OzzieAudiophile
03-24-2012, 11:13 AM
I have read quite a number of reviews regarding various brands and models of headphones.
I personally believe a really good pair of headphones can make the difference between a good and fantastic listening experience.
There's various brands I have tried over the years, I keep going back to my Sennheisers.
My two pairs are the 570 Symphony headphone, and the MX 880 ear buds.
You can basically train yourself to prefer more bass, or more treble, or both. With that in mind, you will find out some brands more favorable to others.
The three basic concepts I implore anyone who's new or not, to the shopping for your next set of head/bud phones :
1. Audition, audition, audition. There's no need to hurry to make such an important decision as this, especially if you plan to fork out a bit of money for it. For health and safety reasons, it is unlikely you will be able to test out ear bud headphones (ones that go into the canal in the ear). However the headphones should be fine. Try various brands, try 2-3 at least of each of the brands that impress you the most. Even try out the ones way beyond your planned budget. The idea is to find out what variations there is. There's no point to starve yourself of a potential good listening experience.
2. If you have friends who have brands/models that you can't audition in the shop, try them out.
3. According to "health experts" of various sources, it is not recommended to listen more than 30 continuous minutes through headphones at any one time. Bacteria will form in the ear canal which could cause health issues.
You may not be in a situation where you will be in front of speakers, and will need to enjoy your music in a private, quiet environment.
I thought much about headphone amplifiers, to be the jury is still out. In my case, a $300 pair of Sennheiser 570s ended up sounding substantially better with headphone amps ? hmm not really, and the amp costs over $1000.
The fact remains there is no way I can guarrantee I can carry around my headphone amps whenever I need to listen to music through my headphones. Personally I believe it's more worthwhile
to invest in a much superior pair, such as the 800's.
Sure I would expect many of our beloved members on this awesome site, will swear by the headphone amps and not to dismiss them. I would agree that everyone 'should' try out headphone amps to experience if the difference is worth the investment. It also depends on the rest of your equipment and the headphones that you currently trying to improve.
Just my personal preference, if I do get too impressed by the headphone amp addition, I will end up too dependent on them.
My current pre-power and speaker set up, make it impossible to find a headphone set to out perform them. Not without paying for a pair 10-15 times the price of the rest of my system. It would just be a case of dimishing returns which is the point I'd rather not try to dwell too far into.
All the best to make a worthwhile investment of time and money to your next pair of headphones.
I personally believe a really good pair of headphones can make the difference between a good and fantastic listening experience.
There's various brands I have tried over the years, I keep going back to my Sennheisers.
My two pairs are the 570 Symphony headphone, and the MX 880 ear buds.
You can basically train yourself to prefer more bass, or more treble, or both. With that in mind, you will find out some brands more favorable to others.
The three basic concepts I implore anyone who's new or not, to the shopping for your next set of head/bud phones :
1. Audition, audition, audition. There's no need to hurry to make such an important decision as this, especially if you plan to fork out a bit of money for it. For health and safety reasons, it is unlikely you will be able to test out ear bud headphones (ones that go into the canal in the ear). However the headphones should be fine. Try various brands, try 2-3 at least of each of the brands that impress you the most. Even try out the ones way beyond your planned budget. The idea is to find out what variations there is. There's no point to starve yourself of a potential good listening experience.
2. If you have friends who have brands/models that you can't audition in the shop, try them out.
3. According to "health experts" of various sources, it is not recommended to listen more than 30 continuous minutes through headphones at any one time. Bacteria will form in the ear canal which could cause health issues.
You may not be in a situation where you will be in front of speakers, and will need to enjoy your music in a private, quiet environment.
I thought much about headphone amplifiers, to be the jury is still out. In my case, a $300 pair of Sennheiser 570s ended up sounding substantially better with headphone amps ? hmm not really, and the amp costs over $1000.
The fact remains there is no way I can guarrantee I can carry around my headphone amps whenever I need to listen to music through my headphones. Personally I believe it's more worthwhile
to invest in a much superior pair, such as the 800's.
Sure I would expect many of our beloved members on this awesome site, will swear by the headphone amps and not to dismiss them. I would agree that everyone 'should' try out headphone amps to experience if the difference is worth the investment. It also depends on the rest of your equipment and the headphones that you currently trying to improve.
Just my personal preference, if I do get too impressed by the headphone amp addition, I will end up too dependent on them.
My current pre-power and speaker set up, make it impossible to find a headphone set to out perform them. Not without paying for a pair 10-15 times the price of the rest of my system. It would just be a case of dimishing returns which is the point I'd rather not try to dwell too far into.
All the best to make a worthwhile investment of time and money to your next pair of headphones.