Mission Impossible...closed phones vs speakers - Page 2

this is one hobby where money is sucked through an overpowered garbage disposal.

i bought a used set of akg k501's for $85. and i just tried modding them by removing the finger guard. i ended up with one nick on one cone. ouch! i put a small drop of soft glue on it. sonically it sounds fine. think anyone is gonna give me that much money for them, now? so it's a $85 loss for me. live and learn. anyone wanna trade beyer 831's for a slightly damaged k501?

then i just lost $8 on pads, about $10 on parts for the grado mods (foam, velour, glue, wood), ordered beyer 880 pads for $35, paid $300 for unheard ad10's which i will have to make new pads for...

then there's the guys who upgrade their phones. then they upgrade their amps. then they upgrade their dvd/cd players, then upgrade their wires, then upgrade their interconnects...

it never ends.

sometimes i wish i had just bought the gradoes and remained blissfully ignorant. i also wish someone made comfy seats for my miata, but that ain't gonna happen any time soon...

maybe it's just the amp source (the bt831's have a 250 ohm impedence) and they must be matched suitable. but out of the equipment that gerG had, it sounded good on all of it. yes, you'll have to get used to the sound. it took me about 5 minutes. and i still say that they're much sweeter than senns or grados.

hey, it's only about $80. you can buy one and if you don't like them in a week you can sell them for the same price. guys like me will buy them right away. of course i'll have to get rid of the ad10's and the ak501's, but ...

Incoming! (more free advice).

On the 831s, I really like the sound. Very revealing AND very deep bass. Much more like a nearfield speaker system than most phones. Unfortunately they were not a good can for at-work use. First of all they are not really "closed", only semi-closed. I suspect that this may be what the whole 800 series is all about. They didn't shut out enough external noise, and they do leak some music. Second, they are large and conspicuous. The size and lovely colors are visible for a long way. The 831s also demand your attention. Great for serious listening or watching movies, but not as good while working.

I currently use DT250-250 at work. Not great isolation, but better. Warmer character, with even bolder bass. The bass response is great for listening at low levels (although they still sound great at high levels). They are on the small side, but they fit me extremely well. The biggest pain is the long cable plug that sticks down out of the left cup. I will be fixing that soon. They are very easy to put on and take off all day long. I do sometimes wish that I had the 80 ohm version when using the ipod, but I have never heard them.

I also use Ety4s earphones at work. They are hands down my favorite for comfort, stealth, and isolation. Only problem is that it takes more time to route the lead, clip on, and put them in. If you can get away with isolating yourself from the world most of the day, these would be my first recommendation.

I agree 100% on halcyons advice about other peoples advice: you must listen for yourself. One great option is Headrooms 30 day satisfaction guarantee. You can try the Etys (or any of their other products) relatively risk free. I say relatively because I have made the mistake of ordering 2 different phones at once from them, fully intending to send back whichever one I didn't like. Inevitable outcome of course. I liked them both. My wallet hurt for a while after that one.

As for your initial statement, I will never give up my speakers for headphones. I will also never give up my headphones for speakers. Two very different experiences, and I like both.


Good luck

gerG

nana, you may want to start looking at people's locations under their avatar. i think LobserSan is in SF, and there has to be many head-fi'ers in CA...

that said, many phones will show preferences for one instrument or another. but you won't be able to tell without direct comparisons. if you don't make those comparisons you'll probably never miss them. ignorance IS bliss. i can hear differences between cans on string instruments, vocals, horn instruments, bass instruments. one may make an acoustic guitar sing, another may not, but that other one can make vocals sing, or a trombone may sound sweeter on one can, but the bass may sound not dep enough. sound placements may change, instruments go back into the background, or come forward to the same degree. it's called personal preference. and that's the fun of this hobby. and that's why so many people have more than one can.

you'll be able to learn to live with just about anything. i would think that you need a forward sounding can for rock, with sharp bass transients, and a sweet midrange. at's may be what you're looking for, just be aware that they will also have some sort of colouration.

