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About half a year ago I was a self-proclaimed music lover who listened to 99% of my music through mp3s playing on my ipod (stock earbuds) or laptop speakers.
Then one day I felt like making an impulse buy at guitarcenter, and happened to grab a pair of akg k99 headphones for ~60 bucks...
Back then, I thought they sounded amazing. Suddenly, I was reliving all my old music for hours at a time (literally just sitting down listening to music, doing nothing else). My ipod earbuds were now trash and I immediately started thinking about upgrades. To make a long story short, I got dragged into audiophilia and ended up spending quite a bit of money on a decent headphone setup. I ended up with 3 terabytes of lossless .flac files, a ~600 dollar DAC/amplifier setup and a pair of flagship akg k701s
AKG k701s: aural sex, imo
I understand that most people don't feel the need to spend so much money on music, but keep in mind that my personal setup is very modest in audiophile terms (its nowhere near high end). I honestly cannot believe that I was once satisfied with my stock ipod.
If you love your music, do yourself a favor and grab a nice pair of headphones! Just make sure you avoid mass market brands like bose, skullcandy, and beats by dr dre. Those all sound TERRIBLE for the money that they cost. Even my k701s cost less than a pair of Dr Dre beats, and they sound WAY better (this is not just my opinion).
Great value buys are:
1) grado sr60s ($50-80 ) - amazing for rock music. actually, theyre just amazing in general. these could pass for $300+ headphones in terms of sound quality
2) jvc marshmallows ($20 ) - super cheap IEMs with great bass and surprisingly high quality sound
3) sennheiser cx300 ($20 ) - another great pair of IEMs
3) audiotechnica ad700 ($70-100 ) - these are awesome gaming headphones with great clarity and soundstaging (sense of space)
if you have a larger budget, you should research the forums at www.head-fi.com/forums they are a great reference. post your budget and favorite music genres and ask for recommendations!
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meh. i never really liked headphones. in my humble opinion a lot of the texture and impact of the music (especially the bassy low frequencies) is lost. speakers just sound a lot better to me. headphones sound .. flat. and I have used decent headphones and I know what youre talking about lol. but yeah each to his own.
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I have a pair of AKG headphones (can't think of the model off the top of my head) that I use when I mix and they are really awesome and only cost me $100 ausd. If they are anything like the ones you have, I understand what you mean. 
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On August 23 2009 15:58 lazz wrote:
meh. i never really liked headphones. in my humble opinion a lot of the texture and impact of the music (especially the bassy low frequencies) is lost. speakers just sound a lot better to me. headphones sound .. flat. and I have used decent headphones and I know what youre talking about lol. but yeah each to his own.
I'm not sure if you've been listening to the right headphones then. a pair of sennheiser hd800s + a good DAC and amp (total cost $3000-$5000) will beat many $10,000 - $20,000 speaker setups according to most audio critics
headphones are scientifically superior to loud speakers in clarity, detail, speed/PRaT, and overall sound quality. The only things that speakers are better at are soundstaging (i.e. surround sound) and bass quantity (not quality). However, that second point is debatable, since there are headphones with more bass than is healthy for your ears.
Try beyer dt770 pro 80-ohm headphones. The bass on those hits so hard they can literally make your head vibrate if you turn the volume up (not a joke)
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yeah dude, I have a pair of senheisers for when I produce music, they're sooooo amazing! It didn't break the bank either.
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I just don't like using headphones because it's hard to share it with other people like earbuds.
And they're really big.
Like I'd never use it outside because it's large and blocks out so much noise.
Mostly use at home.. and then I'd prob use speakers.
I use IEM made by this Chinese brand SoundMagic. PL-30 or something.
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Also if you're getting good headphones/amp setup, don't forget a good soundcard. Many people tend to go with integrated these days, but ugh, I can't stand that Realtek garbage - their drivers are trash and you can still tell a pretty big difference in quality when listening to high def. audio.
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On August 23 2009 16:17 scyper wrote:
I just don't like using headphones because it's hard to share it with other people like earbuds.
And they're really big.
Like I'd never use it outside because it's large and blocks out so much noise.
Mostly use at home.. and then I'd prob use speakers.
I use IEM made by this Chinese brand SoundMagic. PL-30 or something.
Well your preference is up to you. However, none of the statements you made about headphones are necessarily true... Soundmagic is "okay" but it doesn't represent the world of high quality IEMs/headphones very well.
- portable headphones can be small, good looking, and "sharable" and still have incredible sound (see audio-technica ESW9)
- you also have earbuds/IEMs which are extremely portable and also surpass speakers in sound quality. The shure se530 IEMs for example, have a high quality speaker plus 2 subwoofers in each earbud to simulate the immersive sound of speakers (it works amazingly well). At the high end, you have IEMs like the JH-13 ($1500) which can compare to the some of the best speaker systems in the world.
