Yet another headphone thread

Those 558's would not be a bad choice. The micmod does drive the price up quite a bit though.

I like mine enough where I have a backup of the cheaper 518s ($60 on sale) in case the current ones ever break or to use with the media center PC.

To the folks looking at a set of 558s and a ModMic, I can heartily endorse the combination for gaming, It's what I'm using, and phenomenal. On the foam removal mod for the 555s, I did it, and don't feel like there was a huge difference in sound. YMMV with that, however.

manta173 wrote:

After searching for an earbud thread I gave up due the the massive number and age of what I found that wasn't directly related.

I want a ~$30 or so pair of earbud that will cancel noise (via those little round rubber things) and have a volume control and possibly a mike.

There are so many options that I have kind of gotten lost. I found these that seem decent with a flat cord which may or may not help it from getting tangled a lot. Any suggestions?

Cross post from the question thread... I know I can get some much nicer ear buds if I spend more, but I have been happy with the $20-30 range and am not an audiophile. I just want to be able to hear my movie on my phone sitting next to an engine on a plane... and then fit the headphones into my pocket.

IMAGE(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/QwviSWr6JE5KduJS3Z2isKC1XsWNoKgRzUSMxlxXajMbW-GXxK6xAWnM8s0TO558lNYKBLYpe4W1Rqw=w1896-h899-rw)

A new set of AKG K553 Pro's, courtesy of Massdrop (and my thinning wallet). The original leather pads were kinda crap, so I had them replaced with that sweet sweet velour. Me gusta.

mr_n00b wrote:

The original leather pads were kinda crap, so I had them replaced with that sweet sweet velour. Me gusta.

Best headphone pad cover material ever.

I'm wearing them right now. It's like my ears are cradled between two small, soft, cuddly (non-allergenic) bunnies.

Recommendations on a pair of waterproof wireless headphones?
Yes, I will be in the shower.

RolandofGilead wrote:

Recommendations on a pair of waterproof wireless headphones?
Yes, I will be in the shower.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Walkman-N...

Use them for running and they are the best. Not exactly what is requested, but wireless headphone tech is not worth it for the most part in my opinion.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
RolandofGilead wrote:

Recommendations on a pair of waterproof wireless headphones?
Yes, I will be in the shower.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Walkman-N...

Use them for running and they are the best. Not exactly what is requested, but wireless headphone tech is not worth it for the most part in my opinion.

Neat.

Thing is, what I really love wireless for is listening to the gwj podcast while shaving.
But my ps3 stereo wireless headset died. It was dang comfortable too.

RolandofGilead wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
RolandofGilead wrote:

Recommendations on a pair of waterproof wireless headphones?
Yes, I will be in the shower.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Walkman-N...

Use them for running and they are the best. Not exactly what is requested, but wireless headphone tech is not worth it for the most part in my opinion.

Neat.

Thing is, what I really love wireless for is listening to the gwj podcast while shaving.
But my ps3 stereo wireless headset died. It was dang comfortable too.

Why not a bluetooth waterproof speaker? I've got one in the shower.

manta173 wrote:
manta173 wrote:

After searching for an earbud thread I gave up due the the massive number and age of what I found that wasn't directly related.

I want a ~$30 or so pair of earbud that will cancel noise (via those little round rubber things) and have a volume control and possibly a mike.

There are so many options that I have kind of gotten lost. I found these that seem decent with a flat cord which may or may not help it from getting tangled a lot. Any suggestions?

Cross post from the question thread... I know I can get some much nicer ear buds if I spend more, but I have been happy with the $20-30 range and am not an audiophile. I just want to be able to hear my movie on my phone sitting next to an engine on a plane... and then fit the headphones into my pocket.

I bought these from Amazon. They sound fantastic, and even though it says used.. it really just means that the packaging was damaged.

I recently got a pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 600ohm headphones (once again, thank you Massdrop). My god, phenomenal headphones. Do you remember that moment when the space around your ears just "opened" up. Yeah, the moment I put them on. So nice! They're a bit too sibilant for my tastes, I need to reduce the volume a bit to get rid of it. But otherwise fantastic headphones, would buy again.

