[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

Headphones are just like food and cloths. You have your snobs and you have your fun deals. It's all too serious around here sometimes. $10.80

number 1: those are $30 in canada
number 2: i haven't tried those so i can't say if they are any good but i used to own the smokin buds and i quite enjoyed them.

 

[Ishcabible]

Quote:

 
number 2: i haven't tried those so i can't say if they are any good but i used to own the smokin buds and i quite enjoyed them.

Awesome, now don't fuss about neutrality (which you say is your preferred sound sig) and try to find something you like again, or just sell everything and get something cheap and fun; a bright headphone gets anyone toe-tapping for metal. If you hate the MS1's, I'd be seriously surprised.
 
Uncle Erik said it best, as usual. (I did a bit of a round about sarcastic response which I realized would be pretty hard to see as sarcasm.) Hearing everything is overrated. I'd be perfectly content with my modded Portapro and an iPod for the rest of my life, but I'm curious about audio stuff and stick around.
 
And as Uncle Erik said, make a Cmoy and a BantamDAC or something. Things seem to always sound better if you either get an insane deal on it or spend hours making it yourself. Even if you can't hear the difference, you get the experience of making something that magically works.

 

[flight567]

well, in my opinion, based on the actual name audio (sound) phile (lover or some varient thereof) yes, if he loves the sound that comes out of the portapros then he is an audio phile. just not one that has gone entirely down the road to sound nirvana

 

[2enty3]

Quote:

Here we are again bickering over prices. "A $500 headphone should sound like X," "I heard a $30k CD player," and so on.

Money sounds like nothing. Some $500 headphones are total crap. Some $100 headphones are quite good.

Money has nothing to do with it. Everything is personal preference, and there is gear to suit your preference at every budget.

The cheapest I'd be happy with is the K-501 I got for $100 some years back and the Dynalo I built for about $120 or so. On the other hand, a M50 with a portable amp costing around $220 total would leave me really unhappy. The same can happen with any budget.

What disturbs me is the total lack of curiosity out there. I love audio, so I went after a wide slice of technologies. With headphones, I own dynamic, electrostatic and orthodynamics. With speakers, I have traditional passive two-way dynamics, electrostats, ribbons, AMTs, singledrivers, and three-way dynamic dipoles with an active crossover. I haven't had planars, plasma or horns yet, but I will. I won't go into amps or sources, but I'm very interested in those, too. You get the idea.

Stop counting the dollars. They don't mean anything. Spend more time reading, learning and asking questions. Figure out what you want and then go after it. Build stuff, too. This isn't a fashion show or status symbol competition. It's about listening to and enjoying music. That's the goal.

You're right, but I think I would feel the best if I had an enjoyable headphone setup AND a little money in the pocket.

 

 

[mibutenma]

BCasey25Raptor.
Headphones can be brutal in revealing flaws.
Metal music has serious flaws unfortunately. Although these days with all the tools,equipment, and technology these days pretty much any and all albums should be super slick and amazing sounding but they aren't.
 
Anyways
 
If you are able to why not just get a decent speaker setup. Good speakers sound better are just as detailed (in ways more) but doesn't make the flaws so obvious like headphones in fact it just makes the music more enjoyable instead of finding and hearing the flaws and getting upset about it.
You can tell a really good sounding album from a meh one but the enjoyment isn't sucked away like it can be with headphones.
In fact there are pluses to speakers you get drums that won't sound so pathetic and cymbals that don't come off so annoying. And you'll get a nice bass punch too as well far superior imaging.
But of course there is other equipment to buy a amp and that is a must with speakers and a source still.
 
 
 
 
 

 

[eucariote]

Quote:

hello all. i have noticed while being on these forums that headphones like the grado sr60, shure srh440/srh840, and audio technica ath m50/ ath ad7000 etc are all praised as being bang for the buck and better then headphones costing so much more money. i really think this is a little strange that all of these headphones are praised as being bang for the buck but when you get headphones that are not bang for buck they are considered overpriced. bose, klipsch, and monster are all considered overpriced when the ones i mentioned are considered under priced.
 
i think headphones like the audio technica ath m50 and shure srh440/840 are actually what you guys expect for the money but over judge them for being bang for buck considering all the mainstream companies which you compare them to and deem overpriced. i really think a lot of what is said on this forum is just snake oil. do you really notice a difference other then sound signature? i tried the sony mdr zx700 ($100) at the sony store and i didn't hear much if any at all difference between my shure srh840. i am not saying my shure srh840 is bad. it is far from it but i think people here over rate them. there is many good headphones that even get disregarded here. i have some pioneer se m390 headphones and practically no one here know what they are. yet they are bang for the buck apparently. 
 
i hope you can take this observation seriously and thin about it. how many of you buy headphones and are actually convinced they are better? or how many of you actually are influenced by placebo effect. i feel the latter has a more significant impact then you all would like to admit.
 
please discuss this intelligently amongst yourselves. i am curious to see what you all have to say.

