I know the Sony XM5s are getting a ton of hype right now, but after my M4s just bricked after barely 4 months i've decided i aint buyin shit until its been out for at least a few years so i can see how they hold up
so, fellow commie audiophile dorks, what headphones are yall using/recommending?
i use the headphones they gave out for free on the airplane. they rock.
Finally I get to infodump
My main pair now are Shouer S12 IEMs, they're hard to beat for the price, really sparkly treble with a good thudding bass and good passive sound cancellation. I have Blessing2 Dusk IEMs that were twice as much, I don't use them much, they sound great but they're not as comfortable for me, the eartips come off, the bass isn't where I want it and I can't EQ in Debian 11 with pipewire. I have Etymotic ER4XRs that are also great, they go way deep in-ear with a triple-baffle eartip and skip all the ear canal meat distortion. Really great isolation.
Any of those IEMs, thanks to chi-fi standardization or an adapter for the Etymotic, work with the 0.78mm plugs on my Shanling MW200 bluetooth neckband. I like it a lot for battery life, comfort, and it's got LDAC Bluetooth so it's near CD-quality, like the Sony XM series has.
I have XM3s that sound halfway decent with autoeq on the android app Wavelet. The mic pick up mad background noise, i use Bose QC35iis for making calls, or my neckband. I'm not stoked on the quality of ANC over-ears, although I hear Focal Bathys is OK.
I went and got a Monolith THX AAA amp to try out open-back over-ear headphones, I needed a stronger than average amp to drive planar headphones like the Hifiman HE6SE i got on an Adorama deal. Those are my backup cans now when my batteries for my IEMs run out, I'm keen on the planar sound these days, particularly bass. I've spent a lot of time listening to my Focal Clear OG dynamic over-ear headphones, they're fragile and expensive to fix headband snaps but they sound fantastic. I got them for half retail on Ebay, from a dirty dirty dude.
Also I've got on-ear, these cheap Koss KSC75s, the audiophile geeks are just ape shit for these, highly recommended. I bought a knockoff porta-pro headband on aliexpress and they snapped right on, it looks like some cyberpunk retro futurism. And I've got nicehck traceless to see what 7 bucks gets me, which is pretty decent.
I'm basically buying stuff Crinacle from inearfidelity tells me to buy, he's got dope ranking lists for headphones and iems although the lists are over a year old.
I also have a Sennheiser HD600 and Qdelix 5K I hardly use.
I didn’t understand most of this, but damn I love seeing people knowledgeable about the thing they like
I've had a pair of sennheiser 500-somethings for probably a decade now, and the only thing wrong with them is the foam in the earpads disintegrated
earpads are always the first thing to fail. I have some sennheisers with detachable earpads that I can just replace every couple of years for 10 bucks
Not sure if they're even officially compatible but there are these brainwavz pads that fit the classic Sony mdr-7506 and v6 headphones and I bought a red pair and a blue pair and made, IMO, the coolest looking headphones by doing one red one blue. Plus side is I don't forget which side is right/left
That sounds awesome, I hate it when headphones or earbuds have like that barely-there embossed 2mm high L and R that are only visible under intensely bright light
yeah exactly. I usually get used to which is which by where the cable goes or mic is but if I'm not wearing them regularly or they don't have that...
I really recommend the TaoTronics TT-BH090. I know they're cheap as shit and can't really pump base, but for travel or work I literally won't use anything else. I bought mine three years ago for a job site, and they only broke after I dropped them on the ice when it was -10 F outside. And when I went to go buy a new pair, they were literally the exact same price as last time but the build quality was even sturdier than last time. The Chinese are on some shit right now with their cheap electronics quality, I swear, I wouldn't trust anything American-made that is that cheap.
I bought an ATH-M50 over a decade ago and aside from needing to replace the foam cups they're still going strong. Well worth buying imo.
I also have these, and they are juuuust old enough to need the foam replaced.
ATH-M30
so these are more like studio production headphons, yeah? I think i used these when i was trying to produce/record shit, horribly
Yeah i think so, my DJ friend gave them to me because they were just collecting dust at his place and I’ve been using them for at least 5 years. Good sound quality and really long cable.
They can get a bit uncomfortable after a long period but that’s probably more to wear on the ear padding
Would def recommend at this price less than $40
https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M30-Closed-Back-Headphones/dp/B00007E7C8
yeah this is solid, thanks dude. im actually about to start getting into audio production again and might splurge on some mid-tier audiotechnicas for that reason alone
Second the ATM-M30x.
Def get the wedge ear cups too, make a huge difference to comfort and sound isolation.
I have Bose QC45 and Philips SHP9600.
I used to use the super-budget Sennheisers when they were still a thing (I think they were HD201 and HD202?)
I use a pair of soundmagic in ears EQed to the Harman target according to oratory1990s measurements. I generally don't like bulky over ear headphones, they're heavy and I have neck/back problems. I've had these in ears for around 6 years now and unfortunately the cable is starting to go and is non replaceable.