But something weird happened last night. I was listening to them through my DAC/amp combo, got pulled away by a phone call, and came back only to discover the left channel had completely dropped out. Panic mode. I just got these on Tuesday, how could they be broken already? I start reading through the Massdrop return clause, reading the Beyerdynamic limited guarantee. I'm just generally freaking out, and angry.

I'm racking my brain for an explanation. I try another pair of headphones on the headphone amp (Sennheiser HD600's 300ohm) and they're sounding blissful as always, no channel loss. I plug the DT990s into another source, and the left channel is still gone! I'm pretty frustrated at this point.

But I decide it's late, I send off e-mails to both companies detailing what had just occurred. I go to bed to sleep off my disappointment.

I just got back home from work and decided to try them again, to confirm to myself I didn't make a mistake sending those e-mails. Except, now I'm freaking out again. They're working JUST FINE.

What?

That's usually a cable/plug issue. If it happens again, try rotating the plug in the jack back and forrrrrrtttthhh... PHRASING

Amazon accidentally shipped a half dozen Sennheiser IE60 earphones to a friend of mine. I told him I'd be happy to take a pair off his hands, but he wanted to contact Amazon to see if they wanted them back. Amazon actually never got back to him, so he sent me a set. I think he sold the rest on ebay.

The Sennheiser IE60 is a pretty nice set of earphones. They retail for $250, but can be found at a discount for as low as $150 from places like newegg. The sound definitely has a Sennheiser signature, with relatively heavy bass. The high end is a bit damped down and the mids can get slightly crowded at high volumes. I set up a very slight EQ in my computer's sound card to boost the treble a bit, which helps when I'm listening to classical music. For most other music, though, the sound is really nice. They use dynamic drivers which provide strong bass compared to the flatter frequency response I'm used to with balanced armature Etymotic earphones.

One thing that bugs me about them is that the fit is a bit fiddly. They include a pair of shaped firm silicone pieces that fit behind your ear with grooved slots that hold the cable in place. That setup works pretty well for protecting the cable while letting it go over your ear easily. The main problem I had with the fit was the angle of the earbud combined with the thin silicone tips that came with the earphones. There is a good variety of tips included (3 sizes of both single and double-flanged tips), but I prefer the isolation I get from triple-flanged tips that go a bit deeper than the usual in-ear tips. I got some third-party triple-flanged tips that work much better for me, both due to better isolation and holding the buds in place.

Overall the IE60's seem built to last, with cables that are reinforced at the ends and where they join. The package includes a cable clip and a nice carrying case that makes it easy to wrap up the earphones to travel without tangling the cords.

Since I got these for free, I can't complain at all. I needed a replacement set of earbuds since the rubberized sheath of my Etymotic HF5's cables was fraying after years of heavy use. If I were buying a replacement set myself, I might have opted for another set of HF5 earphones (I really like the way the Etymotic armature drivers sound) or perhaps Shure SE315 earphones because they have a great sound, and also very nice detatchable cables with formable wire around the ears.

However, it would be tough to beat the price of these Sennheiser IE60's. Thanks Amazon!

nice score!
That happened on a wireless baby monitor we bought from somewhere. 11 years ago mind you.
we did hear back from them and they replied with a "merry christmas"

we handed them out to assorted parent friends of ours.

love sennheiser products. some day i'll get a pair.

Just as a note, if you are in the US and a company ships you something by mistake, you can keep it. There used to be a scam where a company would ship you, say, a pricey vacuum cleaner, unordered, and then demand payment. So a law was passed. It's considered a free gift to you.

Amazon's got the Sony MDR-V6 on sale for $55 today. I need an upgrade from these crappy Skullcandy earbuds. Good deal?

Chaz wrote:

Amazon's got the Sony MDR-V6 on sale for $55 today. I need an upgrade from these crappy Skullcandy earbuds. Good deal?

That is a great price, and they are great headphones. The are comparable to the MDR-7506, which I have used for many years and sound much better than their price point. I just bought a second pair of 7506's to use at home for tracking, where I need some isolation. (My original pair live at the office.) Many people prefer the V6 to the 7506.

