Sennheiser HD25-1-II vs. Bose On-Ear Headphones

[Meloncoly]

Hey Beg2differ, if you can hold out spending money, you should. There are many choices out there, and it's best to research them all. I'm not saying the HD25-1 isn't good, otherwise I wouldn't have bought them, but there are other phones out there that might be interesting to try. You can give the M-Audio Q40(?) a try or the Ultrasone HFI-780. Or the Beyerdynamic DT770/80, Equation Audio Rp21s, and many more. There are so much to choose from, hone your decision down more. Find out exactly what you like in music, and drill at it. It took me a lot of headphone buying before I finally settled down to the dark bassy signature that I liked. I jumped from Sonys, ATs, Grados, Alessandros, Beyers, Etymotics, Shures, Westones, and just a whole bunch before I found out. I wish I would have sat down and really concentrated on what I really wanted, and I would have saved so much money, but at least the journey was fun :3

Edit: If you're lucky, and Provantage has it in stock, aim for a Denon D2000. The bass on that thing is good. It would be my next purchase, but I'm aiming for a Audio Technica ATH-ESW9, which I personally like better :3

[Nocturnal310]

Originally Posted by aaron313

I wouldn't say we are biased against Bose, just that we are being honest. We often bash the products of manufacturers we like, if it is warranted. Yes, some might not have heard or owned Bose products, and jump on the bashing bandwagon, but that is against the spirit of this site. If Bose is your sound, I can't degrade you in any way, as that is your preference. Just use your gut instinct.

The Honesty still doesnt help the average consumer. Most of the consumer-level buyers feel Bose is the ultimate sound equipment manufacturer.

[beg2differ]

Originally Posted by Meloncoly

Hey Beg2differ, if you can hold out spending money, you should. There are many choices out there, and it's best to research them all. I'm not saying the HD25-1 isn't good, otherwise I wouldn't have bought them, but there are other phones out there that might be interesting to try. You can give the M-Audio Q40(?) a try or the Ultrasone HFI-780. Or the Beyerdynamic DT770/80, Equation Audio Rp21s, and many more. There are so much to choose from, hone your decision down more. Find out exactly what you like in music, and drill at it. It took me a lot of headphone buying before I finally settled down to the dark bassy signature that I liked. I jumped from Sonys, ATs, Grados, Alessandros, Beyers, Etymotics, Shures, Westones, and just a whole bunch before I found out. I wish I would have sat down and really concentrated on what I really wanted, and I would have saved so much money, but at least the journey was fun :3

Edit: If you're lucky, and Provantage has it in stock, aim for a Denon D2000. The bass on that thing is good. It would be my next purchase, but I'm aiming for a Audio Technica ATH-ESW9, which I personally like better :3

Thanks for the advice.
However, I did check out the Ultrasone HFI-780's but they're a lil bit too big for practical/portable use. They're twice as heavy as either the HD25's or the Bose OE's. I've also heard the beyerdynamic DT770 would be a good choice, but I've found them to be a little bit too big for portable use as well. :/

Thanks for your concern and I can only hope that I will be fully satisfied with the HD25's when i get them. lol

[Meloncoly]

Yeah. Another choice that most people swing for when going portably, would be the RP21s from Equation Audio, but I think they look too funky, and the Audio Technica ATH-ES7, which I would turn schizophrenic about keeping it scratch free. The HD25 is great as a portable, and that's what I use when I go portably, moreso than my Sleek SA6. It's durable, it's rugged, it's light, it isolates really well, even with teh velour pads, and it just works for a portable application. Hope you like the sound signature too, cause you're buying a great phone. Another option being, in the future, get a HD650 cable from Sennheiser and ask somoene on the forum to reterminate it for you to a mini plug. The cable makes the bass much more sharp and accurate, and clears up a lot of the "muddiness" people say the phone has. It just made it a cleaner experience for me, and I personally think it's a good upgrade down the road. You could purchase the higher end cables, but I don't feel that investing on a cable that's worth as much as your headphones in a portable application, where there is introduction of outside noise, and only having a headphone out on a source, would merit that purchase. Please do chime in when you get your headphone and compare them to something you have heard as I did. Might help prospective buyers ^_^

[Akabeth]

Nice post, Meloncoly

I've heard them both through an iPod on different occasions. If I had to pick one it would be the HD-25's. I think someone started a similar thread about the HD-25 as their options not a day ago

[supadupa]

Like what was previously mentioned, the HD25's has lots of bass to go around. Unless you are a basshead you wouldn't complain about the amount of bass. Also, they sound a bit dark.
These are a very good choice if you do not want to mess with IEMs as they are very portable (bullet proof) and sound very good.

[captian73]

After testing my 11 year old HD25-1's against the My Bose OE's i concluded that as a purely portable option, the Bose was lighter and more comfortable.

The bass on the HD25-1's is enough to satisfy your average basshead. I've seen a few Denon 2000 suggestions, but i can only comment about the Denon 1000's. although better in the bass department than the Grado/Alsessadro's, they still fell quite short of the mark, for deep bass.

I can't help but think the 2000's would be a bit bass shy compared to the HD25-1's...but that's just an opinion.

I've heard many people say that the Bose sound is congested, I found in some instances that the Bose picked out details a bit better than the HD 25-1's. even with that said if i had to pick one pair of headphones, for every occasion, it would have to be the HD25-1's.

[moonboy403]

Originally Posted by captian73

After testing my 11 year old HD25-1's against the My Bose OE's i concluded that as a purely portable option, the Bose was lighter and more comfortable.

The bass on the HD25-1's is enough to satisfy your average basshead. I've seen a few Denon 2000 suggestions, but i can only comment about the Denon 1000's. although better in the bass department than the Grado/Alsessadro's, they still fell quite short of the mark, for deep bass.

I can't help but think the 2000's would be a bit bass shy compared to the HD25-1's...but that's just an opinion.

I've heard many people say that the Bose sound is congested, I found in some instances that the Bose picked out details a bit better than the HD 25-1's. even with that said if i had to pick one pair of headphones, for every occasion, it would have to be the HD25-1's.

D2000 is VERY bass heavy.

[3X0]

ATH-ES7 might give you what you're looking for, though out of the two you mentioned given your context I'd choose the HD25-1 because it's more portably hardy and I have a complete disregard for ear comfort. The ATH-ES7 has a middling comfort between the HD25-1 and Bose OE's (closer to the HD25-1, though). It's brighter than the HD25-1 (which, indeed, can sound outright dark) and I am confident that the bass level (more than the HD25-1 easily, while still maintaining control).

The ES7s are far more durable than they look if you affix 2.5" BestSkinsEver/Invisible Shield discs onto the surface.

[mr.khali]

I was trying to decide between HD-25 and ES7's myself. I have just bought the HD-25's so I will be able to give my opinion shortly. Hope I made the right choice.