music is an afterthought now. That's a shame.

So you're telling me that the tracking wheel won't unscramble it? ;)

There's a Denon 5.1 receiver on woot for 149 + ship. Its another "should I or shouldn't I" moment?

Help :shrug:

And yes, the compression/loudness war (as wiki has called it) has ruined a lot of music in the last 20 years.