Dear Head-Fiers, I am in a pickle. I own a cheap (ca. 35$ paid in 2018) Bluedio T5 headphones and I am looking for a replacement. The replacement should sound similar and be a comfortable all-rounder. To be used in wireless mode only. I do not care for ANC or transparency mode. Long lasting battery would be an asset. Budget – up to 350$
It is going to be a long post so TLDR people who still wish to help please skip to the last two paragraphs.
I have already compared, back to back, note after note, switching all available codecs (APTx mainly), about 20 headphones from various tiers - ATH-SR30BT, ATH-SR50BT, ATH-M50xBT, ATH-ANC900BT, Bowers&Wilkins PX7, Sony WH1000XM4, Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC, Sennheiser Momentum M3, Shure Aonic 50, AKG371BT, Dali IO4, B&O H9 3rdGen, B&O H95, Denon GC30, House of Marley Exodus ANC, Philips TAPH802, Bluedio T7.
Almost all of them sound hollow compared to Bluedio T5. Some less hollow, like Shure, some more – like Lagoon ANC, some are just tubby like TAPH802 or T7. They all have a too deep valley between 200Hz and 2kHz. Some are sibilant too, e.g. B&O H95 or ATH-ANC900BT.
AKG371BT sound totally neutral– lack any bass though. The T5’s bass is nearly tangible.
HoM Exodus – sound like my Chinese product with even better highs. Yet they feel like a vice on my head.
ATH-M50xBT – they come close to what I am looking for. Good bass and upper mids, Still, I wish the lower midrange could also be elevated.
All in all my current headphones are 1 to 3 stops louder than any of the compared ones. A bit like they are on steroids yet completely non-agressive. One can hear everything even on lowest loudness level.
After comparing all their frequency response graphs it became evident that only the T5 had the area between 200Hz and 3kHz equal or slightly higher (400-700Hz and 2-3kHz) than the bass area. It might be the reason why I like them so much.
I listen to the music without any EQ. The available EQ tools do not really work properly. Headphones with in-built EQ tools like Sony WH1000XM4 sound terrible regardless the EQ mode.
The question is - do you know other BT headphones with a similar, forward, non-V shape sound profile?
Or I should go to therapy, buy B&O H95 and pretend that those hissing vocals sound classy?
It is going to be a long post so TLDR people who still wish to help please skip to the last two paragraphs.
I have already compared, back to back, note after note, switching all available codecs (APTx mainly), about 20 headphones from various tiers - ATH-SR30BT, ATH-SR50BT, ATH-M50xBT, ATH-ANC900BT, Bowers&Wilkins PX7, Sony WH1000XM4, Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC, Sennheiser Momentum M3, Shure Aonic 50, AKG371BT, Dali IO4, B&O H9 3rdGen, B&O H95, Denon GC30, House of Marley Exodus ANC, Philips TAPH802, Bluedio T7.
Almost all of them sound hollow compared to Bluedio T5. Some less hollow, like Shure, some more – like Lagoon ANC, some are just tubby like TAPH802 or T7. They all have a too deep valley between 200Hz and 2kHz. Some are sibilant too, e.g. B&O H95 or ATH-ANC900BT.
AKG371BT sound totally neutral– lack any bass though. The T5’s bass is nearly tangible.
HoM Exodus – sound like my Chinese product with even better highs. Yet they feel like a vice on my head.
ATH-M50xBT – they come close to what I am looking for. Good bass and upper mids, Still, I wish the lower midrange could also be elevated.
All in all my current headphones are 1 to 3 stops louder than any of the compared ones. A bit like they are on steroids yet completely non-agressive. One can hear everything even on lowest loudness level.
After comparing all their frequency response graphs it became evident that only the T5 had the area between 200Hz and 3kHz equal or slightly higher (400-700Hz and 2-3kHz) than the bass area. It might be the reason why I like them so much.
I listen to the music without any EQ. The available EQ tools do not really work properly. Headphones with in-built EQ tools like Sony WH1000XM4 sound terrible regardless the EQ mode.
The question is - do you know other BT headphones with a similar, forward, non-V shape sound profile?
Or I should go to therapy, buy B&O H95 and pretend that those hissing vocals sound classy?