I've been using my MDR-V6's daily for about 4 years now (or something like that...) and they're still running strong. I can't honestly say the same for their pleather ear pads, but a pair from Beyerdynamic remedied that once the pleather ones finally wore out.

WipEout wrote:

I've been using my MDR-V6's daily for about 4 years now (or something like that...) and they're still running strong. I can't honestly say the same for their pleather ear pads, but a pair from Beyerdynamic remedied that once the pleather ones finally wore out.

Yep. I put those on my older 7506's and LOVE THEM. They feel like my Sennheisers now.

How are the ear openings size wise on the Sony's? I don't like headphones that have a smaller opening that rubs my ear lobes a lot. My HD558's are about right, but I prefer round openings even a bit more .

Ordered. I figure it's worth the upgrade to a good set of headphones since I have a 60-90 minute bus ride each way 3x a week, plus trips to Florida and India coming up within the next 8 months. Now I just need an extension cable so I can plug them into the receiver and use them to play console games while my wife's sleeping.

MannishBoy wrote:

How are the ear openings size wise on the Sony's? I don't like headphones that have a smaller opening that rubs my ear lobes a lot. My HD558's are about right, but I prefer round openings even a bit more .

Apparently they sit right on my earlobes, but after several years of regular use, I only now checked and became aware of it

Honestly, these MDR-V6 headphones aren't very heavy, and they sit comfortably enough around the rest of my ears that I never noticed they rested right on my earlobes until just now. Add the Beyerdynamic covers and it feels like two fluffy little kittens hugging my ears.

The V6s came in today. I haven't had a chance to mess with them too much, but initial impressions are totally solid. The packaging was pretty funny, as they came cradled in a bed of red fake satin. We'll see how I feel about the heavy coiled cable long term. Might not wind up being the best for walking around, but I knew that before I ordered them.

For a short time today I had a pair of Oppo PM-3 planar magnetic headphones. I say for a short time because the left stereo channel was dead straight out of the shrink-wrapped box, so they have to be returned. Frankly I expected better QC from a headphone costing £350. From what I could tell(!) from the right channel they sounded pretty good, overall construction was solid, but the seal was iffy (maybe I have massive ears or something, but the pads were on the small side). Overall enough reasons to get a refund rather than a replacement.

So why buy the PM-3s? Well, I have a pair of Grados that I use for listening at home, but they're open and leak an unacceptable amount of sound when I'm not home alone. I tend to not have a dedicated room for listening in, and I travel a fair bit with work, so any pair that needs an amp is going to see more limited use than I'd like. I was looking for portable, closed backed, but still a great sound.

I'm not sure what other options I should look at. NAD Viso hp50, PSB M4 U2 or Bowers and Wilkins P7 are possibles, I suppose.

Okay so when plan A fails do something totally different. Couldn't find a good option for portable overears that also had comfortable fit, so ended up buying the hd650s with a separate amp and DAC. So yeah, I spent more money on open backed cans and didn't get something that satisfied my original justification for spending money on new headphones.

... I should probably post them in the 'Silly Purchases' thread.

I am very excited to see them turn up, though

What DAC/amp did ya go with?

Schiit Magni 2+ Modi 2. There's a plethora of options but a lot of the amps you see recommended weren't that easy to track down in the UK.

babakotia wrote:

Schiit Magni 2+ Modi 2. There's a plethora of options but a lot of the amps you see recommended weren't that easy to track down in the UK.

The Magni/Modi stack is great and works for 95% of the headphones out there. Should be a great setup.

I sometimes find myself wishing I'd waited until the second version of each was available so I could have bought those instead of my Bifrost/Asgard 2 combo. Would have been a lot cheaper and would take up a lot less space on my desk

I considered the Vali too, but it seemed to offer the disadvantages of tubes without many of the positives, and anecdotally it didn't seem to suit the hd650s that well according to most people who'd tried (even though the bottlehead crack is often suggested as a complement for them). The headphones actually arrived today (gotta love Amazon Prime with its Sunday deliveries). They fit comfortably, and sounded nice even hooked up to my old Logitech Z4 headphone jack, so I'm really looking forward to getting my Schiit together now!