I got SRH840 for $130 new- and they sounded better to these ears than K271, DT770, DT250 and about as good as AH-D5000 which all cost more.  Likewise, I considered SR60 to sound better than all the above headphones, and they cost much less.  For that reason, I consider both of those headphones to be very good for the money.  QED
 

 

[deadlylover]

I can't believe there are serious suggestions of throwing in the towel because the music he loves tends to be poorly recorded. You guys really do listen to gear through the music and not the other way around.

 

[kn19h7]

 
Quote:

I can't believe there are serious suggestions of throwing in the towel because the music he loves tends to be poorly recorded. You guys really do listen to gear through the music and not the other way around.

Ain't this well expected?

....actually so as this thread, was expecting this since the 'e7 or sr60' thread orz

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

I can't believe there are serious suggestions of throwing in the towel because the music he loves tends to be poorly recorded. You guys really do listen to gear through the music and not the other way around.

Yup. I don't have any loyalty towards any group, brand or genre, if they don't care how it sounds I'm not interested. If this comes down to listening to the gear isn't that because it's good and good sound is what we all most of us strive to achieve? Poorly recorded music tends to sound better on crappy bass heavy speakers because details are hidden, second best option would be bass heavy headphones. Thus spending more money to hear more distortion would be silly, like this thread.

 

[deadlylover]

Quote:

Yup. I don't have any loyalty towards any group, brand or genre, if they don't care how it sounds I'm not interested. If this comes down to listening to the gear isn't that because it's good and good sound is what we all most of us strive to achieve? Poorly recorded music tends to sound better on crappy bass heavy speakers because details are hidden, second best option would be bass heavy headphones. Thus spending more money to hear more distortion would be silly, like this thread.

 
Am I alone in buying all this gear to make the music I listen to sound more enjoyable?
 
I'm obviously doing it wrong then because I thought that was the whole damn purpose of getting better gear.

 

[Graphicism]

There isn't a wrong way to listen too music?
 
All I'm saying is I enjoy what sounds good, and if somethings poorly recorded I won't be able to get into it and will not find it enjoyable. 

 

[deadlylover]

Quote:

There isn't a wrong way to listen too music?
 
All I'm saying is I enjoy what sounds good, and if somethings poorly recorded I won't be able to get into it and will not find it enjoyable. 

 
Oh my bad then, I misunderstood.
 
I thought you were saying something like it's a waste to get high end gear if you only listen to poorly recorded crap, like I do =P.
 
 

 

[bradhyper]

Buying better gear to make your music sound better... sounds right. But I agree with the idea that better recorded music has better gains from higher end equipment. I love certain bands before and after my headphone upgrades; but I find some other music, usually better recorded, really starts to catch my ear after certain upgrades. That's not doing it wrong, but understanding how the game is played before you jump onto the field is important too. No reason to grab an hd 800 if it doesn't suit your musical style, and there's no reason your choice of style won't change as you upgrade this and that. It's a journey, have fun and enjoy it.

 

[BattleBrat]

@OP you are a neutral head too eh?
Try some sony Monitor headphones, MDR-V6, V600, 7506, V900HD (I had these didn't like them,but that was before I knew about amps and such), Z1000 etc.
 
I have the SE-M380, the predecessor to your 390's (They have the same drivers, just a different package) decent phones, but I like the Portapro's more.
 
If you are in the mood for buds, try the Etymotic ER6 if you can find them, they are very nicely neutral, the ER6i are slightly bass heavy and easier to drive, but they are still being made.

 

[Joelby]

If I can offer some advice - you're obsessing way too hard, man. You're at almost 2000 posts in 6 months, that's indication enough. Take a break from the site and just listen to music on whatever gear you currently have. When you get the MS-1s, just listen to them and hear for yourself. Don't go online and read about what you should be hearing. This site is full of inflated reviews for products because we love to buy the latest and greatest. It's too easy to get caught up in the hype and develop unrealistic expectations, especially when your diving into the hobby.