Mejilan
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2003
- Posts
- 31
- Likes
- 0
It's been a long time, head-fi.
You guys were so good to me in my last advice/product request thread, so many years ago, that I find myself coming back for more advice now that I'm in a quandary, once again.
Old thread here, for reference:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/qua...nt-ipod-44650/
As I mentioned once in that very old thread, I have little knowledge to share here at head-fi, so I've basically been a passive and only occasional lurker. So I know how awesome and helpful you guys are!
Basically, I've been very happy with the Senns PX200s I've been using for the past 4 or so years. I know that their status here at head-fi has declined significantly since I first came for help, but I've generally loved them. But I've finally reached my limit.
Here's the deal: For the past 4+ years, I've basically been using the Sennheiser PX200 headphones with my various iPods. In just about all respects, they've been near-perfect portable solutions for my day-to-day use (including heavy mass transit train commutes). Excellent sound quality, small and comfortable build, better-than-usual isolation keeps my music out of the ears of others, and their babble out of mine; just enough isolation to significantly boost my enjoyment, yet still allow me to be sufficiently aware of any alerts or warnings that might sound through the trains/streets/planes/etc. And at $40-50, they've simply been an awesome value.
I say "near-perfect" because the cable quality sucks balls. 4-5 years of awesome music, but an average lifespan of about a year per set. I've literally gone through 4 of these babies, and after anywhere from 9-15 months, music in one side of the headphone, the other, or both eventually cuts out. I've researched the issue, and it seems to be a common theme that the cable quality is lacking and normal wear-and-tear tends to cause them to fray and sever around the jack. All 4 have died on me in exactly the same way. Ideally, I'd find somewhere that offers modded Senns like these with a total re-cabling job. I'm not brave enough to perform the surgery myself.
I'm trying to find alternative headphones that marry a similar feature-set (portability, small size, great sound quality, and solid-but-not-excessive isolation), and I'm striking out. Considering that I'm sick of shelling out ~$40-$50 a year, I am willing to dip into a higher (and pricier) category of headphones. What I do not want are ridiculously over-sized professional studio headphones that'll run me $300+. Also, while not an audiophile (I am listening to compressed music on an iPod, after all), I've tasted what good headphones can do to music, so the usual cheapie pack-ins or similar $10 headphones are instantly out of the equation. As are earbuds. As is anything that requires battery-guzzling portable amps or noise-canceling technology to reproduce what these Senns are capable of doing natively. They'd have to be truly magical to sway me, because I hate how small and invasive they are.
In summary:
Want:
Great sound quality
High-grade portable traditional headphones
Durable build quality (especially the cabling)
Some kind of free isolation is a must
< $100 if possible
Do not want:
In-ear buds (might consider IEMs/canalphones, however)
Massive professional studio 'phones
Requires portable amp
Relies on powered noise-canceling technology
If I cannot find something comparable to the PX200s in feature-set and price (I'm willing to budge a bit on this category, so long as the rest is quality), then I might consider IEMs. I'm new to IEMs, but previous experience with earbuds have been disastrous. Crappy isolation, crappy sound quality, poor fits, extreme discomfort... etc. Please help. Any recommendations? Thanks again for your patience.
You guys were so good to me in my last advice/product request thread, so many years ago, that I find myself coming back for more advice now that I'm in a quandary, once again.
Old thread here, for reference:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/qua...nt-ipod-44650/
As I mentioned once in that very old thread, I have little knowledge to share here at head-fi, so I've basically been a passive and only occasional lurker. So I know how awesome and helpful you guys are!
Basically, I've been very happy with the Senns PX200s I've been using for the past 4 or so years. I know that their status here at head-fi has declined significantly since I first came for help, but I've generally loved them. But I've finally reached my limit.
Here's the deal: For the past 4+ years, I've basically been using the Sennheiser PX200 headphones with my various iPods. In just about all respects, they've been near-perfect portable solutions for my day-to-day use (including heavy mass transit train commutes). Excellent sound quality, small and comfortable build, better-than-usual isolation keeps my music out of the ears of others, and their babble out of mine; just enough isolation to significantly boost my enjoyment, yet still allow me to be sufficiently aware of any alerts or warnings that might sound through the trains/streets/planes/etc. And at $40-50, they've simply been an awesome value.
I say "near-perfect" because the cable quality sucks balls. 4-5 years of awesome music, but an average lifespan of about a year per set. I've literally gone through 4 of these babies, and after anywhere from 9-15 months, music in one side of the headphone, the other, or both eventually cuts out. I've researched the issue, and it seems to be a common theme that the cable quality is lacking and normal wear-and-tear tends to cause them to fray and sever around the jack. All 4 have died on me in exactly the same way. Ideally, I'd find somewhere that offers modded Senns like these with a total re-cabling job. I'm not brave enough to perform the surgery myself.
I'm trying to find alternative headphones that marry a similar feature-set (portability, small size, great sound quality, and solid-but-not-excessive isolation), and I'm striking out. Considering that I'm sick of shelling out ~$40-$50 a year, I am willing to dip into a higher (and pricier) category of headphones. What I do not want are ridiculously over-sized professional studio headphones that'll run me $300+. Also, while not an audiophile (I am listening to compressed music on an iPod, after all), I've tasted what good headphones can do to music, so the usual cheapie pack-ins or similar $10 headphones are instantly out of the equation. As are earbuds. As is anything that requires battery-guzzling portable amps or noise-canceling technology to reproduce what these Senns are capable of doing natively. They'd have to be truly magical to sway me, because I hate how small and invasive they are.
In summary:
Want:
Great sound quality
High-grade portable traditional headphones
Durable build quality (especially the cabling)
Some kind of free isolation is a must
< $100 if possible
Do not want:
In-ear buds (might consider IEMs/canalphones, however)
Massive professional studio 'phones
Requires portable amp
Relies on powered noise-canceling technology
If I cannot find something comparable to the PX200s in feature-set and price (I'm willing to budge a bit on this category, so long as the rest is quality), then I might consider IEMs. I'm new to IEMs, but previous experience with earbuds have been disastrous. Crappy isolation, crappy sound quality, poor fits, extreme discomfort... etc. Please help. Any recommendations? Thanks again for your patience.
