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I may treat myself to some new cans (over ear), am I right in thinking shops won't let you demo them? I'm struggling to see what benefit there is to buying from a high st shop of so.
I've always like Sennheiser and happy to hea recommendations from those who have tried a few types.
Spend up to £150, not interested in Bluetooth, curious about noise cancelling. Sound quality is the main criterion, for use travelling (so closer back, and also MP3-is it worth spending this much?)
Not specific headphone advice, except that folks regard Bose and Sonys as the best for NC for a good reason, also with good sound quality.
I would really recommend finding a shop that has a good range of headphones on display to try out, and spend plenty of time with your favourite music trying them - with headphones its one of the major pluses of buying from bricks and mortar.
I'm sure you have very good practical reasons, but why not interested in BT? - being cable free is a real plus once you have it.
Ta, last time I looked around I wasn't able to demo them I think.
It's mostly for use on trains, so I am static. Also I am wary of the loss of quality over BT (as I am of the effect of NC on quality).
The Bose stuff I have heard has been way too bass's heavy for me, and Sony seem to do a lot of "extra bass" headphones which is off-putting.
I demo’d a fair few in John Lewis. Went with Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II. I purchased mine for the benefit of noise reduction on trains, very pleased with them.
If not concerned about noise cancelling then have a look at the audio technica ath-m50x.
They are a proper pair of studio monitors and sound amazing. I can't stick the overblown bass of a lot of the other brands
Not sure i can justify more than £150, buy I guess if I can try them I may feel differently
Sony seem to do a lot of “extra bass” headphones which is off-putting.
Never seen Sony over-ear ‘phones slated for too much bass; Beats, yes, it’s their selling point, although the more recent Solo ‘phones are apparently more neutral. I’ve got a pair of Beats Solo’s, that I got off eBay, and I rather like them for comfort, however, I bought them knowing they were bass-biased, and I had an app with EQ that would allow me to set a custom tone curve to adjust them, so they’re a lot better than would otherwise be the case. The app I use is by Onko, the audio company and it works really well, so that’s an avenue that might be worth exploring. My Beats cost me £75, roughly half-price.
From what I spotted in an airport recently, it's vital that you check out how they look in the mirrors provided by the shop.
Watching people pout and pose in to a mirror as they were trying on headphones was quite the sight!
If it's for travelling, noise cancelling is your friend.
QC35 myself. YMMV.
Personally a Sennheiser fan myself although I did love my AKG’s but they seem to have disappeared at the minute.
Have you got a big Curry’s/PCworld close to you?
I know our local store has pretty much all of the higher end ‘on ear’/‘over ear’ headphones out to try.
And in true ignore the criteria fashion. Just bought the missus some Sennheiser Momentum 2 over ears from Curry’s. They are Bluetooth but can be run with cable. A bit more than your budget at £189 but I think they are stunning and wouldn’t mind a pair for myself. I’m sure you can get non wireless versions for less and in budget. I’d certainly recommend trying a set if possible.
I did love my AKG’s
Ditto - I have K612pro and absolutely love them. They produce an excellent soundstage and are very revealing with quite a flat frequency response (so maybe won't suit bassheads, although the low frequencies do sound good).
Cheers guys, that is helpful.
I think my last shopping experience was for in-ears which they obvs don't demo (which I think is a pile of croc but that's another story).
I was in the Bose shop in portsmouth on Thursday - they were selling factory referb QC35 II for £170. In a box, new condition. They said they had about 15 pairs left.
I have had a pair for a few years now, they sound ace, noise cancelling is mint and they're bombers.
factory referb QC35 II for £170
If I didn't already have mine, I'd be down there first thing tomorrow!
Yes, I would actually go to Portsmouth. That's how good a price that is.
I paid £340 for my qc35s, that was about 15 months ago.
£170 is a great deal, well worth blowing your budget by 20 quid.
Another vote for AKG and not ignoring Bluetooth. I don't know about soundstages and what not but they sound great and have controls on them for volume/pause/play/ff and rewind so you don't even have to take your phone out of your pocket.
Portsmouth, and i.love the place, is 400+ miles from me.
Cheers Gunz, I am after over-ears...
Richer Sounds will let you try and Currys have them all set up so you can try them yourself.
A good wee app for the audiophiles amoungst you, it's not portable, but it's very good all the same. You get a 21 day free trial.
https://www.sonarworks.com/reference
Regarding demoing headphones - the John Lewis in Peterborough has quite a few out that you can try - I suspect most of their stores would have likewise.
The Currys/PC World also has them out for you to try.
I've got some Sony NC wireless headphones and really like them. But, I would agree with your comments about Bass. Sony kit has always seemed a bit bass obsessed - remember the megabass switch on their walkman & discman products?
