Yet another headphone thread

Yay! That's the real deal.

Those cans will sound better on an amp; they'll tend to be a little congested, with slightly muddy bass, on a normal headphone out. They still sound really good, but an amp improves them.

You don't need to spend much money. People can't tell solid state amps apart if they're driven within spec at the same volume. The Headroom Total Bithead will do a very nice job. It also has a decent DAC, built right in.

I committed and just bought the Beyerdynamic DT 770s at 600 ohms..... So, now it is time to wait for these to come in and hope the US Postal service doesn't decide it wants to "misplace" them.

EDIT: Oh yeah and I bought them on Amazon for 180 something. I also made it worse by juggling the idea of having them custom painted on their website but I realized that was a really stupid idea.

I have a minor dilemma. For iPod/iPhone listening, I like Jbuds J2's; they're comfortable and sound better than anything else I've tried. But I've only tried things in the $20-50 range (mostly cheap Sonys, up to Apple's in-ear option), and a pair of J2's lasts not quite a year for me before one of the wires breaks.

The J2s' disposability bothers me, but they only cost $15. Is there an in-ear earbud that is sufficiently better and more durable that I should buy it instead?

If you want in-ear, I've been very happy with my Vsonic R02pro2s -- they seem quite solid so far, and they sound brilliant for the money. I'm not sure how easy they are to find in the US, but the Cyclone PR1 Pro is very similar (possibly even better, according to some reviews), and apparently they're pretty easy to find for $50 or less.

If you want a serious step-up in quality in that price range, the Yuin PK3 or PK2 will do great. They will not have the big boomy bass of the lower-end earbuds/IEMs, but it will be more accurate and not overpower the mids and highs. Boomy bass is a bit of a cheat that cheaper headphones use to trick your ear and cover up the deficiencies in sound. Tight accurate bass has far more impact and is much more pleasing to the ear.

The IEM style, while having great isolation, adds unwanted sounds by the nature of its design. Ever notice how loud you talk and breath when you plug your ears? Also, because the headphones seal your ear canal, you hear the cord bouncing around as you walk, as well as other sounds transmitted through your body like your footfalls on the ground. Cord clips and soft shoes help, but I found them unusable when my main mode of transportation was walking and the bus.

IEMs seem to be best used on long passenger commutes (planes; trains). I think earbuds make a better all around headphone, though, especially if you use them actively. If most of your listening is on the couch or at the computer, then it might not be such an issue.

Okay, my campaign to bring back the traditional earbud is done...for now.

If I were in the market for an IEM, I would go with Etymotic. The have a long and stellar reputation for consistently making great IEMs. In fact, it was not that long ago when all they made were fairly expensive audiophile IEMs, but now they make the relatively inexpensive ER-6i. It seems like a good model for your price range if most of your music listening is through an iPod/iPhone or some other portable player. They also make the HF line, which I know nothing about, but it looks just out of your price range anyway.

I haven't done it yet, but whenever my Sennheiser earbuds finally die I'm going to end up with a pair of Etymotic MC5's. They're about $80, have excellent isolation, and most people seem to love the things.

Double post

The Etymotic MC5's look great. I like the look of it but how much of a gimmick is the kevlar cable coating? One of the biggest problems I have had with my previous headphones is that they break near the 3.5mm jack

You're not wrong, but you might be overstating the case a touch I use my IEMs (the aforementioned Vsonic R02pro2s) while out and about, both while walking and while on the train/tram/bus, and while they're not ideal for walking, wrapping the cords up and around the back of my ears eliminates most of those cable-rubbing sounds.

I have to admit, though, that I might have weird ears -- while IEMs fit me well and are fairly comfortable (I'll often wear them 4-5 hours a day across my workday and commute), earbuds just do not fit my ears. Every pair I've tried has been very uncomfortable and very prone to falling out, and probably due to those problems giving me a poor fit, they've all sounded terrible. I've heard great things about those Yuin buds, but I'd never buy a pair for myself.

Some are uncomfortable, but it's all about finding the right fit. My new cheapo Klipsch are very comfortable vs my bearable mid ranged Eytomics and Shures.

It's all personal fit and preference, but to say earbuds are better as you did, implying that they're better in general outside of specific circumstances? I disagree. To each their own.

Absolutely. Everybody has their own personal preference. In my opinion, it is a lot easier for earbuds to "disappear" as you are listening, because when you listen to music in the open air from speakers or just unamped instruments, your ears are not plugged. Anything that reminds me I am wearing headphones, bothers me to some degree. Even if the IEM has a wide open soundstage and accurate positioning, that plugged ear feeling you get hampers all the great psychoacoustics that are trying to fool your brain into thinking the music is in the room and not in your head.

Eh, I just looked and they're $400 on that site. Were they the deal of the day or something when you bought them?

That's an outstanding price for 600s, and I'll tell ya, it's hard to do much better in headphones. You can certainly equal them, or get similarly competent headphones that shade the sound somewhat differently, but it's very difficult to do objectively better. They are just glorious cans.

Best with an amp, though. Any reasonable cheapie is fine. The Total Bithead from Headroom is one good option.

I absolutely love my HD600s and they really do need a good amp. I tried them with the A40 Mixamp and my Xin Super Mini (Version 1). The A40 showed no improvement and the Xin Super Mini colored the sound way to much (could not break through "veil" and bass was too way to boomy). However, the Nuforce Icon Mobile completely brought them to life. It really made all the difference. If I didn't have my Icon MobileThe 600's don't sound bad unamped, they just don't distinguish themselves from a good pair of efficient full sized headphones.

Note on the Bithead: I heard they have a problem with RF interference. Might be an issue if it is going to be sitting next to an iPhone or something. I have never used one, though, so who knows. My Xin Super Mini suffers from this problem and it is completely unsuable with the iPhone unless it is in Airplane Mode.

Still the Bithead is a great amp, plus it has crossfeed, so it should help push the soundstage out a bit in front. I am not sure how well it works, though, some crossfeeds do well at opening up the sounstage, but at the cost of some positional accuracy.

I don't remember the differences, but the ER6s are a much older model. Doesn't mean that they are inferior, but that might be why you get the better price.