I want to get a pair of 7Hz Timeless planar in ears to replace my soundmagics, but they're super expensive. Apparently they're great.
These days I mostly listen to music on a set of DML panel speakers I made myself, along with a subwoofer. Something like this, but with polystyrene instead of bamboo. It was cheap to make and has a very unique sound. I used polystyrene that I sanded the surface and rounded the corners off, and coated in a 50/50 mixture of water and wood glue to remove the rough sound. It's definitely worth a a try if you're into audiophile stuff. You won't hear anything like it. This YouTube video is a nice comparison
Ath-700, mdr-7506, gen 2 AirPods. Lots of others ut that’s what’s in consistent use.
E: if you really want headphones that last forever and you can fix anything on em for $20 get the 7506. It’s also most likely the set your favorite musician was wearing in the studio.
E2: the audio technichas I use are the oldass closed back ath-a700, not the many open back models with the same number.
If you need wireless the mdrs aren’t gonna help you much, but if you can deal they’re great and people will want to know where you’re djing.
Had HD580s but they broke. Now I just use some mid bluetooth earbuds 99% of the time and some grados 1%.
Also converted some broken monitors to passive speakers and got a mini amp and an okay subwoofer. More enjoyable to me than headphones.
Been rocking a second hand pair of Fostex TH-X00's for about 5 years that I really enjoy. Dropped them a fair bit and finally had to replace part of the hanger for an earcup and solder in a replacement driver. Relatively cheap and all easily DIY-able. No reason I don't see myself keeping these another decade, came from AKG-K701s that produced great sound and an expansive stage but they were pretty uncomfortable due to the headband
They're great, not really portable, but as a desk headset there isn't much else I'd want from a set. If you can find them on avexchange in any shape you can repair just about anything on em
I was rocking the in-ear xm4 until firmware fucked it. After a bunch of returns to Asurion, I got a full refund and got some xm5s. At first the ANC made me super nauseous, but that's subsided.
Highly recommend getting protection plans for headphones over $200. I've gotten at least 4 or 5 pairs either totally refreshed (new battery) and then others comped like my xm4s. It sucks because you do have to do the customer service runaround sometimes, but the plus side is you can either get a new pair for free or defray the cost within 2yrs if they die.
How would you compare the ANC of the in ear XM4s to the over ear XM5?
I'm autistic and have had the wf-1000xm4 for over a year because it's the best noise cancelling in ear, so helps with stimuli. I want to upgrade in a year/year and a half, and just want to get the best noise cancelling there is on the market. So I'm curious to know if the headphones are better at noise cancelling than the in ears.
Order of magnitude more powerful. It's why I felt discomfort at first, the xm5 anc is really insane. You can't adjust the ANC tho, so if you experience eardrum suck there's no way to dial it down like with some other pairs.
I was honestly concerned I might have to return them but the discomfort has definitely subsided as I've gotten used to them. The quiet from the ANC is really something else.
Yeah it's just a better seal. I will say I used foam tips with the xm4s (I've got ear wax so need the mesh barriers) so maybe my own anc experience isn't what Sony intended, but the xm5 is something else. I tried them out with the motor running in my car and hearing the ANC kick in and everything go super quiet was a really crazy experience.
I used foam tips with the xm4s
I do too, because foam is waaaay better at blocking out noise than silicone. Any who I'll remember to check this out next year, then. Thanks
Got Hifiman Sundara recently and it's pretty cool
Before that I used Beyerdynamic DT 770. I still used that but I took it from home to work
Beyerdynamic DT 770
these look super comfy compared to the ATH-M50x :crush: do you use those for recreational listening or for audio production? also goes without saying, the sundaras look awesome. how long have you had those?
Recreational listening! I got the Beyerdynamic mainly because I heard they were real comfy ( they are! ). And they've been around for a while so I trusted that they would be good
I've had the Hifiman for around 2 months! I don't have the words to describe it properly but I like it quite a bit! They are quite open and drums sound very good
Way back I had Seneisser HD 518s but one ear stopped working a few years ago. One day I'll figure out how to solder and I'll bring it back. Those were also so so comfy
idk if this is the anti-sennheiser-aktion thread, but I do have some. I have been using the RS-195's since just before this website launched.
They are digital RF headphones with optical cables to the transmitter. Fuck bluetooth. They are technically for TV listening and have pitch adjustment options for hearing impairments, but I keep all of that off. They are nice comfy lightweight over-ear closed-back headphones that charge on the transmitter/dock. I also like that the batteries are just Ni-MH AAA's so you can swap them if you let them run out. The earpads also come off and you can replace them every couple of years for 10 bucks. And there are volume buttons on the headset. Also, the range is quite a bit better than bluetooth.
The transmitter also have a 3.5mm jack. It's awesome to be able to toggle between optical and 3.5mm for my weird 2-person sound setup I have here.
Also they sound great, there's no sound compression like some bluetooth headphones especially headsets.