I would say that my Sony headphones do tend towards a more bassy sound delivery - that seems to have softened with use, but it is hard to say whether that is something I have got used to, or was just a question of the drivers bedding in a bit.
They sound bloody good anyway.
I demo’d a fair few in John Lewis.
Yep, can try all of the models in our JL....
Also a fan of sennheiser. Got some hd 558s which are really good, over ear. Have tried Sony, bose and akg. Bose are just too expensive, lack bass or clarity. Amazon do the sennheiser hd 559 for £85
Having spent far too much time on this recently, my thoughts are:
Option 1 - wired, no NC - Beoplay H6 v2 - get some refurbs from Beoplay on ebay for less than £100. These sound amazing and if you are happy with no NC and wires then look no further.
Option 2 - wireless, no NC - Beoplay H7 - again look on ebay. I paid £110 for some (again from Beoplay - they came sealed as new). Not quite as good as the H6 for sound quality but wireless is nice. Can be used with a cable too.
Option 3 - Sennheiser Momentum M2 - wireless, NC. I have these having sold both of the above. I prefer the Beoplay sound, but these are better for commuting having better sound isolation and noise cancelling. NC not as good as Bose or Sony, but sound quality is great. These can also be used with a PC over a USB connection which then uses the headphone DAC with no NC and sounds great - I use that in the office.
Also as Simonalex99 suggests the Sennheiser HD55x are supposed to be great. These are open back so no good for office use or commuting as I understand it. The HD559 can be had as "grade B (open box)" from the Sennheiser Outlet for £45 at the moment and I have some being delivered today!
As I said I am slightly obsessed....
I managed to try a few at Currys in Heathrow - The Sony MX1000, the Boses and the Sennheisser Momentums. The Sennheisers sounded best I sem to recall - wasn't very impressed with the Sony's but was just going on sound quality. Obviously not impressed with the Bose's.
I listen to Shure SE535s most of the day and all the above have inferior midrange by quite a way.
I had a pair of Shure SRH840s which were pretty nice, same sort of sound balance as the SE535s, but I broke them. You can pick them up for about £106 but no noise cancellation if that is what you want.
I think I will be getting some Shure SRH1840s, but these are open backed.
I know that this is wrong, not cool, and may get me chucked out of Singletrack.... but I bought these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07C7PKBYZ?ref_=ams_ad_dp_ttl and for £49 for over ear, bluetooth, noise cancelling.
This review is pretty fair
I'm sure the Bose & co are better at noise cancelling, and the sound is not as nice as my old Grado pair. But for the train, walking about and cutting out a good amount of background noise- they are really very good. And if you don't like them- they go straight back.
2nd vote for audio technica ath-m50.
I'm of the opinion that the mixing engineer for a particular album knows more about how it should sound than the headphone manufacturer and therefore I want my cans as flat as possible.
I do understand that lots of people like the hyped sound of non mixing headphones though and that's totally ok too
The Lindy's are great.
audio technica ath-m50.
Junior uses those for his mixing and DJ work. The best over the ears cans I've heard, I prefer open (Grados) at home but if you're in a noisy environment or don't want to distrub others the Audio Technicas are close to perfection. I've tried Bose, yes they're very good, especially the noise cancelling but they sound Bose and I need phones with as little colour as possible. I had some Sennheisers I really liked but they died and when it came to replacement the Grados beat the Sennheisers at the same price point. I've got some cheap over-ear wireless Sennheiser RS (HDR) 127 which are very practical but the sound quality is frankly poor.
The Sony MX1000, the Boses and the Sennheisser Momentums
The MX1000 are noise cancelling, the Momentum's aren't as far as I know. I love the MX1000's for killing noise but the Momentums (I have wired Momentum 2s) are much nicer sound quality. They can be pricey but they sometimes pop up cheap on that there Amazon. I sometimes use those audio technica ath-m50 as well - they are good at blocking out noise but don't sound nearly as good as the Sennheisers
I’ve a set of Parrot Zik 3, I love the noise cancelling as a menieres sufferer.
Amazon have them in random colours from £155 to £200 in sensible black.
Wireless charging, can be used wired or not, replaceable battery for long journeys.
I also love the look of them.
I have had two pairs of Bose quiet comforts. They are really good but age badly. The plastic leather they use on the headband and ear cuffs degrades after about 5 years ... leaving black specks everywhere. I had my first pair replaced in the US, for a 100 dollar fee, but for a brand new set (the originals were 7 years old). Those are now decaying-in the same way.
It’s nit a huge issue ask now use Bose in ear noise cancelling. They are brilliant.