IMO, speakers have 2 purposes
1) playing music for parties/groups of people
2) playing high quality music for SUPER rich audiophiles who build special dedicated acoustic rooms just for their $500,000+ speaker system
headphones/IEMs/earbuds are just better for personal listening imo (in terms of value for money, as well as sound quality)
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51586 Posts
man my sennheiser cx500's are half-broken (like all of the power of the volume is gone, i have to pump the ipod to literally full-ball to get anything out of them) and my beyerdynamic dt-234's are screwing up.
i'm cursed with audio equipment.
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On August 23 2009 16:56 GTR wrote:
man my sennheiser cx500's are half-broken (like all of the power of the volume is gone, i have to pump the ipod to literally full-ball to get anything out of them) and my beyerdynamic dt-234's are screwing up.
i'm cursed with audio equipment.
make sure its not your ipod. I once had a similar problem, and the cause was dirt in my ipod's earphone jack
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Thanks for all the recommendations, bookmarked for future use. I have a big problem with finding decent listening devices  all the things I use tend to break in less than a year, usually around 6 month mark >.< might be because I stuff them in my pockets all the time before class starts...
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On August 23 2009 17:04 Humbug wrote:Thanks for all the recommendations, bookmarked for future use. I have a big problem with finding decent listening devices all the things I use tend to break in less than a year, usually around 6 month mark >.< might be because I stuff them in my pockets all the time before class starts...
What I used to do with earbuds is wear them under a tshirt so that the wire doesn't move around. Then when I need to take them off, just take them out of my ears and let them hang out the front of my shirt. I guess it looks a little weird (imo, it looks fine), but it protects your earphones pretty well
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
I disagree with your earbud choices, the best cheap IEM on the market is the Altec Lansing UHP-336 right now. It sells for only $35 on Amazon with free shipping and no tax.
The UHP-336 is superior to normal iems because it uses a armature driver instead of a dynamic one. The UHP-336 is identical to the Ultimate ears Super fi 3 studio that sells for $130.
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51586 Posts
On August 23 2009 16:59 Wangsta wrote:Show nested quote +On August 23 2009 16:56 GTR wrote:
man my sennheiser cx500's are half-broken (like all of the power of the volume is gone, i have to pump the ipod to literally full-ball to get anything out of them) and my beyerdynamic dt-234's are screwing up.
i'm cursed with audio equipment. make sure its not your ipod. I once had a similar problem, and the cause was dirt in my ipod's earphone jack
nah it's my headphones, i got a new pair of somewhat crap earphones and it seems fine.
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On August 23 2009 17:10 T.O.P. wrote:
I disagree with your earbud choices, the best cheap IEM on the market is the Altec Lansing UHP-336 right now. It sells for only $35 on Amazon with free shipping and no tax.
The UHP-336 is superior to normal iems because it uses a armature driver instead of a dynamic one. The UHP-336 is identical to the Ultimate ears Super fi 3 studio that sells for $130.
armatures have their own pros/cons, they aren't automatically superior to dynamics (although ultra-high end IEMs do tend to favor armatures, so I understand why you might imply that)
but in any case, the UHP336 is far from "identical" to the UE super fi.3 (which is a very, very good IEM), I don't know how you reached that conclusion
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i'll put in another vote for the sennheiser cx300's, they really blow 90% of the headphones in the <$50 price range out of the water. even if you aren't an 'audiophile', for a $20 investment, it's such a huge upgrade in sound quality from stock headphones
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I bought my Audio Technica AD700 from Amazon.com a few weeks back and they sound awesome.
Btw, its rediculous how much headphones cost in Singapore compared to USA. The same headphones cost almost twice as much in Singapore. Even after paying the shipping fees from America, I'd save 50USD
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United States4796 Posts
Damn, everyone here mixes! And obviously, so do I.
Obligatory headphone comments: I mix with a pair of AKG K181s and I love them to death. My street headphones, so to speak are a pair of WeSC Oboes. Can anyone comment on the AKG K313 earbuds? I got them for $15 and I was wondering if it was worth it to keep them or pawn them off?
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I enjoy my Sennheiser HD555 at home. I have MX560 for when I'm out and about. Used to have the 550, and frankly liked it better, but there was a tragedy and when I went to replace them, they were no longer being made T.T
I chose the HD555 because I heard they have very good balance and will play a lot of different music well. Since I listen to a lot of different kinds of music (from classical, to rock, to death metal, to rap, to dance, to whatever else tickles my fancy) I felt like these were a good advancement. I got them for 100 CAD, and when I consider that the 20 dollar earbuds I used to get broke basically every month or so, I consider it both a good choice for quality, and also a long term investment that will save me money. Not to mention they normally cost something like 200-250 CAD. Had them for about 6 months and I'm very happy with them.
iPod headphones are downright awful though. People are fooled by their high price tag into thinking 'well this must be good, and it's tried and true since I didn't have a problem with the ones that came with my iPod!' but they are really shooting a hole in their pockets. iPod ear buds do not compete at all with anything in their price range. Save your money and just get some cheap nondescript ear buds if you don't mind the quality of iPod ones.
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