listening to Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here" on akg k501's.
it'll sound different on my ad10's. and it'll sound different on my grados, and it'l sound different on...

you say you have a maxed out meta42 and it doesn't sound 'right'? hmmm. guys?

that's a high bar you've set. i take it you meant 'beneath that level of SOUND quality", right? have you auditioned sony mdr-cd3000's? some high end audio equipment store should have these in your area.

otherwise, since these are for work, buy something that can be destroyed or stolen and you won't be too upset about it. heck, why not buy some of those $55 panasonic dj phones. dt770's seem like a logical choise as they're made like a tank, are under $100 used, are good for rock with their bassiness, etc. i just wonder what they sound like under low volume.

Beyer 831

nanahachi,

If you will pay for UPS shipping there and back I will gladly loan you my Beyers. They have been broken in, but hardly used.

PM me.

Kevin

I just sold my pair of ATH-A9X's to a friend of mine at work for the same price I bought 'em from millerdog for ($160). They were GREAT! I bought ATH-W100's thinking that they were the logical next step but they really aren't. They definitely have some coloration and this is how I would describe it...

Anti-aliasing kind of blurs edges resulting in a smoother image. It doesn't take two seperate groups of polygons and poorly fuses them together. It "makes diagonal edges appear smoother by
setting pixels near the edge to intermediate colours
according to where the edge crosses them." Well, I kind of think that the W100's have no harshness whatsoever. There is a very warm and round quality to them which is hit or miss depending on style of music... hell, maybe even cd to cd. They kicked ass on Mahavishnu orchestra... Godspeed... Beatles... didn't like 'em on Local H, At The Drive-In...

Anyway, I can fully vouche for the ATH-A9X's. If you can find someone selling them, they'll be cheap. If you get 'em off of AudioCubes, they'll be like $220 which is kind of ehhhh....

take a nice acoustic guitar and vocal (like Mariah Carey's first cd)cd's with you to audition the k1000's. listen to an acapella, or monestery monks.

hope he's got a nice amp for the k1000's - though they'll sound good out of any quality amp's speaker terminals.

hey, you don't really need those hp890's or ak501's, do you?

you'll either love or hate the k1000's. with the right type of music, you'll love them. hope he's got enigma #2 - just the vocals will give you chills on the k1000's.

nanahachi, if you listen to the K1000s your wallet is doomed. You have already professed a fondness for detail. The K1000 do detail like nothing else. You have been warned.

Good choice on the Etys. That model was my first high fidelity headphone. A couple of standard warnings: equipment that you used to think sounded great will begin to grow audio-warts. The Etys are a great ear training device.

After all this time, I still can't make up my mind on the bass. I did a side by side with my Sony V6, and concluded that the ER4S had better bass when at the same volume level. However, you will soon discover that you listen at greatly reduced levels with the Etys. It is a rather insideous effect. When you take them out you will notice how godawful loud the world is. This is a very good thing, because it preserves your hearing. It also makes the bass seem thin. Running them at higher levels will bring out great bass, and warm them up. I tend to like the low level, so I actually resort to a bit of bass boost. I have found that I typically set the volume level at the lowest level that still has the whole spectrum present. Since the LF goes first, I bring it back with a smidge of boost.

ok, I may be a bass head, but I am a damned picky one!

Please find ATs and listen to them for a while before you commit to them. I have only heard the AD10, but they were very cold. tbd if they can be tweaked sufficiently.



Later
gerG

gerG, he's DOOMED. DOOMED I tell you!

had the stars been in the correct alignment I would've had my k1000's two days ago. damn it!

we can expect nana to have a for-sale note shortly... i figure by next wednesday

now that you mention it i put the philips hp890's right up there with the ath at100ti's in the looks department. those things look so plush. remember me when you sell them to get those k1000's. hey, they're ONLY $450 i figure you'll keep the ety's, but you also have the sony's you can sell...