As cheapies- sound magic 10 something’s work well ...
Richer sounds let me listen to some AKG Y50. Very nice too. Small for over ear cans, and decent, slightly warm, bassy yet punchy for the price. Only had Creative, Grado and RHS before to compare but preferred these. Up there with Creative Aurvana Live for similar dosh. Until...
Until, that is, I was last year the lucky recipient of a pair of K550 MKIII closed-back reference headphones. Now the old Y50s are demoted to outdoors walking and work duties. Replete with gaffer tape holding one adjuster/slider in place.
The K550 MKK3's, OTOH, are the best headphones I've ever had, or heard (outside of a recording studio). Reviews seem to more often agree that for the price they are the bees knees. In sound and construction they are very good. I've been listening every night since December and they haven't missed a beat (boom-tish!). My music collection has also been seriously reinvigorated by these. Am relistening to nearly everything, discovering instruments/parts I missed before. It's quite the experience. Very satisfying! Tends to give me insomnia though as became sort of addicted to late night listening with these on. The cable is too long. Only gripe so far. That's a small downside. I tidied with rubber bands. The sound itself is fairly neutral with broad and flat EQ, and it leaps into all kinds of life when you tweak the EQ even a little. Lush.
£25? Seems reasonable. The headband piece on my old QC15s was still fine after many years of use. Something in your hair?
Probably was Sennheiser PXC 550 , not the momentums.
HMV had a load of demo headphones when I was last in there.
Go in HMV, listen to a load, then go home and order some Audio Technica ATH-M50Xs.
2nd vote for audio technica ath-m50.
I’m of the opinion that the mixing engineer for a particular album knows more about how it should sound than the headphone manufacturer and therefore I want my cans as flat as possible.
a bit OT, but I'll bet you any money that the mixing engineer doesn't have super-flat studio monitors at home.
EDIT
this thread is quite amusing - some actual mix engineers talking about what they listen to music on at home....
😆
True that, Doris. Everything I've listened to today has been through a Marshall 1960ax guitar cab connected to a Fender amp which is connected to the computer. The computer automatically defaults to playing through that and I almost never bother to change to anything more sophisticated.
The audio Technicas don't have to be flat, play with the EQ of whatever device you're using. Wind the bass up and you can have as much as with Beats, it's just that it will sound like the recorded bass rather than Beats colour bass.
Gearslutz is almost as much fun as this place 🙂
If close enough you could visit
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/headphone-demos
Or lots of reviews on here
https://www.head-fi.org/
I use these, really comfortable.
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/beyerdynamic-dt770-pro-closed-back-studio-headphones-80.html
No one mentioned Beyer Dynamic?
Had the same pair for years, still not heard much better at any price.
Switched from Sennheisers as they were better built and have a more detailed, open sound.
I quite like the Grado house sound but Bose, Beats etc? No thanks. Way too coloured and unnatural.
With a bit of research and reading of reviews I bought these based on the fact I don’t listen to music much and am not a sound expert, but want to isolate myself on train and a few plane journeys a year. Couldn’t justify £300 so...
if you look at there other models you’ll see the very large number of very positive reviews, and reviews by various web tech sites
£5 off via the voucher in the link and I had the £7 remnants of another voucher so all in all I’m happy
Beyer Dynamic, I did the post above DT770 pro
Sorry, missed that.
Seem to be unfashionable these days, great cans.
Seem to be unfashionable these days, great cans
Great cans never go out of fashion.
Are we still talking about headphones?
Seem to be unfashionable these days, great cans.
i think there's just so much else out there these days!
But the fact that you can get cans like that for under £100 now is just astonishing to me. I was looking at getting some about 10 years ago, and they were at least double that. I ended up getting some AKG 701s which were were also at least 200, and can also now be had for under 100.....
I mean it's not like headphone processors have got any faster in that time!
Another vote for the AKG Y50BTBLK - if BT isn't your thing, just plug the cable in & Bob's your mother's brother.
Amazing sound quality for the money, comfy & fold up fairly compact too. Also, no background 'hiss' when used on BT unlike others I tried so best of both worlds (so to speak).
Minor point - OP wants his headphones for travelling - so listening through a portable device, which ime are volume limited? Therefore, I retract my recommendation of Audio Technica studio monitor headphones. Perfect as they are for hi-fidelity listening, they aren't brilliant through the portables. 😀
I used them on my phone, DezB. Plenty loud enough, great sound.
Thanks again guys. I remember I tried a few phones against my HD25 SP II's and didn't hear a significant difference (Momentums and FOCALs IIRC).
Is anyone knowledgeable enough to comment? I don't have cloth ears, maybe my phone sounds crap? I had a decidated music player but lost it...